Good morning.
- Considering Stalin.
- News on sex and age.
- In light of Avatar, consider the “evil corporation” myth, it doesn’t hold up.
- Bishops and the OCA.
- An Orthodox priest reads some teen genre chic-lit.
- The Byzantine grand strategy.
- Filibuster and a question.
- Another really big lie and the Admin.
- Mr Fernandez notes a few conflicts. There was a civil war in Greece too, and Greece is in fact part of Europe.
- In the context of healthcare a Medicare question.
- Being Christian in Turkey.
In light of Avatar, consider the “evil corporation” myth, it doesn’t hold up.
I think the Dutch East India Company might be a good historical example of an ‘evil corporation’. I haven’t seen Avatar but the ‘evil corporation’ of Alien(s) would seem to be modelled on it.
As for sci-fi I think the ‘evil corporation’ is actually very plausible. Nations are limited by their people. On one hand a nation will have unskilled people. On the other hand a nation will have skilled people who object to the gov’t. So there are some inherent limits on an ‘evil nation’ developing.
A corporation, though, is free to hire only the best and brightest and since its employees joined there’s less need to have vast networks of secret police to keep the population in line. In a sci-fi universe like the Star Wars or Star Trek ones, I think ‘evil corporations’ would be more likely to develop and cause political problems than ‘evil nations’. We forget that the ideas of a nation-state are barely 500 years old.
Second, the right makes an error in evaluating popular culture when it equates the ‘evil corporation’ idea with simple leftism. The ‘evil corporations’ of Alien(s) or even Pirates of the Carriban are less about economic theories (and neither classical capitalism or Marxism thought much about corporations BTW) and more about ‘natural conservatism’….a healthy distrust of large, distant organizations and the high probability that they don’ t have your interests at heart.
In the context of healthcare a Medicare question.
It’s too easy to get caught up in cost accounting in place of accounting for costs. McCardle is upset that cost savings in Medicare is being used for universal coverage (of a type) rather than deficit reduction. But just because ‘lack of universal coverage’ doesn’t exist as a line item on the Federal Budget doesn’t mean it has no cost. It has a very big cost and it is one that has been growing rapidly.
Boonton,
Yes, but in the real world the number of evil governments outnumbers evil corporations by a very large margin.
The evil corporation of Aliens is in fact a caricature of the evil East India company. In fact, “evil corporations” in much of sci-fi film and books are modeled on the colonial model, i.e., a corporation doesn’t piss on its customers, but when it has a labor/materiels base which is disconnected from its customers it can become “evil” in that locale while maintaining the appearance of good. Consider the Asian labor market and the shoe kerfuffle that arose some time back.
Part of the problem with that is that local corporations are far more likely to have (to Western eyes) unfair or abusive labor or other abuses than those accountable to the West.
That is the right’s association with the left and the view of “evil corporations” and where I think the writers get it, not from a distrust of “distant organizations not having your interests at heart.”
My reading of Ms McArdle’s post was that the new healthcare plan offers that it has “fixed” the coming Medicare cost crises merely by shifting the crises to a new plan.
Yes, but in the real world the number of evil governments outnumbers evil corporations by a very large margin.
Because gov’ts have the edge for the moment. Would they in the universe(s) of Star Wars and Star Trek? I don’t think so.
I agree with you that many evil corps in sci-fi are variations on the East India company. That model does seem to fit with many sci-fi universes where the ‘world’ is very, very big and home countries are relatively small….. But lots of sci-fi is playing with the Star Wars model where hyperspace makes it this way. Would this work if you kept the story confined to a single solar system?
BTW, you can view the Caprica movie on the sy-fy channel’s website for free! No waiting for Netflix!
My reading of Ms McArdle’s post was that the new healthcare plan offers that it has “fixed” the coming Medicare cost crises merely by shifting the crises to a new plan.
What exactly is the crises?
As to filibusters: The Senate is an organization built on the assumption that gentlemen and gentlewomen will debate things thoroughly, sometimes over-debate, but then let the votes fall where they may. When the 1964 Civil Rights Act was proposed, it faced filibusters at each step. But in 1964, it took 67 senators to break an ambitious filibuster.
How then to explain that the bill actually passed? Barry Goldwater, for one, was a dedicated conservative. But he was not an obstructionist. He understood the difference between making a point and grinding government to a halt on every little thing.
Civilization is a thin veneer, many of us believe. It is necessary that people be civil for civilization to survive. We don’t see that on the right these days.
Ed,
You need to switch your alignment. Civilization as thin veneer and arguments in favor of civility are conservative ones. If you really believe that you need to consider leaving the left. Leon Cass, Ms Manners, and Burke are not spokesmen for the left and that plea is theirs.
Boonton,
You didn’t know that their is an expected coming benefit/income problem with Medicare?
Boonton,
Oh, regarding BG. Caprica is available on Neflix now. 1/5/10 is the release date for the first (partial) season of the re-release of the new season. I was waiting for everything to be in queue before starting those. Probably mid-Jan I’ll be watching them.
For filibusters, I think the stats say it all. It used to be reserved for only a handful of bills. Now it is used so often it is almost as if the Constitution has been reset to require 60% majorities instead of 50%.
I already caught Caprica on Netflix….it will be interesting to explore some more. One thing about BG/Caprica is that they try to depict a world very much like our own except with space travel. People travel in cars, corporations compete with each other, governments have politics but with just a tinge of extra stuff that you don’t see in our world.
Boonton,
I’m unclear on how the linked post disagrees with your contention that “It used to be reserved for only a handful of bills.” The poster contended that this is indeed correct but added that the enormous medical
catastrophebill is one for which the additional requirement might be actually a good idea.