In response to a posting found on Google+. Here is what was found there (cleansed of names):
"...it’s not OK to brutalize people so that people in my timezone can pay less for electronic lifestyle baubles."
I couldn't have put it better.
This New York Times story, telling ugly stories of human suffering at Chinese outsourcers, isn't about Apple. It's pure politics and economics. It's Simple · The management of well-connect...
######## - If a worker is putting in 12 hours a day in a terrible Chinese factory for $0.80 an hour, it's only because it's a better alternative than putting in 16 hours a day on a Chinese farm making $0.50 an hour. Outlawing the $0.80/hour job is not a guarantor of a better job for the Chinese. It's only a guarantor of more Chinese unemployment.
10:21 AM
######## - Completely agree with you Reto! But Tim's views contradicts what Apple officials had to say about the situation! - http://allthingsd.com/20120126/most-people-would-be-disturbed-if-they-saw-where-their-iphone-comes-from/
10:38 AM (edited)
######## - No, +########, it's not OK to treat people like crap just because other people have even lousier lives. And if some particular electronic product can't be made at its current price without the kind of abuses described in the article, then it's current price is neither reasonable nor sustainable. I understand that this might be inconvenient for inhabitants of the developed world like you and me.
10:33 AM
######## - +######## Cultural relativism like that belies an underlying racism and a lack of respect for universal human rights. Would you stand for it if it were in Toronto or London, or Paris or NYC ?
If you were unemployed - would you take a job working 12 hours a day for $0.80 an hour and living completely under the boot of your employer ?
If you were unemployed - would you take a job working 12 hours a day for $0.80 an hour and living completely under the boot of your employer ?
10:46 AM
######## - TAL did a show about this recently --http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/454/mr-daisey-and-the-apple-factory, there's interesting links there.
10:59 AM
######## - I don't believe in some of the stuff Apple believes in, so I am yet to own a single piece of hardware/software from them. But is it hypocritical to oppose the values adopted by Apple while at the same time owning the "i"Products or Macs?
11:17 AM
######## - So which brand of phone CAN we buy in good conscience? Probably not HTC. Possibly not Samsung. Where are Nokia's Lumias made?
11:19 AM
######## - +######## that's a true dilemma but sometimes it takes an industry leader to "Think Different" and do what is good for humanity. You will be surprised by the impact it can have on the followers!
11:21 AM
######## - +######## Nokia has slowly moved production out of Europe and is intending to ‘concentrate production in China, India, South Korea and Brazil’. So hardly any better :/
11:35 AM
######## - +######## wow, sure didn't take long for someone to play the racism card. Ciao, I'm done with this convo.
3:06 PM
######## - +######## I guess we're helping those poor Chinese then ?
Just some of my thoughts...
I feel that this is not a racism issue. "Racism" and "the race card" are simply distractions. I think it is an issue that doesn't differentiate by skin color but instead by what border a person is born into. Until the globe is fully politically/financially integrated, nations of people will continue to face these issues and issues like them. We started integrating nearly a century a go, and have had great success in many regions.
The rest of the world will eventually catch up. Sadly, it may take decades more time. Also, I don't think even large corporations can have a significant impact on these issues directly. Change needs to be brought through the value systems of modern peoples which in turn causes changes in government regulations. Maybe some day soon, fear-mongering about "communists", "socialism", and "regulation" will subside enough in the US to where we can actually grow in these ways as a society and help usher in these changes globally as we've done in the past.
As far as China is concerned, I think the change is coming but its a big ship and it turns slowly. Castigating will only force Chinese leaders to stand strong against the change so as not to appear weak to the populous. The best we can do is hope for great leaders to emerge in the east to catalyze this change. Signs of this are already appearing. The Chinese people already show signs of being ready for such a leader and smaller test cases, if you will, are rising from out of the masses.
