Slashdot Mirror
Idle: Four Injured In iPad Fight At Beijing Apple Store
fysdt writes "Four people were taken to hospital and a glass door smashed as a near-riot broke out at Beijing's top Apple store among crowds rushing to snap up the popular iPad 2 tablet computer, state press said Sunday. Angry consumers began rushing the store on Saturday afternoon after a 'foreign' Apple employee allegedly stepped into the crowd to push and beat people suspected of queue jumping, the Beijing News said."
Product in short supply. Crowds rushing to get shiny product and trampling others in the process. Poorly trained employees.
It's just like Black Friday at Walmart.
"Thbbft!" - Bill the Cat
I just read this article on China Daily this morning about the mad rush for iPad 2s' today, saw a clip of this story on CCTV News half an hour ago, then come to read Slashdot only to find out that this story is the top of the front page. I've been reading Slashdot since 1997, and I'm used to stories being submitted days, weeks, months, and sometimes years after the fact. Apple fans going crazy for new products is too trite for news nowadays, but Slashdot being current is a rather creepy occurrence... I'm not sure whether to be pleased or to expect Duke Nukem Forever to be released next...
A more interesting article from the site is the wearable cat ears that move to your expressions. How long before all of the Cosplay girls start adopting these?
If capitalism were a success, we'd all be working fewer hours and adults would be living significantly longer.
Proof? I could just as well claim "if socialism were a success we'd be building homes on Mars by now", but that wouldn't prove anything other than my own ignorance of socialism and martian home-building.
No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
That'll be $46,000, Mr. Jobs. Now Apple knows how iPhone owners feel. :-)
I think the perspective of the propaganda writer who fabricated this piece was probably that the iPad 2 is a continuation of the opium wars. Oh, terrible capitalism, forced on the innocent bosom of the Chinese people, who are clearly and totally represented by their beloved government which in no way whatsoever suppresses or manipulates its people!
Society needs the ability to call people out for this kind of counterproductive crap. Thanks for helping to set back Star Trek another hundred years, unnamed propaganda writer. You could be working against nationalist prejudice, and trying to unite humanity, but instead you have to look at life like a competition. I hope that some day a stock market crash is named after you and your ilk.
Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
If you feel capitalism is such a failure, go live in a communist country.
Whats that, theyre all ghettos? Yea, theres a reason for that.
Capitalism makes people work hard, because they have a purpose and goal to achieve something they build or develop.
Under every regime from anarchism to fascism people can have "a purpose and goal to achieve something". If you're talking about the workers having control of the means of production, i.e. the productive having access to the resources they need to achieve their goals, that's precisely socialism. In capitalism, the person building/developing is usually not the owner of the results of the work.
On the other hand socialism says everyone gets their equal and fair share if they work or not.
No form of socialism has never said such a thing. 20th century socialism is worker control of the means of production. Marxist socialism is the stage before communism where everyone does his part and is rewarded according to his labour rather than according to his capital input.
You may be thinking of social democracy of the sort in Western European nations, but even that has no notion of "equal and fair share" - the welfare safety net just provides a minimum to enable people to pick themselves up, or to maintain people who are too disabled/sick to work. It also provides a level of assistance to lift people with certain conditions up to the level of someone without that condition.
Or perhaps you're thinking of Marxist communism, which also doesn't give people an "equal and fair share" - it gives to people according to their need. Just because Bob without no legs gets a wheelchair, it doesn't mean you get one.
What are you thinking of?
So tell me, why would anyone with a goal and purpose give give that to someone who is lazy, looter, or parasite. Not me.
Observing the outcome of elections in the UK and the US over the past decade, I'd say that rewarding rich, lazy, looting parasites appears to be the main goal of the citizens of those two countries.
Most asian cultures would have a lot to teach white people about being racist. If you don't know this, then you don't know any asians.
People just don't line up in China, period! This Apple store incident does not come as a surprise to me.
I visited Shanghai two years ago and was waiting at the subway stop. I was the first waiting in line to get into the subway car. When the subway arrived, people behind me just rushed in, instead of waiting for the passengers in the car to exit. Needless to say, I was the first in line, and ended up not getting into the subway car. And Shanghai is suppose to be the most civilized city in China!
By contrast, when I was in Taiwan the same month, I also took the subway in Taipei. Everyone lined up according to the direction. They waited politely for passengers to get off, and entered the car one by one. People also yield their seats to elders or pregnant moms.
Having people camp out at Apple Store may be a good idea in other countries, but not in China. In China, people just would not patiently wait in line. They would try to cut the line whenever they could. They would elbow you or shove you out just to advance their queue.