The Internet Makes You Evil
The internet is an impressive thing. First, it’s an impressive piece of technology. Next, it’s more impressive for the value it holds as a source of information, a labor saving tool and an entertainment medium. It’s impressive because it has fundamentally and permanently changed how people communicate.
It’s also impressive in how effective it is, how stunningly effective it is, at making you embarrassed of any group you might consider affiliating yourself with. Here’s a link to a post on Gamepolitics.com about the possibility that Sony’s PS2’s could have, along with other electronics, inadvertently fueled conflict in Africa because certain resources required in their production were found in contested regions. I found this to be a sad commentary on how our consumer lifestyles can effect other people in ways that we are completely unaware of. I had no idea that my PS2 could, potentially, have cost a child their life in a dark, dirty mine in some war-torn corner of the world. If I did then I wouldn’t have purchased a PS2. I don’t need to play games that badly.
The response to that feeling was, in effect, “fuck them” and “why shouldn’t I buy a PS2? It’s already been built so the damage is done” or “it’s not our fault, it’s the people who are exploiting the miners and starting the wars.” With very few exceptions that was the consensus - the gamers over there who felt compelled to comment on that story were saying, almost to a man, that they value their PS2s over the life of an African child. That is fucked up.
The actual situation wasn’t simple, but I’ll do what I can to simplify it. There is a certain mineral that goes into the construction of transistors. This mineral can be found in parts of Africa that have been engaged in violent conflict for years. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the price of this mineral skyrocketed due to a massive increase in demand that was fueled by the tremendous upswing in electronics consumption. Basically there was a period of time when everyone in the Western world who didn’t have an electronic gadget of some sort was purchasing at least one. The PS2 was released around this time and was a major contributor to this demand - although clearly not the only cause.
Due to this increased demand miners in parts of Africa were forced to work themselves nearly to death and wars were fought for resource-rich regions. The mineral was heavily exported and companies who needed it didn’t ask too many questions. It would be foolish to imagine that it didn’t end up in some PS2s.
Is Sony directly responsible for this? No, our Western consumerism is. Of course any valuable resource can be the cause of conflict. That’s human nature. The fact remains, however, that money was funneled into the hands of violent men who used it to main and kill because Western corporations didn’t ask any questions when they got a good deal. Should Sony, or any of the companies that profited, be considered culpable? On some level, yes, but the burden of guilt is shouldered by all of us. Now that this circumstance is known, should Sony or any other company be vigilant and ensure all of the resources used in their products comes from sights that have a minimum standard? Yes, of course.
Even if Sony had no idea that there was any possibility of any part of their product coming from a conflict area but that turned out to be the case, I still wouldn’t purchase the product in question. Unless you’re in a hospital there are very few electronic gadgets that you need to have and if you imagine that any of them are worth more then the life of another human being you are morally bankrupt.
My point of all of this is that the internet has made it possible, once again, for me to be embarrassed to associate myself with gamers.
Sphere It