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Apple’s the pits: Mike Daisey exposes our favorite tech company
photo by StephSupr (Flickr CC)
American monologist Mike Daisey visited a factory in Shenzhen, China where Apple products are manufactured and then wrote a monologue about his experiences there, combined with details on the life of Apple’s late founder, Steve Jobs.
Now, many Apple fans – and there are many, many Apple fans – speak of Steve Jobs as if he is a great philosopher, superman or even god, rather than a creative businessman who made a hell of a lot of money in the usual ways people make a hell of a lot of money. I mean he made products that people like, but he also withheld technology, manufactured overseas at very low cost, and charged a lot for his designer gadgets.
When Jobs died there was a huge public outpouring, with zillions of Facebook posts and Tweets eulogizing this silicon messiah.
But was he such a great guy? Was he even a good one? And can’t we like products without thinking the CEO of the company that makes the products we like is a wonderful person and role model, especially if those products are made with what is tantamount to slave labor?
Well, I’m not going to harp on about this much more, but I would encourage you all to watch these video interviews of Mike Daisey’s visit to China. I also encourage you to visit Daisey’s website and check out this article in the Guardian about his open source approach to his script, ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs’.
Here is Mike Daisey being interviewd on MSNBC’s The EdShow:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
And on Real Time with Bill Maher:
Tags: Apple, China, Mike Daisey, monologist, Steve Jobs
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Unfortunately people admire rich and powerful people. And to become rich and powerful you have to be pretty shitty to humans, animals and nature.
Seriously, not that I wanted to sound ruthless but when every body was giving tribute to Mr. Jobs after his death, I never felt moved or somehow affected by it..I feel this way coz we’re quite aware what was happening behind those breakthroughs, a big controversy of child labor is attached to that…It’s hard to consider a person an icon or a hero if somehow in his seemingly noble objective is contradicting his actions….Perhaps who will read this comment might hate me but I will say this, I appreciate the technology but I will never be beholden to it as if I owe it to Mr. Jobs coz with or without it life will still go on…He’s not a messiah, He’s just a businessman with a great product..
A businessman is always concern about his product and to yield high by spending low…. I believe Mike Daisey that this mass child labor really takes place….I have a cousin who was send to China for missionary work inside an Orphanage and when the kids turned 10 depending how the child matures enough, soon the kid will get start working in a factory. Some missionary’s works is to look for someone who will adopt a kid to prevent them from working.
So many heart breaking stories that you’ll be thankful enough that you were born from this other side of the world..
almost all companies have ride on to this disturbing bandwagon of out-sourcing. Out- sourcing is ok , Philippines has it ,ex. call centers, but the way of totally killing and depleting the job source in your place that even at the back of your mind says that there will be someone’s right that will be violated but still bites on to China’s cheapest labor , You are nothing but just a certified BUSINESSMAN