Matt Groening, Say It Ain’t So

I’ve always been of two minds about China products — the majority of what Wal-Mart stocks. Globalization has unquestionably been a boon to the Chinese — ordinary Chinese — which is so gratifying. Of course, globalization has been a boon to most everyone else, too. But how do you tell which products from China are free-labor products and which are slave-labor products — items from the Laogai, or Gulag? You cannot, as far as I know.

I once interviewed a man — a Falun Gong practitioner — who, between bouts of torture, was made to manufacture Homer Simpson bedroom slippers. You placed your foot where Homer’s mouth was. He also made Christmas lights.