It's really hard for me to have this discussion without flinging the big P and R words here (the first one more than the second), lol. But I'll make an attempt to convey my frustrations anyway.
I think that as a consumer who has access to cruelty-free, organic, sustainable, fair-trade etc. products, it is the right thing to do, ethically, but it's also a personal choice. On the other hand, I have to point that having access to these kinds of products (cruelty-free in this situation) is a result of access from your locality -- that is, the shops you
can shop at carry these products. I don't even mean this in terms of where you live in terms of city/state/province, but even the fact that many
countries outside the west don't have access to these products. It's not even a moral choice for them because that option isn't available.
The problem is, because this forum and many of its members live in this bubble -- in many ways, the same kind of bubble China lives in -- where we're not aware of the other side, and the choices [or lack thereof] that can be made. When I studied abroad for a Health Policy and Global Development program, our group made a trip of Morocco, which I would say is one of the better-off developing countries. We visited several of the best and most high-end institutions in the country and 1) yes, they did animal testing which made me feel ill, but
2) the most research expensive equipment in their best university was $250k -- which was pretty much the cost my college education.
I have a problem with things that people like
SnowLeopard
because it's incredibly close-minded. Cruelty-free has been something that has risen out of the developed nations, and it's a good thing. But so has things like fair labour practices/unionisation rights and free speech/freedom of the press, which need I remind us all that China doesn't have yet? And were only developments of the West within the last 100/250 years anyway?
That artist who protested animal testing out in a shop window -- she would be lucky if she didn't receive capital punishment for pulling something like that in China. And when citizens don't even have the right to voice their thoughts on subjects like these, how is the government going to change?
So you know what, go ahead and feel morally superior to people who live country were there are more people living on farms without running, sanitized water and proper sewage systems than there are people living in the US and Canada combined. Yes, they are soooo barbaric, let's sit here and judge them with our computers and electricity and drawers full of makeup.
And obviously, since we should punish citizens for the government they can't control, let's witch at Urban Decay until they pull out of China because, you know, it's not like people in China deserve wearing quality makeup. They only deserve the crap that's been tested on animals and the government allows them to have.
/emoticons/
[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />