So there has been LOTS of talk about Mike Daisey’s show, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, and its validity (or lack there of) on many key points.  I have just listened to the This American Life episode entitled “Retraction” (the first ever in their history I might add) of the episode they aired in January about Daisey’s work.  There has also been a couple New Yorker stories about this: 

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/03/daisey-chain.html

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2012/03/mike-daiseys-mistakes-in-china.html

From what it all boils down to is that Daisey embellished some, not all, information to make an effective theatrical production.  That’s not to say his awareness and consciousness raising as to where our products come from should be dismissed, but it isn’t “as bad” as he makes it out to be.  That said, we, as American consumers, are supporting a company (Apple) that does not hold these plants in China to American standards of production, which can be said for countless other companies.  This is not news to anyone though, and it certainly is also holds true for clothing manufacturing and (I’ll call) “stuff” manufacturing. 

Why is Daisey’s show so powerful? Why don’t we feel guilty, for example, for the clothes we are wearing?  Why now? Is it that Apple products hold such status and brand recognition and seem so sleek and pretty that we can’t imagine people suffer to make them? I don’t know.