I am an IBM user. But it is just a fluke of my technological education. Had I first been introduced to computer
technology through the Macintosh, I would be an Apple lover I’m sure. I don’t
own an iPhone or an iPad. Not because of any ethical stance or loyalty to
another brand, but because I’m broke and making myself use what I have. I’ve
envied my colleagues who've used Apple products for decades. So cool, so sexy. Even
now, there are all those apps that can be downloaded and no more paper files to
carry from meeting to meeting.
I first I heard about the human rights violations in China from Mr. Daisey.
Like Steve Jobs and Apple, I ignored him. Then I read a full expose in The New York Times here, which was followed
by this
in the L.A. Times and this in The Guardian. I was initially surprised
to hear that Apple’s manufacturing plants in China were so deplorable. I don’t
know why I associated Apple with earth friendly and humanitarian issues. Maybe it
was because Steve Jobs seemed like a New Age man, with his eye well into the 21st
century. My husband, a scientist, tells me I shouldn’t be surprised because
Research (which Jobs headed) is totally separate from Manufacturing (which I
suppose is headed by someone else). Jobs may or may not have known about what was
happening, but from a scientist’s perspective, my husband assures me, one can understand why
Jobs would be oblivious.
I have many, many friends and
colleagues who are loyal and devoted Apple users, and my intention is not to
deny them their tools. But when Guy Debord writes about the future of
capitalism manifesting itself in the spectacle of technology, where we appear
more connected but are actually more alienated (from the conditions of others
around the world?), the strange paradox he points out is not so strange after
all. What is going on in China is no different from the Western Imperial
impulse of the 19th century to bring spices, teas, silks, gold, as well as beautiful and refined objects home to the mother country. This time, though, it’s Technological Colonialism,
where we mine for abstract human effort rather than raw materials to make the
objects we find so awesome.
Jobs’ genius was to show us
the beautiful and aesthetic qualities of his technological innovations, to make
us think that beauty and pleasure reside in technology. Like a hard gem-like flame that
hangs in front of our eyes, Jobs' rhetoric of aestheticism mystifies and
seduces. I’m not asking that people give up their Apple gadgets (as though it
were even possible), but that we should at least think about the global cost of
our avant-garde sensibilities. Ultimately, it will be the Apple devotees who
make the difference.
