Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 21st Jul 2009 20:10 UTC, submitted by kaiwai
This is one sad story to report on. Sun Danyong, 25-year-old employee at Chinese manufacturing company Foxconn, has committed suicide after being subjected to apparently rather rigorous interrogation methods by Foxconn's Central Security Division. Danyong handled a shipment of 16 iPhone prototypes, and one of them went missing. Update: Apple responds: "We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death. We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect."
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Member since:2006-06-02
We are none of us qualified to pass judgement on this young person in the sense that we do not know enough of the facts yet, and we did not know him, so cannot possibly discern motives.
I would not claim suicide is 'right' but in the context of his culture it may well be entirely understandable why this course of action was followed, or why it was an option in his psychology.
I agree with your implicit point that naturally, any one of us would have tried to dissuade him from self harm, but this is not the place I think to try to undermine a different culture, or appear simply callous.
Member since:2005-08-18
We are none of us qualified to pass judgement on this young person in the sense that we do not know enough of the facts yet, and we did not know him, so cannot possibly discern motives.
And so we can not also say that Foxconn, bastards as they may be, drove him to suicide or that it even had anything to do with the missing prototype. For all we know he could have been unstable already for entirely different reasons.
Member since:2006-01-23
"He may have felt that his family honour was shamed and committed suicide on his own.
Right, because that is really a sound way of reasoning.
You can be of sound mind and do it for the sake of your family. It's still sad, but honourable.
If you kill yourself "for the sake of your family" for being suspected of theft you're not of a sound mind and there's nothing honorable about it.
Just because it's a different culture doesn't mean it's right. "
My family has been samurai for centuries. I believe in family honour.
There is honour in suicide to absolve your family and just because you don't understand it doesn't make it wrong.
If he committed suicide just because he was afraid, that's a different story.
Member since:2005-08-18
I believe in family honour.
So do I but I don't believe there's anything honorable about suicide.
There is honour in suicide to absolve your family
Sorry, even though I have lived in Asia for a long time I just can't agree with that sentiment. However, this doesn't have much to do with the current topic (if he had shamed his family it really had nothing to do with what Foxconn did or did not do) and we probably shouldn't get into this discussion on osnews, that way lies madness.
Member since:
2005-08-18
Right, because that is really a sound way of reasoning.
If you kill yourself "for the sake of your family" for being suspected of theft you're not of a sound mind and there's nothing honorable about it.
Just because it's a different culture doesn't mean it's right.