The issue is more complicated than your simple anecdotal evidence (based on only 2 people). Not keeping yourself healthy (by being overweight/smoking/what have you) tends to cause chronic diseases like, among many many others, chronic bronchitis and diabetes. Not to mention the increased incidence of cancer and coronary heart disease in both the obese and the smoker.
Treating all of that represents by far the highest cost to any health care system, not the visit to the doctor.
Your analogy is not perfect: it would be if skipping an oil change would give your car insurance company the excuse to deny you reimbursement when "you get t-boned by a semi". That is what health insurance companies do with the so called pre-existing conditions...
> Don't let corporations get away with complete crap, but please don't have people starve for the sake of your armchair idealism either.
I guess somebody more cynical than me would reply saying that us fat bastards living confortably in the Western World could also stop demanding stuff at impossibly low prices and hence help reduce the market for sweatshops.
Great story. A lot of people in the world work really hard and manage to secure a better life for their kids. However I would like, if I may, to keep the conversation on topic.
The original post was not about people who are working for themselves or in the family business. It was about a very different reality, a reality of people who are forced to work inhumane hours in inhumane conditions for pretty much no money and no future.
There is a lot of literature around describing the nitty gritty details of what is like working in such factories. Those conditions are a whole universe away from those of working hard in a small family business. The violence, intimidation, harassment and systematic violation of basic human rights is not something you would experience in your family business.
Francesco
P.S. A simple web search on the subject reveals a lot of information, including a decent piece on businessweek...
> Someone want Apple in trouble so they magnified Apple, but not only Apple did this, why not stop all the factories but only picky at Apple?
I agree that a lot of companies are doing this and I think that consumers should not reward those companies. However I do not subscribe to the idea that if everybody is guilty then nobody is guilty.
Francesco (Disclaimer: I have been a Mac user since 1984 and have used Macs both at home and work ever since)
> Apple should be ashamed of itself for participating in this exploitative conduct, and then trying to gloss over it.
I Totally agree. Especially given the way Apple markets itself and its products. I understand companies are nothing more than money making machines; but I was *naively* expecting Apple to have higher standards. What disgusts me more than anything else was the way the glossed over the inhumane conditions workers were forced into.
Francesco (Disclaimer: I have been a Mac user since 1984 and I have been using Macs both at work and at home ever since)
It's too early to be ranting, but let's be honest, in most first world countries, MANY aspects of our lives were produced in third world countries on the backs of sweatshop workers.
So what? Does the fact that one accepted a thing in the past mean that they should accept it forever? It is never too late to change our minds. Besides, IMHO the idea that wrong things can be justified by apathy is pretty sad.
To me the real problem is the general intimidation that stemms from situation like these. If you allow me an extreme parallel, it is a bit like the big bully at school wanting to eat your lunch. Of course he does not have the right to do it. Of course you can file a report after he beats you up. Unfortunately though most people are simply going to give the j**k what he wants and walk away. Similarly (and yes I know it is an extreme comparison) most people will simply not take photos when they fear that somebody in uniform might harass them.
Slashdot Mirror
The issue is more complicated than your simple anecdotal evidence (based on only 2 people). Not keeping yourself healthy (by being overweight/smoking/what have you) tends to cause chronic diseases like, among many many others, chronic bronchitis and diabetes. Not to mention the increased incidence of cancer and coronary heart disease in both the obese and the smoker. Treating all of that represents by far the highest cost to any health care system, not the visit to the doctor.
Your analogy is not perfect: it would be if skipping an oil change would give your car insurance company the excuse to deny you reimbursement when "you get t-boned by a semi". That is what health insurance companies do with the so called pre-existing conditions...
I agree
> Don't let corporations get away with complete crap, but please don't have people starve for the sake of your armchair idealism either.
I guess somebody more cynical than me would reply saying that us fat bastards living confortably in the Western World could also stop demanding stuff at impossibly low prices and hence help reduce the market for sweatshops.
Great story. A lot of people in the world work really hard and manage to secure a better life for their kids. However I would like, if I may, to keep the conversation on topic.
The original post was not about people who are working for themselves or in the family business. It was about a very different reality, a reality of people who are forced to work inhumane hours in inhumane conditions for pretty much no money and no future.
There is a lot of literature around describing the nitty gritty details of what is like working in such factories. Those conditions are a whole universe away from those of working hard in a small family business. The violence, intimidation, harassment and systematic violation of basic human rights is not something you would experience in your family business.
Francesco
P.S. A simple web search on the subject reveals a lot of information, including a decent piece on businessweek...
> Someone want Apple in trouble so they magnified Apple, but not only Apple did this, why not stop all the factories but only picky at Apple?
I agree that a lot of companies are doing this and I think that consumers should not reward those companies. However I do not subscribe to the idea that if everybody is guilty then nobody is guilty.
Francesco
(Disclaimer: I have been a Mac user since 1984 and have used Macs both at home and work ever since)
> Apple should be ashamed of itself for participating in this exploitative conduct, and then trying to gloss over it.
I Totally agree. Especially given the way Apple markets itself and its products. I understand companies are nothing more than money making machines; but I was *naively* expecting Apple to have higher standards. What disgusts me more than anything else was the way the glossed over the inhumane conditions workers were forced into.
Francesco
(Disclaimer: I have been a Mac user since 1984 and I have been using Macs both at work and at home ever since)
It's too early to be ranting, but let's be honest, in most first world countries, MANY aspects of our lives were produced in third world countries on the backs of sweatshop workers.
So what? Does the fact that one accepted a thing in the past mean that they should accept it forever? It is never too late to change our minds. Besides, IMHO the idea that wrong things can be justified by apathy is pretty sad.
To me the real problem is the general intimidation that stemms from situation like these. If you allow me an extreme parallel, it is a bit like the big bully at school wanting to eat your lunch. Of course he does not have the right to do it. Of course you can file a report after he beats you up. Unfortunately though most people are simply going to give the j**k what he wants and walk away. Similarly (and yes I know it is an extreme comparison) most people will simply not take photos when they fear that somebody in uniform might harass them.
The real issue is managing demand since we cannot completely control production (for oil at least and for obvious reasons).