Monstrous Corporations (Oct. 26th)

    Today, we continued watching the documentary on corporations. "Scrutinizing the characteristics of a corporation, they are a psychopath." The documentary said something along those lines and the more I watched the documentary, the more those words made sense. A lot of the words professors and experts said really provoked my thoughts. For example, I was truly convinced when someone said that corporations are inherently monsters, but the people working there could be the nicest people. This is very complicated because distinguishing the difference between institutions and individuals become harder and we do not know who to blame. On the other hand, a person Mr.Paterson described as "unintelligent" said that 9.11 was a blessing in disguise which I could not comprehend because I can not spot a single blessing in that frightening event. At the beginning of class, before playing the documentary Mr.Paterson talked about the benefits corporations have is exceedingly bigger than the penalties. Therefore the low penalty does not bother corporations that make millions of money. Under such circumstances, obviously a substantial number of people would cheat and break the law, especially if huge corporations have the power to manipulate media and conceal their fraud. Another essential point we talked about was corporations and the environment. This biosphere is shared by countless species. Notwithstanding the current crisis of the world, companies are exploiting, making products, extracting, and so on. However, it may not be entirely corporation's fault because everything we buy and the things that come with it are predominantly disposed almost as soon as they are purchased. 

    In today's class I learned a new term called planned obsolescence. This is a business strategy in which the obsolescence of a product is manipulatively planned and constructed with an artificially limited useful life. Within the past two years, the "artificial count down" of products has been brought to my attention more than I would have liked to admit. As we step into the burgeoning field of technology, we do not have much choice but to purchase and invest in various electronic devices. Although this is not something I can change, but the fact that companies like apple only manufacture computers that will last a certain amount of years serves as a reminder that a lot of our society is constructed in this way. As consumers who care about the following generations (at least more than corporations), I would love to buy products that will last more than a decade so less money and material needs to be used but there seems not to be an ideal solution yet. (From what I understand this is what is called stewardship) On a separate note, the discussion on housing was intriguing. I had never known that Japanese houses only last for thirty years because the house I currently live in has been around for over 2 decades and my dad intends to live in it for 5 more. Especially in a country where countless natural disasters occur, I wonder what exactly "30 years" is indicating because it seems like the houses are sturdy for longer? Financially speaking, it made a lot of sense that the houses last for as long as your mortgage lasts, so people can demolish it after 30 years and move on buying new houses, meaning more income for rich countries and possibly even the government. Regardless, throughout the past few classes I have realized clothing, housing and sometimes even education is manipulated that it is hard to trust any institution. Education seemed especially far from business, but in recent classes, I have realized that any section of society could be effected by a corporation. All things aside, I am really curious in knowing corporations that do not deliberately contribute to diminishing the environment, and actually have intentions to maintain the environment a place our kids will inherit, a somewhat habitable place. 

Notes: 

can a building have a responsibility? artificial legal structure, executives, employees have a responsibility. 

corporate social responsibility. "welfare and environment is not our interest or a corporation's business.  doing these nice things is only acceptable if we don't mean it."

extreme right-wing capitalist economists think it is not the company's business to take care of the environment. but it is society's responsibility to make laws. penalize them with huge finds.

terminator seed - every year you have to repurchase. because it will terminate the seed. this was a monstrous decision they made. 

"CEO is a bunch of white guys." the decisions that not come from them are not those of the real world.