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Labor Activist Li Qiang wants you to know that the iPhone 4 in his pocket is not an endorsement of Apple’s policies, just an acknowledgement that the company is doing a better job of monitoring factory conditions than its peers. The founder of leading advocacy group China Labor Watch (CLW) told us that, though the Cupertino company does more-thorough inspections than competitors, it is responsible for poor working conditions at its suppliers’ factories and needs to invest some of its record-breaking profits in improving them.

“Although I know that the iPhone 4 is made at sweat shop factories in China, I still think that this is the only choice, because Apple is actually one of the best. Actually before I made a decision, I compared Apple with other cell phone companies, such as Nokia,” he said through a translator. “And the conditions in those factories are worse than the ones of Apple.”

Labor Activist: Apple Best at Auditing Factories, Still Not Doing Enough (via ayjay)

Here are the two things that Apple fanboys don’t get about this controversy:

1- Apple’s own values blanch at the idea of “We’re slightly better than the other guys”; Apple’s values are “We want to be the best imaginable.”

2- Yes, Apple is singled out. You know why? IT’S THE LARGEST PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANY ON EARTH. And its brand is one of the greatest in the world. These are things that Apple fought incredibly hard to accomplish over the past 15 years. A consequence of that is that Apple is going to be singled out and held to a higher standard. As Apple fans should welcome. Apple fans lived for 10 years with an inferiority complex and the mentality of the little kid who gets bullied. Guess what. You’re not the Rebellion anymore. You’re the Empire. And this kind of stuff is what happens when you’re the Empire. Deal with it. 

(via ayjay)

Notes about this post from the Tumblr community:

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    Wow, it’s interesting to get the viewpoint of a Chinese Labor Activist. This American Life just did a good story on...
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