"Made in China"

This label, "Made in China," seems to be placed on the large majority of American possessions. Ever since I was a little kid, I have noticed the label and used to make a game out of trying to find which of my possessions were not made in China. There were always very few, and as I grew older, I began to realize what that actually meant. Despite having always known that most of American goods are made under poor conditions in other countries, I have (like most Americans) never done anything about it. I continue to buy goods that I know were made under these circumstances. I genuinely feel bad about this and am aware of it every time I buy an item such as an Apple product, and yet I still buy them.

Thus, very little in the radio piece and the article surprised me except for the extremity of the situation. I was particularly struck by the image of so many people lining up to talk to a complete stranger about the company just because he was willing to listen. When people are that determined to talk, it usually means they seldom get to and feel that what they have to say is important, and it definitely was. I found Mr. Daisey's experience to be particularly fascinating because he made it all so real; it almost felt as if you were there with him experiencing all of this. Which really helps drive his point home effectively. While I can understand the reason companies do this instead of making more products in the United States, I find it very frustrating that the heads of companies like Apple seldom stop to think about the actual people involved and how inhumane their policies really are.

Yet, the issue I struggle with is that despite being incredibly frustrated by such terrible working conditions and wanting to make that not the case, I realize that I will still probably buy Apple products in my lifetime. So I find that the main trouble with this American imperialism of sorts is that we Americans can get easily aggravated by horror stories such as Mr. Dailey's, but we instantly begin to feel that there is nothing we can do about it. We are often told that we can boycott those companies or start/sign petitions against it and other such things, and yet when we do these things, we see no result. We cannot help but wonder whether it will really make Apple, a company with millions and millions of customers, change its policies if we personally decide not to buy an iPod. It's this lack of clear results from our actions that I believe tends to cause our complete lack of action even when most people would agree that the working policies of many major companies are morally wrong.

Comments

[Liz R.]

I feel that your point about feeling this great sense of anger about this situation, but lack of effort to make a difference, is an American epidemic. We have this false sense of the global world. We all know things are made in China, yet as you state, we simply do not see that there is anything we can essentially do about it. I also think we also have this sense of finding it to be in another country and therefore it is another country’s problem. This is in fact helps no one in the end.It will not be until something very horrible and dramatic happens to someone of our own country that people will really start to harness or care for the horrendous situation in China. I really did appreciate this article and comedy skit and I think it will truly change my perception on technology. I do not think we are doomed and I think there is still time for change.