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Corporation-persons. Is there a more dystopian concept in existence? Corporations are NOT PEOPLE. They're made up of people, but the entity itself is NOT A PER

Corporation-persons. Is there a more dystopian concept in existence? Corporations are NOT PEOPLE. They're made up of people, but the entity itself is NOT A PERSON.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
klyrs 5y ago
While I agree with you, that's how the supreme court has interpreted the constitution. Let's take the strawman out of the picture and accept the fiction that corporations are not people. But, they are still not the state. They do not replace government services in any meaningful way -- choice of what to publish, and what not to publish, is firmly the role of private persons and commerce. Maintaining social media sites is not the role of government. Ergo, this is not state censorship.
dang 5y ago
Please don't repeat ideological boilerplate on HN and please don't use allcaps for empahsis - this is also in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
- chroem- 5y ago
  Is it boilerplate? It seems very relevant to the discussion, given that it's addressing a specific point in the parent comment.
  - dang 5y ago
    Boilerplate has to do with how often something gets repeated, so it's boilerplate independent of where it's inserted; which is kind of the problem with it.
roywiggins 5y ago
Corporate personhood is older than America. Without legal personhood, how do corporations own anything? They've always been treated like legal persons, because that's sort of what corporations are for. They're legal entities that can own stuff and do some things, like hiring people and buying and selling. That doesn't work without them in some sense being treated like persons in the eyes of the law. What they're not are natural persons. Exactly how many legal rights corporations should have is a very good question, of course. But people get bent out of shape about corporate personhood as if it's new or particularly Orwellian. (Governments have always been legal persons- you can sue the government in court- if it lets you- and the government can sue you. The government owns property, pays salaries, and so on.)

Corporation-persons. Is there a more dystopian concept in existence? Corporations are NOT PEOPLE. They're made up of people, but the entity itself is NOT A PERSON.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

klyrs 5y ago

While I agree with you, that's how the supreme court has interpreted the constitution. Let's take the strawman out of the picture and accept the fiction that corporations are not people. But, they are still not the state. They do not replace government services in any meaningful way -- choice of what to publish, and what not to publish, is firmly the role of private persons and commerce. Maintaining social media sites is not the role of government. Ergo, this is not state censorship.

dang 5y ago

Please don't repeat ideological boilerplate on HN and please don't use allcaps for empahsis - this is also in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

chroem- 5y ago
Is it boilerplate? It seems very relevant to the discussion, given that it's addressing a specific point in the parent comment.
- dang 5y ago
  Boilerplate has to do with how often something gets repeated, so it's boilerplate independent of where it's inserted; which is kind of the problem with it.

roywiggins 5y ago

Corporate personhood is older than America. Without legal personhood, how do corporations own anything? They've always been treated like legal persons, because that's sort of what corporations are for. They're legal entities that can own stuff and do some things, like hiring people and buying and selling. That doesn't work without them in some sense being treated like persons in the eyes of the law. What they're not are natural persons. Exactly how many legal rights corporations should have is a very good question, of course. But people get bent out of shape about corporate personhood as if it's new or particularly Orwellian. (Governments have always been legal persons- you can sue the government in court- if it lets you- and the government can sue you. The government owns property, pays salaries, and so on.)