irritatedWhenever possible, I do not buy products made in any country that tolerates poor working conditions.
Dude. It's always possible. You don't have to buy anything, and the very fact that you've left yourself a back door based on the premise that you do indicates you're at least as much of a base capitalist as anyone you might denigrate as "exploitive"—you just don't want to feel bad about yourself when you do it. You like the choices you have and will only limit those choices when it suits your fancy. That makes you just like the rest of us here in the privileged Western world, which might be tougher to live with than some bizarro identification with the Noble Poor that's propping up your self-concept.
Want to work for justice? Face the truth about who you are. Want to really identify with the poor? Come to grips with the poverty you have—which just might be the fact that you love privilege as much as the rest of us. We won't hate you for it. Here's a secret: most of the poor would love it, too, so you don't really show much love by pretending to hate it while leaving all your options open. Make a difference by using your choices and admitting you pretty much always have a choice.
