Mike Daisey is right about not being a journalist, but that doesn't mean he's not influential.
When his tale about working conditions in Chinese consumer electronics factories exploded onto the headlines it raised awareness about the human effect of the products we buy every day. Despite the exaggerations and fabrications in Daisey's version of the narrative, the reality is that China has a manufacturing advantage over the United States because of generally poor working conditions and low pay.
The flexibility and responsiveness that Apple likes to tout from its Chinese suppliers comes from having tens of thousands of workers living in crowded dorms adjacent to the factory that can be pulled in day or night and put to work. That sort of behavior would never be tolerated here and should not be tolerated in China. Cranking up production of a new phone or tablet is simply not so important that humans need to be abused in this way.
The blowback against Daisey's actions may well inoculate companies like Apple, HP and Dell as well as suppliers like Foxconn so that people ignore the problem that is all too real.
#China #chinesefactories #apple #foxconn #mikedaisey
Reshared post from +Dan Gillmor
Mike Daisey "undermined the cause he purported to advance. That's the real scandal."
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Worse Than Kony2012: The Tragedy of Mike Daisey's Lies About China
American
consumers can't do much for Central Africa or Afghanistan, but they
have real power to improve Chinese labor abuses. Will they be less
inclined to believe the next person who tells them ho…
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I don't know.
My feeling is that although the general public has a basic sense of the poor working conditions in China, and a possibly unfair association with Apple specifically, almost no one outside of tech enthusiasts has heard this bit about Mike Daisey's embellishments. So while he may have undermined the cause, it may have been to a negligible degree.
By the way, I saw a performance he gave in Cambridge, MA about the relationship between Edison and Tesla and came away thinking he was a talented genius.
He's sort of a more serious stand up comedian, I suppose.