The story of the greedy pharmacist in Missouri cutting the strength of
cancer fighting drugs to fatten his profit margin serves as yet another
reminder of the failings of bottomline mentality. Apologists for the status
quo love to go on and on about the wonders of the marketplace, but it takes
only a few outrageous examples of profit margins gone berserk to shed light
on the duplicity inherent in the system. Some seemingly intelligent people
would have us believe that greed is simply part of human nature. It’s the
old tooth and claw approach to anthropology, I guess, but we’d be hard
pressed to find many beasts of the jungle behaving like the millionaire in
the white lab coat cutting life-extending drugs to 1% of its intended
strength or politicians trashing the Earth in support of a corporate energy
policy. Contrary to such myopic sentiments, this observer is of the opinion
that it is economic systems based on cutthroat competition, ego
gratification, and materialistic indoctrination that bring the worst out in
us. We are not born greedy. As children our needs and wants are very
limited. It is the society surrounding us that facilitates greed and
selfishness.
The dark side of capitalism seems to take up most of its mass. That mass
has been exposed to the light of day for a very long time. Charles Dickens
made a career out of holding a candle to the bottom-line mentality of 19th
Century greed and avarice. And guess who allegedly said this 2,000 years
ago: “Look out and be on guard against all greed, for one’s life is not made
up of the abundance of his possessions.” The pharmacist, Robert Courtney,
had possessions amounting to $10 million dollars. Apparently that wasn’t
enough to satisfy his hunger. One can’t help but wonder what was going
through the man’s mind. It’s said that he may have justified his actions by
cutting drugs for only extremely terminally ill patients. How terribly fair
of him.
The corporados who wrote, directed, and starred in the Bush energy policy
that is about to go before the US Senate (having already passed in the
House), seem to be of the opinion that the Earth itself is one of their
possessions. As such, they propose trashing the daylights out of it
(literally!) in order to maintain, if not extend, a way of life that is the
epitome of mindless greed to the majority of the world’s population. What a
sorry spectacle theAdministration and Congress present as the whole world
watches. Readers would do well to make every effort to stop this disastrous
piece of legislation dead in its tracks (see below).
Not quite as disturbing as these stories, but equally telling, is how
the corporate media is portraying them. Once again, extravagantly greedy
behavior is depicted as either an aberration or business as usual, rather
than the destructive end product of a system that rewards such activities.
Witness the Fortune 500 CEO pay scales and the ruinous results of their
corporate policies for the Earth and most of her inhabitants. But, of
course, you won’t find those suits doing time in Leavenworth eating bologna
sandwiches waiting for their trial date; there is no trial date. To keep
the wheels of the marketplace grinding over the biosphere and the bodies of
the unwashed, the Fortune 500 greedheads and their minions in government are
not judged a danger to the public and sent to prison without bail. We won’t
hold our collective breath waiting for the corporados to come before the
bench, just as we don’t expect the corporado media to report on the
capitalist elephant taking a dump in the middle of the press room. The
acceptable news must also be diluted to 1% of its intended strength. After
all, we can’t have all those sufferers up and about in the streets demanding
anything as outrageous as justice.
Check it out!
www.saveourenvironment.org/action/monkeymovie.htm
http://www.sierraclub.org/energy/bush_plan/
Enviroshop is maintained by dedicated NetSys Interactive Inc. owners & employees who generously contribute their time to maintenance & editing, web design, custom programming, & website hosting for Enviroshop.