Western Digital sheds 2,500 jobs
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Dec 17th 2008 8:26AM
posted Dec 17th 2008 8:26AM
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GOD BLESS AMERICA
Wow engadget thanks for showing me an old photograpgh of African Americans jobless with a painting of a white family in the back ground living the American dream.
See that dog in the car? He's having a great time. Quit complaining.
Pretty sure the rest of us saw an ironic picture of jobless people standing in front of a poster proclaiming the highest standards of living. You're like those people who take the time to inform us that 'gyp' is a racial slur when most people aren't even aware that the word 'gyp' has anything to do with 'gypsy'
There's a white girl on the left...
People will see whatever they want to see. It's like that ink blot test that shrinks like to use. If you see a line of jobless blacks instead of just a line of jobless *people*, then you're probably a racist yourself. To NOT be a racist is to NOT see the races at all and just see people. Having said that, this picture is priceless; and so fitting of our current dilemma.
Zion(cat)ists are racists.
I can't imagine that the editor who placed this picture here didn't know that it wouldn't spark a flamewar about whether or not its reminding us of racism or of recession/depression...
but, the truth is African Americans WERE discriminated against in the past, they were not allowed to do jobs that they actually knew how to do - such as being allowed to be farmers in the North after already knowing how to farm as a slave. The institutionalized racism of America - followed by a stupid bandaid called welfare and government subsidized housing projects - is part of the reason many African AMericans are in a cycle of debt, poverty and desperation.
Frankly, I'd like to take ALL Americans (white, Black and Jewish) off of welfare but, thanks to Bush Economics so many people are unemployed right now that the welfare roles are SWELLING for multiple ethnicities and races.
Honestly, I know people will disagree with me and low rank this - or try to come up with a stupid fkin insult about me, but I don't give one God Damn about you and your ideaologies.
THIS IS HOW IT IS. When this country makes moves to improve the lives of all people and does so in a fair and balanced manner, then and only then will we move forward.
PS - the election of Barack Obama isn't proof that this country has changed its tones on race or sexism for that matter. It is proof however that
#1 BUSH was a total fuk up
#2 Anybody running against Bush/McCain/Palin was gonna win so long as they seemed electable
#3 The White electorate has been pushed back by changing ideaologies, Hispanic votes, solidarity of key electorates and $750 Million in campaign funds
@Flashpoint
'I can't imagine that the editor who placed this picture here didn't know that it wouldn't spark a flamewar about whether or not its reminding us of racism or of recession/depression...'
Thats funny. I can.
WhaT HaS ThIs gOt tO dO WItH wD?
"See that dog in the car? He's having a great time. Quit complaining."
Man, that is one ridiculously happy dog. That poster would infuriate me with or w/o the line of unemployed African Americans.
Racism/oppression wasn't a joke for those generations, it really shouldn't be a joke now either.
Why does everyone have such a problem with the dog? Seriously, just look how happy he is!
Lots of african americans and one young white girl.....ok, where is R. Kelly?
@ ORACLE
I hate to bring politics into this but do you honestly think that a minority would even get elected into a higher office in those countries, that is also part of freedom (the American way).
"The White electorate has been pushed back"
What the hell is that supposed to mean? Are you trying to suggest that all white people vote republican? Thats ridiculous..
What would you think if the people lined up all had dark, wavy hair, big noses, and big ears and where dressed in rags?
What would you think if the poster had people all with blue eyes and blond hair and the heading said in German
"World's most beautiful people"
"There's no solution like the German solution to the question"
Where the editor goes on to talk about some American company acquiring a German hair company.
Of course you could see just that and make no reasonable conclusions. But "think" about "someone", in another circumstance, who would see something else.
Engadget, I'm sorely disappointed at your lack of sensitivity. Especially in this connected age when you know you have a very diversified audience. I'm almost certain there was some debate before this image was posted and it's sad that you collectively lacked judgment and decided to post this very irrelevant image anyway.
Holy **** is the monster that is the financial apocalypse very much on our streets?
God Bless America, and indeed, the world, and indeed, teh internets.
That is one of the most deliciously ironic photographs ever taken.
I think a lot of people don't know the context in which the picture was taken.
This picture was taken by Margaret Bourke-White of people that were seeking assistance after the floods in Kentucky in 1937. The people in the line became homeless after 60% of Louisville went underwater. The people are not necessarily poor, they just lost their possessions because of the flood, and are receiving aid. Isn't that the American Way?
@ thephram
NO, it would be ironic if the depression-era photo depicted a black family on the billboard and white folks lined up for handouts.
good grief
I didn't even notice they were black. That pretty much negates my previous statement.
Yeah we are in a recession, but American way is still the way. We are free to do what we want, you can flip off a cop, curse the President and not get killed. I wasn't born in USA so believe me when i say this that America provides more freedom to int people than any country on earth.
Yeah we are losing jobs, my company just laid off a number of people, but the world goes on.
Lemme try this in the UK:
"Damn you Gordo....
Here's a great example, look at what our democratic friend in other countries are up to.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081217/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_treason_law
Long live Russia, fool! Freedom is but an illusion - in any country - accept it and get over it. Humanity will continue to be humanity.
How can you use Russia as a good example. Thats like saying you have net neutrality and then using china as an example.It's funny when you get Americans saying Paris is in London or Britain came from america and when I point out the facts I'm suddenly wrong.
Um, and what about Guantanamo Bay?
@Jakem:
Oh, that's part of Cuba. Just another example of Castro's excesses, letting the U.S. do that. ;)
@Kris120890:
There are ignorant people in every country. Whichever one you come from is no exception. Trust me, European arrogance is just as annoying to those who are not European as U.S. arrogance is to people who are not from the U.S.
"you can flip off a cop" I'm not so sure about that. You do that, and the a--hole will look for an excuse to either arrest you or fine you. I rather stay away from them altogether.
"Today I didn't even have to use my a.k.
I got to say it was a good day." Ice Cube.
Save your breath cursing the president. Throw a Shoe.
Socialism's better. Then everyone can work for a car and an abnormally huge smile.
The American way is still THE way?
I wasn't aware there was only one way to skin a cat.
Well I must admit it certainly feels good to know that what works for one person always works for every person.
I like when everyone is exactly the same. It makes me feel like I'm always right.
"that America provides more freedom to int people than any country on earth."
Not according to Freedom in the World 2000-2001, New York: Freedom House, where the US is ranked #7 in the world list:
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/dem_civ_and_pol_lib-democracy-civil-and-political-liberties
The thing is people in the countries above the US in the ranking don´t boast around like the americans do. That at least shows respect for the people around you. Just imagine the people from the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Denmark hearing you say that. You would be portait as an arrogant to put it mildly. This blind illusion of feeling you're always the best, without caring about what others are doing, will probably put in danger the american future as the biggest economy and military power in the world.
Oracle,
I'm not so sure that NationMaster ranking is all that valid. Have you seen the criteria they are using to determine which country is the most free? Like what historical year Jewish people were allowed to vote, what percent of the electorate shows up to vote at congressional elections, etc. Apparently the US gets whacked for having unenforced sodomy laws in a number of states.
A site like that needs to be extremely careful about defining what they mean by "freedom" before devising a ranking. Some people in this country might consider an index of freedom paying less than 50% of their salary in taxes, while people making $53,000 euros in "#1 ranked" the Netherlands pay 52% just for federal income tax, before other taxes. Perhaps they get better government services than the US, perhaps not, but this is still a compulsory financial burden.
I don't mean to shoot down your link, it looks like the guy who made the site has done some interesting work. I am just pointing out that this very ordered list is based on very fuzzy assumptions and what some might consider highly arbitrary and carefully selected parameters.
The biggest danger to America's future:
http://perotcharts.com/images/challenges/challenges07.png
Well... meh. Hope they get some form of a job soon :\
Best wishes to them.
Doubly happy because they seem to hate hard drives.
damn, i hope Lockheed's not next...
Really, we aren't trying to very hard to avoid a recession are we?
It's already started.
Jobs cut.
Spending cut.
More jobs cut.
More spending cut.
And so on until unemployment's at 30 percent.
Good one, Washington.
I presume that's the point of the picture. It's highlighting racism in the US (a point that Sea Urchin failed to spot) by juxtaposing the wealthy white family living the dream in the poster with the poor black people queuing.
yes its on purpose, look at the picture behind them they are all white..
so u put 2 and 2 together
No, see, Guantanamo Bay is in Cuba, see
...If I cover my ears and sing, I can't hear what you're saying.
Communism failed.This system will also fail.I wish everyone not lose their jobs.
We've never really seen communism. Authoritarianism failed.
That's right, because The Great Depression was just another tool that the government used to keep down the brothas. GTFO tool.
"If you are one of the people on the next list then you are fired, take your luggage and go out immediately, a security personal will check you in the exit door.
And for the rest of employee, happy xmas and don't forget the party to celebrate this next 24."
Yet again, I read these posts and despair at the state of popular knowledge about the current financial crisis. It is the market manipulations by the Federal government that is the single largest contributor to this downturn, and yet it seems most posters on this site insist on blaming the market, or private companies, or the undefined "greed." Greed is a constant, people are no more greedy now than they were at any other period of time. But what does change is the Federal attempts at market control, leading to boom and bust cycles we now see played out before us.
Most commentors look at these posts and want to blame the market. Instead they should be blaming those individuals they elected.
If I didn't think Engadget articles were just about getting a response I'd say this was a poor choice of photographs. ...But since I think Engadget is a complete sell-out this makes perfect sense. It's bound to generate feedback for an otherwise uninteresting article. ...5% or 2,500 jobs is nothing to me, that's like a company of 20 dropping one employee. I think most companies of 20 have at least one person they don't need, so I see this as a healthy reorg.
About the photo; It would have been easy to get a photograph of poor white folks, Irish or otherwise, but I think this picture (unintentionally) emphasizes that economic turmoil has traditionally hit the black community the hardest. ...Because of racism. However, I see this picture as a symbol of hope. Because things aren't (at least as bad) anymore. Racism still exists (in a sad way), but it's only a shadow now of what it used to be. Pictures like this remind me of the progress we've made.
What are you talking about, black people don't make hard drives!
Since when did racism =/= recession?
I mean since when did racism = recession? The picture is not necessarily a resemblance of a recession
You all don't understand! These employees negotiated wages that were far too high for the market, and the Invisible Hand will now smack them down. And Western Digital has put out crappy products that no one will buy, and they haven't been innovative enough, because of all those overpaid employees, and they deserve to die. Right? Am I right? And now they will go bankrupt, and reorganize with employees making only seven dollars an hour with no bennies, no pension and no future. And the executives should get their bonuses, and then some, because the company needs to retain their talent. Sounds familiar.
Same thing for Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and all those other non-innovative companies that put out product that no one will buy. Why, if wages were comparable to those in Kenya, there would be no problem.
I despair of those educated in the Chicago School of economics, which is pretty much all people schooled in economics in the U.S.
This disaster was caused by seventy TRILLION dollars in unregulated, worthless default insurance paper that was traded in secret to allay the perception that perhaps investments weren't what they seem. The traders demanded that government not regulate that market, and they got exactly what they wanted: fat profits. They'll never go hungry. But they took the world down with them as they pigged out. The unregulated credit default swap market amplified the inevitable real estate market turndown by at least two orders of magnitude, and froze money in its tracks.
Yes, all those foolish nobel prize winning economist at U of C are ruinning this country. Try a small dose of sobriety in the current Federally created crisis and look up cato.org.
The Federal Reserve, which is neither federal nor a reserve as Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize winning economist of the U of C once said, was founded twelve or so years before the Great Depression.
And yet still the mob howls for more Government.
When I was in high school (not too long ago) I scanned that picture out of my textbook and animated it in such a way to resemble the "What is Love?" meme on YTMND. I think it's long lost now, but seeing it again makes me want to redo it.
Was engadget looking to get a high comment count today? Had to know a picture like that would be controversial!
Are ya that calculating or that oblivious?
By the by, NOT ONE PERSON mentioned Western Digital or it's layoffs. It's all about the pic.
RECESSION?
They are waiting in line to see Chris Rock !
Seriously though, Besides the fact this pic has Blacks on "a line" and overly happy Whites in a car, you have no idea what the context of this picture is besides what the editor wrote on top.
This could be a picture taken in HArlem of people waiting on line to buy hats!
This could be a picture of a line in Compton to see the movie "World's Highest Standard of Living "!
Engagdet,
This is a really poor choice for a picture. Your website is great and your writers and editors do a phenominal job. But this is a clear oversight. This picture perpetuates harmful and degrading stereotypes about black people in this country. If shown in a appropriate context it would not be as much offensive as it would be a depiction of a historical period of time. But when you use it as the illustration of an article about job layoffs etc, it does no good. While I do not blame you for this oversight because you simply may have not realized how offensive this could have been, I urge you to learn from your mistake and apologize for it. If handled repsonsibly from here, I think we can all take it as a learning experience. If you simply do not see how this could be offensive or refuse to be open enough to HEAR some of the posts on this thread, then I would suggest that you ask some of your black friends or colleagues how they feel about it.
Thanks for the great work you all do in the world of technology.
Dave H.
the picture perpetuates that people got laid off. If you haven't read engadget in a while, maybe you haven't seen that they post a similar picture for EVERY story about people getting laid off.
Maybe everyone needs get the politically correct stick out of their asses.
Yeah, don't muddle davidhasslehoff's pretty little mind, please.
The only groups of people that really care if a picture show a bunch of black people or not, are Afroamerican and KKK, the rest of the people really don't care about it.
What would you think if the people lined up all had dark, wavy hair, big noses, and big ears and where dressed in rags?
What would you think if the poster had people all with blue eyes and blond hair and the heading said in German
"World's most beautiful people"
"There's no solution like the German solution to the question"
Where the editor goes on to talk about some American company acquiring a German hair company.
Of course you could see just that and make no reasonable conclusions. But "think" about "someone", in another circumstance, who would see something else.
Engadget, I'm sorely disappointed at your lack of sensitivity and open-mindedness. Especially in this connected age when you know you have a very diversified audience. I'm almost certain there was some debate before this image was posted and it's sad that you collectively lacked judgment and decided to post this very irrelevant image anyway.
@Orappa
... and get 5.
Just when you thought AOL users' reputation for stupidity couldn't possibly get any worse...
Engadget commenters prove otherwise!
good grief
your name pic and comment made my day all at once
Wow flashpoint, you made me laugh for the first time in your internet existance! +1 for you my good sir.
I don't understand why people are getting so up in arms about this photo. I'm sorry, but I am very respectful of this photo, this is one of the great photos made during the depression by Margaret Bourke-White in 1937. The contrast between a white family and poor african-americans standing in line waiting for relief after a flood in Louisville kinda says it all about how certain people, whatever their color, were treated during that time. I think placing this photo above an article about some tech employees losing their job in the 21st century does kinda cheapen the photo and suggest to some people(probably only those who didnt read their history books) that the two times are equal. Sad that people are losing their jobs no doubt but in no way are the times even close to equal.
As I heard a comedian say the other day, people look at the depression and say that couldn't happen now, those people were all in black and white, everybody lives in color now, how can we have a depression in hi-def? People are just too dense. Being spoon fed answers is easier than thinking for yourself.
Really? That's the whole point. So before posting you own comment, read what the others wrote. You wouldn't look like a fool then, would you now?
The billboard reminds me of Fallout 3's...
It's just missing the bobblehead dude!
Is that Mos Def in the center of the picture?
This coming from the same people that saw no need to create SSD drives............
The photo is indeed challenging and confrontational. However, I doubt that Engadget staff had any racist intent when they selected it. By the way, I'm Black.
The photo, to me, is a reflection of American life in that era. However, it could have easily been taken during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. And, a lot of people insist that the U.S. government's lack of response to that crisis was racially motivated - I tend to agree with them.
However, U.S. racism isn't my problem anymore because I moved away from the place years ago. So, you guys slug it out, and maybe one day you'll finally move on from America's terrible racist past.
P.S. Dez, Black people are involved in every high tech industry. So, yeah, we're making hard drives. I was a Senior Database Programming Consultant for nearly 20 years. And, I met quite a few people like you who thought I couldn't or shouldn't be doing that job.
i think that dog's the only one who notices they're about to run those people over . . . .
Maybe its due to the fact that WD hard drives are crappy and fail. Hence why nobody wants them anymore
World's highest standard of living? In Australia, we live in true colour, none of this greyscale stuff.
(Or maybe I have it wrong, and "American Way" is the name of the comedy those people are lining up to see.)
Interestingly, when Bourke-White shot this photo, she composed the picture carefully by rearranging the line to show those she considered most photogenic for the photo. It's still a neat photo, for all that it is composed and not actually spontaneous.
According to Wikipedia, during this flood over 1 million were left homeless, with 385 dead and property losses reaching $500 million (in those days!)
I don't know if a composed shot of a bread line during a catastrophe showing mostly African-Americans implies racism. This may have been in a predominantly African-American neighborhood; alternatively, perhaps these African-Americans lacked the resources to avoid having to get food from a bread line, and thus there may be some implied institutional racism. The photographer may have just been trying to show how affected people in the flood were compared to others in the country. I think people here are reading too much into this. Presumably Engadget is comparing the current economic recession to the Ohio river flood of '37.
LOL at the ones saying the little girl at the left is white.... she is indeed a light skin African American, what white parent in their right mind would allow her to stand in line with Blacks??/....
this was a terrible choice for a picture on an article like this, and it is sad to read some of the comments along with it but like Oprah said...................... you can do anything or say anything but as long as you finish it with.....drum roll........
OBAMA IS PRESIDENT b!tcheeeese!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why wouldn't a white parent allow their child to stand in a line with black people? The black people wouldn't care and most certainly would have treated her just like another human being.
If you were discussing a highly segregated era, like the year 1938 in which the photo was taken, it would have been best to say that so people know exactly what point you're trying to make.
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/B/bourke-white/b-w_living_full.html