• MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I’m happy because it’s competition for Aliexpress.

    Arguments against carbon emissions and carbon footprints against corporations isn’t very helpful unless you can do something about it. This is somehow a very unpopular opinion here, for some reason people don’t like being told that they don’t have much power. Boycotting it by yourself won’t work either, because even if the west gives up on it, the East will not. Carbon emissions will remain unless strict regulations are maintained, and we know who buys politicians these days. If I can do nothing about the climate, then yes I’d rather pay less. And I’m not explicitly anti-China like some people here because America is just as hypocritical.

    Yes there are really bad products and their QC is horrible. I’ll say the same for Aliexpress, Taobao, Amazon, Walmart and Bestbuy. Unfortunately for everyone here, we’re going to have to choose between shit options, so yes I’d rather pay less if it’s shit I’m going to get anyway. Besides, I’m smart enough to not make bigger purchases on these sites because I know of their QC situation.

    • Rekorse@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 months ago

      Boycotting is a collective action, it spreads like a virus, so you are wrong on its effectiveness.

      You sound like someone who wants hand waive away the real costs of their actions by saying there’s nothing you can do to change things.

      I hope the people who read your post aren’t demotivated to effect change because of it.

      • MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        What I do not understand is why people are biased against certain companies in such a discussion. If your arguments are correct, then Amazon is a horrendous beast that should have been killed by now with “viral boycotting”. And here we are. Is anyone demotivated by knowing that people still buy from Amazon and make them billions? Why all the hate against TEMU specifically, when they’re trying to undercut Amazon and other stores? Let’s not pretend that Amazon and Best Buy and Walmart are a collective bunch of saints and can mean no harm. Where is the action in this case?

        Let me speak the bitter truth for you: the majority of the population here is American, with an inherent anti-chinese mentality when it comes to capitalistic ventures/operations. That is the reason for the hate. Alibaba faced the same issues, and in case someone wants to bring up Huawei for their actions, remember that AT&T runs an NSA spy-mission in Manhattan. Where is the outcry in this case?

        I might have veered off-topic, but bad QC and cheap deals aren’t inherently a Chinese thing. Hence, I do not follow the propaganda against Chinese shops who are beating American companies at their own game.

        Edit: since I’ve been called guilty of waiving away untoward actions, please enlighten me on how the general American population has stayed “responsible” and managed to put any dent in other non-Chinese companies that have their ethics in the dumpster and actively harm the environment and people (I’m looking at you Nestle, Spotify and OpenAI)

        • eatthecake@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          I’m anticonsumption in general and temu just seems like the epitome of paying for disposable garbage.

          In general i don’t understand why people are buying any nonessential items at all. Everyone is apparently too poor but random crap still sells. I splurged and bought a cheap tablet to use as an ereader this year but only because i can’t justify the expense of buying books and my local library is awful.

        • Rekorse@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          5 months ago

          I can’t force people to do the things I think they should. Noone can. People draw inspiration from all sorts of things. Like you right now seem inspired to protect China from racist western policies.

          I dont pretend to speak for my country, or its government, but I can do two things:

          1. Walk the walk, if you believe something then follow it. Examples: de-googling, disengaging with social media, following a vegan lifestyle, research companies before giving them your money.

          2. Talking about all of this stuff in public places. With my family, coworkers, or here on Lemmy, anything we say has the potential to inspire someone to change. You never know what will be the thing that triggers change, but for all the things I listed above I had someone share that information with me in a public forum, which caused me to change.

          I’m sure we can argue the efficacy of this strategy all day, and even some of the examples you gave like Amazon are no longer the behemoth they used to be.

    • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      Yes there are really bad products and their QC is horrible. I’ll say the same for Aliexpress, Taobao, Amazon, Walmart and Bestbuy.

      There’s a huge difference between some 5/10 products at Walmart and Best Buy and the best case being a 5/10 product with the majority being 2/10 and some being actually dangerous like Temu.

      They’re not remotely similar.

      • MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Depends on what you buy. You shouldn’t be buying PSUs or TVs or something of the sort from there, but try finding cheap clothes, accessories, electronics like that on Amazon