EMBARRASSING THE CORPORATIONS WITH THe MEDIA
or countries with insane libel laws, like the UK
Fuck yes Maxwell was a shit ;everybody in the media everybody in the City everbody in Politic knew it -sometimes thru painfull personal experiance. SAYING IT was eqivalent to putting your bank balance in used notes in an evelope and posting it to his Penthouse.
There are a LOT of unspeakable truths about Murdoch. Unspeakable even in the US.
#29 ::: Neil in Chicago ::: (view all by) ::: August 21, 2009, 07:40 AM:
The Right's view of government and the Left's view of big business are both correct.
-- Robert Anton Wilson
I've never understood the liberto/o/n/arian axiom that there's a Platonic difference-in-essence between political power and economic power. Concentrated political power can't be good; concentrated economic power can't be bad.
Well the arguement such asd it is ;is that you can walk away from a Company but you need a private army to walk away from a Goverment (it doesn't awat work if you have an army as the South found out).
Granted Modern Conditions it doesn't work out that way. Its hellishly difficult to escape Big Banks offering (to the small customer) pretty much identical deals. Yes its POSSIBLE but you have to be prepared to deform your life. Ditto Not going to the big Hypermarket (or one of its clones) that dominate your area.
I'm sure you can come up with more examples
I wouldn't mind corporate personhood as much if it were combined with "person"al responsibility. A corporation doing something that would get a person locked up for 6 months? Oh well, you can't buy or sell anything for 6 months. Yes, I realize that would put everyone working for it out of work, but I would think that even CEOs with a "killed my company because on my watch our policy was to steal" rap on their sheet might find it hard enough to find another position that they might decide that's not the best policy. IANAL, which means I come up with simple solutions to complex problems. Mencken's Law applies, no doubt.
I dunno wether your suggestion would atually work, But I like the IDEA behind it i.e. Finding sactions that actually deter Corporations as such rather than scapegoat individuals-who are replaced by Young turks who believe THEY are too smart t be caught or fines that are passed on to the customers and/or dissapated in such things as redundancys which punish uninvolved bystanders.
Its the problem I was fumbling with in my own journal article HOW TO SPANK THE BIG BOYS IN THE PLAYYARD only about to-big-to-fail banks.
More shoulf be written about this.
#67 ::: Bemusedoutsider ::: (view all by) ::: August 21, 2009, 05:21 PM:
This may brand me a Nominalist rather than a Realist ... or alternatively, it may be so obvious that no one else has mentioned it.
But, at least within the US, rather than Government and Private Sector, what I see is individuals (top hats and spats and all) who acquire whatever credentials give them the most power, from one period to the next. Most likely both: of a group of cronies, at the same time, some take the public credentials, some the private.
The action (ostensible or real) of the agency or corporation may change according to who has got control of it; the controllers don't change their pinstripes.
This is pretty much the old Anarchist Slogan
"It doesn't matter who you vote for ;The Politicians always get in"
I am watching with some dismay the amount of increased police powers and "nannying" in the UK where personal rights are diminishing.
Agree that this is happenning. My own diagnosis is that it results from a very charitable cause. When something Awefull happens -like the killing of Baby P or Terriorist almost bombing a shpping Mall there is a clamour to BLOODY WELL ***DO*** SOMETHING. Which is OK but the sad answer is that we are Already doing about all there is to do. In the Presant state of technology there Aint much more to do.
This is not actseptical Practical Politics so SOMETHING is dun; & something seems always to involve curbing of individual freedom.
Agree that goverment is the only protection the weak (which is us & no I don't like to face it either) have against the strong (which in our time means our boss ,the corporations we have to deal with etc rather than a bully down the block) the human race has come up with yet- its a piss poor one & we should keep a weather eye open for a better but sadly in the short run we have to make do.
Also without denying my faith as a libertarian (note the small 'l' ) we have to acknowledge the benefits of Society. Its a buffer against the basic 'don't give a fuck'aspecrt of the Universe. Living the free life in the wilds is a nobel thing and good luck to those tough enuf to do it. But its a wholly absorbing activity with no slack in the cables- you don't have time for much in the way of culture and one bad accident & you Are DEAD
Trying v hard to see the funny side of this but like Pollyanna screamed at the ceiling in the 2nd half of the book (read it its not that touchy-feelie a book)after she'd been paralysed below the waist. THERE IS NO GOOD SIDE TO THIS AT ALL!!
As a Man I've got no right to say it but if I was a woman i think I'd wish that sarah palin had a need to pay this Bill
I'm a fuck-up. Mostly in amiable small ways that don't matter a damn but I have deliberately chosen not to learn to drive -tho in modern city life its a pain in the ass (the money I spend on taxis !!!!) because I can't trust myself not to have an insight into what Heinlein was DOING in his last 1/2 dozen monster Novels & pile into a school bus or something. So yeah I grok; doesn't help me to decide wether the guy SHOULD ever forgive himself-don't know even how to frame the question.
The philosopher Dan Dennett mentioned the case (without naming names) in his last but one book FREEDOM EVOLVES- he admits the problem defeats him too.
If its relevant the guy who wrote GORMAGHAST (forget the name) came close to doing the same left his kid daughter standing in a Car Park as a Shetlands winter storm blew in because well because he had this really bril short Story idea. It was the best/worst moment of his life when he dig her apparent lifeless body out of snow drift and she screamed into his face 'I've Got a STUPID Daddy'.
Admired what of his work I read.Which wasn't the whole oevre; he was too dark for me. Also the same reason the Corneilius Chronicles are a closed bok too me; I've almost no sense of irony
But I didn't want him dead & I'd like to quote a line from the Zelazny short COMES NOW THE POWER => 'Someone with the Power shouldn't die like That'
Yeah I've always held the absolute limit on any copywright should be the authior's life-maybe enuf extention build in so that his kiddies can go thru college
Nanny may not know best, But she has her uses
"By the time children are in second grade, they know to take what people say with a grain of salt, particularly when the statement supports the speaker's self-interest, according to a published study by Yale researchers...."
ONLY VALUE SKOOL HAS
SOCIAL CONTROL
Like as the Marxists say its a matter of internal contrdictions. There is (trust me) a GOOD SIDE to conservatism(small 'c') distrust of the State and the value of Personal Independance/Integraty but its getting swamped(Hell that a pathetic understaement. Has been killed rather) by something nihilistic about humnan possibility. Apparently we're all naughty children to be kept on a VERY short leash by thoise chosen to care/control us Thoose beyond human weakness.
Interesting I Always was aware that Fladery,like say most of Zelazny's hero's, was not a man you'd want to meet in R/L.
Maybe STARSHIP TROOPER for me.
Belated sympathy for your misprecription. Whomever is resposible ought to be made nonconsentual GOH at a S&M Convention
I think I like the guy. O'course we were to busy to learn about him at school .we were learning about reaL movers and shaker like Henry VIII .The guy we reconsiled Satyresis with his nurses doctrine that you gotta marry them first
Remarkable
I'd like to take it appart line by line but this comment section is already too long. Basically I like the Deist bits,have less time for the tradidion of the \christian church(any church)than you do,and have more time for the Neo -Pagans than you do.
My religion some combination of Bertrum russell's suggestion of a new sin that of believing in something without surficiant evidence and GRR Martin's Tale of Dragon and Thingimee' TRUTH MATTERS. This makes me an atheist at presant this is open to change.
PATRICK
Remember, the point isn't to build the new Jerusalem, crusade for utopia, or establish a libertarian paradise. The point is to get rid of these bastards and re-establish normal American politics, with all the usual compromises, dissemblings, backroom deals, and other moral misdemeanors that implies. All of which is one hell of an improvement on the rule of unfettered Might Makes Right, which is what we're on our way to right now.
I accept this which for an impractical idealist like me is quite a concession.
Richard Clarke seems like a moderately honest straightforward bloke. How the hell did he survive in his job over the years?
Speaking from the UK I'd say 'Don't Panic' most of the USA is no more corrupt than it ever was. Get Kerry in (he don't inthuse me but that's the impractical idealist speaking again)and the damage is undo-able. A Couple more Republican terms tho but you know that sorry to be redundant.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 9 |
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2006 | 1 |
| 2005 | 6 |
| 2004 | 11 |
| 2003 | 12 |
| 2002 | 1 |
Total: 41 comments. View all these comments on a single page.
The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by DM SHERWOOD:
Show all comments by DM SHERWOOD.