Judith, Debra and i had an interesting conversation in the car last night about our nation's economy, or for that matter any nation's economy. I think it is pretty well established that most modern economies are based on the monetary system, therefore it is reasonable to assume that the decision making process is almost entirely concerned with money and profit. What we found to be a concern was that it is really the Corporation that are governing nations. Soon in the Olympics, instead of it being team Canada it will be team GM, etc. It really is just a facade that governments have control over their nations, as more likely it is the large corporations that have all the control over the government. If it really were the government controlling everything then we would have many more sustainable products and services at your disposal than we do now. We could very well all be driving electric, or fuel cell powered vehicles, but the car manufacturers influence the government to not let that happen out of fear for the economy. We are a disposable culture, where products are built not to last so that companies can profit more form the public constantly having to replace their products. I question what the need for borders or nationality will be in the future when corporations are all we can identify with.
3 comments:
The reason why corporations have the power to do this is because we as individuals give them power to do so.
Who are we pointing the finger at? Should we be pointing the finger at ourselves? Why are we not speaking up or changing this.
Is it a bad thing to have products to wear down and break? It is if you base an entire economies survival on this. What message is that sending out about us as a whole, as a collective!
Are we saying hey lets design something to fail because that is the only way in which we can maintain our economy? Yeah, not such a good message… this sort of message and attitude is than transferred on a day to day basis into other choices we make.
Our economy is feeding off of our needs/wants and not focusing on what is best for everyone. The ways we are currently exporting the fact that nothing lasts forever ever and that we continually need to produce, produce and not think about the after math is not healthy. This is evident in all of our actions. We are all guilty of this. Therefore the corporations are really just reflecting our values…. we are the corporations…our actions voice that.
It is not wrong to want to invent new products and engage in exploration of the imagination. That is not what I am trying to get at. We should be exploring and creating products with a different focus…what that might be I am not for sure it just needs to change. Each individual should be engaged in this change. But human nature is nothing really changes until something drastic happens. Although even then it does not…not a “good thing” or attitude.
So what happens if you now insert this new focus into the infrastructure of our current economy? How can you find out the focus? How do you solve this problem….hmmmm maybe if I sit back and relax everything will fix its self up. I mean has it not so far? Our economy is PERFECT it reflects exactly what I think---NOT.
How do we do this though? How do you create a new system that is already up and running? Essentially how do you re-create the wheel?
Maybe at the bottom of our hearts we do not want to. Maybe the corporations that govern our nations are actually a true reflection of how we feel. Are we not giving them the power to take over?
Why are we just SITTING here!!
How many relationships have you been in where if the person does not give you what you want you walk away and find someone else to give it to you? Or you make it happen because you want it too….so what is the difference here.
We need to change our way of thinking….why are we so self absorbed on certain issues, why do we put ourselves in positions where we become the weak one. Or maybe we don’t..
So if we really did not want our economy to be ran this way why do we run it this way???????
Take some responsibility!! Every decision you make, the coffee you drink, the food you eat, all have a detrimental effect on our economy.
I remember sitting in technology class extremely frustrated at the two professors sitting in front of us, preaching about out our responsibility to our future generations to reduce energy use, think “greener” and reverse our “throw away” mentality. I fully accept part of this responsibility, to educate myself on these issues and act accordingly but what about you!? What about the people in our preceding generations who contributed greatly to the issues above? The baby boomers, the active agents from the commodity boom. What about their responsibility to us? Why isn’t there a “you greatly contributed to your future generations burden” tax?
Why is it that the previous generations seem to be relieved of this responsibility? They drive around thin their YUKONS holding their Styrofoam coffee cups, chatting on their new cell phones without any consideration of the consequences of their actions. I understand the saying “you can’t teach an old dog a new trick” but that doesn’t mean that the old dog can pee on the rug and not be chastised. The issues are worsening, pollution is rising, o-zone is depleting and all we are told is “you can change this”, not “help us change this” or look what we have started you keep it up. We are presented with an abundance of what if’s and utopian could be’s. What about the “follow my examples” and the “continue in this directions”?
I agree with Candace, that we are largely responsible for supporting the corporations that we so often criticize. That is also the corporations' argument: we are only supplying demand; if demand ceased so would production; it's not me, it's you. A dangerous thing to 'believe;' the 'corporation' is relieved of responsibility. Also interesting is that in ascribing collectivity to a governing body ('corporation' or 'government'), it becomes difficult to direct the conversation: whom do we address?? Sub-collectivities (managers / pr clerks / ministers of x)?
I have mixed feelings on the 'corporation-nation' debate - is the government's role in society to ensure an inhabitable planent, or to stabalize the population, or to maintain political boundaries under the pretense of protection resourses or what? And, if corporations destroy political boundaries, I actually think that would be a great thing. Sad, that commodoties would be the uniting force of all humans, but wonderful that we could all find something to relate to, for as Arendt famously argues, we just don't respect (ie treat as human) others until we 'relate' (ie understand) them: how else can the 'jarheads' convince themselves it's okay to kill other human beings for a politcal cause: because to them (based on my own personal conversations with half a dozen of them, anyway), the 'others' aren't human - they are 'enemies' (ie non-human, unrelatable, deplorable creatures). So, if consumerism can obliterate this assertion, I say: up with consumerism (preferably a more 'green' kind, of course)!
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