A World Shaped By Business? Yuk!
A Worthy Icon.
Friends, this morning, on television, I half caught an advertisement the gist of which was that ‘we live in a world shaped by business.’ For some reason, perhaps given the world financial crisis, this disturbing slogan remained in my mind. It is true? Does business shape our world? Does business actually control our world? Upon reflection it probably does!
As I have mentioned before, in Ancient Greece, those who traded and sought to become wealthy were despised and occupied the lowest position in the Greek hierarchy. Scholars, scientists, philosophers, dramatists, athletes, etc, were the people who were prized, who were held up as icons. In our contemporary society the likes of Rupert Murdoch and the Packers are our new icons along with petulant sporting stars who earn millions. My, how things have changed.
Given that the principal purpose of business is to make increasing profits by any means (which is hardly an edifying or uplifting goal), it does seem rather strange that, perhaps stupidly, we humans may have allowed business to shape and control the world we live in and, for the most part, our lives. The reasons?
We grow up and, after school is over, we get qualified, get a job, become willing, non-questioning producers and consumers, get married, have kids, try to get a bigger house and a more luxurious car and a wider-screen television and a bigger sound system and so it goes on and on. We allow ourselves to become pawns in a world run by Big Business for the benefit of Big Business. The irony is that businesses are soulless legal entities that don’t care about us, our health (look at cigarette companies) or our world one jot. All they care about is profit, mega-bonuses and share options and getting rid of their opposition.
Looking at the current financial turmoil and the increasing impact of global warming and the manipulation of ‘democratic’ governments by Big Business, the result of allowing businesses to have free reign across the world is disasterous. Then, when businesses collapse because of poor management, over-borrowing or foolish risk-taking, what do they do? Call upon us, the taxpayers, the ones they mercilessly manipulate to enrich themselves, to bail them out. What unmitigated hide they have! What amoral bastards they are!
Perhaps it’s time we sat down and questioned the way the world is. Perhaps we should find some better ideology to shape our world rather than the one promoted by an elite group of immoral, unprincipled money-grubbers and spivs.
How about we shape the world using love as a guiding principle? Or caring? Or artistic creation? Or generosity? Or cooperation? Or intellectual excellence? Or achieving spiritual harmony?
Anything but greed and avarice and materialism which business exemplifies!
I do question the way the world is. I can’t stand immoral, unprincipled moneygrubbers and evil government officials. I try to lead by example, and yet, still be carefree and have a good time. I am unwilling to admit that we live in a world shaped by business.
I think that the best advise that I ever received that I did not follow was upon graduation from law school in 1968, to leave the USA and move to Sweden. Now that my government is so foul, I do wonder what kind of life I would have led there.
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Since I wrote my post this morning, I am even more convinced that business has set the agenda. Materialism is but one manifestation. The fact that many educational institutions are now no more than vocational training centres is another.
When were you last asked what kind of world you wanted to live in, Swan, what system of values it should have?
I don’t recall ever having been asked these questions during my upbringing. I was told, ‘this is how the world is so just get on with it. Work hard, get a promotion, buy this, buy that, strive to get more and more.’ End of story.
I never fitted the mould however. I did my own thing. I always wanted something different. I was lucky!
P.S. I am not a businessman, Swan. I lacked the drive to screw people!
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David,
-First, here’s some Greek for ya,
That all human actions are directed towards profit:
All human action is directed towards profit. But if it is not, at least some human action must be directed towards something else or nothing at all.
But action without object is absurd.
Further, if an action is directed neither towards profit or nor nothing, it must be directed towards loss.
But no human would ever direct an action towards loss. Therefore no human action can be directed towards loss.
Therefore all human action is directed towards profit,
Therefore etc…
Q.E.D.
But I assume you already know this. I guess what I don’t quite understand is what you’re defining as “profit”.
-Similarly, what definition are you using for “business”? Obviously again, you’re not using the “things of doing” definition.
-Further, I assume you know that the Great Lifestyle espoused by the Athenian Philosophers necessitated slaves and monarchy. Could you elaborate further on how exactly their thoughts here are any better than the ones commonly held today?
-And finally, since you reject “materialism”, and thus my necessity pan-physicalism (and therefore materialistic monism), you are clearly either an “absolute idealist” type monist or a material-spiritual dualist and therefore necessarily a theist of some non-pantheist persuasion. Which religion’s theology are you proposing we use to guide the world?
-Nog
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Nog, I used to have a commenter on my blog who fancied himself as a bit of an intellectual. He managed to stifle most discussions using his weird, esoteric logic and by reciting the unintelligible, impractical hocus-pocus he’d learned at University. Fortunately he no longer contributes to this forum.
This blog is for people who can think laterally, think outside the box, join the dots. It is not for pedants and nit-pickers.
Let me make this point: if intellectuals had any meaningful answers they would be leading the world towards a resolution of its problems. Instead they lurk in the background unnoticed and are almost completely ineffectual as a force for positive change.
Think about it!
Cheers.
P.S. I attended University. I began a Masters/Doctorate program. I managed to escape the trap.
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Just to comment on the Greeks… Thales, the “father of philosophy,” made a living teaching young men logic and rhetoric. He was known for his simple lifestyle, and would often wear his robes until they were stained and threadbare. One day, some young wealthy men walked by his class, and heckled him, asking “if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?” This question disturbed Thales – what good was being smart if you couldn’t do anything with it? He tried to come up with a scheme, but had nothing. That year, a poor olive harvest led to many olive presses being underutilitzed. Thales had an idea, and sold as much of his property as he could, and mortgaged his house. With the money, he bought up all the olive presses he could. The next year, the olive harvest was a bumper crop – but there weren’t enough presses to process it. Everyone had to buy presses from Thales, and he became wealthy.
The Greeks were all about being smart AND rich.
I just wanted to share that with you. I agree with your main point that our culture needs a serious re-alignment of its priorities.
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To Noah NOG M P.S.
Not being a materialist does not make one a monist or material-spiritual dualist. Therefore, there is no need for adopting, from this level of existence, of neither a theist nor of a non-pantheist persuasion. The level of existence I m talking about is one of an original entity rarely found within the walkabouts of daily live, as well as in the tomes of the conventional education libraries.
That is: an Intelligent Living Entity, with no pretense of spirituality in a metaphysical form.
An Intelligent Living Entity that enjoys physicality while limiting it’s natural instincts through the filter of rationalization and EMPATHY.
An Intelligent Living Entity which does not need for a decent living to rely on any theology explaining religions.. which the Intelligent Living Form is intelligent enough to debunk and dismiss as founded and based on ridiculous assumptions.
An Intelligent Living Entity which does not need some metaphysical reality to dictate, direct and coerce both existence and non-existence.
All this maybe difficult to digest for your mind, unlike me digesting your pretentious sentences.. but those Intelligent Living Entities are alive and well, now and throughout the history, a bit outnumbered, maybe struggling at times due to their non materialistic nature.. ..
And although rare.. they re not scared of elitist demagogic stances.
Here, for your intellectual delight: Epicurus.. another greek.. “It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly (agreeing ‘neither to harm nor be harmed’).
And it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life.”
all we know today about hedonism, which we inherited from the greek, is that pleasure is the ultimate target. as always, we discareded the baby with the bath water.. hedonism, epicurianism are about EXQUISITE pleasures connected with living a clean, physically and intellectually healthy life.. nothing to do with what today’s average individual imagines..
Epicureans showed little interest in participating in the politics of the day, since doing so leads to trouble.
Epicurus formulated a version of the problem of evil. Though often referred to as the “Epicurean paradox,” the argument is more accurately described as a reductio ad absurdum of the notion that an omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent god could exist in a world that manifestly contains evil.
Epicurus emphasized friendship as an important ingredient of happiness, and the school resembled in many ways a community of friends living together.
for Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by aponia, the absence of pain and fear, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and bad, that death is the end of the body and the soul and should therefore not be feared, that the gods do not reward or punish humans, that the universe is infinite and eternal, and that events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.
Pretty smart for that time.. I wish we had more among us these days.
to Noah Nog M .. we should manage to get at least a level above the greeks.. yet we are find behind.. doncha think so..? They have slaves and monarchy and a good philosophy and great bodies.
We have slaves and monarchy/”shitmocracy”/$$$cracy, and no philosophy other than a TiVo culture.. plus obese bodies…
Doncha think the greeks are great?
Thought so.
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Chris, thanks for sharing that little tale. It just shows that even the odd Greek was consumed by greed and thought that exploitation was a worthy activity.
Adina, you went to a lot of trouble to reply to our ‘Nog’. I just couldn’t be bothered having found it to be a ‘profitless business’.
I loved your: “…unlike me digesting your pretentious sentences…”
Cheers.
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David,
The Thales tale was interesting. Of course, most of western philosophy is based on Greek foundations right? So, yeah, they would have the whole “profit” syndromn built in…
Q
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I wonder whether you read my post, Q. The Ancient Greeks despised money-grubbers. They considered such activity to be ignoble and sleazy, even demeaning.
Their view has been vindicated!
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-1. “I loved your: ‘…unlike me digesting your pretentious sentences…’”
-2. The Greek (actually a few Athenian) philosophers idealized Sparta (nice to name a team after, but that’s about it).
-3. The proposed “Intelligent Living Entity” which is said to be non-dualist assumes dualism in its “intelligence” and “empathy” parts. How? Well by treating this “intelligence” as separate from the physical it is by necessity dualist. If it assumes that the “intelligence” is just some aggregate of physical happenings, it is by necessity a form of materialist monism. The same thing applies for empathy.
-4. “The Ancient Greeks despised money-grubbers” Well no, some Ancient Greeks did (the same Greeks who also liked slavery and monarchy).
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Nog, I never claimed the Ancient Greek democracy was perfect but at least it was largely representative of government by the people, for the people, certainly more so than now.
Slavery was part of the world at that time as indeed was the silly idea of ‘royalty’. And of course there were greedy people but they were in a minority and values other than avarice were highly prized.
I know what you’re trying to do (big-note yourself and undermine me and what my blog is trying to achieve by academic nit-picking and pedantry).
You are welcome to contribute to this blog but only if you’re willing to be constructive and demonstrate that you’re seriously trying to make the world a better place for everyone. It’s your choice!
P.S. Check the FAMOUS QUOTES, especially the one by Chomsky.
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To Nog
1. Happy you liked it
2. One cannot idealize a geographical location. I hope for their sake that Greeks did not idealize Sparta as you say therefore.. maybe you gathered that assumption from viewing “300″…else you may have juxtaposed it to 1,3 and 4 by error..
3. Here comes the fun part. you do seem to have something in common with the greeks: the need to cathegorize and define, in order to comprehend.
I will make a personal effort to adjust to the needs of your intellect.. therefore.
But as the existing definitions do not actually comprehend or include the Intelligent Living Entity (ILE).. but are too busy to split and slice the psyche, universe, etc..
I ll have resort to the banal use of definitions myself.. and therefore to add some new definitions.
ILE it is not MONIST.. at all. As there are many DIFFERENT AND INDIVIDUALISTIC Intelligent Living Entities with different priorities and manifestations..
they posses different characteristic, and their qualities (I quoted TWO ONLY but there are many others..) : such as intelligence and empathy which I quoted , are synergetic components of ILE’s manifestation.. Synergetic. Making it DUALISTIC just because presents a multitude of characteristic is… …. … beyond my comprehension. All this THEISM are based on assumption that there must be a God hidden somwhere, and then Mon, Pan, Panent… count how many locations God is hiddent into…
But my ILE admits existence simply exists, without some hocus pocus master behind the curtain. ILE exist and manifest in different shapes and forms.. and they go about their businesses… in many many ways..
but if you want by all means, and are truly desperate to give it a definition, I prepared one for you: it is not monism, or dualism, or pantheism.. there is no theism in it. But if you insist…
ILE is then characterized by INFINITHEISM. which is the ability to exist, create, dissipate, feel, touch, abberrate, and so on.. infinite capabilities, for an infinitely undefinable Living Entity…
I SAY SO.
ILE is mine. So I can play with it like you can play with your monist/pantheis/dualist…. whateverist thing…
At least I m creative and I didn t get it from an old book which I cannot comprehend.. . Grant me that please.
That s about it…
P.S. David, I m not putting effort in this. It s fun..
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Glad you’re happy, Adina.
People like Nog just love to pull things down but they’re hopeless when it comes to building or improving things!
Cheers.
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David,
I read it but got distracted. sorry. what distracted me was knowing that western philosophy is based on greek culture.
I also can’t help but recall the studies of Aristotle. He was so against democracy because he considered it to be nothing more than a way to re-distribute wealth. He really argued against democracy for economic reasons.
I’m confused… help me out!
Q
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Q, the aspect of democracy in Ancient Greece that I was trying to draw attention to was a situation where senators were appointed from the ranks of the people rather than being elected.
They discussed issues but when it came time to vote all citizens (not women and slaves) voted on decisions which the Senate put forward. So it really was a simple form of government by the people, for the people.
Others have introduced all manner of irrelevant issues for reasons best known to themselves.
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Excellent points. Thank you all so much. I was raised by the priests and nuns to “know, love, and serve God”. The values necessary to do this are so antithetical to those of big business. Enough, already, eh. No wonder that psychiatrists are not hurting for business.
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P.S. I love Gravel’s proposals for national referendums and initiatives so that all the citizens can vote. Term limits for legislators are absolutely essential for democracy, and what we desperately need in the USA. I can’t help but wonder whether the outcome of the votes of the citizens in ancient Greece would be different if the slaves and us women would have been allowed to vote. Bet so, smile.
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