I’ve been following Mike Daisey’s work for quite some time, and was bummed that I missed his one-man show, The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, when I visited New York this past November. Despite my weariness with This American Life, this week’s Daisey-centric episode is a must-listen. It includes an interview with Daisey, as well as excerpts from his show, in which he evocatively, shockingly, and at times hilariously details his trip to China to view the factories where Apple devices are made. The unethical labor practices that produce our iDevices are modern atrocities, and Apple plays an outsized role in perpetuating them because of the company’s skill at dominating the supply and manufacturing chain.
Don’t own Apple devices? You’re not off the hook, and neither are the makers of your devices. A truncated list of the other companies that also manufacture their products at the same plants as Apple: Acer, Amazon, Dell, HP, Intel, Logitech, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nokia, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Toshiba.
