The Corporation • Hacker News Board

Re: The Corporation

#31

Post by borism » Sun, Oct 17, 2010, 2:38 PM UTC

joelmichael wrote: post #23

kiba wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a supporter of capitalism, I was taken in by the socialist propaganda . My interpretation is rather different. I thought the corporations are creature of politics and political institutions, rather than a product of free markets. The state make a bunch of laws that influence the size and nature of corporations, determine what they cannot do and often what they can do, and so on. The state would then give favors an…

This tacky, sensationalist film, reminiscent of YouTube conspiracy videos, encourages public ownership as the solution. People on this site should be starting corporations, not demonizing them with rhetoric more appropriate for a college dorm room. We have Reddit for that.

Considering that some start-up founder here might end up as CEO of some bigcorp like ones portrayed in the movie I don't think it's totally out of place on HN.

Re: The Corporation

#32

Post by hugh3 » Sun, Oct 17, 2010, 3:01 PM UTC

_b8r0 wrote: post #27

hugh3 wrote: post #15

Y'know, I don't think film is a good medium for making a political argument. I do think it's a powerful medium for making a political argument, since you can capture a viewer's whole attention for two hours, tug at their heartstrings with music and pictures of crying children, overwhelm your audience's critical faculties and gloss over the main flaws in your argument without anyone noticing. And that's exactly the re…

If you want to see the arguments in black text on white paper, you could do worse than buy the book, The Corporation - by Joel Bakan. It's a great read. I thought the film was very good.

OK, and what should I read for the opposing viewpoint?

Re: The Corporation

#33

Post by _b8r0 » Sun, Oct 17, 2010, 8:43 PM UTC

hugh3 wrote: post #32

_b8r0 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to see the arguments in black text on white paper, you could do worse than buy the book, The Corporation - by Joel Bakan. It's a great read. I thought the film was very good.

OK, and what should I read for the opposing viewpoint?

Just watch Fox News for half an hour. I was going to suggest Jim Cramer, but then I realised that Jim Cramer actually counts as a case against corporate personhood.