Comment: Over the years, I have noted an increasing movement in the industry and social settings towards dysfunctional relationships and personality base character ethics. People no longer dialogue on important matters, value systems are moving towards a corporate morality, and companies are becoming politically centered. The movement has some eerie reflections on horrors both real and fictional.
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Permitting Self-Centerness Among the Ranks: Most everyone is familiar with the term Gestapo which is short for the German term, Geheime Staatspolizei meaning Secret State Police. Most people in Nazi-controlled territory lived in fear of the Gestapo. Among the tactics of this organization was a subversive undercurrent in which unnamed persons reported other people's activities, nature, comments, and behaviors to the Gestapo who in turn investigated. As an outcome, people were reluctant to participate in the public sphere and democratic processes for fear of reprisals. In a similar manner, paranoid people, corporations, and governments in Western society utilize similar tactics of the Gestapo. People no longer dialogue on important matters, debate, or undergo formal argumentation. When someone does not like something, they simply just report another person to HR, the boss, or provide tips to some other institutionalized system such as email tips, drop boxes, or hotlines. Then counter to the US Constitution and US Bill of Rights, one has to answer to some third party regarding the allegations without confronting the accuser. Often the reports are trumped up, unfounded, or partially based in truth in response to an authority figure or a peer with whom someone finds an issue. This erodes the status quo identity of the society as competitive identities leverage this method to advance self-interest and selfish beliefs. This behavior feeds selfish power desires.
Transference of Selfish Behavior to Corporations: People within modern Western society often complain about political correctness and adherence to a social doctrine under which nearly every behavior and belief is tolerated to the chagrin of the status quo identity. If a society is to hold any identity then other identities are either not compatible, competitive, and/or hostile. There have to be boundary limits in order to maintain an identity. For example, if people are to be under a republic then socialistic, communistic, kingdoms, cast systems, and other identities are not compatible as well as any elements of those other identities. These different systems are known by their identity to which there are limitations before the identity erodes, becomes lost, or changes to one of the other identities. The issue goes deeper than just clashes of political systems and becomes much more complex when considering corporations that commingle personhood and governance.
In 1886, the case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company the United States Supreme court ruled a corporation is the same as a living breathing organism. This ruling is the notion of corporate personhood in which an organization legally becomes human-like and is the basis for corporate law in the United States. Complicating corporate personhood is the emergence of corporate governance that fundamentally changes and commingles personhood with governance. A corporation assumes under corporate governance, at some level, governing responsibilities. Among these governing duties, the corporation has a moral, ethical, and economic responsibility to the customer and employees. This has exacerbated over the years to the point that corporate rights, principles, morals, ethics, etc… now supersede human rights, personal belief systems, and compromise the US founding. Corporate employee policy manuals, codes of ethics, and even national leases in apartment complexes are preventing people from participating in democratic processes and natural rights. These corporations are advancing beliefs, political ideologies, and other systems often not fully consistent with the domain of commerce for the company. The post, Values Leadership, touches on this issue.
In the past, people were adherents to principally one of the three monotheistic theologies but following the Post-modernist movement corporations have assumed the role that religion once played. Scriptural text is being replaced by Employee Codes of Conduct and waivers of rights. People continue to participate in an array of personal beliefs that have little impact on their lives and are more or less activity in private as they assume the Corporate Code of Ethics in all their dealings. In fact, many policy manuals prohibit some employee activities 7/24 or hold employees accountable 7/24 but pay the employee from 9 to 5. The company policy manuals define the person more than a sovereign deity or god.
In 1809, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to Larkin Smith, "The selfish spirit of commerce knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that of gain.”
Greed at its Extreme: Perhaps Jefferson's concern was captured best by the fictional Star Trek characters, the Ferengi, who are known for their enterprising savvy to the point that they are con-artists. In the Star Trek Voyager episode “False Profits”, Figure 1, the enterprising Ferengi posed as gods and established their Code of Ethics based on the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, a Bible of sorts, that have principles of economic vanity. Are humans on Earth to become like the Ferengi on Takar? Will the next tyranny be corporate demi-gods in a socialized economy after capitalism dies?
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| Figure 1: Star Trek Voyager - False Profits |
Approach Your Gods
We are sort of Gods
Rules of Acquisition
The Unwritten Rule
On planet Earth, humans must come to terms with the purpose and meaning of their existence. Living by Rules of Acquisition or strong economic vanity, like the Ferengi, reduces life to an economic venture, mere pennies on the dollar. Humans should reconsider the meaning of work as a component of their lives but not the defining doctrines in their life. Economic affluence, wealth, is not available to all humans. Most humans live a modest life and have other focuses in life.
Interestingly, Jefferson saw commerce as a source of good and a fabric of a capitalist society that lead to the sense of national happiness found in the Declaration of Independence. However, Jefferson stopped short of social justice and viewed merchants as having no loyalty to a country or moral system (Mayer, 1994, pp. 137-138). America is at a juncture. The question is will America retain the capitalist views of the founding or become some sort of socialized economic center of influence? Will our gods become enterprising tycoons and their sense of ethics? Goerge Soros, a billionaire and philanthropist, remarks that he saw no point in having a god until he became one. Will your ethics, morals, and principles be determined by your paycheck? How much control over you will you give your employer?
Janis Joplin, for all her drug-induced shortcomings, prolifically sang in her song Me and Bobby McGee, "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."
References:
Federer, W. (1996). America's god and country: encyclopedia of quotations. Fame Publishing: USA.
Mayer, D. (1994). The constitutional thought of Thomas Jefferson. University Press of Virginia: USA.
Menosky, J. & Brozak, G. (Writer) & Bole, C. (Director). (1996). Star trek voyager: false prophets season 3 episode 5. Paramount Television