Time for another facile PR stunt, Apple! Alternatively, how about sowing 0.01% of your cash back into these workers and demanding that the factory improve working and living conditions?
My understanding is that the only reason these jobs aren't automated already is because labor is cheaper. Unfortunately I think the alternative to a terrible job like working for Foxconn is no job at all for a lot of folks.
Well, it's coming, slowly. Must be China's nightmare?
Suicide is a tragedy and people should always do what they can to prevent it. However, it is also something that will always occur in some portion of the population, typically as the result of depression. We should not ignore the fact that the suicide rate in, for example, the United States is an order of magnitude higher than it is at Foxconn. Foxconn employs over 1.2 million people, so the number of suicides will a…
You should try reading the article next time -- this post has absolutely nothing to do with suicide rates. I guess your response is somewhat appropriate though. Like the company he worked for, you didn't even stop for a second to think of Xu as a human being, he was just a means to an end. In your case, that end being the collection free internet brownie points by posting a contrarian opinion.
Even ignoring the article, the only context for Foxconn most people in the world have (assuming they have any at all) is "suicide rate". That's it.
That's what the news media has always done: Turned things that were stories, be they true or be they false, into context, to be inserted subconsciously whenever certain keywords get mentioned.
This isn't an Apple thing, it is an Industry thing. > Major customers of Foxconn include or have included: Acer Inc. (Taiwan)[49] Amazon.com (United States)[12] Apple Inc. (United States)[50] BlackBerry Ltd. (Canada)[51] Cisco (United States)[52] Dell (United States)[53] Google (United States)[54] Hewlett-Packard (United States)[55] Microsoft (United States)[56] Motorola Mobility (United States)[53] Nintendo (Japan)[…
Installing nets isn't necessarily a terrible thing. Suicide is often impulsive and so suicide prevention often features mechanisms to reduce access to methods of suicide. Installing nets is one example. Of course, once you've retrieved someone from a net you need to give them access to other interventions and I'm guessing these are missing for Foxconn workers. Sadly, they're also missing for a bunch of people in diff…
At the same time, when people commit suicide at their workplace, it's often a message. If the suicide rate at the workplace is high enough that you need to install safety nets, it may be viable as an emergency measure, but it's a symptom of what should be considered a complete failure of management. Of course, if you consider your employees as cogs in the machine, it's only expected. Once you squeeze an orange sufficiently, no more juice comes out and you can discard its remains.
Suicide is a tragedy and people should always do what they can to prevent it. However, it is also something that will always occur in some portion of the population, typically as the result of depression. We should not ignore the fact that the suicide rate in, for example, the United States is an order of magnitude higher than it is at Foxconn. Foxconn employs over 1.2 million people, so the number of suicides will a…
You should try reading the article next time -- this post has absolutely nothing to do with suicide rates. I guess your response is somewhat appropriate though. Like the company he worked for, you didn't even stop for a second to think of Xu as a human being, he was just a means to an end. In your case, that end being the collection free internet brownie points by posting a contrarian opinion.
The second poem actually gives quite a bit of insight regarding his situation. Translation from Chinese to English is hard and much is lost in translation. I'll translate the following to prose as to minimize what's lost in the translation: 《冲突》 "Conflict" 他们都说 They all say 我是个话很少的孩子 I'm a child of few words 对此我并不否认 This I don't deny 实际上 But actually 我说与不说 Whether I speak or not 都会跟这个社会 With this society I'll still 发…
My translation, trying to preserve the imagery expressed in some of the characters and also the rhythm of poetry in Mandarin, 《冲突》 "Collision, Rushing to a" 他们都说 The people are always talking, speculating 我是个话很少的孩子 That I'm a man-child, a little bit morose, have little to show for in the discipline of twisting tongue 对此我并不否认 To their accusation I won't deny nor recant, 实际上 But I'll instead declare that in reality, (n…
Was the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi a selfish and cowardly act? Is it cowardly and selfish to continue using these products? Do you have any kind of exit strategy or utopian vision where everyone, even Foxconn workers can afford a fashionable new iPhone? In 100 years, we've gone from using slaves for labor to using machines built by wage slaves for labor, mostly because using slaves for labor makes us feel to…
I think his parents/siblings would have wished he had never committed suicide. Although it seems there is no end of politicians willing to ride on his act and use it as a source of legitimacy.
> I think his parents/siblings would have wished he had never committed suicide.
That seems selfish to me. He has to suffer so they don't have to?
Does poetry like this keep people from suicide or make it more likely? To focus on your grief, to not speak of it and then to bottle it up into poetry seems dangerous.
Suicide is a tragedy and people should always do what they can to prevent it. However, it is also something that will always occur in some portion of the population, typically as the result of depression. We should not ignore the fact that the suicide rate in, for example, the United States is an order of magnitude higher than it is at Foxconn. Foxconn employs over 1.2 million people, so the number of suicides will a…
You should try reading the article next time -- this post has absolutely nothing to do with suicide rates. I guess your response is somewhat appropriate though. Like the company he worked for, you didn't even stop for a second to think of Xu as a human being, he was just a means to an end. In your case, that end being the collection free internet brownie points by posting a contrarian opinion.
My intent was to supply a relevant perspective missing from the article. Each individual story of suicide is tragic. Xu Lizhi's poetry and perspective are extremely valuable in helping outsiders connect to the experience of depression, and in no way am I trying to undermine his experience or the reality of suicide.
To the extent that the article uses his story as a commentary on Foxconn as a company, however, it is important to provide broader context alongside the deeply personal experience. The underlying issues contributing to depression and suicide are universal, but it is easy to cast blame on specific contexts.