Documentary - What Is A Corporation - The Corporation
Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pin8fbdGV9Y&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
1. The Corporation is today's dominant institution, creating great wealth but also great harm. This 26 award-winning documentary examines the nature, evolution, impacts and future of the modern business corporation and the increasing role it plays in society and our everyday lives.
Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SuUzmqBewg&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
2. How the corporation came to be. Originally, corporations were set up to serve the public good. Corporation lawyers gained rights through the US Supreme Court using the 14th Amendment (set up to protect slaves) that gives them the rights of a person. In the last century, the corporation is given more and more rights while people are increasingly stripped of theirs.
Part Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkygXc9IM5U&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
3. Having acquired rights of immortal persons, what kind of person is the corporation? By law, the corporation can only consider the interests of their shareholders. It is legally
bound to put its bottom line before everything else, even the public good.
Part Four: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCGTD5Bn1m0&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
4. What is an externality? Milton Friedman describes it as the effect of a transaction between two parties on a third party who is not involved in the transaction. A technical
sounding term that basically means let somebody else deal with the problems the corporation creates.
Part Five: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3m5lq9FHDo&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
5. Case histories can be used to diagnose the kind of personality that makes the corporation
an externality-creating machine. Externalities such as harm to employees through the use
of sweatshops: the exploitation of Third World countries' employees resulting in a huge
discrepancy of price versus cost. Other externalities such as pollution and adverse health
effects emerge. These include the genesis of the petrochemical industry and links to
cancer, birth defects and other toxic effects. Another externality is harm to the biosphere
or the environmental costs resulting from the way corporations operate, costs that will be
passed off to future generations. Have we created a doom machine?
Part Six: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5hEiANG4Uk&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
6. If we look at the corporation as a legal person, it exhibits all the characteristics of a psychopath using a personality diagnostic checklist by the World Health Organization.
Part Seven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vorWknUybY&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
7. Who bears the moral responsibility for the actions of a psychopathic institution? The employees of the corporation can be the nicest people in their personal lives but still engage in monstrous endeavours at work. Can we separate the individual from the corporation?
Part Eight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hG-c1KY7Y4&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
8. The profit motive drives the actions of the corporation and creates a mindset of competition and anything goes. Meet corporate spy and self-described predator Marc Barry as he describes his tactics for gathering intelligence from competing corporations. Juxtapose his attitude with Ray Anderson, President of Interface, who, in an epiphanic moment, realized he was a plunderer and it was only a matter of time before the law figures it out.
Part Nine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoQOXepaCjk&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
9. A trader describes the tragedy of 9/11 as a blessing in disguise because for some people, it translated into great riches. Brokers celebrated the death and destruction of the Iraq war because "in devastation, there is opportunity".
Part Ten: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDMenqKCXdw&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
10. We used to regard many areas as too essential to the public good to be commercialized; they were protected by tradition and regulation. Now, everything is becoming fair game in the private taking of the commons -- land, oceans, air, water, education, health, energy and social assistance. Where do we draw the line?
Part Eleven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi63rXnuWbw&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
11. Marketing has transformed itself into a sophisticated, pervasive force that extends into every part of our lives. Slick advertising campaigns are designed for the express purpose of manipulating children into buying products and training them to become mindless consumers of goods they don't really want. The Nag factor, a marketing study that evaluated the effect of nagging, was designed to teach children how to nag more effectively. Consumers are made, not born.
Part Twelve: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQTkczvE17U&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
12. Some of our best creative minds are employed to create illusions that divert us from the real issues and manufacture our consent. Beyond their products, the corporation sells us the idea of a better way of life and produces propaganda that affirms their power as necessary for human progress.
Part Thirteen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI7_pwxcC6M&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
13. Pfizer attempts to "make the community better" with it's own private transit security system. An illustration of how the corporation works behind the scenes to reconfigure public policy to suit its needs, yet the image we're shown is markedly different. Can corporations be trusted to provide public services?
Part Fourteen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJaKtRjqj2M&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
14. Branding is not just advertising, it's production. It's the dissemination of the idea of the corporation, such as Disney building a town called Celebration, Florida. They are selling the living embodiment of what the Disney brand is supposed to represent.
Part Fifteen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roMxTYVxj98&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
15. Welcome to the new world of undercover marketing and product placement. With staged encounters such as passer-bys discussing a hot new CD, advertising is infiltrating our lives in ways we're not even aware of.
Part Sixteen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXNvytpgZ7M&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
16. Where do tomorrow's opportunities for profit lie? In the US, the Supreme Court ruled that anything alive can be patented except a human being. When life itself is ruled commercial fair game, gene pirates scour the world for new sources and the human genome project takes on new fervour.
Part Seventeen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZkDikRLQrw&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
17. Journalists Jane Akre and Steve Wilson were fired by the Fox News television station they work for after refusing to change their investigative report on Posilac, a Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) made by Monsanto. Their research documents potential health and safety problems of drinking milk treated with the synthetic hormone, but threatened with legal action from Monsanto, Fox wants the negative effects played down. The court eventually throws out Akre's whistle blower lawsuit after deciding that the media is allowed to lie.
Part Eighteen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw5Fon_EjGw&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
18. The beginning of the fight for the world's most important resource: water. In Bolivia, privatization makes water unaffordable for many of its citizens and the resulting protest turns violent when the military opens fire.
Part Nineteen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkoM8RB-kJ0&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
19. The rise of fascism has links to corporate power. American corporations played a role in Nazi Germany and the holocaust, such as IBM's punchcard machines that tabulated the victims' data. Corporate allegiance to profit trumps their allegiance to nationalism.
Part Twenty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-o8MVvQd7w&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
20. Despotism was often a useful tool for the corporation to secure foreign markets. Corporations once even attempted to overthrow New Deal President Roosevelt and impose a fascist dictatorship in the US. The story of Major General Smedley Darlington Butler.
Part Twenty One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P4uvC2BFdU&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
21. A coup is no longer necessary for the corporation to dominate governments. Capitalism's protagonists and players are the new high priests of our day. Industry and government have become intertwined to the extent that it's hard to tell when one ends and the other begins. But citizens are resisting and protesting their dissent to the centralization of power in corporate hands. The corporation has responded by enacting programs of corporate social responsibility. Are they just a tactic responding to market pressure?
Part Twenty Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62_BpZy4cjA&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
22. The public is starting to fight back and demand accountability from its corporations and an end to abuse. The Kathy Lee Gifford and Walmart scandal brought the issue of sweatshops into the national consciousness, yet they still exist. There is a disconnect between what we do for a living and taking responsibility for the effect it has on our planet. Citizens everywhere are exploring strategies to bridge the gap and regain democratic control. "One should never underestimate the power of the people."
Part Twenty Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4RZqQujqDQ&feature=PlayList&p=FA50FBC214...
23. Epilogue. Victories are being won around the world but are they enough to turn the tide of global corporate dominance? Can we exploit the corporation's inherent weakness to pursue profit at any cost, even to itself?
For a playlist of all 23 chapters in order: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FA50FBC214A6CE87
Description: Above are all 23 chapters of The Corporation which I have uploaded at the best possible quality for your viewing pleasure. Independent filmmakers need your support if they are to continue making films independently. If you support the film, please support the filmmakers too. You can make a contribution, large or small, at www.thecorporation.com, or better still, enjoy over 8 hours of excellent extras on the 2-DVD Special Edition which you can also get at www.thecorporation.com. Buying from us supports our continuing grassroots outreach efforts. Thanks!
Note: Updated Tuesday 2nd February 2010 6.40pm Sydney Time.
Love For Life does not support harm doing in any shape or form. However, we are supporters of free speech and post articles, documentaries, etc, that represent a wide cross section of ideas. See the Love For Life extensive research library where over 7000 documents, articles and videos are posted: http://loveforlife.com.au/issues. We clearly see the evidence of the destruction to MAN and the earth that has been caused by ALL religions over the centuries and are therefore not supporters of religions, cults, sects or any group that demands conformity of thought, speech or action, or has rules, regulations or rituals that must be followed. Religions, nationalities and cultural "identities" are formed as a result of the brainwashing we receive from childhood. They are part of the tactics the Establishment uses to keep us all divided from one another and fighting one another.
All religions promote discrimination and division, leading to hatred and even violence and murder. None of them have yet to produce a remedy to all the suffering, poverty, unhappiness and discrimination in the world. If any religion truly had the remedy to all the suffering on earth, there would no longer be any suffering. What have Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, atheism and the New Age done to end the suffering in the world?
The Love For Life website has information from all sides on many subjects, whether about Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Law, health, psychology, mind control, vaccination, aspartame, MSG, Chemtrails etc. There are over 6000 articles, documentaries etc on the website and they are so diverse that we are sure that everyone would be able to find something they loved and something they hated, if they took the time to search. If we removed all the articles hated by everyone, there would probably be nothing left! We are not anti anyone but freedom of speech is freedom of speech and no one should condemn the work of another without taking the time to research the subject themselves. Yes, there are articles by those who have a less-than-rosy-viewpoint of Judaism, but there are also articles on the dark side of Tibetan Buddhism (and it is very dark) for those who are interested in the truth: Tibet - Buddhism - Dalai Lama: http://loveforlife.com.au/node/6271 Should the authors of these articles be abused and imprisoned for daring to challenge the widely conceived reputation of Buddhism as being the religion of peace and love and that of the Dalai Lama as a saint, or should those interested be allowed to study the work and come to their own conclusions? The same applies to all the articles, documentaries, etc, about Christianity, Islam, Freemasonry, New World Order, etc.
The Love for Life website also shows how the Rule of Law, the Bar, the Government, the Monarchy, the system of commerce, the local, national and multi/trans-national private corporations, all the courses and careers on offer from our universities, all the educators, scientists, academics and experts, the aristocrats and the Establishment bloodlines have also done NOTHING to end the suffering in the world. The website maps the insanity of a world where there is no help for those in need, just as there was no help available for us when we were victims of terrible bank fraud: http://loveforlife.com.au/court_case (orchestrated, condoned and protected by an international crime syndicate/terrorist organisation of judges, barristers, registrars, lawyers, politicians, banksters, big business representatives, media moguls and other lackeys who, all together, put up a wall of silence despite our trying many, many avenues. After the family home was stolen and business destroyed we were left close to poverty and destitution caring for 4 young daughters. Three years later not much has changed regardless of all our efforts. Where were all the followers of all the religions to help us? Or do we have to be members of those religions to receive help from others involved in them?
We have been accused of being anti - Jewish because we had posted an excerpt from James von Brun's book: Kill the Best Gentiles! http://loveforlife.com.au/node/6054 in which he blames Jews for the problems of the world. Obviously this is not our view because of what we have stated above. We do not hate anyone, whatever religion they follow. We are always open to talk to any religious leader or politician and meet with any judge, member of the Bar, experts, academics, educators etc to share the remedy we offer that heals all the divisions between MAN and MAN, and MAN and the EARTH.
Today, a representative of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies is threatening to close the website down, because they have decided it is anti - Jewish and that we promote racism. What has the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies done to end the suffering in the world? Can they show that they are concerned with the suffering of ALL men, women and children AND ARE SEEN TO BE DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT or are they only concerned with Jewish affairs? If so, they, along with all the other religions that only care for their own, are part of the problem, not part of the solution. The man who rang Arthur today was only concerned with Jewish affairs; he was not interested in our intentions or in anybody else, just as most Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Catholics, etc, are only interested in their own. While we separate ourselves into groups, dividing ourselves from others with rules, regulations, rituals, procedures and conditions, we will never solve our problems.
No matter what we in the Western World Civilisation of Commerce have been promised by our politicians, religious leaders, scientists, educators, philosophers, etc, for the past two hundred years, all we have seen is ever-increasing destruction of men, women and children and the earth. None of the so-called experts and leaders we have been taught to rely on are coming up with a solution and none of them are taking full-responsibility for the fact that they can't handle the problem. All religious books talk about end times full of destruction and suffering but why do we have to follow this program when there is an alternative to hatred, mayhem and death? Why are our leaders following the program of destruction and death rather than exploring the alternatives? It seems that any mainstream politician, priest or academic are only interested in supporting the RULES OF THE DIVIDE, that maintain the haves and the have nots. For 200+ years, 99% of the world population have been so trained to pass on their responsibility for themselves, others and the earth, that the 1% of the population that make up the leaders of the rest of us are making all the decisions leading to the destruction of all of us and the earth. Let's not forget the education system that brainwashes the 99% of the population that we are free and have equal rights while, in fact, we are feathering the nests of those at the top.
At the root of all our problems is self-centredness, an unwillingness nurtured by the Establishment that keeps us concerned only with our own needs rather than the needs of others around us and the Earth. Instead of creating and releasing acts of love for those around us as gifts to benefit them and the earth, we take, take and take, until there is nothing left. The whole point of the Love for Life website is to show people the root of all our problems and to share the remedy. The extensive research library is there to attract browsers and to provide access to information not available through mainstream channels. If the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies can, after careful examination of our work, prove that anything we are saying is wrong, we will be happy to accept their proof. If they cannot, and they are still insistent on closing the website down, they will be showing themselves to be traitors to MAN because they are not interested in pursuing any avenue that can end the suffering in the world.
All religions, corporations and organisations that support and maintain the Western World Civilisation of Commerce are part of the problem because our civilisation is a world of haves and have nots, racism, violence, hatred, poverty, sickness, discrimination, abuse, starvation, homelessness, corruption, collusion, vindictiveness, social unrest, arrogance, ignorance, fear, war and chaos. While we support civilisation, we support death and destruction because ALL civilisations that have ever existed are apocalyptic by design.
If we truly want peace on earth and freedom for all, we have to let go of all that which keeps us divided, and come together as MAN, conscious living co-creators of creation. The Love For Life website offers a remedy to the problems we all face in the form of DO NO HARM COMMUNITIES: http://loveforlife.com.au/node/3641 For more details see here: http://loveforlife.com.au/node/6511 and here: http://loveforlife.com.au/node/3385 - We also highly recommend that everyone read the brilliant Russian books called The Ringing Cedars: http://loveforlife.com.au/node/1125 - The Love For Life homepage/front-page also provides lots of inspiring remedy based information: http://loveforlife.com.au - If you want to be kept up to date with our work please register to the Love For Life mailing list here: http://loveforlife.com.au/content/09/05/14/campaign-mailing-list We usually send two postings per month. Presently there are over 4600 registrations reaching over 200,000 readers globally. The website now receives over 7 million strikes per month with January 2010 reaching almost 7.2 million strikes.
Conscious Love Always
Arthur and Fiona Cristian
Love For Life
17th June 2009