STEPHEN FRY

Actually this is fairly standard for most large sweatshop-esque companies in China. 60% of the population is uneducated and works on the farm or in such companies. Yet such harsh conditions don't keep us from consuming the millions of items made in China.

And in actuality 100 euro per month goes a long long way in China. Having just gotten back from 8 days in Beijing, I found $100 USD can more than last 8 days. And that's including my being touristy.

True it's a travesty that the country isn't more developed and that the government doesn't keep the best interest of it's citizens in mind but it's certainly not the shocking dark truth behind the iPad. It's the dark truth behind...well...a bloody lot of things.

I have to agree with IdeaCollector. Yes, it is a travesty, and in an ideal world, we can and would boycott any such product that was conceived in those conditions. But we're not. We're human beings, and moreover, we're consumers. We consume that which we love, and many of us love the technology and products, no matter where they were made.

The sweat shops are nothing new (ahem, Nike). Rest assured, by not actively doing anything (protest, boycott, etc) I am not condoning their actions, but it's just one of those things where I am aware of what's happening there, but I don't let it disrupt my life because of it. Call me what you will if you like.

Those percentages on raises aren't about the actual working conditions for these folks. And raising two cents, or two pounds, by 70% isn't really much of a raise in comparison to say in broader terms, the West.

The workers who have been vocal, and remember that's not exactly a culturally encouraged thing there ( Tia' square anyone? ) to do, report on being terribly bullied and threatened constantly if they are too tired from working long hours, to pulling more over-time. It's the job *environment* that is so abusive.

The Comm propaganda machine and authorities are usually very, very good at preventing the footage or news of the many 'riots' that go on in China from being 'leaked' out to the rest of us. The little bit you hear, here or there, is much smaller than what goes on. I only know this because I dig around on it sometimes myself.

Being a 'consumer', btw, USED TO BE considered an insult prior to the 1950's. 'Consumption' was the polite way of saying someone had Cancer. "He/she died of consumption."

Now it's not just cancer that consumption is associated with. And consumption, or being a consumer as we understand it, still does kill people.

But large corps have the money and time to market and do public relations work that relates consumption of their products as positive, by convincing consumers that they are 'cool', 'trendy', 'with the times', 'intelligent' etc etc for buying stuff. Kind of like trying to be a unique individual by buying t-shirts at The Gap

I don't know what or if there is an 'answer'...for myself, I have stopped buying certain products and won't continue again until some corporate and international policy changes are made that don't require the death or exploitation of other human beings. And I don't care if I'm in the minority in this regard.

Thanks for posting those links. I've noticed the apple pr machine is trying to counteract the growing shock of its fans about the foxconn worker problems.

So apple says their policy is to monitor worker hours, they do audits etc etc. That is NOT the same as an external, objective company doing audits on employee working conditions. I'll leave it to you to figure out why that may be true.

My philosophy is one of wether one is ignorant or not on an abuse of other human beings. When you're unaware, you're innocent. Once you're made aware, you're complicit if you continue funding the enterprise. Rationalization is a weak form of personal decision making imnsho. I think a lot of it comes down to how necessary a thing really is, versus how necessary it's percieved to be. It's not necessary to buy Nike shoes. It's not. There's no way in the world you can justify the purchase as necessary.

If it's a matter of food, or food affordability, one must eat. That is a necessity. Nobody can say eating isn't. Or that shelter isn't. Or clean water. But when you start getting into accessories, well, I think we have less wiggle room ethically.