Sometimes it takes my rationale a while to figure out what my intuition already knows. This is a good and necessary thing, as it's hard to make an argument on a hunch.
What I've suspected for quite some time, but couldn't articulate why, is that large corporations are harmful to humanity as a whole. Maybe not all of them, but the standard business model for the large corporation, what most corporations strive for, is. Let me digress to explain what I mean
To find the center of power in a civilization for a given time period, one only needs to find the biggest and most grandiose buildings of that time period. Two thousand years ago, the state of Rome built the largest, most impressive structures - the Coliseum, the Parthenon, the bath houses. The center of power in the Western civilized world two thousand years ago was the state.
One thousand years ago, the center of power in the Western civilized world was again centered in Rome, but this time it belonged to the Catholic Church. If one traveled to any European city, the largest, most resplendent buildings were those built by Catholicism. One thousand years ago, the center of power in the Western civilized world belonged to the Church.
Today, the center of power not just for the Western world, but all of civilization, belongs to the corporation. Travel to any modern city and the largest, most magnificent building will be that of a bank or a credit card company.
Both the state and the church sought to obtain and retain their power, but they also had an understanding to serve the people. Though not always practiced, it was at least expected. The state and the church had a purpose to exist outside of themselves. They had a purpose for the people they served. The modern model of the corporation has one purpose and one purpose only: to make money. To hoard resources. To gain power. The fact that they provide goods and services to people is a side effect of their quest for more wealth. In fact, many of the goods and services they provide are so unnecessary that they must spend vast amounts of money to convince the people that these baubles are really needed. This is called marketing, or as a sage person put it: "... the science of temporarily displacing you of your intelligence, just long enough to get money out of you."
This is no secret. It is expected behavior of the corporation. It is encouraged. It is celebrated. It saddens me.
I know that this sounds like liberal hippie drivel, but I'm starting to understand that it is the truth, and maybe the people I thought were morons were wiser than me. (Or more likely, the people that they were parroting were wiser than me.) Big Business runs the world. Big business rules humanity. And Big Business more often than not has no concern other than making themselves richer. Hoarding more resources. They cannot live simpler, even while so many struggle to simply live. And I'm not typing about all the poor kids in America whose families can't afford a Wii for Christmas, or can't send their kids to college. I'm typing about the places in the world where people don't even have access to clean water.
But, to get back on track, with Big Business in charge - and this is worldwide, mind you - the other 99% will suffer, as Big Business, the corporation, is beholden only to themselves. They openly admit that they only exist to further themselves. How then can anyone expect Big Business to provide for things such as justice? How can we have justice if we are ruled by those who care nothing for it? How can we have justice if we are ruled by those who are themselves so unjust?
The only answer that I can think of is that people, not corporations or conglomerates, must be in charge. People who care about other people. People who can empathize. People who have awakened to the fact, as Wild Willie put it, that everyone has value.
I guess that settles it. Vote Wild Willie for President in 2008.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
My Return to the Soapbox
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3 comments:
Wild Willie for 2008? Yes, this is why I try and keep things anonymous on this blog, just in case any incriminating material comes out.
I agree with what you're saying, Scootypuff, but I just don't know how we move away from the current corporate model without completely reinventing civilization as we know it.
I think the so-called American Dream has become a bit skewed. We all grow up believing if we work hard enough, and want something bad enough, we can achieve anything. Unfortunately, this seems to center around a "me" attitude, focusing on how "I" can become richer, more successful, live a more comfortable life, etc., and the equally important concept of helping your fellow man as a measure of success has somehow gotten swept under the rug. By the time one has achieved the pinnacle of power, the concept is lost forever because you're no longer amongst those that need help.
This topic greatly fascinates me because I find myself on both sides.
I must say that I agree with you that justice is hard to come by in our society that is ruled predominantly by the coporate world.
In response to Swany though, I would challenge the idea that we even need to pmove away from the current corporate model. Our free market society has prospered so much so that even the poor could be considered rich in other places in the world. To change the model you would have to move to a non free market society, which I would venture to guess would be a socialist society. Those didn't fare too well.
In every culture and society there is going to be one who seeks power. I would argue that the church and the state, while they were suppoosed to be out for the good of the people, didn't do as well as our corporate society. At least in a corporate society there are multiple groups out for themselves as opposed to one church or one state. That competition brings some sort of accountability with it. While they mat be out for themselves, they must compete by dealing with the people. Plus the people have choice.
I will leave it at that for now and come back later to add some more thoughts.
You might not vote for me in '08, but you should be looking for the slogan "Only I can make it great in 08!" Maybe that will temporarily displace someones intelligence long enough.
The corporate model needs to change, but like any lasting change it must come from within, rather than be imposed by an outside force. In simpler terms, I don't advocate a more socialist society.
What I do advocate is more people like Bill and Melinda Gates. Microsoft is the evil empire? I hardly call donating over 52% of one's earnings directly to charity evil, which is what the Gates did in 2004. And now they have commited themselves to running their charity organization full time.
What the current corporate model needs to include is - here, let me make an acronym. Suits love acronyms - COTM. Costs Other Than Money. Manufacturing in a way that produces avoidable pollution in order to save a few bucks is a cost other than money. It is a cost in environmental damage, which affects everyone, including the share holders.
Assembling your product in a country with a long history of human rights abuses (to its own citizens I mean, I'm excluding America here) costs human diginity, or in a more concrete concept, contributes to the political instabillity of the host country, as people eventually get fed up with tyranny. And what happens when they revolt? The factory is lost. That's money, plus time invested that is gone.
Initially, they need to see that by benefitting others, they benefit all, including themselves. (This is what Ayn Rand and all those other cats didn't/don't ever seem to grasp)Hopefully, they later awaken to the fact that all have value, and that all are important, ergo all deserve consideration.
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