First off Prana 69, u sound a little annoyed:) after reading your message and reading mine again, maybe i was a little over enthusiastic with the line "blame society for the bad things happening in this world". what i should/meant to have said was "Society must take an equal amount of the blame for what happens in this world". maybe i could have changed some of the wording in my message. my meaning behind the message was that everyone is quick to blame the companies and put full responsibility on them, which in my opinion is a cop out!!! - so no i am not backing down on what i said, just admitting that maybe i could have changed some of the wording!! society also must take some of the responsibility as ultimately, they decide how successful a business is going to be.How does society make an oil tanker captain drink and park his tanker on the beach?? they might demand that the oil gets to its destination on time, but how do they make the captain drink?? hypothetically, even if the oil wasn't in demand, the captain would still be drinking wouldn't he?? or is his drinking a result of the enormous stress placed on him by society??? still his choice and in that situation the captain and his company should be held responsible. your example to highlight my stupidity is a shit one. society's demand or lack of demand would have no effect on whether the captain drank or not - it is a personal choice, not one that is related to a demand on the oil!!!!
The BHP mining to exploit the Yonggom villagers in PNG - This is bad and shouldn't be happening and i do genuinely feel for these, and other groups in similar situations. However, BHP isn't quite the same as maccas because BHP isn't as severly affected by society's wants as maccas. BHP is a huge business because it would be hard to imagine a society without all the building materials they produce. what i mean is that it is a little different because we NEED what BHP produces (unless there is some other material that is environmentally better)where as we don't necessarily NEED McDonald's, we WANT it. so we need places like BHP, we don't NEED McDonald's. we can't have a major affect on places like BHP because building materials are always going to be needed. we can have an affect on places like McDonalds, because we don't need the crap food, we want it. the best way to affect a business and what they do is stop giving them the damn money. now this, realistically will never happen, but, goes to show that society places such a high demand that any business would not turn that sought of money away, regardless - yes it maybe wrong, but that is the way it is.
"Society allows McDOnalds to destroy the rainforests of South America and force the local populations to relocate....." YES, IF WE DIDN'T MAKE MACCAS SO POPULAR THEN THEY WOULDN'T NEED TO DESTROY THE RAINFORESTS BECAUSE THEY WOULDN'T NEED TO MAKE THE CRAP THAT THEY MAKE!!! again, what do u expect them to do??? (please answer) stop clearing the rainforest and therefore restrict how much money they will make?? good in theory, i would like the environment to remain as it is, but realistically it won't happen - get out of the FANTASY WORLD.
"...the mulitnationals should take it upon themselves to fulfil these basic requirements of ethical reponsibility." yes they should to some degree, but again society also should be to blame.
That was a great speech (the second to last paragraph). "that the enjoyment of my life depends ENTIRELY (big word) upon me knowing that all other humans are being allowed to enjoy theirs." u musn't enjoy life at all!!!!! i'm sorry, what a load of crap! - good in theory, but how unhappy are u, really????? u musn't want to get out of bed each day, walk to work with a smile, socialise with friends and enjoy their company, joke around with others, bring a family into this world (if u haven't already). i would imagine that u do most of these things and if so, u hypocrite!!! computers have cost many workers their jobs, probably making them unhappy and out of work and yet u have one or atleast use one - how hypocritical of u!!
"Screw your society cop out crash. take some individual responsibility and maybe these corporations might follow your example." hang on...u have said in your message that corporations must take responsibility and they must be held accountable. why should i take responsibility when the corporations must do it!!!!!! you are right though, individuals should take some responsibility, which is what i said in the first message. part of the reason why this world seems to be falling apart is that people, in general, don't give a shit. u seem to be contradicting yourself, prana 69.
all that u have mentioned in here is great in theory, and i agree with it. but in reality, it isn't the way it is - u seem to be thinking and living in the FANTASY WORLD.
in regards to Mcspotlight comment, "does this mean that any attempts to make society better are totally worthless? of course it doesn't". exactly right, but i think it would be more worthwhile focussing this wonderful energy that people have into more realistic, attainable goals. that is the point i am trying to make. some people fight the big companies and don't get that far, the companies rarely change - be realistic in what u set out to achieve and push for the things that are realistically attainable.
before changes are to be made, people (individuals) need to change their attitude towards the environment and the affect that there actions might have.
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