Date sent: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 18:53:05 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Scarazzo <mscarazzo@rocketmail.com> Subject: Re: boycotting of corporations To: extropians@extropy.com Send reply to: extropians@extropy.com
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> ---"Joe E. Dees" <jdees0@students.uwf.edu> wrote:
> > > ---Samael <Samael@dial.pipex.com> wrote:
> Do any
> > > of the
> > > > libertarians on this list boycott them? Or anyone else?
> > >
> > > Since the GOVERNMENTS in those countries control access to
> resources,
> > > thus maintaining the relative poverty of the general population,
> they
> > > are the monopoly over certain resources like people, that enact the
> > > policies allowing companies to exploit the resources. The problem
> is
> > > government. If the third world countries did not tyrannical
> > > governments of unlimited power, the populations would not suffer as
> > > they do now. They would have the individual and local authority to
> > > stop the government policies.
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> > Yeah, yeah, the dirty rotten governments made the poor
> > corporations do it to their people! Yeah! That's the ticket!
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> You have entirely missed the concept of corruption. The corporations
> may be corrupt. Greed exists. However, you believe that governments,
> especially in third world countries actually care for their
> populations. Many third world countries are at least as corrupt as
> the US, and in many cases they are more so. The central point here is
> that you believe government, which is a monopoly over the access to a
> geographical region known as a nation state, is a relatively benign.
> I conclude from your statements to this point that you think
> corporations are the ultimate evil in the world. There are evil and
> greedy people in all facets of life. However, government permits the
> power of those greedy people under its name to remain unchecked. In
> the example that Samael pointed out, regardless of the validity, the
> government's monopoly over its nation permits its officers to take
> bribes for personal gain. Ask yourself why you believe that people in
> government are more ethical than those in the private sector.
Nor are they any less. There is the capacity for good and evil action in all people, this is as a result of the free choice born of selfconsciousness. The more an organization by its structure contributes to the facilitation of the better impulses of the people comprising it and the hindrance of the worse, the better for the people it is. This is true whether the organization be corporate, ecclesiastical, governmental or union. Joe