Hello, I'm a Mac, and I'm helping fuel the war in the Congo

[urban_stoop]

Hello, I'm a Mac, and I'm helping fuel the war in the Congo
by Brooke Shields

Hello, I'm a Mac, and I'm helping fuel the war in the Congo - currently the deadliest conflict in the world. So are PCs, cell phones, digital cameras and other consumer electronics. That's what Apple's famous "I'm a Mac ... And I'm a PC" ads don't tell you. So I and

Comments

[dearpencilpal]

yep, i knew this, but it's so easy to forget. it's good that people are working to remind us.

[yunghustlaz]

soapinha basically said what I was going to. That and even outside of conflicts like this or the drug wars, there's still people who are obviously exploited from our consumerist tendencies and demand for resources.

[joe_pike_junior]

This comment reminded me of another product, straight off the bat: organic cotton and malaria. No spraying = a lot more malaria cases.

Great PSA, though.

[bettalaylow]

Have you read King Leopold's Ghost? I read that book like 2 years ago and still stays with me very powerful.

[amethystcitrine]

Thanks for this suggestion, I'm picking this book up asap.

[bettalaylow]

Definitely worth the read and it's amazing that Belgium has mostly slipped under the radar for the atrocities committed by Leopold. But than again that really isn't all that uncommon.

[applegnat]

The UNHCR report on this came out in 2001. * looks at calendar *

[yunghustlaz]

Americans don't pay attention when you tell them that their love of stuff might be fucking shit up :c

[varhan]

this could be said of any industrialized nation

[illusivevenstar]

That's hardly a trait unique to Americans.

[_starsinmyeyes_]

So is there any company that has a cruelty free tech product? I feel guilty about all my stupid apple shit now.

[lone_concertina]

Unfortunately, no. There are some conflict-free phones in the works, but they're not available for use yet. The only real course of action you have is to either buy a used phone/mp3/electronic device to prevent further conflict, or go without. And, of course, contacting your congressman so their intern can pretend they care and the congressman can continue to do nothing unless you live in Dennis Kucinich's district.

well, a little on the late side, as per usual...

[minaloush]

Hmm. Anyone interested in making a community for people who want to pass on electronics?

[lafinjack]

http://freecycle.org/