What, I say WHAT is the deal with you not commenting on doop HQ? And why do i still have to write for a blog post to show up and comments to appear? I thought by signing up for the 3B! fashionable internet commune and submitting vaguely relevant but .5Ass headers, I wouldn’t have to do all that crap anymore! Why Do Zombies and Jennifers get all the louvwe? geographical discrimination is still discrimination!
ANSWERS ARE SOUGHT!
When the NYTimes, whose editorial page often reads more like mash notes for the 1%, publishes a story like this one about workers’ rights one tends to perk one’s ears up. Of course, in reading the article I see similar patterns as those expressed by those protesting the rise of Wal-Mart (all the way back in 04-05) as it shattered many local stores through the might of squeezing everything it possibly could from its suppliers and optimizing the logistics thereof. Similar refrains were also heard about the practices of Amazon.
Well, let me break your heart and tell you right away that there’s going to be no end to this, since it is the bedrock upon which large-scale capital accumulation rests. As long as we a) accept passively and without protest the principle that profits matter, and b) celebrate those who accumulate more (whether material goods or cash profits) and also c) empower them to mould public opinion in a manner that reinforces the above – then we are going to see humans exploited, we are going to see forests cut down, we are going to see the oceans filled with oil and we are going to see species go extinct en masse until we join them in the drop off the face of the earth. Short of joining the people at occupy or others in your area who reject this culture, or figuring out for yourself alternate means of co-existence beyond the dominant system* – an act which could mean alienating yourself from your current kith and kin and finding new ones, there is nothing you can do and there is no way to salvage this system from within.
[* = as David Graeber noted in an Amazon review and probably in a book somewhere as well, Capital dominates, but does not pervade]
IN A FURTHER DEPRESSING ADDITION:
If you read the comments to that NYTimes article, as i did thanks to a total brain fart, it turns out that
it’s not entirely Apple’s fault and that everyone does the same thing. Which is a rehash of the same things people talked about Wal-Mart and Amazon. Which itself is a rehash of what you and I told mom when we were caught doing something naughty. And in any case if, as the not-detractors of the respective companies claim, these are the best possible working conditions for the poor guys n gals of China, it strains my imagination to think up what would be the worst in their minds…
IN A FURTHER MUCH BETTER WRITTEN ARTICLE:
The day before Jobs died, Apple launched the fifth iteration of the iPhone, the 4S, and four million were sold in the first few days. Next year will bring the iPhone 5, and a new MacBook, and more iPods and iMacs. What this means is that somewhere in the third world, poor people are picking through heaps of electronic waste in an effort to recover bits of gold and other metals and maybe make a dollar or two. Piled high and toxic, it is leaking poisons and carcinogens like lead, cadmium, and mercury that leach into their skin, the ground, the air, the water. Such may be the longest-lasting legacy of Steve Jobs’s art.
Now, Considering that Apple has announced record-breaking sales and profits one can understand what the major source of those profits is.
It’s so pretty and green. They coined the word Verdant for this place, i’m telling you. Apparently this is post #450 on this pathetic excuse of a blog – I think pictures are warranted, and will be added when I get back and all this is a distant memory…
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Happy 2012, may it be far better than 2011, though i may jinx it just by saying so…
when the folks at Time picked their selection of unorthodox images (link – worth a view actually) i did not expect to find a poignant vignette that so completely summarized the real pity of what we are doing to our own habitat under so many sweet and vicious names. this is from #37 in the series.
September 19, 2011. Roses bloom on a field in Bad Nauheim, Germany. Days later, the rose blooms were mowed down and mechanically defoliated to sell the petals to German garden centers.
as the #OWS buddies keep saying: Shit is Fucked Up and Bullshit.
I can safely say that 2011 was the year i faced many of my deepest fears and came away whimpering like a 3-year old. just kidding, most 3-year olds would have handled 2011 with aplomb instead of giving up halfway through.
http://j.mp/osejGf + http://j.mp/mXOfmu = http://j.mp/o85dfQ
* = bit disturbing, even for a misanthrope like meself. this thing is a bit old, given that i put it in the drafts and forgot all about it.
Of all the tales cooked up by the Brothers Grimm, the story of Rapunzel was one of the Grimmest if you will or will not pardon the pun. I may be no prince, but I am on a quest…
As evidenced, the quest continues. In fact, I was just reminded of the quest a couple of days ago – having fallen prey to the material world since my last outing..
Coke studio is an interesting experiment, and found lots of success in the Pakistani version. The Indian sessions have failed to capture the same spirit, and are much less interesting on the whole though a couple are interesting. the song below is one of my favourites.
ADDED: another favourite
I may be crunching on Jon Schwarz’s toes, but it seems that the opportunity virus has reached Indian Shores, and mutated into a today, the economy – tomorrow, the world strain. God Help Us All.
