Prayer of the Refugee

Alright, so, a second Rise Against post.

This song, Prayer of the Refugee is one of Rise Against's most popular songs. It is basically the song that got them on the radio and into a more mainstream environment. I, being an original fan of the band, was actually happy when they started gaining success because it meant that more people are listening to what I think is proper decent music. Anyway, that's not the point, the point is that this video, despite being quite popular, still holds the band's beliefs intact. The video for this song depicts the band walking though a "warehouse" of goods, not unlike a certain store that many people would be familiar with. In one of the scenes of the video it can be seen in the background that the store is called the "All-American Home Center", which is an interesting name. The idea that all of the products in the store are made in America is quite a silly one, considering how common "Made in China" products are. The video then goes to show different products being made from outsourced labor. It shows little kids and foreigners packaging and making goods like candy, toys, jeans, and soda. All of which are products that are extremely common and are seen every day. Later in the video, they are all seen putting "Made in USA" stickers on the products, emphasizing the lies that are made to cover up the toil of these workers. The video then ends with all of the band members destroying televisions, and various items throughout the store. Once the destruction is complete, the camera pans back to show that the wreckage spells out "FAIR TRADE". The video asks the audience if their lofty living is worth the overworking and underpaying of outsourced labor. Tim McIlrath, the lead singer of Rise Against, in an interview about the video said, "What we wanted to get across in this video, is the fact that traditional business models are flawed, in the sense that the price that we pay for products does not actually reflect the price of production of these products. These are prices that are kept low through various human rights violations". And, well, that's the question. Would people give up their comfort to help others? Is it wrong to say no to this? And most importantly: are human rights really existant, or are they simply for those who have a good enough position in society?