4 ms·
I keep losing track of if they're supposed to be so powerful they answer to no one, or so cowed that they're going to get me extradited to China and sent to jai
by emodendroket 5y ago
I keep losing track of if they're supposed to be so powerful they answer to no one, or so cowed that they're going to get me extradited to China and sent to jail for life for looking at Winnie the Pooh cartoons.
- r_hoods_ghost 5y agoNeither. Both. They exist in a state of constant negotiation with their hosts, driven by the corporate equivalent of a survival instinct.
- ben_w 5y agoI wonder how they compare to the power of the British East India Company at various points in the latter’s history?
- emodendroket 5y agoCan't think of any army they've fielded, nor any monopoly the government has explicitly granted them, so the analogy has its limits.
- ben_w 5y agoApples and oranges can, despite the aphorism, be compared.