Pharaoh

I wanted to respond to the article about Apple in the New York Times.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hpw. )

8000 workers in dormitories being woken up, fed biscuits and tea, and sent on a 12 hour shift in order to turn over new product –sounds like slavery.

I’m in no position to know if the labor practices at Apple are just as bad as everyone else. And I don’t understand economics.

So why pick on Apple?

It’s about power, image, and the power of image in our advanced capitalist system. About this I am in a position to know, no less than anyone else. You know what you like and dislike when you see it.

Apple cares only about Apple.

Apple makes itself ubiquitous.

Apple pretends to be “progressive” and “transformative.”

Apple perfects the manufacture of desire.

Apple is iconic and shiny.

You can’t boycott capitalism, but you don’t need to eat it.

Anyway, it’s easy enough for me to say. I never really wanted a Mac, an iPod, an iPhone, or an iPad and certainly don’t want to buy one now.

About zjb

Zachary Braiterman is Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University. His specialization is modern Jewish thought and philosophical aesthetics. http://religion.syr.edu
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2 Responses to Pharaoh

  1. Francis says:

    Apple is the fruit we should have never eaten, today and then. But I guess it was just a “forbidden fruit,” and not specifically an apple. @ “You can’t boycott capitalism.”–god I hope that’s not the case, it’s all we’ve got.

  2. Gregory (now I can haunt you from afar) says:

    Will you throw away everything you own that was made in China? Can you imagine what those workers were doing ten years ago?

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