11:54 p.m. - 2004-03-20
Comments from the Peanut Gallery
I've felt hungry the last few days, but haven't been able to decide what it is my body wants. Nothing seems appealing, so mostly, I haven't eaten at all. I guess that's better than not being hungry and eating anyway though. Hmmm. Maybe it's just spring making itself felt.
Kind of a corporate theme today in most of my reading on and offline. The premiere of the one of the Sundance festival's prize winners - the movie "The Corporation: Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power" - in Calgary was covered. A University of British Columbia law professor, Joel Bakan, wrote the book and the documentary. He bases his title on the fact that corporations are considered "persons" under the law and applies the World Health Organization's diagnostic tool DSM IV Manual of Mental Disorders to determine that many corporate entities demonstrate the personality of a psychopath.
What made our newspaper's response unique was that even one of the most strident of the "me, myself, and no one else" columnists conceded that the presentation was undeniably effective. Her one argument against the film's message - positing her theory that governments should not be partners with or involved in the operations of corporations - rang hollow for two reasons. First of all, is the consistent insistence in her other writing that government should sell or privatize all their responsibilities and services to private enterprise "for the efficiency of the marketplace" - you know like power deregulation and water treatment standards. Second, she chose to disregard the responsibility already demonstrated as critical that governments regulate and oversee enforcement of legislation of corporate activities - for example the Securities and Environmental Standards commissions.
Two hard news stories in today's news that confirmed the need for regulatory watchdogs, were the on-going Martha saga and a story out of Washington State that cites the serious harm done to their populations and environment by a Cominco plant located in Trail, British Columbia continuing over nearly a century. The plants owners claim immunity from responsibility for the damage, because they aren't physically located in the same country. Interesting that political boundaries are only a barrier for them when responsibility is an issue - they don't seem to feel the same when profits are to be had. If I recall correctly, the story noted that the "Canadian" company is actually a subsidiary of the US parent company. Uh huh.
There was also a story about one of the presentations at our university's "Stop Racism" conference. US author, Robert Fuller, expanded on his detailing of systematic abuses of power by people in positions of authority; behaviour that has had long-time, unquestioning social sanction. Ebenezer Scrooge's treatment of Bob Cratchit might be a well known example, when by limiting his use of coal to heat the workplace, it puts Bob's health in jeopardy, causes him continuous physical discomfort, as well as inhibits his ability to do his job well since there was a comment (I think)in Dicken's story about the ink being too cold to flow, so Bob had to struggle to write up his accounts. The title of Mr. Fuller's book is "Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank". It addresses how power is regularly abused by bullying and putdowns in such places as the workplace, in schools, in the community, and in government when those who class themselves as higher in rank, use that position to claim the authority and to justify their behaviour, when they harass and humiliate those they perceive as lower in rank than themselves.
The one column that gave me a laugh was from one of several new writers for our local newspaper. He writes in the "Entertainment" section about the social life "on the street" while carrying on as a playwright in his other life. The story today was about his encounters with some of the strange denizens of downtown. I laughed through most of it, although I have to dispute the allegation he made that only people 4'11" or under can fit on the transit seats. I'm something over 5' and maybe 3" but my feet don't touch the floor of the bus when I have the good fortune to get a seat - that's why I often opt to stand, that and then there's no danger of napping either.
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