Sunday, September 23, 2007

Designed in America, Installed in America...

but when it comes to product recalls all you see in the news is MADE IN CHINA.

That's right and it's pissing me off. It seems every single news article on a recall has to focus on the fact the products were Made in China whether it was relevant to the recall or not.

Take the latest about recalled baby cribs (which is very sad of course). The cribs in question were designed by an American company and aren't even defective. The problem is some buyers installed the gate upside down which caused the infant deaths.

So why does EVERY news article point out that it was Made in China?! Now how the hell is that relevant? I mean why not blame everything on China? Children who have ADHD - they are playing with toys Made in China, childhood obesity - the candy wrappers were Made in China, wait can't we blame the Iraq war mess on China, let's see I think the ink on the box that holds the bullets were MADE IN CHINA!

Haha. Seems like a pretty funny Saturday Night Live skit if it weren't played out again and again across the news.

The problem seems to be that Americans are falling for this scapegoating hook line and sinker. Some of the news articles allow reader comments and it sure seems that the average American reader believes this crap.
At least Mattel did the extraordinary thing of apologizing to China for their recalls of their defective designed toys, i.e. the tiny magnets that kids would swallow. Would be nice to see more people take responsibility.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

the cribs were INSTALLED incorrectly in America!!! When i read the article about the recall, all I could think about was: WTF?! they were INSTALLED incorrectly!

arrgghhhh! i am SOoOo tired of reading about the end of the world bc of products made in China. if it were for products made in China, the entire American middle-class would collapse on itself and it's things/

Anonymous said...

if it *weren't* for products . . . sorry, my bad.

Anonymous said...

True, the crib and magnet blame can be spread all around, but all the lead and lead paint issues have nothing to do with design or installation, they have to do with component quality.

America's not shipping the paint and 25-cent, lead-laden kiddie jewelry over and saying, "Here, all you have to do is put it together. Many Chinese companies that have been involved in lead paint issues outsource to third-parties themselves for things like paint, plastics, metals, etc., most of whom have no direct contract with the American toy companies.

Manufacturing quality control issues are so poorly regulated in China, their legal system simply hasn't caught up. Look at all the environmental damage occuring in China from chemical, brick, industrial and other factories that are major polluters. They go unchecked on a regular basis. Most industrialized economic booms go hand in hand with environmental damage-- they certainly did here in America a hundred years ago. Hopefully, as China gets through their own growing pains, they too will start to rein in such damaging practices. Lord knows we're still working on it.

Anonymous said...

I haven't read the actual articles that have brought up the recall but this is exactly the question I posed yesterday at my MILs. "Were the cribs correctly put together?" I know that my husband had a hard time putting our daughter's crib together when we first purchased it. How about each parent taking RESPONSIBILITY for how they do things?

Anonymous said...

and the reason this post is relevant to RiceDaddies: Even though we may have never been to China, cannot speak a word of Chinese, and don't have a drop of Chinese blood, the average American will blame us and/or our kids for these mishaps, just because we have slanted eyes and like to eat rice.

Monster Daddy said...

While I believe Chinese companies are to blame for some of the recalls, I think the point of my article is that in the crib and magnet recalls, the blame CANNOT be spread all around.

Yet the media felt it was somehow relevant to include the fact they were Made in China.

It's like here in Arizona that when anything goes wrong, it's always the illegal immigrants that are blamed.

Henri said...

My eyes aren't slanted

Henri said...

I do eat rice though.

Anonymous said...

i love rice.

Henri said...

me too.

daddy in a strange land said...

Check out our own InstantYang talking with Carmen Van Kerckhove of Anti-Racist Parent about this whole "Made In China" hysteria thing, on the latest installment of the Addicted to Race podcast.

thisislarry said...

If it was designed so that it could be installed upside down, its a poor design.

But who did the design? Is it an American company who designed it, and a chinese OEM's that carried out the manufacture?

Is it a chinese OEM's design sold to an american company who slapped their brand on it?

Is it a chinese OEM who detailed it based on partial specs from their customer?

There are so many ways the ball gets dropped.

Anonymous said...

i don't know a whole lot about design, but i see larry's point: if there's a chance of something critical like that being installed incorrectly, then it's a BAD design.

but at the same time, i feel this is another example of people putting the blame on somethone/thing else.

honglien123 said...

Boycott American Beef!

honglien123 said...

Hmm...it will be very sad if I have to put any more context to that.