Madam, – Recent media reports have highlighted the high suicide rate at Foxconn, the China based electronics manufacturing firm producing Apple’s iPhone among other products (Breaking News, May 27th). Employees, apparently disillusioned with life due to harsh working conditions, have thrown themselves off company buildings.
Ireland, like other western societies, has developed a moral blindspot to facilitate our consumption. However, small steps may lead to great strides and perhaps those considering the purchase of an iPhone should bear in mind they were produced by a company that generously provided nets for its workers, not for for the usual sporting reasons but to prevent suicides.
If one finds the lure of an iPhone irresistible, perhaps one should recall what Nobel Laureate and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel told the White House administration in 1999: to be indifferent to suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. – Yours, etc,