The Corporation
After watching the documentary, I sat back and looked around me. Documentaries like these tend to get me thinking, analyzing, wondering about how I relate to the world around me, from fellow animals (I count people among them), to everyday items like shampoo, to this laptop I'm typing on. I concentrate on an object, and meditate on where it comes from, going through its creation process in reverse, breaking down each invidual part until it is once again part of the Earth or, if it is synthetic, where it was created and what it was created from and where these came from. Along this meditational journey, I think about who put what together when, what circumstances the thing in question was made in. It makes me appreciate what I have, and especially what I do not.
I wonder about how everything in my life comes around to me in some eventuality from a place where the population does the job of putting together the materials I use everyday for cents on the hour or face starvation or deeper privation than if they didn't have the job. I wonder about how, through my dollars and my voice, I can best effect change for that person. I may not be able to lift them out of poverty on my own, but I wonder about my ability to effect the change they need. I think about starting a new political movement, but there are so many other things that interweave with what I already feel, that I then look to them, their successes and failures. It seems the the underlying issue is that governments don't really take these groups' gripes seriously or ignore them, and so, the movement in question must get more and more extreme to have its voice heard, or needs to accrue vast sums of money for the purposes of lobbying and/or advertising. Some of this is effective toward the original goal of preserving this, or that, or accounting for this or that social ill. Some of it is not.
Then, I hit my forehead. I have a great way to change things: in my everday actions, how I raise my son, by making informed choices, by informing others of the ills and good that are possible with what resources are available. Engaging in my local markets, and how I buy, sell, trade or volunteer my goods, services, or labor, such as my education, my graphic design work, even my physical labor is an effective way of causing change that builds. Sure, I can get politically active and join or make a new movement, and I may have the capability to do so hopefully soon. Sure, I can shout in the streets, trying to inform the public around me, stand up at town hall meetings and demand that this or that issues be addressed, and effect local change that will eventually snake upwards. I could also run for office, or engage my myriad political structures around me or volunteer my time for lake, road or other cleanups. The thing is, is I can do these things in addition to the everyday choices. I can supplement the good I can do in the here and now with what may, at some point down the road, start a movement, push it farther or otherwise impact the world with more than just my voice, my vote or money.
I think that part of the reason why I didn't used to have this relationship with money was because I looked at money as this scarce thing I needed to horde or I wouldn't have enough to (insert need or want here) when in fact I had a really toxic relationship with money. I didn't only look at money as a kind of devil-figure when I first got on my own, but I looked at it as a scarce resource. Money is abundant, and it is all around me. I may not have access to it, but I can get it one way or another, legally. For now, given I am out of a job and still looking, I just have to trust that there is a reason for why I haven't even gotten a call back from places I know I am qualified for. I live in Michigan, after all, and that means that the whole state is in trouble. Hell, even on State job application forms it says roughly that "this position will be filled by a current or former employee of the State of Michigan. If one cannot be found, then we will accept outside applications".
This does not mean that with what money I do have that I cannot make good, ecological or otherwise healthy decisions. Hell, it makes me more conscenscious of the power I have with that money. In its absence, my purchasing decisions are made for me, regardless of how polluting a product was made, or what it contains if it is food, or who made it in the first place. This isn't to say my folks, with whom I live, make every little decision, they do ask for my input, which is nice of them. But I don't like being a financial burden on my folks and I would like to see my own money and purchasing power put fully back in my hands. So, until that time I'll make what decisions I can with the resources I have, try to effect change as best I can whether its calling or emailing my politicians or signing petitions or volunteering my time.
What of the documentary? It is good, in my opinion, and presents a good overview of corporations as they were, and as they are today. I would admit that they show a lot more of the downfalls of corporations than they show the benefits, but they do balance out the documentary by including voices from both sides of the issues surrounding corporations. The documentary gives the viewer an understanding of what happens when corporate power freigns unchecked, what it can do to peoples of 3rd world countries when these corporations are exploitive. It also talks about what the average person can do to help, to effect change and make things better. All in all a good, balanced documentary that analyzes the corporation, assesses it and offers solutions.
If you want to watch the documentary yourself, here is the link to the the Youtube Playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FA50FBC214A6CE87&search_query=the+corporation
I wonder about how everything in my life comes around to me in some eventuality from a place where the population does the job of putting together the materials I use everyday for cents on the hour or face starvation or deeper privation than if they didn't have the job. I wonder about how, through my dollars and my voice, I can best effect change for that person. I may not be able to lift them out of poverty on my own, but I wonder about my ability to effect the change they need. I think about starting a new political movement, but there are so many other things that interweave with what I already feel, that I then look to them, their successes and failures. It seems the the underlying issue is that governments don't really take these groups' gripes seriously or ignore them, and so, the movement in question must get more and more extreme to have its voice heard, or needs to accrue vast sums of money for the purposes of lobbying and/or advertising. Some of this is effective toward the original goal of preserving this, or that, or accounting for this or that social ill. Some of it is not.
Then, I hit my forehead. I have a great way to change things: in my everday actions, how I raise my son, by making informed choices, by informing others of the ills and good that are possible with what resources are available. Engaging in my local markets, and how I buy, sell, trade or volunteer my goods, services, or labor, such as my education, my graphic design work, even my physical labor is an effective way of causing change that builds. Sure, I can get politically active and join or make a new movement, and I may have the capability to do so hopefully soon. Sure, I can shout in the streets, trying to inform the public around me, stand up at town hall meetings and demand that this or that issues be addressed, and effect local change that will eventually snake upwards. I could also run for office, or engage my myriad political structures around me or volunteer my time for lake, road or other cleanups. The thing is, is I can do these things in addition to the everyday choices. I can supplement the good I can do in the here and now with what may, at some point down the road, start a movement, push it farther or otherwise impact the world with more than just my voice, my vote or money.
I think that part of the reason why I didn't used to have this relationship with money was because I looked at money as this scarce thing I needed to horde or I wouldn't have enough to (insert need or want here) when in fact I had a really toxic relationship with money. I didn't only look at money as a kind of devil-figure when I first got on my own, but I looked at it as a scarce resource. Money is abundant, and it is all around me. I may not have access to it, but I can get it one way or another, legally. For now, given I am out of a job and still looking, I just have to trust that there is a reason for why I haven't even gotten a call back from places I know I am qualified for. I live in Michigan, after all, and that means that the whole state is in trouble. Hell, even on State job application forms it says roughly that "this position will be filled by a current or former employee of the State of Michigan. If one cannot be found, then we will accept outside applications".
This does not mean that with what money I do have that I cannot make good, ecological or otherwise healthy decisions. Hell, it makes me more conscenscious of the power I have with that money. In its absence, my purchasing decisions are made for me, regardless of how polluting a product was made, or what it contains if it is food, or who made it in the first place. This isn't to say my folks, with whom I live, make every little decision, they do ask for my input, which is nice of them. But I don't like being a financial burden on my folks and I would like to see my own money and purchasing power put fully back in my hands. So, until that time I'll make what decisions I can with the resources I have, try to effect change as best I can whether its calling or emailing my politicians or signing petitions or volunteering my time.
What of the documentary? It is good, in my opinion, and presents a good overview of corporations as they were, and as they are today. I would admit that they show a lot more of the downfalls of corporations than they show the benefits, but they do balance out the documentary by including voices from both sides of the issues surrounding corporations. The documentary gives the viewer an understanding of what happens when corporate power freigns unchecked, what it can do to peoples of 3rd world countries when these corporations are exploitive. It also talks about what the average person can do to help, to effect change and make things better. All in all a good, balanced documentary that analyzes the corporation, assesses it and offers solutions.
If you want to watch the documentary yourself, here is the link to the the Youtube Playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FA50FBC214A6CE87&search_query=the+corporation