Thursday, January 13, 2011

The Corporation - Reflection

Despite the bias in the documentary, some of its points definitely made sense to me. A corporation is considered a "legal person" with legal rights. However, those rights don't include treating the public well or fairly. Pollution, toxic waste, animal cruelty, human rights, all of these are subjects that corporations need to attend to. Corporations can't deny that they aren't polluting because the evidence is in the environment. Certain species of animals are nearing extinction, and rivers are murky and dirty. Also, there was a part where the film creator was talking to the founder of Nike, and he was shocked to discover that the founder of his own company hasn't set foot in one of his own factories (in Indonesia), where the average worker is paid less than half a dollar, to work in less than ideal conditions, to make items sold for hundreds times more.

Are corporations honestly unaware, or are they feigning ignorance?

If a corporation is considered a legal person, I believe it must also have legal responsibilities to other members of society, and not just the shareholders of the corporation.

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