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Allowing businesses to divorce themselves from responsibility for the effects of what they produce, regardless of consumer choice, is too easy. I have no idea w
by whyaduck 8y ago
Allowing businesses to divorce themselves from responsibility for the effects of what they produce, regardless of consumer choice, is too easy. I have no idea what the equivalent of "Saturday morning cartoons" is today, but 20 years ago, that slot was filled with commercials for sugary foods, targeted at children. Now we have payday loans, "buy here pay here" and a host of other services that capitalize on unsophisticated consumers in precarious economic conditions.
Capitalism is what it is - an utterly amoral engine of profit. Without regulation and legal frameworks it will create slaves, destroy the environment, kill and maim people - there's almost no limit.
What the OP's anecdote illustrates is that there's also a deep cultural issue at play.
- utternerd 8y agoFree Markets aren't amoral at all, if I produce something of value and we swap value, I fail to see how that is amoral. In fact, preventing that transaction is amoral. Slavery itself was amoral, and codified and enforced by the state. Many in the South abhorred slavery and segregation, but had no choice but to follow the law. Killing and maiming people has been a State activity since they've existed. It's one of the things they're very efficient at.
- krastanov 8y agoI think you confused the words "amoral" and "immoral". OP was talking about "amoral" - lack of concern about moral principles. You seem to be talking about "immoral" - actively breaking moral principles.
- NeedMoreTea 8y agoWow. Laws which were put in place by plantation and slave owners wishing to preserve the profit and status quo they created. They controlled most of the machinery of government as well as their little plantation. Slavery was only ended at the insistence of laws put in place by the state.
- fzeroracer 8y agoThis is some absolutely disgusting historical revisionism with regards to how the south treated slavery. Make no mistake, Slavery was an intended feature. Not a bug, nor a result of a state gone wild. It was considered part of their economy and part of their free market.
- tareqak 8y agoWhat if my business is the one of informing people of the possible risks their neighbors or other inhabitants of their nations pose to them?