unraveled also

I’m really thinking maybe I shouldn’t have yelled at that Chinese guy so much
A blog post by Fake Steve Jobs
I actually debated including this with the other articles I read this week. Yes, I did read it, but like most of the content from this blog, I find it somewhat risky to endorse. It’s often pretty tough to discern what this author’s point of view is beyond lampooning Steve Jobs, and in this particular post, he touches on some issues that are profoundly disturbing. Here’s a quote that gets to the point:

“We all know that there’s no f****** way in the world we should have microwave ovens and refrigerators and TV sets and everything else at the prices we’re paying for them. There’s no way we get all this stuff and everything is done fair and square and everyone gets treated right. No way. And don’t be confused — what we’re talking about here is our way of life. Our standard of living. You want to “fix things in China,” well, it’s gonna cost you. Because everything you own, it’s all done on the backs of millions of poor people whose lives are so awful you can’t even begin to imagine them, people who will do anything to get a life that is a tiny bit better than the shitty one they were born into, people who get exploited and treated like shit and, in the worst of all cases, pay with their lives. You know that, and I know that. Okay? Let’s just be honest here. Just for a f******* minute, let’s all be honest. This time it’s getting to me. It really is. For a long time I couldn’t stop crying. Since then I’ve just been sitting in my office with the blinds shut. I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s why I wasn’t on the earnings call today. I’m just numb. I’m asking myself, Is this really worth it? Is this what I want to do with my life? Can I live with myself?”

First, the author is absolutely right. It’s irresponsible of us to critique China without facing the repercussions of the moral and ethical standard we demand: fewer things that cost more. I want to say that I’m willing to accept that, but typing such a sentiment on my year-old MacBook seems naive at best, disingenuous at worst. Still, it’s a fact that if we must accept sacrifice if we are to expect progress. The second portion of the quote is the disturbing piece. Fake Steve Jobs describes what I assume he expects Real Steve Jobs to feel in light of the suicide of a Chinese factory employee who misplaced an iPhone prototype. The insinuation is that the monolithic force of Apple values the bottom line more than the lives of those it depends upon for that bottom line. Ultimately that is probably true, and confronting that truth should not simply put fear in the hearts of Apple execs, but also in all of us who support the dominance and ubiquity of the Apple brand by enthusiastically buying more and more of their products. So what do we do? Well, for starters, we ask the same questions: “Is this really worth it? Is this what we want to do with our lives and the lives of others? Can we live with ourselves?”

Well, can you?