☓ TRUST

neutresex:

If you are a religious person who would like to get married and doesn’t take to sex before marriage: please do not come to me and ask my views on “pre-marital sex”, fully knowing how I feel about it, because I will blow your mind like the orgasm you’re waiting 25 years to get.

tumblr is so fucking small!

how how how

howwwwwwwwwwwwwww

I’m afraid of you now, tumblr. OTHER PEOPLE FROM MY SCHOOL CANNOT BE REBLOGGED AMONG THOSE I FOLLOW!??!!??! this connection is making me claustrophobic and itchy. ugh

WHAT AM I AWKWARD IM SOLLEH. ;_; ~PARANOIA~

Hhahaha, manda you are so awkward, I HATE YOU

skylark11:

i’ve found it interesting for years that the youth who consider themselves ‘revolutionaries’ and ‘different’ flock to Converse as that symbol..
yes, during our parent’s generation, Converse had that kick-ass style that not only athletes, but the ‘cool, alternative kids’ were driven to - it was classic, unusual, and a breakthrough in style.

however, it is important to realize that in 2001, Converse filed for bankruptcy and was promptly bought by Nike in 2003.

nearly 800,000 individuals work for Nike, mostly over in Asia. Nike closed its last American factory in 1984.

because of the incoherency of laws in other countries, and Nike’s uncanny ability to manipulate these laws, Nike not only uses sweatshops, but child labor as well.

1.) Nike workers in Vietnam earned on average 20 cents per hour 
2.) 15 women workers were hit on the head by their supervisor 
3.) 45 women were made to kneel on the ground for 25 minutes with their hands in the air 
4.) and a Korean supervisor fled the country after accusations that he sexually molested female workers. 

Workers at Vietnam Nike shoe manufacturing plants make $.20 an hour or $1.60 per day. The average cost of three meals is $2 a day, meaning that most people skip meals throughout the day. During the first three months of employment, all workers receive $37 per month, which is below the minimum wage of $45 per month in Vietnam. Nike claims that the workers are paid a lower wage because the law in Vietnam allows for a training wage less than the minimum wage. Just two percent of Nike’s 630 million dollar operating budget could raise the salary of all 25,000 Vietnamese workers from a meager $1.60 a day to a livable wage of $3 a day. 

There are many inhumane working conditions that these workers have to deal with while working. For example, workers are not allowed to go to the bathroom more than once per eight hour shift, and they can’t drink water more than twice per shift. It is also very common for workers to faint from exhaustion, heat, fumes, and poor nutrition while they are working.  (Source: http://ihscslnews.org/view_article.php?id=32)

the above article was from 2005, but here are a few more recent excerpts in the news to keep an eye on. there was a hearing in 2010 regarding Honduran conditions:

Cano told the Workers’ Rights Board that the Nike code of conduct was posted all over the factory walls in Spanish and English. Cano testified that her factory made 60 to 100 percent Nike apparel, while Urquía said Vision Tex made about 80 percent Nike apparel. Both plants received yearly inspections from Nike auditors. Nike’s code of conduct binds its contractors to pay wages and benefits as required by local law. Cano told a reporter that she made about $40 a week, and that high production quotas led to lots of unpaid overtime work.  (Source: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_20739.cfm)

“Isn’t it interesting that over here in the United States, a pair of Nike costs about $100, when the people who made these shoes only receive about $3.00 for each pair of shoes they make?” - http://library.thinkquest.org/trio/TTQ02189/nike.htm

the campaign “Boycott Nike” has been going strong. check it out here: http://www.viet.net/~nike/

further, Nike does not just produce shoes. they also produce sports apparel among other things, as most of us know, and here’s an excerpt from a great article that everyone should read:

Recently if you go to a shop to buy your child a new soccer ball. There is a good possibility that the ball has been made by someone your child’s age or even younger. About half of the world’s soccer ball are made in Pakistan, and each one of them passes through a process of production where child labor is involved. This problem not only pertains to Pakistan but is worldwide. More than 200 children, some as young as 4 and 5 years of age, are involved in the production line. Majority of these children work in Asia, e.g in the nations of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

(source: http://www1.american.edu/ted/nike.htm)

buying shoes from Nike also reinforces whatever other practices they are doing. buying shoes from Nike supplies them with the ability to continue these awful conditions. somehow, their revenue keeps increasing each year; therefore, they are not going to change what they are doing. it is only when a company starts suffering that they start listening to the people’s demands.

and as educated, privileged citizens of our respective countries, it is absolutely important to consider where you are buying from and what that means.

to tie this back in, i have no idea how one can think that Converse are still ‘badass’. continuing along blindly without any concern for the source of the product you are wearing is what creates the apathy that is destroying this world. however, you are now educated! many, many people are unaware that Nike owns Converse (partly because Nike has gone out of its way to completely omit their swoosh from the product, maybe because they knew people would find out.)

in honesty, i have owned a pair Converse in my past, before i was made aware that they are now produced by Nike. if you currently do own Converse, keep wearing em until they get those awesome holes in them, don’t just throw them out because they were made by Nike - you’ve already purchased them, so get the most use out of them. but please, please reconsider buying another pair of Converse.

if you really want to be alternative, break away from the crowd, have some sort of ‘badass’ ‘revolutionary’ stance, check out these different shoes that help benefit this world:

http://www.toms.com/ <— donates a pair for every pair bought to a person in need

http://www.simpleshoes.com/ <— made of recycled materials, great for the environment

https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/blackspot <— not only is this the only magazine i subscribe to, and its awesome, but these shoes resemble the ‘classic Converse style’ so check them out!

and the shoes i currently wear: 
http://ipath.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=020vegan <—- Vegan Ipaths made of hemp

the one qualm I have about the above linked shoe retailers is how frakking expensive those shoes are. I literally can’t afford them. Of course I wanna help a cause, but i’d rather donate that whole sum of money (99$ for a canvas shoe?) to an organization in need of it than be “alternative/badass/revolutionary” through my shoes. :/