Friday, November 25, 2005
It's good to be back, and thank you all for the warm welcome :)Off I go now on one of my random streaks ... btw, the reason my blog posts don't have titles is that I find it too constricting to talk about any one thing in a post. Occasionally I can focus but don't want to be tied down. Jakob, chill out and learn to relax for a change.
Zakintosh and I have been talking about earthquake donations and he raised the highly important issue about corporate accountability. Everyone is extremely concerned, rightly so, about government transparency, especially with reference to the President's Earthquake Relief Fund. What about all the corporations that claim they will match customer donations and do all sorts of noble things with the money we give them? How do we know where the money is going and whether they are actually doing what they have pledged to do? I am not a hopeless cynic, and hopefully, they are doing "the right thing". However, anyone who has donated has a right to know where their money ends up. Corporations and their marketing/PR departments have a warped sense of ethics so it is in everyone's best interests to demand corporate accountability. I now look forward to being flamed ;-)
There is a new movie out called Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low Price. CEO, Lee Scot and top Wal-mart execs started getting frantic months before the movie's release. The company's voluntary response to Katrina earned them some brownie points and according to Geoffrey Colvin of Fortune, the "giant retailer isn’t evil - just caught up in the global economy". Hmmm... He goes on to say that the movie is a "ham-handed snore with none of the humor, craft, or story sense that made Moore’s film (anti-GM rant - Roger & Me) so engaging."
Is Wal-mart helplessly caught up in the "global economy"?
Countless large corporations, in collaboration with academia, governments, the military, the church, and the media, have created and tweaked the global economy to gain total control over the hearts and minds of "consumers". Yes, of course consumers have choices. They can switch off the TV, they can choose the corner grocery store over Wal-mart and they can say NO to McDonalds. But when there is a grand, synchronized plan, deployed and managed by faceless behemoths, consumers don't stand a chance. The rot sets in early, when children start going to school. That's when the "dumbing down" process begins and it's all downhill from there ...
Yes, I am in a bad mood.
3 Comments:
i feel that EQ (the buzz word these days) is being used to earn profits and make money like anything now
I mean how can Shell put up a sign and boost its sales like this..only to say that x% will go to EQ fund...
i mean where? how? hmmm...
and in this country..who is checking?
Enjoy your blog. Yours was the first ever blog i stumbled upon and started reading and actually enjoyed. Ever since i have been reading Insiya's blog coz u hadn't been updating. Was just randomly telling a friend about your blog and Zak's and surprise of surprises, she seemed to know you quite well. Was asking me for your e-mail address. Her name is Miss Kauser Sheikh. Teaches at Kinnaird.
hi sab - glad u found time to mention our combined concerns re accountability and transparency in what we donate via these indirect mathods. would have written on the subject, too, but can do nothing else these days except churn out excel tables of conference programmes, only to be told that some chief guest's chamcha finds parts of the day plan objectionable and wants changes so that their lordships are not offended.
to the point: cafés and shops in Le Whore, where i am, and all over the country, i am sure, have drums and containers asking for money to be dropped in for quake victims. I see notes and coins filling them up fast ... but do we know that the money is tallied by the evening and sent off to a particular fund? or even to anything remotely connected to the victims? peple can't be so naive as to believe no one would cheat the poor souls. truckloads of stuff meant as aid IS being diverted and sold in the market by crooks, after all. and kickbacks & ripoffs for the reconstruction phases are already under negotiation (as in Iraq, New orleans, and elswhere).
aaaargh!
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