Random thought: consumer electronics give-back program.

[VinLAURiA]

Okay, so. A whole bunch of random thoughts crossed my mind at around the same time and Polymerization'd into a spontaneous idea.

[b]First random thought,[/b] I remembered the [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O5h4enjrHw]ending skit of a Louis C.K. routine,[/url] specifically the final lines: "Maybe every incredible human achievement in history was done with slaves. Every single [amazing thing where you wonder how it was accomplished?] They just threw human death and suffering at them until they were finished. [...] There's no end to what you can do when you don't give a @#$! about a particular people. You can do anything! [...] Even today, how do we have this amazing microtechnology? [in this case, he holds up his iPhone] Because the factory where they're making these, they jump off the @#$!in' [b]roof[/b] because it's a [i]nightmare[/i] in there. You really have a choice: you can have candles and horses and be a little kinder to each other, or let someone [i]immeasurably[/i] far away just so you can leave a mean comment on YouTube while you're takin' a @#$!"

[b]Second random thought:[/b] I've been seeing this one "Track Your Bud" ad during Phillies games lately where they have some sort of program set up so you can find the Budweiser worker who made your beer and do whatever the frig I wasn't paying attention. But it was a neat concept of tracking who made your jawn.

[b]Third random thought:[/b] fries are considered a standard side in fast food nowadays because decades ago, fast food chains started asking "Would you like fries with that?" and fry sales shot up insanely. They were rarely ordered beforehand but when directly asked, many people decided to get fries after all. Conclusion? People won't do something until the option is brought to their attention.

[b]Fourth random thought:[/b] I've been playing inFAMOUS lately and the moral choice system had me thinking about whether or not people will inherently go out of their way to do something for someone else even with no benefit to them, such as how Cole/Delsin are still able to heal injured civilians even after they no longer have a use for the XP they get out of it anymore. I still do it even in the endgame with maxed out skill trees.

[b]Fifth random thought:[/b] "Why's this Tang container entirely in Spanish... ?" [mental wandering to other Spanish-language things, eventually [url=http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11112/111122518/4021242-5893926616-BH8VO.jpg]this[/url]]

[b]AND THEN SUDDENLY[/b]

[t]http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131011115049/yugioh/images/9/9f/Polymerization-LCJW-EN-SR-1E.png[/t]

Why [i]not[/i] both? Why can't we have our technology and also be kind to the people who make them? It's true, most people won't go out of their way to donate to charity or go in person to other countries to give aid, but I'm reminded of those little coin drop bins for cancer you see at the checkout at Wawa or something and reached this conclusion: when getting consumer electronics like a cell phone, why don't phone manufacturers and retailers offer a donation program for the factory workers over at Foxconn and such? Why don't companies like Apple and Samsung have programs on their websites that allow consumers to pay extra directly to the workers that make their phone, similar to the Humble Bundle stuff? Something immediately available to the attention of people buying these things. It seems like such a simple idea, but as far as I'm aware, nobody has ever done this. Wouldn't this be a good way to get more amounts of common people to directly help the situation in countries like China where everybody outsources the manufacturing of our stuff?

[lordcrypto]

long story short re: donating to factory workers

because people don't want to be reminded of the fact that they're effectively exploiting workers

[proboardslol]

Why don't apple and samsung not use wage-slaves how about

[Headhumpy]

[QUOTE=proboardslol;46006918]Why don't apple and samsung not use wage-slaves how about[/QUOTE]

Your iPhone would cost about $2000 otherwise.

[FlounderBox]

The idea is admirable, but it's marketing suicide. By addressing the manufacturer in the consumer-distributor relationship, that leads people to learn more about the terrible working conditions in most of these factories and that gives the company a bad image. Once you have a bad image, you lose investors, content creators, and most importantly customers.

The real solution would be to skyrocket the price of electronics in an attempt to lower the demand, leaving funds to provide better working environments for their manufacturers.

But that sure as shit isn't going to happen anytime soon is it. Gotta have our affordable electronics.

[eurocracy]

[QUOTE=Headhumpy;46009453]Your iPhone would cost about $2000 otherwise.[/QUOTE]
When their profit margin is about half the cost they put into the phone a mere few percent would make a differenxe.

[Dark RaveN]

[QUOTE=Headhumpy;46009453]Your iPhone would cost about $2000 otherwise.[/QUOTE]

Sad to say that an assembled iPhone is not worth more than 500. Add additional 200-300$ per manufactured unit taken as labor, and you would still land into margins they do today. And they barely pay more than 200$ at those fucking factories, all while having atrocious and inhumane environmental conditions. But business is just business, eh.

[StrawberryClock]

I don't think charity for for the workers making those electronics would be viable.

Charity isn't a substitute for justice; those workers should have been paid more in the first place. It might also give more opportunities for the manufacturer to justify their low wage by trying to shift the employee's income from the company itself to said donations.

I'd rather pay double the price to make sure that my electronics were made ethically from the minerals up to the finished product as opposed to the current system of screwing over workers and the environment in the name of profit.