Foxconn Worker says, ''Life is Meaningless''

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this is terrible..i completely agree with these men who suffer every day. to me life would also seem meaningless and i would love to offer help to people like this...this is what technology is for - to replace manual cruel labor.
 
Foxconn's problems are just an example of a capitalist corporation working for the "good of the state" in a socialist regime. Without them, these people might be unemployed or...take a look at how Eastern Europe was treated by Russia in the USSR days. Imagine half a billion workers being treated like that, and you'll see where China would most likely be without "the abuses of capitalist corporations".
 
[citation][nom]-Alessandro-[/nom]We should just stop buying any product made at Foxconn[/citation]

might as well just stop buying electronics then huh? boycotting foxconn is not that easy. foxconn products are not labeled as foxconn. apple does busniess with them. so does MSI. so does HP. so does Dell. so does Gigabyte. So does ASUS. pretty much everything that works with chips comes out of foxconn
 
Instead of trying to curb the root of the problem, they put nets??? Clearly these people are just work slaves in a very harsh environment. Something must be done.
 
[citation][nom]qwoz[/nom]Foxconn I hope you go out of business. I'm never buying from you[/citation]

good luck getting that done. youre honestly going to need it
 
People considering suicide can often feel relieved knowing that it will all be over soon.
If life was hard before, it just got even worse for some of them.
They can't even count on conveniently jumping out of their bedroom window anymore. How sad it must be to be denied even that.
 
[citation][nom]evilshuriken[/nom]People considering suicide can often feel relieved knowing that it will all be over soon. If life was hard before, it just got even worse for some of them.They can't even count on conveniently jumping out of their bedroom window anymore. How sad it must be to be denied even that.[/citation]

There are always ways to kill yourself. Jumping, to me, is being overly dramatic and showy. It's for effect, and a cry for attention. Someone serious about it should go home and do it, and show some class instead of leaving a dead bloody body in public, where it becomes a public nuisance.

They're just figuring out life is meaningless? Even if they weren't working for FoxConn, that's the reality of being born, and either dying young, or going through a slow process where each day you're less able than the next, not to mention losing living things you love throughout it.

Meaningless? I'd shorten to say "sucks", instead.
 
And every one of these comments are written on a computer made in a factor just like this, many of us (my self included) literally encourage this behavior in America with our "cheapest at any cost" price model. Am I the only one getting the irony of this?
 
[citation][nom]rooseveltdon[/nom]was the graphic image necessary???[/citation]
It's necessary if you want to see the truth. Are you afraid of reality or what?
 
[citation][nom]rooseveltdon[/nom]was the graphic image necessary???[/citation]
The graphic is necessary to help you put an image to the story...like putting a face on a crime, without the image would this article have as much of an impact?..no
 
The image is fine, it's blurred out even. It represents the reality of whats happening - so stop whining about it.
 
We (Foxconn product owners) are all bastards now. Despite all the soothing levels of abstraction, the blood is still on our hands. The cost of making a product $10 - $20 cheaper is the value of a human life. If you are aware of your contribution to these human-rights atrocities but continue to buy Apple products, then you will surely go to hell, as will I. Morality is not a bendable rule. I have learned in life that right and wrong are absolute, and the gray areas exist only in our ability to bend our perceptions to suit ourselves. I hope someday humanity can realize every human life, no matter how distant or abstract, is priceless, just as our own lives are priceless to ourselves. Fuck you, and fuck me.
 
[citation][nom]randomizer[/nom]Maybe you should do something then instead of just making a meaningless statement that implies that you would rather somebody else do something.[/citation]
What can I do??? I was pointing out the poor attempt to "fix" the problem by putting nets, which is avoiding the problem instead of improving work conditions. And about meaningless statements? My comment expressed a valid opinion relating to the topic and I didn't need you to "correct" me in any way.
 
[citation][nom]iluv2fly[/nom]BP and Foxconn have something in common. Both are bad to mankind! I wouldn't buy anything from either company![/citation]

[citation][nom]qwoz[/nom]Foxconn I hope you go out of business. I'm never buying from you[/citation]

You wouldn't even know that you were buying anyways. Nothing that comes out of these factories are labeled as being manufactured by Foxconn. Boycotting them would almost be the equivalent of boycotting electronic items as they employ over hundreds of thousands of workers and have manufacturing contracts with dozens of companies including HP, Dell, Apple, and IBM just to name a few. We are all sadly reaping the reward of this cheap abusive labor.
 
[citation][nom]Silicon Jesus[/nom]We (Foxconn product owners) are all bastards now. Despite all the soothing levels of abstraction, the blood is still on our hands. The cost of making a product $10 - $20 cheaper is the value of a human life. If you are aware of your contribution to these human-rights atrocities but continue to buy Apple products, then you will surely go to hell, as will I. Morality is not a bendable rule. I have learned in life that right and wrong are absolute, and the gray areas exist only in our ability to bend our perceptions to suit ourselves. I hope someday humanity can realize every human life, no matter how distant or abstract, is priceless, just as our own lives are priceless to ourselves. Fuck you, and fuck me.[/citation]

Yo, Foxconn manufactures product from dozens of companies. Why single out Apple? Why not single out Dell? Or HP? Oh, but I already know the answer to that question. Fanboyism.

$10-$20 cheaper? No way. Maybe add a zero or two. These guys are working 72 hours a week and only making $260/month in wages. A similar job here in the US would demand $10+ an hour (and I'm being generously low here) plus time and a half for overtime. That $260/month per employee would easily increase to $3,500+ a month per employee. You multiple that by the 300,000 factory workers you are talking about increasing labor costs year-to-year by over ten billion dollars. Companies aren't going to just eat those costs. They pass it on to consumers and it will be a heck of a lot more than $10 added on to your favorite gadget.
 
[citation][nom]joex444[/nom]I'm not particularly surprised Foxconn keeps having the problem. As far as they're concerned, these employees are replacable. Even with some kind of family death payment or whatever expense a suicide represents to them, its way cheaper than running a factory in the US.[/citation]

Yep, and when americans end their life due to work related misery, they tend to go postal and take half of the workforce with them. Rambo style.

 
Forgive me for not being overly sympathetic here but...

1. It's pretty rare that an employer here in the US that gives so many breaks. I mean seriously, a 10 minute break guaranteed every 2 hours, that's pretty generous. This article is designed to gain sympathy, but you'll get none from me on that point. I'm surprised they didn't leave that info out. Now if they said that you rarely ever get breaks unless you're literally about to crap your pants, then I might be sympathetic, because there are MANY jobs here in the US that are like that.

2. Complaining about not being able to make friends while working on a factory floor? You're getting paid to work, not socialize. If you really go to work to make friends, do it on your 10 minute break that they so kindly give you every 2 hours, or your meal break. Again, no sympathy from me.

3. Yes, their wages are comparitively low compared to other nations, but it's enough to live on, and higher than their minimum wage. 50% of jobs in america are like that, just barely enough to live on, maybe be able to save a little if you work some overtime. Again, no sympathy here. For those who say that these people would be making XX dollars here in the US, yes, maybe, but they'd also be paying $1500/month in rent, $500 for gas and groceries, etc.... It's all relative to the cost of living, and you can guarantee that those chinese workers are making enough to pay their bills, otherwise industries wouldn't be growing, nor would their middle class. And both of these are growing exponentially right now.

4. He never would have suffered hearing loss if he kept his earplugs in and worked like he should have, instead of taking them out and trying to chat all day with his coworkers.


And if you're the type of person that votes down my post, you're ignoring the facts and/or have no idea what it's like to work hard and eek out a living, no matter the country. It's all the same everywhere you go, they pay you just enough to keep you there, and not a penny more. And when enough people start leaving your workforce, or in this case killing themselves, they start handing out enough concessions and raises to keep the company from falling apart. Disagree with me all you want, but what I say is true.
 
@tayb

Apple is just top-of-mind. Their market share is expanding dramatically so that's the company reaping the most benefits. As far as your argument about the dollar amount we save by supporting these companies, I think you missed my point. The dollar amount doesn't matter.
 
They put up nets??? This won't stop suicides just stops them killing themselves on company time, Sure if they really want to they will find a way to do it when they get home.
 
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