Monday, March 14, 2011

This is a Big Problem



This cheeky clip has recently announced to a (hopefully) broad audience, the problem of conflict minerals which are a source of much pain and suffering in the DRC. All of us with cell phones and laptops (like the one this entry is being typed on) have some serious thinking to do. Hopefully we can develop a way to enjoy our techie junk without
taking criminal advantage of those in the DRC who spend their days toiling to find the minerals our gadgets require.

4 comments:

Gretta said...

Oh no! I'm an ASS HOLE! (if you make them two separate words, it's not a swear. Ask TV.) I seriously had no idea. I'm sitting here with my phone and my laptop and my iPad and...now what?

Cliff said...

I don't know...I'm trying to figure that out too. Cuz I'm sitting here being a human rights violation enabler with my phone and laptop too. We should probably start a letter writing campaign to steve jobs and mr. Bill gates. I'll even work up the letter, you and make it not suck, and then we'll get like 10 jillion signatures. or if we were are all really good people we would just go blackout. no phones. no computers. flunk school. All that. Let's do the letter first...you in?

Drew said...

Steve Jobs is still a bigger asshole than Bill Gates (swear intended), but yes, conflict minerals are a pretty serious problem.

Mo-Reen said...

This has been bothering me lately too. Some more capitalistic folks I know say that there is no feasible way that this can be regulated and/or stopped. I think it is at least worth a try! In the meantime, maybe we really don't all need new gadgets this year.