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American athletes going off to London packing Chinese-made uniforms--oh my! The reaction to that news appealed to me as a piece of political intuition, in this case from the conservative side. I'm sure that when these politicos heard this reported, they didn't have to think at all but rushed out to condemn such an offending act to whatever media would listen. Their "elephants," as Haidt would say, were swaying badly in reaction to our best young people having on their backs the products of our economic enemies, as these conservatives would apparently have it.

This will be just a flap that will pass, I truly hope. Maybe all the outrage was just for publicity. And if the outraged ones had just thought for a minute, used their reason for a minute, they would see how little sense their protest made. Maybe a few of them did see that. Haidt tells us that's it's rare for this to happen, but I wonder. Isn't that what thoughtfulness is all about, when we cultivate the habit of reflecting on our first reactions?

Those who are offended by Chinese-made uniforms are perhaps a little out of touch.

DWill wrote:American athletes going off to London packing Chinese-made uniforms--oh my! The reaction to that news appealed to me as a piece of political intuition, in this case from the conservative side. I'm sure that when these politicos heard this reported, they didn't have to think at all but rushed out to condemn such an offending act to whatever media would listen. Their "elephants," as Haidt would say, were swaying badly in reaction to our best young people having on their backs the products of our economic enemies, as these conservatives would apparently have it.

This will be just a flap that will pass, I truly hope. Maybe all the outrage was just for publicity. And if the outraged ones had just thought for a minute, used their reason for a minute, they would see how little sense their protest made. Maybe a few of them did see that. Haidt tells us that's it's rare for this to happen, but I wonder. Isn't that what thoughtfulness is all about, when we cultivate the habit of reflecting on our first reactions?

Thought I'd just add my two cents. If anyone would have given this a minutes thought it would have been obvious how impossible it would have been to have produced the uniforms in America. Just for starters, not much cloth is produced in the USA, not to mention stitched into articles of clothing. The USA has been out of the textile biz for quite sometime now; which means that it would have been a very expensive endeavor to pull together all the resources, skills, and materials to make them here in the USA.

While it's true that the textile industry in the USA is fading, it'e not dead yet. A quick Google search tells us that Ralph Lauren says he can produce the next set of olympic uniforms in America. Also, the American firm, "American Apparel", (apparently producing 50 million garments a year in the USA) is in negotiations with the Russians to produce their uniforms for the next winter olympics.
No Google search could tell me why American firms were not aggressively seeking this contract earlier in the game. The publicity is so huge!

Really? Are the textiles made in the U.S. rather than being imported to be made into garments here? I'm surprised to hear this.