When I bring up how children work in artisanal mines in DR Congo and Madagascar to harvest the minerals the rich world needs for its tech, there is one type of comment that comes up more than others:

"Yes, but the working conditions of the people making high street clothes is also awful. It's so hard to do the right thing these days."

I truly have a hard time understanding what this comment is really getting at it. It feels like it's trying to tone down the awful reality of one set of circumstances by bringing up another?

And makes it sound as if the rich people in the world are helpless victims of having to use stuff that is the product of abuse and exploitation.

It's all so absurd.

I get that people don't like to hear that they are contributors to harm through their actions, and I can acknowledge that this is a defense mechanism. I guess I just wish we were past this.