Sometimes, we men (let's face it, bf.c is a predominately-male audience) think of this as a "woman's issue," fake Gucci handbags, that sort of thing. We sometimes also think about it as "stickin' it to the man" when we see (or even buy or download) pirated copies of music CDs or video DVDs. But, the whole issue of counterfeit goods touches upon the knife industry in a very real way. Noted custom knife maker and bf.c member Todd Beggs was not amused to find made-in-China copies of one if his distinctive folding knives for sale for $10 each at the recent Oregon Knife Collector's Show. You can read about it in
THIS THREAD. And there are many other examples of famous designers who've had their knife designs ripped off.
Does it hurt these people? ABSOLUTELY! Noted custom knife maker and bf.c member Terry Guinn designed an absolutely novel balisong-style knife, his Ring Fighter Balisong. He was very close to closing a deal with a major knife manufacturer to license the design. This was the exact same deal with the exact same manufacturer that has propelled other big-name knife makers to huge professional and also financial success. But, when cheap copies started flooding out of China for a few bucks each, the deal fell through. Terry Guinn should have been the one to benefit financially and professionally from his innovative design. Instead, some sweatshop master in China is.
Our recently-banned CEO here says, "I don't see big difference between highly expensive original watches and their less expensive replicas..." Well, we could talk about the professional and financial damage they do to folks like Terry Guinn and Todd Beggs, but let's look beyond that for now. We could talk about the prison labor and sweatshops in which these products are often made, but let's look beyond that for now. We could talk about how these products are often traded for profit by organized crime and terroist groups including Al Qaeda, but let's look beyond that for now. We could talk about the quality of these goods and about the environmental damage that's done by manufacturing cheap goods in back-room factories, but let's look beyond that for now.
But, what's beyond all of that? What's beyond doing real damage to real, creative people, beyond prison and sweatshop labor, beyond financing organized crime and terrorism, and beyond environmental damage? I'll tell you what is beyond all of that: the damage these things do to your own character, your own morality. You are investing your own self-worth in a $200 fake Rolex. If that's what you think you're worth, then you are to be above all pitied. You know that patronizing these products is immoral, that it is stealing. Everyone knows that. You know that you're stealing from the designers and manufacturers of the originals just as surely as the man who pick-pockets your wallet is stealing from you. You've made yourself a petty thief. You know that these products come from sweatshops and prison labor, but you're willing to exploit those people so that you can have a fake bobble on your wrist. How immoral is that? The person who is most damaged by these products is YOU, the person who compromises his own morality to wear one.
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