TenMillionPixels

Excerpt from This American Life #454 Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory

From time to time, I have lauded the power of This American Life, the extremely popular NPR radio show and podcast. While the program expresses a clear bias that they make no attempts to hide, and while I certainly do not agree with all of their subject matter and reporting methods, I always love the production quality and sense of drama. 

This week’s podcast deals with something that has been in the news a bit recently. I first heard of the Foxconn factory on The Daily show in a segment in which Jon Stewart learned of working conditions and high suicide rates at the Shenzhen factory. It was, of course, humorous and pretty light, while simultaneously piquing my interest in the subject. Andria told me, having heard the This American Life radio broadcast, that I should catch the podcast for an in-depth, powerful story about the Shenzhen factory and its relationship with Apple products. 

The episode, which is streaming free on TAL’s website and free to download on iTunes, is incredible. It is primarily a monologue from Mike Daisey, an Apple lover who has had a deep relationship with Apple products for years. After seeing iPhone photos from inside an Asian Apple factory, Daisey decided that he, having seen images of people and working conditions, wanted to understand where Apple products come from and who was responsible for building the products. 

The story unfolds with drama and pathos, and it would take a truly hardened individual to not be moved by the words that construct Daisey’s story. Daisey details his journey to China, his interviews with over-worked factory laborers, and his posing as a businessman in order to tour the despicable working conditions and living quarters. He details the abysmal conditions, the 16 hour days, the robot-like manner in which the workers carry out their tasks, and the nets placed around the roof lines of buildings to catch numerous desperate workers that jump to their death. It is, by all means, fascinating and dramatic material.

Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows of my long time disdain for Apple. My feelings for the company have softened over time, going from a seething spite that drove my will to undermine their business in any way possible, to a mere flicker of dislike that now rarely saps any of my mental energy. However, I still oppose Apple’s business model for the same reasons I always have; I just don’t expend the same energy ranting about it as I used to. To be clear, my opposition to Apple has never encompassed manufacturing conditions. Instead, I’ve always focused on the software; the draconian policies of locked-down devices; the disposable iItems that are meant to empty your wallet and occupy your attention span just long enough until the next generation arrives and parts you with your five hundred bucks; and the polished, marketing heavy image of Apple’s status as the savior of technology. But I digress— you’ve heard it all before, and it’s no more interesting to you now than it was then. In defense of Apple, this story of manufacturing in Shenzhen is not just about iProducts. There is a line early on in Daisey’s monologue in which he says that Shenzhen is “a city of 14 million people, it is larger than New York City, depending on how you count it it is the third largest city in all of China, it is the place where almost all of your crap comes from.” This story isn’t so much about Apple— though Daisey discusses iCrap throughout the story— as much as it is just about consumerism and foreign manufacturing.

Yes, I own an iPod— nay, two iPods. Yes, I have owned three or four more that broke down; yes, I own them because I feel like I must have 80GB of music with me at all times to pump into my ears at my own whimsy. But just because I don’t have an iPhone, iPad, or iMac does not make me less guilty of the issues highlighted in Daisey’s story. I have a Sony Vaio, undoubtedly manufactured in Shenzhen or a similar place. I have a Subaru which was more than likely built in crappy factories in Asia. I have a brand new Arcteryx Gore-Tex jacket manufactured in China— maybe Shenzhen as well. My bike frame is Taiwanese. My cell phone comes from China. My film scanner was built in China. My kitchen appliances were built in China.

Our modern, comfortable world quite possibly is made possible only because of the exploitation and poor treatment of individuals in these manufacturing centers in Asia.

Yeah, I preach buying local and US made crap. But I don’t practice it, by any means. I went snowboarding the other day and decided I need new pants; I’m going to buy some from Holden (more than likely made in China, though Holden is slightly more ethics conscious a company than most). I rode my bike in the rain today and decided I need to buy some Marmot Gore-Tex pants. My Yamaha XS650 is Asia-manufactured, and many parts I’ll buy for the chop project are certainly Asian made. 

Clearly, listening to a podcast about poor Asian working conditions, writing about my feelings on the subject, and then claiming I’m going to do better in the future to boycott offending, unethical companies, is not actually going to change anything. I’ve been considering this idea all week: that it’s nearly impossible to really make change these days. SOPA and PIPA have been temporarily stifled, and the MPAA and RIAA have been bested by the ire of the internet that yearns to be free. But it doesn’t change the fact that congressmen are in bed with corporate America (including the MPAA and RIAA), and that Senators like Harry Reid and Howard Berman are taking money to destroy free press and free internet. What the fuck will it take for us to hold congressmen responsible for their actions? Sure, the RIAA and MPAA are brimming with greedy assholes that do their best to improve profits and think only of their bottom line, no matter the cost to liberty; but then, that is their job. Executives, lobbyists, and other tools of corporate America are just symptoms of the problem. Attacking them is like treating a cold by blowing your nose. The real problem lies in congress and the federal government. And, in the end, the real problem lies in the laziness of constituents and citizens who continue to elect the fucking boneheads and self serving corrupt individuals. Likewise, boycotting Apple or other manufacturers that exploit workers in order to fill consumer’s waiting hands with more shit they don’t need will not actually change the system that accepts that consumers continue to consume more and more shit they don’t need. Once again, it is just a symptom of the greater problem— that we live in a society that seeks happiness from material goods. Apple, Foxconn, and Shenzhen factories are at fault; but, so is every single person who decided they just had to have that new iCrap, and will more than likely have to have the next generation of iCrap.

In the end, while I laud This American Life’s story this week and its emotional expose, I do not in any way think that it is going to cause change, even in the smallest amount. That being said, I highly recommend that you all give it a listen. The clip I’ve posted here is just a sliver of the dramatic story that the podcast details.