The Corporation

“The Corporation” scared me. It struck me as a very realistic portrayal of our current economic system. I am not sure that I wanted to know everything disclosed in this film because it makes me feel terrible. What are we doing to our planet? How long can this continue? The movie stated that every species known to man is now in decline. Is that true?

I know that the film is biased. I also know that practicing critical thinking will in fact help me with my feeling of despair after watching this film, but I truly do not obtain the knowledge to argue with some of the claims made in this film. It reminds me of Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth.” What can I say? Corporations contribute a large part to the destruction of Earth. Some may argue that everybody contributes significantly to this so-called destruction but the film explained that corporations speed up the process on a large scale. What are we going to do about it?

I enjoyed the history given in this film. The film mentioned that European Medieval life was a truly sustainable way of living. This struck me as odd because I have always thought of Medieval Life as “the dark ages” where people were not correctly constructing a decent society. My thoughts were changed by this movie and now I see how they were living in a constructed society that still worked for the Earth and not against it. That’s cool to me. It reminds me of the society of Native Americans. The medieval society, however seems to be a little closer to what we currently call society.

There was a reoccurring character in the film that I was impressed with as well. I cannot remember his name but I do recall that he had a southern accent and that he was the CEO of a company that made carpets. I thought that he was a great addition to the movie because he openly talked about his past views and how they contrast greatly to the way he tries to think now. He apparently never cared about the Earth or what his company did to destroy it until he read a book that discussed the topic. I remember him saying that as he read he felt that a spear had been driven into his chest. This confession and conversion was powerful to me. It also scares me to think about the fact that someone who knows what really goes on in the way of corporations could be converted into someone who believes we cannot survive if we continue to progress in the same direction. I enjoy life and I don’t want to see it end.

The last section about IBM computers was very interesting to me. It frightens me to think that corporations still managed to see dollar signs while a monster was trying to annihilate an entire group of human beings. That’s sick! I could never be apart of something like that regardless of how much money was available.