http://albinoblacksheep.com/flash/consumption.php
If anyone knows how to make that a link, don't hesitate to do so.
I just got back from watching 'The Corporation', a documentary film made in Vancouver. Thought I'd post the gist here, and you KNOW this is goin in skipimp's cult...
Anyways.
If you've seen Bowling for Columbine, you should know that it's impossible to relay the message of a documentary film effectively in a summary, but I'll offer a few points in any case.
Firstly, The point. The Corporation. It's a person. Bit surprising, huh? Acting under the 14th amendment, which was introduced right after the civil war to protect the rights of black people, corporate lawyers convinced the courts to recognize corporations as a single person under the law. Corporations can own, buy, sell, sue, be sued, and have pretty much all of the rights of your average person.
What they don't have is morals.
By law, and by purpose, the corporation is designed only to make money, at any cost, human or otherwise. If it'll further their financial interests to cause harm (even physical harm) to the planet or to people, they'll do it. After all, what shareholder cares about the CEO's moral inclinations? They want the cash. And the corporation will make it if they can, at any cost.
And, as we see more and more, they can. Get a large enough corporation and you're bigger than any government. Corporations are INTERnational, no single governing body can possibly hope to stand against them, certainly not when that government is funded by them, or better still, has elements of itself integrated within them.
So the corporation is gaining power. And making all of the decisions. Did you vote for Joe CEO? Then why is he representing you? Why does he have all the power?
And don't be naive and say he doesn't. Look around, the trend of the 21st century is towards privatization! The private ownership of everything, from health care, to education, to power, to basic needs like water... and even to human life.
Let me repeat that. Humanity can be owned.
Not individual humans, no. But, little known to most people, the U.S. Patent office has set a precedent, and since issued a statement, that ALL LIFE IS ELIGIBLE FOR PATENT until it is a born human child. That's right folks, I can own the Gorilla! Not a Gorilla... the race itself! What does this mean? Well, as we speak, the Human genome is being studied, and as each new discovery is made, corporations patent the areas of the genetic code responsible for cancer, or blue eyes, and so on.
Soon enough, every fragment of what makes up a human being will be owned by some private interest.
Don't know about you, but that scares the hell out of me. How can these corporations have enough power to control life? It's absurd. It's tyrannical, potentially; nobody elects CEOs. It's unthinkable.
How about the freedoms enjoyed now, though? Those are alright, aren't they? Well, no. In one portion of the film, the investigative reports for a Fox program, 'The Investigators', talk about a story they were working on.
It had to do with a product made by the Monsanto corporation which caused cows to produce more milk. Now, aside from the damage done to the cows, this was the stupidest thing imaginable, because milk is in global oversupply (we pay farmers not to make any more). But anyways. The product was tested, and FDA approved for sale. Problem here. Either the results were completely fabricated or the FDA didn't bother to look at them, but a later study of the product conducted by external researchers showed that it wasn't harmless. It caused 2 things: antibiotic resistance in the body (meaning by drinking milk, you were making antibiotic medicine ineffective, should you ever need it), and cancer. Good job guys, applause for the folks at Monsanto!
So the Fox reporters find out about this, and they're gonna air the story. They prep it, it's all ready, they advertise it, and the lawyers call. Basically, they have hollow threats, since everything in the report is true it isn't slander. But the network execs freak out. They call the reporters in and say, 'If we didn't air this... would you tell anyone about it?' to which one of the reporters replies 'I'm not going to lie for you.'
He was threatened to be fired.
Basically, you can't fire someone for refusing to lie on the air, and a legal battle ensues. The Network wins when a Judge decides that lying ont he air isn't *technically* a crime. Yay network! You can commit morally reproachable acts without being cirminals!
Anyways, that's just a bit of it, I mean, the whole thing is 150 minutes long. But it's a great documentary, and I think everyone should watch it. Maybe you won't buy that new jacket, or that MP3 player you don't really need. And Maybe you'll be doing the world a favour. I'm not a proponent of socialism, and I myself have made no pledges to sustainability...
But I'll certainly think twice next time I pick up a glass of milk.
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*This was long, so don't blame me for typos or minor errors I missed.
