I was browsing around aimlessly when I stumbled into this thread. It started off innocent enough - where can you get a motherboard that isn’t made in China? Then I read this comment:

quote:
Originally posted by DyDx:

quote:
Originally posted by waitex:
Um what are you trying to avoid?

I mean stuff made in other countries still source a ton of components from China. Everyone got burned with the capacitor fiasco. Its not like everything from china sucks. The rule of you get what you pay for still applies.

I’m not going to speak for the OP but it would be nice not to have to buy products made in a country run by an oppressive regime.

That comment (and my response) will lead to the soapbox very quickly.

How about one that doesn’t use torture? Ooops, can’t use made in USA products.

How about one that doesn’t support spying of their citizens without a warrant? Ooops, warrant-less wiretapping is done here in the USA.

Government buying news stories in the press? Yup, the feds paid Cuban-American journalists to write stories.

So, define “oppressive” regime

It’s not as easy to say that with a straight face any more as an American.

Anyways, that really should go in the SoapBox.

—
Back to the OP,

if you can endure what American Megatrends has to offer, that’s about it.

I did look, and the website was not very clear about where they manufacture their motherboards. It could very well be an outsourced production contract/factory in China.

ECS actually does a ton of production for other companies including some well beloved enthusiast brands/companies. The contracts spell out how much QC is done.

I can’t even begin to describe the level of frustration that I reach when I read stuff like this. When I see people regularly compare the United States to an authoritarian dictatorship and say, “See - we’re no better!”, it completely blows my mind, especially since the kind of people that make that comparison are rarely people that actually know what it’s really like to live in an authoritarian dictatorship. Heck, I have no idea what it’s like to live in one.

Let’s recap the differences between the United States and your average dictatorship:

Torture: In the United States, waterboarding is considered a controversial form of torture, subject to much political wrangling and hand-wringing. On the rare occasion that someone is actually seriously injured or dies from officially-sanctioned torture, careers are ruined and those responsible go to jail.

In an authoritarian dictatorship, waterboarding is considered the first date of officially allowed and encouraged torture methods. Death or severe permanent maiming is frequently a pleasant byproduct of the officially allowed torture methods.

Warrantless wiretapping: The United States has numerous policies and procedures that either strictly forbid most warrantless wiretapping or, at worst, allow it to occur, provided there is some judicial oversight. When laws are amended to allow more wiretaps, the laws are subject to public review and examination - this can lead to people either voting out the bums that chose to write such laws or encourage their representatives to not vote for such legislation. When unauthorized wiretapping occurs, it’s discovered and reported to the press.

Authoritarian dictatorships don’t have warrants, and certainly don’t bother to publish or announce their wiretapping procedures and policies.

Government buying news stories: In the United States, the government may buy some news stories, perhaps sponsoring a reporter to write a favorable piece in a newspaper or something.

In a dictatorship, the government doesn’t buy news stories - they simply send to jail anyone that writes something they don’t agree with.

Here’s the biggest difference, though, between the United States and a dictatorship:

In the United States, you get to choose what your government will do by electing people that agree with your views. If you don’t like them, you can vote for someone else every two to six years, depending on the office. In a dictatorship, the government does what it wants for as long as it wants whether you like it or not.

Any questions?

Trackback URI | Comments RSS