I did think that this documentary was not as neutral as I hoped. It presented corporations as the bad guy during much of the film and there could be a reason, but I would have liked to hear more of both sides. It is hard to think anyone can make a difference. It seems impossible. It is scary to be exposed to the things that were presented in this video. Who wants to bring children into a world that must fight and kill over water in less than 20 years? My way to make a difference is to communicate and educate others on the things that I have experienced and learned and always put ethics before money.
I was surprised that falsifying news is not against the law. There is so much conspiracy and secrecy. The public is lied to daily by people in power. I have always been aware the world economy controls and filters information through global media. There are not enough people making documentaries like this and not enough people willing to be accountable to educate the general population. I understand the harm to workers, human health, animals and the world’s biosphere. I liked the part where they said these things the public do not find out about because these things are not being traded.
I was floored by the graphic pictures and corporation’s responsibility for our cancer epidemic. Essentially two out of every five people with get cancer in their life time due to the greed of money and power. Do stock holders and the government have a magical potion to protect themselves and their families? In my education I was always taught that corporations are to be constructive members of society and they need to make a profit to help everyone in the long run. I have always been taught that the ultimate goal in business is to minimize cost and maximize profit. I have been taught to be ethical and not make mistakes others have before me like Enron.
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I was not under the impression that a corporation should only obey the law if cost effective. I never knew that publicly traded corporations were required by law to place the financial interests of their owners above competing interests. I also never knew that corporations are legally bound to make profit the bottom line ahead of everything else, even the public good. I have always understood the government and military were involved in everything that goes on around the world but not to this extent. I like Michael Moore and the films/documentaries that he does. I however work for a large corporation, that I do believe does a lot to reduce the ‘footprints’ on the environment.
This film is mostly one sided, but I think that side needs to be heard so I’m all for it. I know corporations are necessary to the world and they aren’t going to go away. The rules and regulations that are in place today are limiting the corrupt actions. At the same time, I know corporations are cooking up new schemes or running one right now that has not been identified. No one can stop all the wrong corporations do – the best thing to do is hold them accountable and make an example out of them so we don’t see the same problems happen again. The facts mentioned in the film I did find interesting. The most shocking of the stories was about Monsanto and how they manipulated Fox to cover up a story that would have negative effects to them.
Another story that was just appalling was the NYC broker who almost seemed happy about 9-11 because the gold stock went up that his clients had. That was probably the upsetting statement in the whole film and how he wanted Saddam to continue burning oil wells, so oil price would continue to rise. The best analogy I can come up with is to compare corporations to a child limit testing. These corporations are seeing how far they can go before they are reprimanded for what they do. It’s human nature to do this and since corporations don’t do the actions the people do these unfortunate events will occur. “Without struggle there would be no progress” – in other words without Enron there would be no Sarbanes Oxley.
All the corrupt things corporation have done have paved the way for the rules and regulations that are in place today. Eventually someone was going to exploit the system it is an absolute certainty of life. In my mind, I knew that some corporations were conniving and calculating when it came to conducting business. I was not aware of the extent of their actions nor was I aware that almost every corporation I purchase goods/services from daily has been linked to either jeopardizing our health or the environment. It scares me that our government has taken little or no action on questionable practices on some of the U.S.’s top corporations.
For example, the USDA approving a hormone injection for dairy cows when insufficient research has been conducted on the effects of this product. Especially when other countries, such as Canada, have rejected it because of its risk of cancer and birth defects. We grow up being told we need to trust the government, then we become more educated and come to realize that they’re in cahoots with big business. Contrary to most of the film, it showed a situation where a CEO of a large corporation was concerned about all the same things that his consumers were worried about. This man showed compassion and sympathy towards the environment as well as the wellbeing of others’ health and safety.
This provided me with at least a little comfort that there are some big business owners that don’t make business decisions solely based on profits and use their moral and ethical judgment. I do agree that there are some unfortunate outcomes that have resulted in the corporate world, such as the Fox News and Kathy Lee cases presented in the movie. However, in our society, where money is regarded as being so highly important and desirable, problems will continue to arise. Although it is true that companies do try to earn as much revenue as possible in a given quarter, they must be given credit for this because they would not remain in business if they did not. One should not forget the positive aspects of the corporate world. Michael Moore stated it well when he said that we must all take responsibility for our individual actions. It is obvious that the big corporations have unlimited power and too much political influence.
Even though the movie could be viewed as a negative slant on the corporate world, the producers did a good job of presenting an objective view of the current situation. You could say it was one-sided and make a pretty good argument for that because we don’t really know which corporations are doing good things and which are doing bad things. We don’t know the actual statistics or percentages for this, so we can’t just say that all corporations are bad (which the movie kind of does).
The bottom line is that there are some major corporations out there that are obviously doing more harm than good. I have to agree with the idea that the certain corporations act like an artificial giant and a psychopath that is hell bent on doing what it wants when it wants. They have no accountability because they are, in a sense, making their own laws with their political ties. The Corporation was a revelation for me. I had an idea about the situation but was unaware of the magnitude and the severity of the situation.
When the movie started, I immediately thought about George Orwell’s book, 1984, which was the first piece of literature I had read that alluded to the notion that a giant corporation or giant corporate person could one day take over the world. The book, 1984, was disturbing, and what made it disturbing was that there was a hint of reality to it–you knew in the back of your mind that it could come true. Here, with The Corporation, the same is true for me. Granted not all corporations are abusing their power and practicing unethical behavior, but the bottom line is that some major corporations are doing some questionable stuff and taking advantage of their influence and sway with society, which could very well lead our society in a direction we don’t want to go. Big Brother could be right around the corner and we not know it.
As the two-and-a-half-hour-long movie trolled on, you see how big businesses didn’t care about the little businesses. You see how they were able to cut corners and pay pennies to dollars on labor costs by using foreign labor. The part where they investigated Nike in Indonesia, to see how their employees worked in those conditions and to see the CEO avoid going over there to see what goes on, it makes you wonder about how far separated CEOs truly are from their company. And let’s not forget about a community that was planned and developed by Disney in Celebration, Florida.
Or how gold traders reacted during the bombing of the World Trade Centers. And then privatizing a natural resource such as water in Bolivia. But that wasn’t the case a century ago when they weren’t so influential. A business relied heavily on it’s partnerships and its owners, whom were held liable for any consequences, regardless if it harmed others or caused a financial loss. Fast-forward some, you have corporations that manipulate the government’s moderating controls in order to loosen up regulations that are restraining their actions. They also started to promote answers to all problems under the free-market persona.
What is a “corporation”? Why are they created? To answer those, one must ask what drives oneself, what motivates you? The answer is quite simple: Money. Corporations are created to make money, regardless of the end result that affects anyone or thing outside of its corporate walls. It doesn’t care how it affects the world or its employees. Since corporations have been able to influence people and society, it’s often compelling to read a thoughtful analysis about some corporations burning and slashing their ways into and through certain markets and its competition.
