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Foxconn "Glad That Mike Daisey's Lies Were Exposed"
theodp writes "Foxconn Technology Group, Apple's largest supplier and the target of allegations of poor work conditions, welcomed a retraction of a This American Life radio program episode it said was based on lies. 'I am happy that the truth prevails, I am glad that Mike Daisey's lies were exposed,' Louis Woo, a spokesman for Taipei-based Foxconn said. 'People will have the impression that Foxconn is a bad company,' Woo added, 'so I hope they will come and find out for themselves'. Foxconn also said that it has 'no plans to take legal action.'"
There's also one thing Foxconn has that Daisey doesn't: the money and PR machine called Apple.
Daisey went to Foxconn as a creative activist (not a journalist) with a pre-made agenda (discredit Foxconn and Apple as big bad business) for a specific result (better working conditions). However this does not excuse people that listened to the original story and believed it. You should have known better.
The truth is that Foxconn has 900,000+ employees. They must be treating people decently to get to 900,000 employees in the first place. There have been several suicides that have made the news that people use to try to prove that they are a big bad business, but to be FAIR companies in the US also have a lot suicides that don't make the news at a much higher incidence than Foxconn. Yet people won't think and believe anything they are told that Foxconn is mistreating its workers.
The truth is Foxconn recently held a jobs fair to hire for future production and thousands of people lined up and waited for hours to try for those jobs. They produce high tech components that require highly skilled and highly trained staff, and do so successfully. You cannot do this with "forced" labor as has been demonstrated many times in many countries. Most telling is that the United States with its vaunted worker rights (and more worker rights rules coming) cannot get manufacturing jobs. The US does not produce steel, computers, microwave ovens, radios, or medical devices like CAT scanners or heart monitors (I know, I used to work in a hospital). It sounds like Foxconn knows how to do business successfully and profitably.
Yet Daisey went to China to try to do a smear piece on Foxconn, and now justifies it that it is creative activism. This wouldn't be so bad but people are sheep and believed it and still do under the heading of "Fake, but essentially True". The same people will believe everything Obama says like "Ultimately, though, there's no silver bullet here" when referring to gas prices (and still wants to take away the oil subsidy). People will believe the Occupy Wall Street chant of "Tax the Rich" while ignoring the fact that the rich are already HIGHLY taxed, and that even the 1% don't have enough money to balance the U.S. budget. But it makes for a good distraction.
Other ideas that are being brainwashed into without thinking...
Democrats are God (schools singing hymns of worship to Obama)
Republicans are big bad businessmen (kill big business)
Fox News is bad (remember the government's war on Fox?)
Meat is murder
People must be forced into Union for their own good (no such thing as a bad union)
People must be forced to buy health care
Religious organization must be forced to provide abortions
Green is good (especially when it is an inferior product)
Gene-engineering is bad (especially when it is a better and healthier product)
Voter ID is bad (how quick we forget about ACORN and OBAMA)
Think people, THINK! You got fooled by Daisey but still believe Obama, Oliver Stone, and Michael Moore.