It is quite easy to conjure up pity and concern while listening to Mike Daisey talk about the labor conditions at Foxconn and other factories in the Chinese “Special Economic Zone” of Shenzhen. You listen to the stories, the hardships. You picture the faces of the men, women, and children who are forced into subpar labor conditions by the cruel corporate officers as they send line after line of technological thingamajigs into production. You think of the seventeen or so people who jumped off of those factory buildings because they just couldn’t take it anymore.
Then you go on your iPhone and check Facebook.
Clearly, the conditions in Foxconn are not good. Clearly, it is not wrong to feel sorry for the workers and to wish for an improved situation. You can blame Foxconn. You can blame Apple. You can even blame the ‘materialism’ of the West in the abstract. But don’t forget the gadget sitting in your own pocket as you read this. It is far too easy to give “the suits” a lot of flak about their mistreatment of the labor force as a means of deflecting any personal blame.
I don’t think Daisey’s desire to see certain reforms in the labor conditions of Shenzhen factories is unreasonable. In an increasingly globalized society, we absolutely need individuals like Daisey to push for small changes that, when done in conjunction with one another, improve the state of humanity. The problem, however, is bigger than a single “Special Economic Zone” halfway across the planet. When we live and actively participate in a society that possesses little more than a superficial conscience, we reap the harvest of our values. One walk through “Phone Story” makes that all too clear.
Is there a solution? As I type away on my Apple MacBook Pro, I know I sure haven’t found one. Not yet, at least. We can keep pointing fingers and chasing labor laws here and there for as long as we would like, and many people will be just fine. But that route will never touch the heart of the matter – or, should I say, the hearts of the matter. The hearts of people dictate the progress of our race and the treatment of our fellows. There will be no end to the exploitation of human beings while we treasure our things more than our neighbors.