Toy shopping

Between some local toy shops, Target, and Barnes & Noble, I'm trying to finish my Christmas shopping. This year in particular, online toy shopping is fascinating. There are so many websites that list or even sell not-made-in China toys. The reasons consumers seek these out are obvious; Chinese manufacturers' reputation in the toy market has taken a serious hit this year. Some of these toy etailers specialize just in American-made toys, some just in toys made anywhere but China. However, are toys made in Vietnam that much better than those made in China? Are we Americans so blinded by our anti-China sentiments that we forget that China isn't the only country with questionable human rights? Just this year the US Commission on International Religious Freedom just this year redesignated Vietnam a country of particular concern. I've blogged before about what sometimes appears to be the free pass Vietnam gets in the American media as opposed to China. Sometimes I just don't get it.

While I was writing this I read this piece of news from the Barack Obama campaign. If the concern about Chinese-made toys is more because of a safety issue rather than the human rights record, then will an outright ban of their toys be the answer? Government inspectors? This is a subject that never gets dull.