Speaker by Various Artists

This is a great article expressing a worthy sentiment and featuring beautiful photography Clinton, but I found the Steve Jobs reference “troubling”.

Always feel compassion for the situations people find themselves in and how they cope.
Documentary maker Adam Curtis in his latest offering Hypernormalisation(can be found easily on youtube) gives some background to Syria. The Assad dynasty doesnt come out of it well. I wonder how global now such stories of displacement and exploitation are ... is it getting better or worse.
Not that that matters much to those who find themselves in these situations.

For the people not the situation, sorry. If you watch Curtis' doco make of it what you will.
Godd piccies ta

Mark, I'm glad you enjoyed the article and I understand where you’re coming from. Jobs was a deeply flawed character and Apple — like the rest of the tech industry (HP,DELL, Microsoft etc) — relies heavily on Foxconn for manufacturing. They all bear responsibility for keeping Foxconn accountable for its treatment of workers. Without sounding like an apologist Apple’s track record is better in this respect than the majority of tech companies, but it could do more.

My Jobsian reference was intended to highlight the fact that a person of Syrian descent has had one of the most profound impacts on the tech landscape the world has ever seen. Apple’s vision of the “smartphone” has quiet literally defined how humans will interact socially from now on. (I’m not saying it’s a completely positive thing BTW, however that’s a discussion for another time :)

Without sounding like an apologist Apple’s track record is better in this respect than the majority of tech companies, but it could do more

It does get hard to point that out without seeming like an apologist, but it is true. It's not one company, it's the system.

Does Kahramah's star tattoo indicate Russian gang affiliation?

Jobs was a deeply flawed character

Absolutely. My link above was page 4 of a 7.

My favourite paragraph in your piece was:

Tragically, the problem is systemic and extends way beyond footwear. From bananas to inflatable lawn Santas to mobile phones, modern consumerism relies on a marginalised group of humans getting totally screwed over for our retail gratification.

That’s the message I took away in this holiday period. Because if we reach a point where we’re prepared to look the other way while people rail at low income service workers; deny paternity; fire people without notice; short change friends; refuse to offer stock options to long time collaborators; harass interviewees, park in handicap spots; create a culture of fear in the workplace which stretches to raiding peoples’ homes and intimidating journalists; were it to ever come to pass that this type of misanthropy be excusable because someone built something, then we might as well be electing billionaire cunts to rule the free world.

electing billionaire cunts to rule the free world

in response to their, uh, naked grab for power...

ewwww!!!

were it to ever come to pass that this type of misanthropy be excusable because someone built something, then we might as well ...

I don't think anyone was excusing anything. Jobs is an easy example of an immigrant story which went well, at least for the migrant, and for many others. If he's a *cough* shit-weasel or not is really beside the point. Or are you saying that Steve Jobs is a good reason for countries to block Syrian refugees?

Because that would be weird.

Jobs is an easy example of an immigrant story which went well

But Seinfeld’s easier no? At the very least he has a clean enough track record in employment relations not to dilute the point or have it misconstrued.

Anyway I’ll step away, I didn’t post to argue or have a discussion about the merits of Apple, I just found the reference troubling in context.

Mark that's interesting I didn't realize that Seinfeld’s mother was of Syrian descent. In retrospect that would've made for a less polarizing example. Again I really appreciate the feedback. We're definitely aligned in our thinking here.