So I've been seeing this more and more in our community and it's getting a bit disturbing as to how many are willing to be openly racial against a certain country, namely China. So as a person who studied Imports/Exports in High school, I want to set the record straight.
Just so you're aware, even things labeled as made in the USA aren't actually *made* in the USA. Nothing is. Not even the steel in your buildings is made at USA steel mills because over HALF are shut down, closed up, locked up, etc (please note I do say half as there are still some USA steel works still in operation but these buildings are not in the best condition - just ask any of the steel workers who work there).
I want people of this community to remember that ALOT of collectors within this community are also Asian. And what you're saying can and often does set the stage for how they partake in this very community. I've seen, in the past few years, fewer and fewer of them showing off their collections, celebrating new acquisitions to their collection, and dispersing of their collections. This alone is alarming, at least for me who grew up seeing such posts being made in the very early days of Facebook (I've had one account since Facebook first opened globally - that should tell you volumes).
My neighbor's daughter whose 10yrs old, has OVER 300+ Breyers and is Chinese and she takes EXTREME pride in her models as does her mother as they are the ONLY things they were able to bring over when they emigrated to Canada back in 1999. Out of EVERYTHING they owned, her mother was only able to bring TEN Breyers that had belonged to her own mother who is now deceased. If she were to read some of the comments made in this and other groups, she'd be very upset. Firstly because on a day to day basis, her and her daughter suffer through racial profiling DAILY and worse than this, she's had some of the more extreme racial slurs thrown at her and her daughter. Imagine being ten years old and having a word thrown at you while you're walking to school and you've no idea what it means and you go home and ask your mom, only for your mom to start crying? Imagine being a teacher's aid and seeing this happening to a CHILD. Think before you speak/type comes to mind.
I keep seeing people saying "I wish the community was more accepting!" and then I see these same people saying "DON'T BUY FROM CHINA!" CHINA SUCKS!" etc. Do you have any idea what you're saying? Do you have any idea what image you're setting for our community? Did it escape your notice that your friend from Asia no longer talks about her collection online? Never shows interest in partaking in Breyer or Peter Stone conversations online? Again. THINK before you speak/type!
China is a country rich in history, culture, languages and so much more. I have a friend who was born in Toronto, Ontario, who lives in Hong Kong, and she has shown just how beautiful this country is, how accepting it was of her when she first moved there to begin her modeling career. Imagine being in a new country, knowing no one or anything about it and having your neighbors, who are literally in their 80s trying so very hard to make you feel welcomed. THAT is what China is. But so many are quick to judge the quality of their plastic models over the struggles those working in the factories making those models, go through. For everything beautiful about China, there is, just as there is in ANY country, a dark side to factory work. China knows this and efforts have been made to make factory work safer, more ethical, and more humane. But I digress.
I can literally guarantee you, your tshirt that screams "MADE IN THE USA!" wasn't actually made in the good ole US of A. I can and more often times than I care to count, have, betted, my last dollar, that the shirt on your back, was made overseas, imported back to the USA with that label onit. It's legalized false advertisement. Major companies can legally get away with this and there's nothing you, nor I, can do about it. But again. I digress.
People of this community really need to stop and think before they say such hateful things about a country they know literally nothing about. And it truly is upsetting to see a once formally accepting and inviting community, becoming more and more toxic. If you want things in this community to go back to the 'way they were', then you need to make an active effort in not saying hateful things about another person's nation because over half of you, get ticked off when someone says something mean or nasty about the USA. And like my grandma used to say "If you don't like it being said about YOUR home, than don't go saying it about another person's home. It's that simple."
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