I generally have a stack of CDs on my desk that I need to listen to. Some of them are for pleasure listening; some of them are albums to possibly write up; some of them are research for upcoming interviews. The stack is always there. I listen to them here and there while I’m working on projects, but I can’t listen to music when I’m writing, and if I’m at the desk, I’m generally writing. I find that the best time to listen to them is while I’m driving. Today, however, was not one of those times. I forgot to grab a CD on the way out the door and found that I didn’t have any in the car, so, NPR it was. Twenty minutes later, when I arrived in downtown Santa Cruz, my heart was aching and my mind was racing. My gadgets, my computers, my phones, and all that other stuff that makes my life convenient and connected and instantaneous, is the cause of an unbearable, inexcusable amount of suffering and inhumanity.
The fact that my gadgets are the end product of a long line of physical, emotional and mental torture is not something that I didn’t already know. I know about Chinese factory conditions and worker suicides and 14 hour work days and workers not being allowed to leave. And yet I’ve made myself dependent on my gadgets. Yes, I could take off to a mountain or island, get off the grid and live happily ever after with my love (don’t think the idea hasn’t crossed my mind), but the reality is that I am constantly using gadgets to write, connect, network, email editors, call interviewees, arrange my calendar, keep track of my contacts and on and on. My life, as I now know it, hinges on gadgets.
That’s why the story that I heard was so horrifying. When I tuned in, it was halfway over and I had to wait until I got home to listen to the archived version on my computer (oh, the bitter irony).
The story is this: a guy named Mike Daisey visited an Apple factory in China. He talked to workers, he saw the dorms, he listened to stories. How was he able to do this? He passed himself off as an American businessman. He then created a one-man stage show about his experience. What I heard on NPR was an excerpt of the show, reworked for radio and performed in front of a live audience. It is powerful, insightful, smart, emotional and horrifying. It is, I think, essential listening for anyone who has a computer, or smartphone or ipad or the like.
I haven’t figured out how to remedy the conflict between my dependence on gadgets and the horrors behind their production. How can Apple (and plenty of other companies) stand behind this? How much would our gadgets cost if they weren’t put together by enslaved workers? Isn’t the sacrificing of human life, dignity and well-being too high a price to pay? It’s a hard thing to think about, but having a day ruined with the truth is a valuable thing.
Take a listen and let me know what you think.
Mr. Daisy and the Apple Factory
Props to Ira Glass for bringing the show to NPR for us all to hear.
Posted on January 8, 2012
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