CNN investigates Foxconn iPad factory conditions, Apple responds:
A new report features a woman who works 60 hours per week assembling iPad components in China, though she has never seen a full iPad in person.
(Via www.appleinsider.com)
I know a lot of American workers in cubicles who work 60 hours a week and haven’t seen the product their company produces. So what’s your point, CNN?
All kidding aside, conditions in China are pretty horrible. But parading out individuals and making it look like a specific Apple issue is a little Reality TV-kitschy, even for CNN. CNN isn’t interested in getting at the truth here; they’re jumping on a bandwagon to get more clicks. This is the problem with journalism in the 21st century. Even our most “trusted” sources like the New York Times, institutions that are supposed to have high standards, follow, rather than lead. They give us what we want to hear, instead of providing us with the facts we need to form legitimate opinions.
Read this, and then this, and then we can have a talk about China. (And keep in mind that Paul Krugman is by anyone’s standards a liberal.)
I’m not saying I agree with everything in those two articles, but it did make me think there’s a lot more to this than just having companies pull out of China, or worse to have us impose American ideals on those cultures.
Like most things in the modern world, this is a complex issue. You can’t boil it down to one company, or assume that any one organization can fix it. But that’s easier, so that’s what we do. Once we push the blame and responsibility onto someone else, we can all feel better about ourselves without having to actually do anything meaningful. As if not buying a new iPhone this year is going to make anyone in China’s life better.
