so, I was right

...about the Apple-Mike Daisey thing. I mean you've got Ira Glass bending himself into pretzels to defend the working conditions at factories where workers threatened mass suicide, and every story is about the meaningless Mike Daisey metanarrative and not about the actual scandal of such horrid working conditions. Fact: this reaction exists the way it exists because liberal yuppies care more about their Apple gizmos than they do about working conditions for Chinese laborers. Just true, folks.

Update: Per the transcript:

Charles Duhigg: More than half of the workers whose records are examined are working more than 60 hours per week.
Ira Glass: Now, is that necessarily so bad? I mean, aren’t a lot of these workers moving to the city to work as many hours as possible? They’re away from their families; they’re young; and they’re there to make money and they don’t care.
Charles Duhigg: That’s exactly right.

Would Ira Glass ever allow his children, when grown, to work 60 hours a week? In those factories? In those conditions? Of course not. But then, his children are going to grow up and be decent liberals who buy organic and feel guilty when they hang out with black people. Chinese factory workers, well, they were put on earth to make shiny electronics for us all to enjoy. They aren't real people, in the way someone you meet around the office at NPR is a real person.

Update II:


Anonymous said...

Freddie, I'm all for you trolling the center-left, but it's unfair for you to not to include the portion where Ira faces those conditions.

Ira Glass: Well, now like, when you say it like that, suddenly I feel bad again, but okay, yeah. [laughter]

Charles Duhigg: I don't know whether you should feel bad, right? I mean—

Ira Glass: But, but finish your thought.

Charles Duhigg: Should you feel bad about that? I don't know, that's for you to judge, but I think the the way to pose that question is… do you feel comfortable knowing that iPhones and iPads and, and other products could be anufactured in less harsh conditions, but that these harsh conditions and perpetuate because of an economy that you are—

Ira Glass: Right.

Charles Duhigg: —supporting with
your dollars.

Ira Glass: Right. I am the direct beneficiary of those harsh conditions.

Charles Duhigg: You're not only the direct beneficiary; you are actually one of the reasons why it exists. If you made different choices, if you demanded different
conditions, if you demanded that other people enjoy the same work protections that you yourself enjoy, then, then those conditions would be different overseas.

Update III: Read Aaron Bady. I can't really handle this right now. All I know is that no one who really believes in the equal value, dignity, and importance of the lives of these workers could possibly justify Apple's actions, or act as if they are less important than Mike Daisey.