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May 7, 2007
I watched a DVD of The Corporation documentary last night because of these kind of events. I was curious about the history of legal understanding of a corporation as a class of person, and the evaluation of its behaviour towards society and the world at large as a psychologist might evaluate an ordinary person. Since a corporation only acts in its own best interest (profits) its behaviour can be seen as pathological.
Well most of it. I got bored after a while. It was too heavy handed. Where was the fun of being a player in a private equity firm?
I didn't mind the anti-capitalist political agenda so much, as the "externalities" of the corporation's profit making are well known with respect to the environment. It was more that there was no room for individual desire--say for buying a digital camera. I was not force feed, nor was my consent manufactured. It was in my own interest to make the shift to digital from film.
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Thom Hartmann has written three superb books on the origins and consequences of the tyranny of corporations---and the way to challenge and end that tyranny. The books are titled:
1. Screwed
2. Unequal Protection
3. We the People
The marvellous Wendell Berry also wrote a superb essay titled The Idea of a Local Economy---it was written as a response to Sept 11 and globalization.