America:
Made In China
By Dave Eriqat
28 March, 2006
Countercurrents.org
I seldom watch TV because I can’t
stand commercials, so I buy movies and TV shows I like on DVD. And I
am partial to older movies and television shows, which are often only
available on DVD anyway. Recently I found myself with little in the
way of video entertainment to watch, so this morning I went to one of
my favorite venues, Fry’s Electronics, to buy something new to
watch.
Some Americans might know
of Fry’s. I believe the store was founded in the 1980s in Sunnyvale,
California. It started out as a one stop shop for computer stuff and
electronic parts. If there was a computer part or electronic part made,
it could probably be found at Fry’s. They also had a huge library
of computer books and computer software. For a computer geek like me
Fry’s was heaven on Earth when I moved to San Francisco back in
the 1980s. Fry’s had a sense of fun too. Many of its stores were
decorated inside and out to conform to different themes. For example,
the Sunnyvale store looked like a giant integrated circuit chip from
the outside, and was suitably decorated on the inside. The San Jose
store, my favorite, looked like a Mayan pyramid on the outside, with
a faux evening sky and palm trees inside.
Today Fry’s sells everything
from small electronic parts, electronic test equipment, computer parts
and peripherals, whole computer systems, all manner of appliances, office
furniture, consumer electronic items, digital photographic equipment,
video games and consoles, music, DVDs, books, software, hand tools,
indoor lighting, food snacks, and even luggage.
As I entered the store a
fun idea entered my head: What if I randomly selected items off the
shelf and examined where they were manufactured? So taking a circuitous
route to the back of the store where the DVDs are, I began randomly
pulling diverse items off the shelves, trying to ascertain where they
were made. I looked at USB memory devices, empty DVD/CD cases, luggage,
dual layer DVD writers, extension cords, hand tools, 400 GB external
hard disk drives, appliances, computer speakers, all kinds of things.
The results of my very unscientific
poll were even more surprising than I expected. Eight or ten items I
examined were Made in China. One or two were Made in Taiwan, which I
pretty much regard as China. One was Made in Thailand. An electrical
extension cord was Made in Indonesia. A single item, a can of compressed
air for blowing away dust, was Made in USA.
Two ironies struck me. First,
that the only item Made in USA was a can of ethereal nothingness. And
second, that I selected “Dallas – The Complete Third Season”
to purchase. Not only does this TV show depict a bygone era of American
history, the late 1970s, when America was still a great nation, but
here I was buying this quintessential American television show in a
store where everything for sale is made elsewhere. Although I scanned
every square inch of the “Dallas” DVD box, I could not determine
where it was made. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it,
too, was Made in China. That would be a supreme irony.
Copyright Dave Eriqat