The material we were presented for today’s class had a different theme than those we have read before. Previously, the emphasis was on the history of the first video games and what “play” is. However, we were shown a theme that is hardly ever focused on in the popular media, but is a part of our, those who reside in the “first world” countries, daily lives. This theme calls attention to where our technology and other cheap goods come from.

When I was in high school, I watched a documentary called “China Blue” on a similar topic: the production of jeans. The lives of several of the young Chinese girls who worked in one factory in an increasingly urban area of China that created one of the namebrand jeans found across the world. These are the stories we rarely ever see in the media except for events such as suicides in the Foxconn factories discussed in Joel Johnson’s article. However the story of what is occurring in China, India, and various other third world countries has happened before. They are classified as countries undergoing their industrial revolutions.  The United States during the late 19^th century underwent its industrial revolution and many of the stories we hear about factories in China and other countries occurred during this time. The poor work conditions, disregard for the worker’s happiness and health, etc. If the United States and other first world countries underwent their industrial revolutions without any restrictions to be as wealthy and “developed” as they are now, should China and other developing countries be restricted and be denied the opportunity to become a first world country themselves? Or now that we have seen what has happened in the past and what is going on in said countries today, should we try to prevent the mistreatment of workers as “enlightened” consumers? Is that our responsibility and could we deal with the subsequent inflation of prices in all the goods we love to purchase?