the dehumanisation of production

Posted by nicolaas on 2 October 2011 | 1 Comments

Tags: production, china, apple, i-phones, smart phones,

I was watching the video below.  It is about a comedian and actor, Mike Daisey, who discusses technology in his shows. He seems rather eloquent.

He sings praises to new technology, such as i-phones, but then explores the dehumanising conditions under which a lot of these products are made. It made me think. Imagine we had the opportunity to meet the people who worked on products  we purchase.  Imagine we could meet the Japanese engineers who constructed our cars, the Thai fishermen who caught our squid, the Portuguese potter who made our crockery. As you know, this opportunity only exists for very few products.  

In contrast, what if we found out that a person died or these producers worked in slave-like conditions to create our car, catch our squid or throw our tea cup? Would we still enjoy our product?  I guess we all know that these facts are hidden from us because we all know the answer: knowing how stuff is made is bad for business.

Now, let's make a funny leap. We may say that the Chinese should change their world - that it is up to them to decide on production methods - and so on.  That child labour is supposed to create a middle class in China, or whatever.  I wonder about this  - because it is this middle class who has created this ultra-capitalist system. It is this middle class that fuels the international trade in body parts of endangered species such as rhinoceros horns, elephant tusks and shark fins.  Yes - it is up to China to choose its destiny - but by integrating commerce with them - we become an integral part of this abusive system.

This may sound a bit like an anti-China rant and I should say that this applies to any part of the world where factories operate under deprived conditions. Furthermore, the main point of this entry is to make the link between "i dont care how it is produced" consumption patterns and a detoriation of our own world.