This Radiohead video is a deeply moving comparison between two worlds. Two worlds that until recently, I never knew existed. Now that I know…and I can’t ignore it any longer. For some, everything must change. This video wrecked me. As I watch, I see my own boy on left and contrast with so many others on the right. I’m thankful…but then I realize – it’s not enough just to be “thankful” then move on about my day ignoring what I know.
The tension lies between a pair of shoes. The point of the video? The video ends with this line…“Some things cost more than you realize.”
(ht: C. Wess Daniels)
Living In Tension 
Hey Steve,
Great post! I love this song; it’s really great to know that radiohead is concerned about these sorts of things. I don’t know if you heard, but Mike and I are involved in an abolitionist group in the Triangle area called Justice and Jubilee. Check ’em out @ justiceandjubliee.org. We’re tied with the Not For Sale campaign.. if you want to know more about Human Trafficking and what can be done, you should Dave Batstone’s book Not For Sale.
That’s awful, that child labor would still exist on the earth. What is as bad is that some families are so poor, so desperate, that sending their children off to slave labor in a sweatshop would seem the lesser of two evils.
The poor always get the shaft, whether in this country or worldwide. The problems of child labor won’t get fixed until countries have stable governments with the rule of law, and until consumers start demanding to know whether the workers who make their products are getting a living wage.
Right now on the second front, things are getting worse, not better. As many in the West and elsewhere get pushed more and more to the margins too, they start wanting cheaper and cheaper products, because that is what they can afford. So actual slaves make shoes for wage slaves, the wage slaves make things for the rich, and the rich collect interest on their capital. 😦
God, I sound like a Marxist, but it’s true.
Oh, and that’s justiceandjubILee.org. I can’t spell.
Chocolate says : I absolutely agree with this !