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Good Riddance Steve Jobs
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Good Riddance Steve Jobs
Anyone reading today's headlines might be forgiven for thinking Gandhi had died ... again.
But no, it wasn't Gandhi, nor indeed anyone of even the slightest nobility. It was a patent extortionist with an apparent objection to altruism, called Steve Jobs. Even El Presidente fawned over this selfish racketeer, like he was the new messiah, or something:
‘Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it,’ the statement gushed.
Sorry, but I find that offensive.
According to the CIA World Factbook, 160,521 people die every day. Steve Jobs was just one of them.
I bet very few of the other 160,520 people who died that day ever made sinister threats to ‘go after’ an altruistic software project like Theora, or ran around suing everyone for making ‘rounded rectangles’ and ‘green phone icons’. I bet they also donated a helluva lot more to charity than Jobs too, given that he apparently had some kind of objection to it, which is sort of like having an objection to love and compassion. Or how about the time Jobs bribed the police to act like they were his private security agency, to kick down the front door to a journalist's home, seize his property and interrogate him like a criminal, just because of some crap iGadget accidentally lost by an Apple employee, after that journalist had already voluntarily contacted Apple and returned it to them?
So given the sort of monster Steve Jobs was, witnessing the spectacle of everyone from Joe Blogs to El Presidente gushing over him, like a bunch of schoolgirls at a rock concert, is absolutely sickening.
These sycophantic ‘tributes’ are an insult to every honest, decent, compassionate and benevolent person who ever lived, yet died in obscurity. Where is El Presidente's scrawl on their epitaphs? Surely they were far more worthy than some unconscionable miser like Ebenezer Jobs. Sadly though, it seems money trumps morals, in our money-worshipping society.
As for being a ‘visionary’ ... the only ‘vision’ Jobs ever had was the one he nicked from Xerox PARC. From that point forward he made a career out of shamelessly stealing others' ideas, shoehorning them into shiny but otherwise dysfunctional and DRM-infested toys, then branding an Apple logo on them (ironically also nicked, from the Beatles). And then to add insult to plagiarism, Jobs fraudulently stamped his ‘IP’ seal on those ‘shamelessly stolen’ ideas, then embarked on a hypocritical and vicious rampage of litigation. How's that for gratitude? Add that to the litany of virtues Jobs didn't subscribe to.
Yet this is the guy everyone is now fawning over?
Oh, but I forgot ... he made lots of money. Lots and lots and lots.
So did Al Capone.
Ah yes, American capitalism at its finest, folks.
Anyone reading today's headlines might be forgiven for thinking Gandhi had died ... again.
But no, it wasn't Gandhi, nor indeed anyone of even the slightest nobility. It was a patent extortionist with an apparent objection to altruism, called Steve Jobs. Even El Presidente fawned over this selfish racketeer, like he was the new messiah, or something:
‘Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it,’ the statement gushed.
Sorry, but I find that offensive.
According to the CIA World Factbook, 160,521 people die every day. Steve Jobs was just one of them.
I bet very few of the other 160,520 people who died that day ever made sinister threats to ‘go after’ an altruistic software project like Theora, or ran around suing everyone for making ‘rounded rectangles’ and ‘green phone icons’. I bet they also donated a helluva lot more to charity than Jobs too, given that he apparently had some kind of objection to it, which is sort of like having an objection to love and compassion. Or how about the time Jobs bribed the police to act like they were his private security agency, to kick down the front door to a journalist's home, seize his property and interrogate him like a criminal, just because of some crap iGadget accidentally lost by an Apple employee, after that journalist had already voluntarily contacted Apple and returned it to them?
So given the sort of monster Steve Jobs was, witnessing the spectacle of everyone from Joe Blogs to El Presidente gushing over him, like a bunch of schoolgirls at a rock concert, is absolutely sickening.
These sycophantic ‘tributes’ are an insult to every honest, decent, compassionate and benevolent person who ever lived, yet died in obscurity. Where is El Presidente's scrawl on their epitaphs? Surely they were far more worthy than some unconscionable miser like Ebenezer Jobs. Sadly though, it seems money trumps morals, in our money-worshipping society.
As for being a ‘visionary’ ... the only ‘vision’ Jobs ever had was the one he nicked from Xerox PARC. From that point forward he made a career out of shamelessly stealing others' ideas, shoehorning them into shiny but otherwise dysfunctional and DRM-infested toys, then branding an Apple logo on them (ironically also nicked, from the Beatles). And then to add insult to plagiarism, Jobs fraudulently stamped his ‘IP’ seal on those ‘shamelessly stolen’ ideas, then embarked on a hypocritical and vicious rampage of litigation. How's that for gratitude? Add that to the litany of virtues Jobs didn't subscribe to.
Yet this is the guy everyone is now fawning over?
Oh, but I forgot ... he made lots of money. Lots and lots and lots.
So did Al Capone.
Ah yes, American capitalism at its finest, folks.
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sacom2005 4 videos Subscribe
Jun 6, 2011
In 2010, Foxconn was under the spotlight of the media due to the suicide tragedies. At least 18 workers committed suicides and 3 survived. One year on from the spate of suicides, SACOM has high expectation on Foxconn and Apple to fulfil their promises to ensure decent working conditions at the factories. In spring 2011, SACOM visited Foxconn's iPad production site in Chengdu. Rampant labour rights violations and harsh management remain. Workers always have excessive and forced overtime work. Sometimes, they have to skip meals if they cannot accomplish the production target. They have to stand for over 10 hours on shop floor and cannot talk with each other. They are exposed to chemicals aluminium dust but do not have adequate protection. And it is appalling that almost all the new workers have to undergo "military training".
According to the interviewees, the big clients, including Apple, always have representatives in the factory to monitor the quality and productivity of the products. In other words, Apple is aware of the labour rights abuses at Foxconn. Despite the code of conduct of Apple dictates "under no circumstances shall workweeks exceed the maximum permitted under applicable laws and regulations." In reality, Foxconn workers in Chengdu always have 80-100 overtime hours per month which are 2-3 times of the legal limit. Likewise, Apple always claims it will ensure the suppliers to establish measures to protect workers from occupational diseases. However, Foxconn workers who produce iPad do not have pre-post training about substance of the chemicals, no adequate protective equipment and no on-post health examination. On 20 May, an explosion erupted at Foxconn in Chengdu. The tragedy happened in the polishing department and involved an explosion of ultra-light dust. Workers complained to SACOM that the ventilation of department is poor. Workers polish the iPad cases to make them shinny. In the process, there is lots of aluminium dust floating in the air. Workers always breathe in aluminium dust even though they put on mask. When workers take off their cotton gloves, their hands are covered with aluminium dust. Regardless the explosion, this is detrimental to the health of workers.
Regrettably, Apple simply connives at the blatant labour rights violations at Foxconn.
SACOM's investigative report, Foxconn and Apple Fail to Fuifill Promises: Predicaments of Workers after the Suicides, is downloadable at http://sacom.hk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/2011-05-06_foxconn-and-apple-fail-....
Chinese version of this video is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0q0JEFLDXk
In Jobs own words: "Death is life's greatest invention." I am inclined to agree. Good riddance!