While I agree that there are different points of view to any matter, I don't buy that exploitation and oppression can be "ethical" in some contexts.
Your example is flawed. There are a few small companies in the business selling ethically produced goods that go to these same countries where other companies are exploiting children and give their employees better conditions and higher pay so that their children don't have to work. It's not about if we don't keep doing this bad thing, something worse will happen, it's about how can we change the world so that this bad thing doesn't need to happen.
Is it an easy thing to do? Not at all. Is it always clear what's the alternative? No. We've spent the past millennia messing up the world big time, so undoing some of that mess is going to be hard and take time. That doesn't mean that some bad things that we don't know how to fix are ethical.
It's remarkable that you've used words "exploitation and oppression" that has highly negative connotation in any context. In this case, I should say "sure, you are right". And I will agree, it is.
But the problem is that kids even don't know such words. For them it may be just ability to get some money to helps their family or themself without_crime. To work to buy a food yourself or your family is it ethical? For me and from side of that kids it is highly ethical.
So what is unethical here?
Yeah, I say directly it's manipulation. But it shows pretty well how easy "ethics/unethics" may be turned one to other.
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To take a development metaphor here (seems appropriate?), I like to view these grey areas as partly refactored code, there is work to do moving towards a 'better' society (my philosophy here is the golden rule: we should all be able to treat others as equals), possibly work arounds (such as continuing to pay child labourers or permit abortion in certain circumstances) until the root causes can be reached. Of course like code, refactoring social systems is never really done as they also evolve under other influences. Our work here will never be 'done'...
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While I agree that there are different points of view to any matter, I don't buy that exploitation and oppression can be "ethical" in some contexts.
Your example is flawed. There are a few small companies in the business selling ethically produced goods that go to these same countries where other companies are exploiting children and give their employees better conditions and higher pay so that their children don't have to work. It's not about if we don't keep doing this bad thing, something worse will happen, it's about how can we change the world so that this bad thing doesn't need to happen.
Is it an easy thing to do? Not at all. Is it always clear what's the alternative? No. We've spent the past millennia messing up the world big time, so undoing some of that mess is going to be hard and take time. That doesn't mean that some bad things that we don't know how to fix are ethical.
It's remarkable that you've used words "exploitation and oppression" that has highly negative connotation in any context. In this case, I should say "sure, you are right". And I will agree, it is.
But the problem is that kids even don't know such words. For them it may be just ability to get some money to helps their family or themself without_crime. To work to buy a food yourself or your family is it ethical? For me and from side of that kids it is highly ethical.
So what is unethical here?
Yeah, I say directly it's manipulation. But it shows pretty well how easy "ethics/unethics" may be turned one to other.
To take a development metaphor here (seems appropriate?), I like to view these grey areas as partly refactored code, there is work to do moving towards a 'better' society (my philosophy here is the golden rule: we should all be able to treat others as equals), possibly work arounds (such as continuing to pay child labourers or permit abortion in certain circumstances) until the root causes can be reached. Of course like code, refactoring social systems is never really done as they also evolve under other influences. Our work here will never be 'done'...