sbp

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_833086.html

Oh well Driver might as well since her career will be going downhill and its about time the lazy b1tch did some real work.

cheapchinese

who is she...???

"using her fame to raise awareness"

but the thing is.. i don't even know her????
someone enlighten me please

raimin

she was in good will hunting, don't remember anything after that

cheapchinese

dang .... that movies old

coleslaw

Why does she have to work in a shop to work up a sweat? I could help her out with that...

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sbp

Its good Minnie's finally found her place in life. I say let Minnie stay on the sewing machines. That raises an interesting question: is anyone going to beat Driver for not making her quota?

nickel

movie stars are so lost and so pitiful.

a person who sincerely wanted to do some good for others would do it anonymously.
when they broadcast it they are doing it for themselves.

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whitak24

doing it anonymously would make the whole exercise pointless.

i don't understand where you people get off at. here's someone who instead of sitting in their posh digs and sending out a press release about how terrible working conditions in third world countries are is actually going to go out and experience them. does anyone here have the balls to go work in the factories where our clothes and shoes are made? (i know i don't....i'm too lazy)

if people do nothing but talk and complain, you blast them for being bigmouths who are out of touch with reality. if they go and do something to experience the conditions they want to talk about first-hand, then you say they are self-serving and trying to gain fame. it makes no sense to me at all.

and i think it's great that minnie is going there. i hope people film her and her coworkers so everyone can see how great the working conditions are there in cambodia.

nickel

why do you say that?

and is Minnie such a martyr to you because she has the bucks and the status to do this and flaunt it while other people (read: you and i) don't have the opportunities she has?

i still maintain that someone who gives fifty bucks anonymously is better than someone who gave a hundred and let everyone know they did.

whitak24

i agree. but giving money is a completely different issue.

the entire point of this exercise is not that the 3 weeks or whatever minnie spends over there is going to ease the immediate pain of the workers in the area. there are two reasons:

1.) to draw attention to the poor working conditions, which can only be done by letting people know she's there and telling them what she experiences and sees. sure, she could send a charity helping workers a check for $100k without any fanfare. but would that have any long-term consequences? no. once the money is gone, it might as well have not been spent.

2.) to humanize the problem. face it: for most people in our society, if a problem doesn't immediately impact us, then we don't really care. whether it's tribal wars in africa, kids working in cambodian sweat shops, or peasants being killed by columbian drug wars, (not to mention homeless people living on the streets) most people can't get too worked up about it unless they know someone who's been directly impacted by the problem. we live vicariously through our movie stars. when one of them is subjected to what we would consider "cruel and unusual" conditions, many people will have a much better understanding and appreciation for the issues.

if she can make people on a large scale think about the problems and abuses of sweatshop labor, people may start demanding that the companies they purchase from make changes. and she can do that BECAUSE she's famous. if i tried to do it, no one would care.....and there definitely wouldn't be newspaper articles about it. she's using her fame to try to accomplish something good.

i don't think minnie is a martyr. i don't think she thinks she's a martyr. i do think she's doing something important, and that is inconveniencing herself to highlight an issue that she believes in. i don't know what's so wrong with that.

cheapie

i've got no problem with this specific example. this is a good cause. however, the ones that try to raise awareness for causes that are just plain dumb can kma. problems like illiteracy, childhood obesity, etc. aren't sexy enough to warrant attention from stars.

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Cantacuzene

They could get Lara Flynn Boyle to spend a week in a Mcdonalds in order to experience it first hand.

cheapie

experience what first hand? food?





btw...check your pm.

sbp

Another one of these rich Hollywood types with too much time on her hands and who wants to feel someone's pain to show us she cares. How utterly noble. *snort*

Its not like Minny Driver is exploiting the "suffering poor" and doing this stupid stunt to increase her own name recognition. But not to worry, Minnie will get enough attention that she'll get an extra million or two on her next movie contract. Another one of those 'who suffered for her art.'

Dummies like this can't figure out their cost of living is way lower than ours. You can see it now-she would pay the employees US minimum wage and the factory will be out of business in no time. Yep, 1000s of Cambodians out of work with many forced into prostitution, others into a life of crime, and others to starve. Thats if Miss Minnie is successful. But hey she'll take care of them, right?

Does little Miss Minnie Driver makes all her clothing at home? Nevermind that Versace dress she wore to an awards ceremony.

Just another who feels good in laying another guilt trip on Westerners. Some of us don't fall for that ****.

sbp

The film should be shown to the still striking union whiners about how good they got it. Thats right before the lazy b@stards hustle their arses back to work. Or better yet let them go over there with Driver to stay permanently.

nickel

anybody has got to be a fool to think that if Minnie is working in a sweatshop the conditions will be what they were before her arrival. they will probably lay out a red carpet for her.
she won't get the real feel of the way business is conducted there, because it will change due to her American celebrity presence.

Dave_7

Yar.... she's... not atractive.






Dave.

cheapie

uh. i can't tell if you think it's a good thing or not. why must you always straddle the fence on these issues?

whitak24

of course if you look at wages from a purchasing power parity perspective, workers in cambodia aren't nearly as bad off as absolute dollar comparisons would make it appear no one is arguing that. and it's also true that these people are making more money and are in better condition than they were as subsistance farmers -- that's why they're leaving the farms and going to work in factories.

but that doesn't change the fact that these factories are taking young children and working them for 12+ hours/day, paying them pennies per hour, never giving them time to go to the bathroom or eat, while they work in dank, windowless buildings breathing horrible air. all this so american companies can make an extra 5% profit or something on the goods they sell.

the argument that there is a binary choice between treating workers decently and paying them a living wage for the environment they're in vs. closing down the factory is so facially invalid and illogical that i'm not going to waste my time discussing it.

if minnie is laying a guilt trip on you, why? is it because you know she's right? if the cause that she's advocating for is truly so meaningless and has so little validity, then why are you so worked up over her doing it?

(and of course, she's going to get red carpet treatment. that's the way things like this go. unless you're an undercover documentarian who sneaks into one of those places, you're never going to see 100% of what it's like. but is the fact that something isn't 100% perfect reason to discard it entirely? not likely)

nickel

i am not doubting the poor conditions inside the sweatshop i am doubting Minnie's visit will do hella good. what exact impact do you think she will have in the long run?
as far as heightening awareness -- well we are all already aware.

whitak24

as i mentioned above, i think that for some people at least, the conditions inside sweatshops will not be humanized and brought home until they see someone they "know" experience it. (whether that is a positive societal trend or not is a completely different topic ) basically, things are never going to change -- conditions are never going to improve -- until people get really pissed and demand change/accountability. minnie's visit may do this. even if it doesn't, well, it's no skin off my back, and i think it's great that she's trying to do something as opposed to just sitting around and bitching.

Mike_N_Ike

Hmmm.....I wonder how she'll be received over there...

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Butch

That's rather defeatest . . . with that attitude, why do anything? Who knows it if anything will have any impact in the long run? Could just do nothing and KNOW it won't have any impact in the long run.

I gotta say I applaud Minnie for trying.

And Whitak, I've agreed with just about everything you've said so far in this thread.

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cheapie

i agree with him too!

nickel

whoaa

and i have been wondering for awhile is Butch butch?

cheapie

i've wondered that since this pic was posted by butch in the "post your pics thread"

whitak24

actually, i think you need to replace "butch" with "cheapie"