Did you read the NY Times article on Apple?
I just finished reading the article on Apple, and it certainly made me think about my future purchasing decisions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html?pagewanted=all
What is your opinion?
by
atd15
asked 4 months ago
Very intriguing article. It is sad that loss of human lives seem to be a typical casualty in the corporate machine. As a consumer, often it is purchasing something that is the lesser of two evils. Unless you are equipped to research the latest audits and reports for each company you purchase from, your hands are tied to rely on faith that the corporations you choose do their due diligence and follow through on safety, make corrections based on audits and learn from other company disasters.
I'm no Apple defender by any stretch, but if you look at who else contracts with some of these assembly firms in China, you'd have a hard time trying to buy electronics and avoid products built by cheap/dangerous labor in China.
@dcalotta: I agree. I guess because of Apples price point and history, I expected them to be a little more "ethical" than their competitors.
@dcalotta: Agreed. Foxconn and their competitors in China make everything for everyone, not just Apple. It's a hugely complex issue that won't be solved by rethinking your purchases. You'd have to stop buying anything made of plastic, and that would just be the first step. The conditions in those factories are terrible, but it's up to the workers and the companies buying from them to demand safer conditions. You could get a million people to stop buying their stuff and it wouldn't make a dent.
I haven't read the article, but I recently listened to a This American Life podcast titled "Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory."
It did not paint a very flattering picture of the conditions at the factories. Human life is worth so little over there that it is cheaper to build things by hand than to automate.
It makes me want to buy American whenever I can (which isn't often.)
The fact of the matter is that most "things" that we buy in America are produced using slave labor. Most people wouldn't be able to live in the lifestyle that television and magazines tell us we should if they weren't. That this is a surprise to so many people is the amazing part, what with all the racing to the bottom we see around woot.com and its subsidiary sites every day alone. Hell, the products sold at walmart are the epitome of slave labor subsidizing American consumptive habits and there are walmart "deals" on this site every day that people eat up. People talk all day about how they would love to buy American but when confronted with the reality of the marketplace, the bottom line is all that really matters to most people.
If given the opportunity, would you all vote for a no-importation of "blood"-electronics act?
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