edgar said:
Let's nail down the disagreement here. FrenchAffair claims that shitty labour relations among WalMart suppliers is morally equivalent to Taliban violations of every human right. You support the claim, stating that there is a moral equivalence between the negligence and evasion of responsibility of modern corporations, and the warlike nature of the imperial age, with the terrorism of the Taliban.
I don't support any claim that there is an equivalence between corporate manslaughter and terrorism. I wanted to point out, and I think that I managed to do so, that corporations have killed.
edgar said:
, and if the compensations and punishments were inadequate, it is because democratic governments in India and the US failed to protect the Indian people (vote accordingly).
I am not an American, or an Indian, so I cannot 'vote accordingly'. There are things that are legal in various places around the world, that aren't legal in Canada. I am not going to ignore them when they happen, even though I personally may not be able to do anything about them, either with my ballot, or through force or arms.
edgar said:
I've noticed that brands available at Walmart are also available at Canadian Tire, the Bay etc, only not quite as cheaply. Are the Chinese factory workers oppressed specifically when Walmart toasters are rolling down the belt? Walmart has better management and logistics, and as a result your material quality of life is improved.
I am not sure that this one was directed to me, but of course Chinese, Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani etc workers are not 'oppressed specifically when Walmart toasters are rolling down the belt?' Walmart may well have better management and logistics, they also pay less than Canadian Tire and The Bay. There are buying power issues, political leverage issues, environmental, discrimination. My material quality of life isn't affected by Walmart, not in a large way. Though it isn't always possible, I try to buy Cambridge first, then Ontario, then Canada, then American, then European, then rotw.
edgar said:
On a related note, farming in Saskatchewan has killed 330 people since 1983, including 62 children. You obviously need to stop eating bread and drinking beer else you are complicit in this murderous corporate rampage.
Here is what the Government of Saskatchewan is trying to do to help prevent the unnecessary deaths.
http://www.labour.gov.sk.ca/farmsafety/index.htm
One thing to note from those 330 deaths however, is that most of them appear to have happened on family run farms.
http://www.labour.gov.sk.ca/farmsafety/fatalities.htm
edgar said:
The reason corporations have limited liability is so a businessman doesn't lose his house and go to debtors prison leaving his children destitute when his business fails, as he did in Adam Smith's day. If this loophole is abused, vote accordingly.
I agree that this is one of the reasons that corporations have limited liability, stating that it is 'The reason' is far too black and white. Corporations have evolved a great deal over the past 250 years, and a good number of the laws written by all countries are to promote, limit and govern their actions.
Once again though, I will say that I cannot 'vote accordingly' in most of these cases, as I live in Canada. Thankfully we have worked through most of the problems that countries around the world are facing.
edgar said:
By equating Western corporate negligence with terrorist acts, you offer moral support to actual terrorists, and effectively recruit them to your anticorporate struggle. STFU.
Again, I don't believe that corporations are close to the same level as terrorists. I don't see anything in the post that you quoted that would lead you to believe this. I do believe that if a decision is made to commit acts outside your borders where there would be criminal or civil punishments were you to do the same at home, you are a criminal. Of course it is left to the courts to decide this, and I hope that you would agree most courts around the world are not to Canadian standards.
I offer no support to terrorists, that I am aware of at least. Perhaps some of the goods that I buy legally are funding them?
I am not anti-corporate at all, I just don't believe that there should be a lesser standard for a corporation that for a person, it should be a higher one.
And please don't tell me to STFU, it isn't polite. Even in disagreement, this thread has been civil with that exception.