From: Francesca S. Alcorn (unicorn@greenepa.net)
Date: Sat 27 Mar 2004 - 00:24:21 GMT
Dace said:
>I think we see a similar situation today in the case of large, predatory
>corporations. Part of the strength of the US is that it encourages
>sociopathic tendencies on a large scale. Every great corporation is a sort
>of institutional Samson, slaying the Philistines, lying and cheating, and
>taking no responsibility for its actions. What's striking about the DSM-IV
>criteria for "antisocial personality disorder" is how perfectly they
>describe large corporations:
>
>1) repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
>2) deceitfulness, repeated lying, use of aliases, conning others for profit
>3) impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
>4) aggressiveness
>5) reckless disregard for safety of self and others
>6) consistent irresponsibility, repeated failure to honor obligations
>7) lack of remorse, indifference to the suffering of others
>
>Corporations produce immense amounts of wealth for US society, and despite
>the horrific social and environmental costs, they are always rewarded for
>their efforts and rarely reprimanded. They break laws at will, routinely
>lie about their transgressions, never consider the future but remain fixed
>on current profitability, are extremely aggressive in the face of
>communities and other corporations, demonstrate no regard for the safety of
>their own workers, of consumers of their products, or of people living near
>their factories, feel no obligation to the communities that nurtured them in
>their early years, and always deny wrongdoing of any kind, fighting to the
>bitter end any lawsuit that would force them to pay a dime for the suffering
>they've caused. What's really interesting is the "use of aliases" in
>criterion two. A corporation is, in essence, an alias used by its directors
>to shield them from responsibility for their actions. This is the meaning
>of the term, "limited liability corporation." Commit a crime against
>nature, and it's your alias that pays the penalty.
There might be a book in this don't you think? Or at least a good
long article. I like the Samson analogy. Where is our "Delilah"
to help cut them down to size since they have become too powerful. In
my area we are looking at devastating environmental damage from coal
mining and the pollution (sulfur dioxide, mercury etc) from the
coal-burning plants. Two more plants are in the works and we are
pretty powerless to do anything about it. We also benefit from
fairly cheap reliable electricity. Have you read any of William
Greider or Paul Hawken's stuff?
Gandhi said that "Commerce without morality" was one of the seven
deadly social sins.
frankie
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