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[ba-unrev-talk] Re: Corporate Morality


Peter Jones wrote (offlist):
> 
> I just can't understand how it is that so much immorality 
> has been sanctioned by society.
>
I think you mean "corporate immorality", as opposed to "that
infernal music" and such, which is always the next generation's
music. (I've been on both sides of that one, now. Never thought
it would happen, either.)    (01)

As for corporate immorality, I think it has a lot to do with
why people *will* push a button that causes someone else
pain, when there is someone standing there in a lab coat 
telling them to do it.    (02)

Then there is the "stanford jail", where they did an experiment
that was supposed to last a month, but ended it after less 
than a week because all of participants (including the
experimenters) were shocked at how quickly they fell into 
their roles, and how they were doing things they *never*
would have deemed justifiable, had they not been immersed in
the experience.    (03)

In other words, we are looking at the herd instinct at work.    (04)

Oddly enough, it is the very denial of the herd instinct in
our children that I suspect leads to the compelling power of
the herd instinct in later life.    (05)

I favor lifestyle choices that reflect our needs as primates
-- especially when it comes to raising kids. So I love the
books that are coming out these days about letting your kids
sleep in the same bed with you, about holding kids close a
lot of the time, and taking your baby home immediately after
delivery, instead of having them lying around in those stupid
hospital cribs.    (06)

One of things I like about it, in addition to the short term
happiness it provides infants (with no long term cost, as far
as anyone can tell), is a story I heard from someone who knew
a south sea islander. I was told that the person was as totally
confident and secure as anyone *could* be.    (07)

Much later, I met a Maori "ski warrior", and I felt the same 
thing from him -- confident and at home, anywhere, under any
circumstances.    (08)

In the meantime, I had read a bit about south sea islands
culture -- a strong sense of community, to the point that a
child who needed anything walked up to the nearest door, and
whoever was inside took care of them.     (09)

That kind of upbringing builds a sense of belonging.    (010)

Sydney Poitier had that kind of upbringing, and he mentioned
on a talk show (the source of modern wisdom) that he carried
firewood as a child. Without that wood, there would be no
cooking, and no supper. So from early childhood, his life had
*meaning*. He did important work that was part of making a
life in their village.    (011)

My personal belief is that this kind of background builds the
strength to stand up and walk out of such experiments. I know
I have that strength, because I've participated in greater
rebellions.     (012)

Oddly enough, I developed it the hard way -- in completely 
opposite fashion from the way I would *like* to see kids raised. 
I had little closeness in my life, little opportunity to spend
time with other kids (with a couple of exceptions), and zero 
discretionary capital for fashionable clothing or anything with
which to make an impression -- so I learned to be a totally 
independent thinker. It holds me back in a lot of ways. Learning 
to be diplomatic has been difficult, and being a "team player" in 
a business sense has been close to impossible. When things are 
stupid I tend to say so -- repeatedly.    (013)

So I can tell you that "making waves" is in general no 
path to corporate advancement! For all the world celebrates 
loners, the world is simply not structured to reward them.    (014)

In a business setting, then, folks willing to conform rise to 
the top, and make decisions. Independent thinkers, creative as
we may be, don't. So the herd instinct may very well be 
responsible for the worst we see in corporations.    (015)

The two ways to attack that problem, as far as I can see, are
to devalue the corporation, making it incindental to one's life,
rather than a requirement for it, and to nurture children in a
way creates the inner security necessary to think and act
independently, while at the same creating the capacity to live
and work with others closely.    (016)