The über-popular weekly public radio show This American Life does an entire show on Apple’s factory situation in China. Ira Glass gets Mike Daisey to take listeners on a trip through the world of Apple’s factories with an excerpt of Daisey’s one-man show The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. Then, once the excerpt is over, Glass talks about Daisey’s findings with a couple of journalists and professionals, trying to corroborate Daisey’s story. The findings are pretty amazing.
If there’s one thing that you should listen to today, it’s this radio episode. It’s amazing, and it sheds light on a lot of things that are currently happening in the factories where Apple gets its products made: Foxconn. They talk about things that we should be a lot more concerned about, things that we should actually be doing something about. Listen to this episode. I mean, actually listen to it.
Listen to Mr. Daisey And The Apple Factory on This American Life
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Listened to it today (as a podcast on my iPhone). I was stunned. Had to sit down and think about it for quite awhile. Almost moved this 50-year-old macho guy to tears.
We are so screwed.
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LikePetition is here -- http://www.thepetitionsite.com/5/Tell-Apple-To-Hold-Itself-To-Higher-Standards/
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LikeIt seems that a number of people are viewing this as an apple "hit piece" and retorting with semantics about who owns the factory.
If you listen to the story, you'll find that the point of it isn't an attack on apple, dell, microsoft or any other company who contracts with Foxconn, but the guy telling the story is extremely disappointed.
Mike Daisey loves apple products and expected that apple would show the same attention to detail and process to their manufacturing partners that they do their devices. The reason for the focus on apple is that Mike has no problem believing that dell would submit to these conditions, but he holds apple to a higher standard, corporately as well as with their products.
Apple is not establishing these factories, nor are they solely responsible for them. However, a company that is renowned for attention to detail was pleading ignorance about the working conditions of the people building the products we enjoy, even while there were suicides and mass health issues.
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LikeThis episode felt like a punch to the gut. While enjoying the beginning of my lunch hour today I simultaneously listened to the podcast on my iPhone and played a game on my iPad, but was shortly forced to re-think everything in my field of vision. At the end of the podcast I returned to my non-Apple computer and wondered how many hands touched all of these devices I take for granted.
I also wondered if the town was better off growing their own rice and living their simple lives. Is this progress or is it ruining a simpler way of life?
So much food for thought.
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LikeI often joke about selling all my technology and moving to a cabin in the woods. I think this stuff just had me move one step closer to realizing that reality.
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LikeNo.
Not Apple factories. Foxcomm and companies that supply and assenble for Apple.
Did you actually listen?
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LikeYou're kidding right? Foxconn is responsible for manufacturing a majority of consumer electronics, including Apple's products. Did you even listen?
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