Exactly How Much is Your Apple Product Worth?

Last month Apple made the headlines for a reason that shocked many consumers. Rather than anticipating the release of the next upgraded version of one of their sleek products, the public saw a much different side of the multi-billion dollar company. CNN News reported that many of Apple's factory suppliers, particularly located in China, have extremely poor working conditions, so bad that while we are paying hundreds for an ipad, workers are making less than $1 a day to make them. A Foxconn worker, one of Apple's largest supplying companies, released a statement saying, "they use women as men and they use men as machines, I almost feel like an animal."The worker was then asked why Foxconn uses their human workers for these jobs and the worker stated, "well, humans are cheaper."(read full article)

When I think of Apple, I think of shiny, high technology, sleek products that can do just about anything, at times, they might be smarter than most humans. What I didn't think about, until I read this article, was the dark side of the company. Apple comes across as a company that creates all their products in order to greater benefit their consumers lives, not as a company that uses the cheapest most unethical labor values in order to come up with these "top shelf" products. After the news came out, a petition was created asking Apple to change their labor values. As of February, the petition had around 250,000 signatures. Shortly after the news broke, Apple released a statement saying, "We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. We insist that our suppliers provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made." I am curious to find out if the company really does make a change in their labor ways or if it is just pushed under the table like most other large companies do. 

Are you an ethical person?

I came across an interesting article that brings up the point of whether or not you're an ethical person. This article came out not long after the Enron collapse, as we all saw how many unethical decisions were the cause of that crash. So start out by asking yourself what do you value in life? Do you value honesty, respect and hard work? Or do you focus more on harmony, balance and mutuality? Everyones values differ and one can't argue that one has wrong values, because we all look at situations differently. So how do you know if you actually promote your values through out life? Take a minute to sit down and think about how you use your values in everyday life, whether it's at home, work, school or even just by yourself. For some, this can be a very difficult task because though many of us may think we have values, do we actually have principles for those values?

Today, ethics are a large part of our society, especially with the advancements of technology. Technology has given us the options to cheat our way out of things and very easily hurt others. Technology has also given us the ability to respond to situations as quickly as 30 seconds after the incident occurred. We are able to see how technology has changed the way the media works through social media such as Twitter and Facebook, because of these advancements we face ethical decisions every day. So I hope everyone will sit down and think about what values they represent and how they display those values.

Kony 2012

Tuesday night a video was sent out virally that has sparked an on going debate across the nation in less than 24 hours. As most of us have seen or at least heard of the Kony 2012 video, we became aware or more aware of a very sad situation. The video addresses the public of an organization called Invisible Children. Invisible Children is an organization created to help and raise awareness for Children who are forced into organizations such as the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). Invisible Children first started eight years ago and have since done a tremendous job in raising awareness about the problems in Uganada, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Their biggest fight being against Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA.

With the launch of the video, people were able to see not only how the organization works but what type of life Kony forces these children into, hoping to put a stop to Kony. After watching this video, it truly leaves an immediate effect on you. Personally, I have never seen something spread information and awareness so quickly. I haven't talked to a single person that hasn't seen or heard of what is going on. After hearing about this situation, you realize how quickly something can spread and leave such a big impact on the public after just one video.