At first glance/first listen, Bucknell’s adaptation of “The Agony and ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” seemed extremely similar to Mike Daisy’s performance, but I soon found out that the similarities ran short. In the part “The second coming” I believe that the writers hit Apple spot on. When he says (I am paraphrasing), we are apple, we have exquisite taste, we know better than you about what you want.
We are here to protect you from your own taste, from now on you have a singular role, to be the consumer. I find this to be where Apple went wrong, believing that they know better than the consumer rather than serving the consumer. What I also enjoyed about this production is how it was often made clear whether the audience was being exposed to fact or art or opinion. As I have mentioned in earlier blogs of mine, I believe that in order to truly be informed, readers must be aware of exactly what kind of content they are reading, where it came from, and how reputable it is. I think that this production can actually be used as a platform as how information should be represented.
Additionally, Jordi’s comments about reaching out to someone in China really intrigued me, and got me thinking. Other than in a classroom setting I have never had any interactions with someone who grew up in China. Yet, nearly everything that I own has in one way or another gone through that country, in particular Shengen. I am glad that you are pushing us to reach out to a Chinese person. I would love to sit down and talk to someone who grew up there and learn how they feel about their culture. Specifically, about how they feel about corporations basing their production in China. Does it bother them? Does it bother the country as a whole? Do they feel exploited? Or are they just happy to have employment?
Let's Get Ethical 
Great post! I also agree that the clarification of fact or fiction by the group was very useful. It shows the listeners that regardless of how confident the speaker is the truth does not always come out.
I like the questions that you would like to pose to Chinese students. I think they can also be applied to any industrial town in the US. I’d also love to compare the answers to your questions with American viewpoints on our firms outsourcing to China.
Well, how would you make that conversation start to happen?
I was surprised to read this weekend somewhere ( I think in .Time) that the android OS is on 80% of mobile devices. Is Apple starting to face a backlash or simply a shift in consumers who want technology they control more? Maybe being told what to like in a mobile device ha already peaked?
I think that it is more likely that Apple is starting to face a backlash. I feel that technology is shifting towards customization and integration into personal lives. People want the technology to work for them, and not everyone’s lives run the way Apple thinks they should.
I’d also like to respond to the last part of your post about our lack of understanding about China. I know that personally the first time that I had the chance to have a real conversation with someone from China was this summer working for J.P. Morgan who took on a summer intern from Shanghai. Although brief, I got to speak to him a little bit about how he perceived New York in relation to his home country. Interestingly, he said that he loved America and would much rather work there than back home. He said that China is in such a different stage of growth than the US and he felt as though they might be trying to catch up with the US too quickly. At the time, I didn’t really know how to take this comment because it was completely the opposite of what I was expecting. Ultimately I think that he did not represent the average Chinese person as he was quite well-off and always had the intention to go to school and work in the United States. All this being said, I really do feel that I should try and get a better understanding of the country as they are become more and more relevant in our modern world. It would be interesting to get a chance to speak with someone over there and pose some of the questions that you mention.
That is really interesting that he said that and I completely agree with him. In a class I had last semester that focused largely on the environment and sustainability, we discussed that China and other growing nations all feel they deserve the same rate of growth and industrialization that America and other western countries did. Unfortunately, we discovered from an environmental state that the same level of growth is not sustainable anymore. Yet, they continue to grow and and prosper economically while our environment suffers – all in the name of being “fair”. I know that is a bit off this particular topic, but it also makes you think of how economies classify being “fair”. The massive suffering people endure for the wealth of a nation does not seem fair to me, but if one place got to reap the benefits, should every other country have an equal chance?