Putting the I in Story

Matthew Baldwin, who worked with Mike Daisey at Amazon in the late ’90s, quoting from Daisey’s appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher:

Daisey: People work on that line tirelessly, hour after hour until they drop. I met people who were —

Maher: Until they drop?

Daisey: They drop. A worker at Foxconn died after working a 34 hour shift…

And here there’s the slightest of pauses, as if Daisey has reached the end of the statement. But then he adds, almost mechanically:

Daisey: … while I was in China.

A worker did indeed die after a 34 hour shift. But the truth of this fact isn’t enough for Daisey; he has to then attach to it some connection, however tenuous, to himself. A Chinese man didn’t just die; he died while Daisey was in China.

★ Monday, 19 March 2012