are big corporatins really evil? why? they give people jobs.
They aren’t evil.
However, they are an example of how humans fantasize. People act “as if†there really is something called Sears or whatever. Really the only thing that keeps any corporation together is first the employees’ belief in working for that company and then the outside world’s belief that the company should be interacted with. If either one of these beliefs gets shattered then the company will no longer exist.
So, these beliefs in the company can lend themselves to serving the needs of the hypothetical entity that is the company and not the humans involved in it. People will say, “how’s the company,†as if the were talking about a child. That would lead the company to take on a human role, so the real humans get ignored for the sake of a fantasy.
We have seen this type of thing with religion and I’m sure a list of other examples. It’s just more human folly and whatever in us that shuns existentialism.
As usual, it depends on the corporation. It depends on
what that corporation believes in. Some corporations believe in
the almighty dollar over of human lives. Those are the evil ones.
Enron and Worldcom is just two that believed in the buck and
not in people. Some corporations are decent. I just can’t name
any right now.
Kropotkin
corporations aren’t evil at all…
only people can be evil…
government bureaucrats are pure evil…
and corporations don’t give anything…
-Imp
Imp: corporations aren’t evil at all…
K: Ummm, I hate to be the bearer of bad news,
but yes corporations can be evil, just as some people
are evil, (whatever that means) and some corporations are
good, just as some people are good. It depends.
It is not an absolute situation.
Imp: only people can be evil…
K: Yes, people can be evil, but for example corporations
that will kill people to save a few bucks are evil.
IMP: government bureaucrats are pure evil…
K: A rather blanket statement from one who believes
in Hume. Some are, some aren’t. depends.
IMP: and corporations don’t give anything…
K: I don’t know what this means.
Kropotkin
Peter Kropotkin,
What do you think of my analysis?
I think that saying that a company is “evil” is a bit over the top. There is no such thing as a corporation to begin with.
why are beaurocrats evil???
Big corporations encourage harmful actions. They make it easier for people to do things that harm others by helping people to avoid individual responsibility. When everyone is to blame then no One is to blame. Nobody gets singled out. No person is responsible for the harm.
Big coporations also help to consolidte power in the hands of the few. Power tends to have a corrupurting influence.
How is it useful to say that there is no such thing as a corporation?
A few definitions of corporation:
“A legal entity which can own property, incur debts, sue, and be sued. Corporations provide for limited liability, easy transfer of ownership and continuity of existence.”
“A legal entity chartered by a state or the federal government and is separate and distinct from the persons who own it. A corporation is considered an artificial person–it may own property, incur debts, sue or be sued.”
“Form of business ownership that is a legal entity on its own in which stockholders and the board of directors are in control.”
“A legal entity created by the registration of appropriate incorporating documents with the supervising government office. May be private (ownership held by specific individuals and not traded on a public stock exchange) or public (shares traded on stock exchange). Shareholders are protected from liability for the actions of the corporation. Corporations may enter contracts and own property.”
“A form of business organization legally created under provincial or federal statutes which has a legal identity separate from its owners. The corporation’s owners - its shareholders are liable for the debts only up to the amount of their investment (limited liability).”
“A form of business organization characterized as an association of individuals with an identity and purpose separate from its individual members.”
from Google:
google.com/search?hl=en&lr=& … tnG=Search
Of the world’s 100 largest economic entities, 51 are now corporations and 49 are countries.
The world’s top 200 corporations account for over a quarter of economic activity on the globe while employing less than one percent of its workforce.
The richest 1 percent of Americans own 40 percent of the nation’s household wealth (as of 1997).
The assets of the world’s 358 billionaires exceed the combined annual incomes of countries with 45 percent of the world’s people.
The average CEO in the U.S. made 42 times the average workers pay in 1980, 85 times in 1990 and 531 times in 2000.
The courts have given corporations the basic Constitutional rights of persons, but workers lose those rights on entering the workplace.
The corporate share of taxes paid has fallen from 33 percent in the 1940’s to 15 percent in the 1990’s. Individuals’ share of taxes has risen from 44 to 73 percent.
The World Trade Organization effectively gives corporations veto power over our U.S. environmental and labor laws, weakening your right to protect ourselves and our land by our legislation.
from->
corporations.org/system/
[a website with an anti-corporation slant]
yes.
Xanderman,
Did you read my first post?
What is EVIL? 
Are prostitutes’ hands really evil? They give people jobs…
would this world really be a better place if there were no corporations but only mom and pop shops?
If it were, this conversation wouldn’t be happening.
All people can do evil.
Companies are made up of people.
Companies do evil.
/pwned
of course this leads to
All people can do evil.
the liberal democRAT party is made up of people.
liberal democRATS do evil.
and
All people can do evil.
benevolent socialist governments are made up of people.
benevolent socialist governments do evil.
and
All people can do evil.
They will do evil under the best names.
trust your mechanic…
-Imp
Quoted for truth.
-Thirst
My point is that a company is always made up of people. There is no such thing as the company!
If CompanyX has the most heinous business practices and least regard for human needs and gets exposed, then many people will report that they hate CompanyX.
Weirdly, people seem to never find out who the decision makers are for CompanyX and say that they are evil. I’ve never heard, “yes CompanyX is a great idea, but needs to be run better,” from the corporations are evil camp.
That tells me that if we secretly replaced all of CompanyX’s staff with people that have great ethical records, then we would still get the same response and find that CompanyX is evil.
This speaks to some strange human tendency.
That is one hypothesis: no matter who was running a large corporation it would still create harm. The institution itself is harmful. A corporation has one task, one goal, one value system = make profit. Actually that is not the best description. A corporation, in order to preserve itself, must make profit. Therefore all a corporation can care about is making a profit.
This isn’t an anthropomorphic decription. It is the condition of everyone who agrees to work for a corporation. They will all work towards helping the corporation to survive by making a profit. All other values become subordinate to that singular goal.
The corporation is more important than any of it subcomponents. So any part of the corporation, be it property or human resources, can be discarded in order to help the corporation to survive.