The particular case study on globalization has pushed a button for me as I look at the news of the day. It makes me consider the blatant hypocrisy of our culture. We want everything…now, but we want to pay nothing for it. We leverage ourselves up to our eyeballs – and beyond (with most Americans) – and then when things get bad we want to blame everybody else. We want to blame the system: big business, or the government, or big business and the government. We want to blame everybody but ourselves. And then, we want help from everybody, to bail us out from our self-constructed dilemma.
We are a consumer society. It is a construct that we perpetuate everyday. As I’m sitting in the coffee shop drinking my green tea ($2.00) and my Miso Soup (another $2.00), and looking at the people walking around with their IPods, and “cool” clothing, talking about playing their Wii or Xbox, and all the ridiculously expensive – gas guzzling cars – with their after factory add-ons, and this freaken laptop with wireless everything. I’m thinking that some of these consumers are likely in personal danger of loosing their homes…and (many) expecting that everyone else should bail them out.
Maybe I’m the same consumer in North Carolina and I’ve lost my job because our hyper-consumer society all but insures the short-term commoditization of goods, forcing firms to find cheaper means of production.
Is it really fair to hold corporations accountable for actions that are necessary and appropriate based on the system that we support? When does our hyper-consumer behavior get called out for its ethical shallowness (“our” meaning the collective of individuals)? Is it not unethical until we say it’s unethical? Until then it’s perfectly fine?
Ethics. Corporate accountability. Individual accountability.
Now back to my laptop, Latte Grande, and consumer bliss.
Yeah...I saw you here yesterday.
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