Mike Daisey, responding to This American Life: Retraction:
Especially galling is how many are gleefully eager to dance on my grave expressly so they can return to ignoring everything about the circumstances under which their devices are made. Given the tone, you would think I had fabulated an elaborate hoax, filled with astonishing horrors that no one had ever seen before.
Except that we all know that isn’t true.
Daisey again comes off as defiant. No one is claiming that the overarching story that surrounds his monologue is a hoax. The issue, as I stated previously, is that Daisey presented his story on multiple media outlets under the presumption of fact. He never framed the story as strictly theater. To now claim that he is unfairly targeted in order to distract from the issue is bullshit. The distraction is Daisey himself - he lied.
When people invest emotional capital into a cause, they rightfully feel betrayed and angry when lies led to their deposit. His tone suggests that lying was the only way to force people to consider the issue of worker abuses. Here, Daisey underestimates his audience. I believe people would have eagerly engaged in the issue had Daisey simply stated upfront that his monologue was a dramatic telling of real human interests.
Daisey does touch on what he hopes his audience takes away from the monologue:
But understand that if you felt something that connected you with where your devices come from—that is not a lie. That is art. That is human empathy, and it is real, and even if you curse my name I hope you’ll recognize that and continue reading, caring, and thinking.
I agree completely. People’s feelings about working conditions at warehouses that make their gadgets shouldn’t be forgotten. I don’t think they will. It is shame, however, that people now need to curse his name at all. Simple honesty from the beginning would have endeared Daisey to his audience and forever linked his name to any future improvements in working conditions for Chinese workers. Unfortunately, he will forever be remembered as a liar.