Dear All,
Let us not forget the 1886 corporate law case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co., in which the US Supreme Court deemed corporations to be "persons" within the intent of the law. This decision gave corporations all of the privileges of human beings, but none of the drawbacks; they never die, can afford to hire the best help, and, if they break the law, are not subject to the same penalties awarded to biological persons. If a regular person had deliberately planned to kill hundreds of people by means of gas explosions, he or she likely would have faced the death penalty in the US, but the Ford Motor Company faced no such prospect for its calculated planning of 180 Ford Pinto deaths.
It is notable that corporate power seems to be implicated in recent problems with American politics. The huge financial investment needed to win elections in that country can only be financed by corporate pockets. It seems therefore pointless to blame politicians for their obdurate defence of corporate interests over social ones, since corporate support is the only reason they hold their jobs in the first place. They are employees.
If, under the circumstances, an individual corporation manages not to be evil, it can only be cause for admiration, since no systemic forces are in place to impose goodness. Those of us further down the food chain can only strive to cause as little harm as possible; and good luck in that for anyone living to a First World standard.
Back to work,Heidi
P.S. See Wikipedia for disputed interpretations of Pinto defects, plus estimates of the costs paid for the legal defence.
From: Ali Ilhan <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Saturday, April 7, 2018 6:22 AM
Subject: Re: Analises and Strikes
Dear Jinan and Richard,
Without diving headfirst into a discussion about the root of all the evil
in the world, I do not think that an average engineer is more (or less)
ethical than an average doctor or designer. I don’t know any data source
about an ethical conduct index (pun intended), but a good chunk of
designers work for “evil” corporations (more pun intended) . A design
academic recently declared (many times) every designer and engineer working
for Uber morally bankrupt. I don’t think any of us holds a higher moral
ground to arrive at such sweeping conclusions.
My two cents,
Ali
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