So every corrupt business that you buy from (that is virtually all businesses) implicates you in something heinous. When Anita Roddick sold the Body Shop to, I think it was Proctor and Gamble, anybody buying from the Body Shop is participating in vivisection? What are you going to do? It's profits that motivate the issues you outlined and therefore the responsibility lies with the producer. You now, therefore have to start boycotting a whole load of businesses otherwise you are a horrible person by the standards you outlined.
In my opinion, what you do with the knowledge you have it up to you. If you know that you support an abusive business, whether it makes you a good or horrible person is totally up to you, but you have to recognize that your actions and choices have an impact, have consequences.
Take Nestlé for example. Go watch the documentary
Bottled Life, telling a story about Nestlé that I don't think they like. In the film, its shown how very poor villagers in Pakistan get their water stolen from them by a water factory made by Nestlé. The water level i the village drops so they only can extract muddy water that makes their children sick. They asked Nestlé if they could provide just one tap for the whole village so they could get clean water again, and was refused. They now have to use about 50% of their money buying back the water stolen.
Now, what kind of person are you, if you, with the above knowledge in mind, keeps buying products from Nestlé? I don't know, you decide, but you must agree, that you are a person that, understanding and knowing about the exploitation done by Nestlé, help make them richer.
Or take Facebook for example. Amnesty International recently documented that Facebook actively helps the Vietnamese government harass, torture and imprison persons that writes about human rights in Vietnam. The story is, The Vietnamese government asked Facebook to give them access to data so they could find these persons. Facebook refused. The Vietnamese government reduces the internet speed to Facebook. Facebook says that they have no choice than comply. The result, documented by Amnesty International is that these people, talking about human rights, get harassed and trolled on the internet. Some is passed up by groups of men on the street and are beaten up, some get imprisoned. Now, what kind of person are you if you keep using Facebook with thin knowledge? I din't know, you decide, but one thing is certain, by using Facebook, you give them data about you, data that are sold for profit by the same company that helps the Vietnamese government suppress its people.
Or take soy beans for example. In a documentary, I think it was
8 Billion Angles, there's this story about a pretty poor village in Africa. They had like nothing compared to us, but they had a few animals and some land they were farming. They had the food they needed. Then in comes a Dutch soy bean producer and steals their land and use if for soy bean production, and since their land have been in their possession for so long, they don't have any paper to prove it. Now they can hardly survive. Now if you keep demanding soy beans in the global marked after knowing this, what kind of person does this make you? I don't know, you decide. I still eat soy beans. I try to get them from Europa if possible. Also knowing that the major environmental and, as exemplified in the above, human rights problems we when it comes to soy beans stems mainly from the humongous amounts produced to feed livestock. If soy beans only were produced for human consumption, I highly doubt it would have the negative impact it has today. But this is something I have to decide, its something I have to consider, its my conscience and morality I have to go to to figure out what kind of person it makes me.
Now this is somewhat off-topic in relation to the opening post, but relevant anyway I think.
Take care out there
Mikkel