4 ms·

Succinct and accurate. Expecting moral courage from a big corporation is probably an exercise in inevitable disappointment though.

gspr 5y ago
> Expecting moral courage from a big corporation is probably an exercise in inevitable disappointment though. I agree about the fact that it is. But why do we accept that? Corporations are made up of people. We certainly do expect people – even groups of people – to exhibit moral courage. Of course, they do sometimes disappoint us, but the expectations remain reasonable in a good society.
- jonnycomputer 5y ago
  Yes.
- url00 5y ago
  This exactly. We can't give up trying to get corps to show some moral fortitude. It has happened in the past and it will happen again.
- ramesh31 5y ago
  >I agree about the fact that it is. But why do we accept that? Diffusion of liability. It's basically the whole point of a corporation. If you break evil acts down into small unrecognizable chunks that can be turned into a job description and hired for, you're able to run what would otherwise be a detestable business to any single individual person.
  - gspr 5y ago
    Sure. But the buck stops with the corporation's board, or with the CEO that they appoint. And corporations aren't free to break the law, even though that diffusion of liability should be at play in that case, too.
- SpicyLemonZest 5y ago
  Corporations are made up of a large number of cross-pressured people. It’s not even a purely economic problem for Intel - if they take a hard line on Xinjiang, how many of their Chinese staff will go to prison?
- AYBABTME 5y ago
  My guess is it's easy to "spread" guilt around, so that everyone feels like it's out of their hands and they're not entirely responsible for the facts.
  - gspr 5y ago
    Doesn't work with crimes, for instance. Or with poor performance of the company – the shareholders sure won't throw up their hands and say "oh well, we can't figure out why we're not seeing any returns, so we'll just let it slide".

gspr 5y ago

> Expecting moral courage from a big corporation is probably an exercise in inevitable disappointment though. I agree about the fact that it is. But why do we accept that? Corporations are made up of people. We certainly do expect people – even groups of people – to exhibit moral courage. Of course, they do sometimes disappoint us, but the expectations remain reasonable in a good society.

jonnycomputer 5y ago
Yes.
url00 5y ago
This exactly. We can't give up trying to get corps to show some moral fortitude. It has happened in the past and it will happen again.
ramesh31 5y ago
>I agree about the fact that it is. But why do we accept that? Diffusion of liability. It's basically the whole point of a corporation. If you break evil acts down into small unrecognizable chunks that can be turned into a job description and hired for, you're able to run what would otherwise be a detestable business to any single individual person.
- gspr 5y ago
  Sure. But the buck stops with the corporation's board, or with the CEO that they appoint. And corporations aren't free to break the law, even though that diffusion of liability should be at play in that case, too.
SpicyLemonZest 5y ago
Corporations are made up of a large number of cross-pressured people. It’s not even a purely economic problem for Intel - if they take a hard line on Xinjiang, how many of their Chinese staff will go to prison?
AYBABTME 5y ago
My guess is it's easy to "spread" guilt around, so that everyone feels like it's out of their hands and they're not entirely responsible for the facts.
- gspr 5y ago
  Doesn't work with crimes, for instance. Or with poor performance of the company – the shareholders sure won't throw up their hands and say "oh well, we can't figure out why we're not seeing any returns, so we'll just let it slide".