American Ideals: Tobacco companies, Congress, Robotics and a thing called Ethics

I love his show and John Oliver is doing a great job on "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver", poking fun at idiot South American leaders who are poking back, and at Tobacco companies, the scourge of our world.
#JeffWeCan

Now all that being said, a word about Tobacco companies, American corporations in general and the state of the world. You see, America isn't the only country being abused. A quick word about Russia who has been absconded with by an ex KGB thug in Putin.

Putin, in trying to support the Russian people's ideals as he sees them, is failing to be a true leader who could lead his proud nation into the future. He has twisted things about so that he seems like a good thing for many, but is only a good thing for the elite few and is bringing down the disdain of an entire planet on his people.

There are many being misled world wide. The Russian people. The American people, Many of the Muslim community being charmed into absolute absurdity by ISIL.

We can thank those responsible for many of the world's problems today in various entities mimicking the Tobacco industry debacle over past decades for so much of the nonsense that is now happening all though our lives, in our American Congress and among our citizenry.

Tobacco years ago was having an image issue. They were selling an addictive drug in a form that literally killed hundreds of thousands of people world wide. How does one get over that kind of brand suicide? You confuse the issue, distract, redirect and more importantly, misdirect. Twist reality to the point that Satan smiles upon you.

Also note that many of these tactics were old KGB tactics of disinformation, and there's your American patriotism for you. Years of watching the KGB by Britain's MI6 taught them a great deal about how to alter reality to their desires and agendas.

The American CIA learned from MI6, the Tobacco industry learned from them, as did others. Because what happens in prisons, in the military, in the clandestine services, eventually always trickles down into civilian organisations, companies and lives.

And that's what the people did who the tobacco industry hired to fix their image and therefore their profits and so for many years, fixed their bottom lines. When it failed in America, they moved to other countries, now killing many overseas at younger and younger ages.

No matter anymore that their products kill people. Right? Because all that is important, is what the profit making entity does to preserve themselves their profits, their power. As was with them, so it is with others, even those who hold the public interest as their charter, even though they could really care less.

There is actually more to all this, an even darker side, as recently pointed out in a Salon magazine article, "Republicans’ deadly political strategy: Ruining our country hurts the Democratic Party".

Nothing seems to matter for Republicans in viewing their actions of twisting elections, facts, Gerrymandering, etc., except Republicans. Their remaining is power is far more important to them than doing the right thing for America.

If it could be proved to them that Democrats (or any other party) were a better thing for America and that they were damaging our country, they would still fight to remain in power being the zombie party that they have become.

That alone is reason to kill off the GOP if you ask me. Grand Old Party, my backside. They have become a party to sit on and not look up to.

Years ago some moron decided that corporations are people. Laws were passed to protect the stock holders over that of the citizenry. Stock holders, are therefore more important than the people who are being sold products and services to.

Think about that for a moment.

Who would make such laws? On the surface it sounds wise, that a for profit company who is there to make profit, should make profits their business.

But at what cost? And to whom? If corporations are anything, they are robotic or cybernetic, not human. They are an extension of humanity not a part of it.

At what point does a company stop and say, "Wait, are we stepping over the line?" But now they just have to respond, "Naw, we just have to make profits and we are considered a person too even though we are a corporation and so our only goal is to make our stock holders more rich, within the structure of the laws we can circumvent." Great, lucky us.

I would like to make a suggestion....

Issac Asimov many years ago came up with the three basic rules for robotics in order to protect humankind. They have since been refined by others, but I would like to suggest we use that now for corporations. Just as a place to start.

If an American company sells a product in America, or MORE especially, if it exports it or sells that product (made in America or in the local country), then it also has a moral, ethical and legal requirement to follow certain rules and these rules can start with and then be honed to be more appropriate, from these following self evident laws:

1) A robot (that is, a corporation) may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2) A robot (yes, yes, a corporation, you're getting it now) must obey the orders given it by human beings (now this is here actually referring to the ideal of humanity and not just its leaders), except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3) A corporation (originally a robot) must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

And in that last one lay the problem most of the time lately. Corporations will do anything to maintain their bottom line and existence and in some cases, a corporation should be allowed to die. To say that the bottom line is existence and profit at any cost, is to beg for horrors to happen, sooner or later, here or there, in sight or behind closed doors or in foreign and poor countries.

It is something to consider, to act on, to make an America ideal.

It is a concept, an entity that could be respected around the world, and not too far in the distant future, in the off world(s), when and as that will become a thing.

We need to stop being fools (including myself) in not paying any of this any attention. We also need to consider that this may very well already be "a thing". A thing we need to address now before we are already in off world endeavors as it's approaching fast and once established, it may be too late to do anything about it.

We need to act on all this before it's too late. If it's not too late already.

I'm not the only one feeling like this, John Oliver has his own take on the infrastructure side of things as also mentioned in this Salon article..It's really all about the same things though.

Is it ethical to find a job using company resources?

Is it Ethical to use other's resources to further your own agenda?

Ethical? Perhaps not.
Realistic and reasonable? Most likely, yes

This is a difficult subject to explain. But I'll give it a shot. Just understand that in what I am saying, I am not advocating theft or being truly, unethical. I'm also trying to say that in the end, your actions should benefit all involved. The less selfish you are in these situations, the better it is for all.

When you consider how abused we can be as individuals by the machinations of the corporations, government and society at large, we need to use whatever we have at our disposal to better our positions. If you won't do this for yourself, certainly your family deserves it.

In the end now, this actually is good for the company, as well as the individual and society at large, really. But you have to play that with appropriate consideration and in the end you have to live with yourself  And not get caught. In the end, we need to do and to use whatever is at our disposal to better our positions. But how far should we go?

Outright stealing is simply wrong and I believe it should always be avoided. But skirting whatever grey areas you can find, is perfectly reasonable.

Companies after all, do this to us all the time. They lay people off, they have no loyalty to individuals, they will drop you sometimes like a hot rock if need be and with little consideration for your situation, your family or your needs... or ethics.

Some companies are better than others surely and they deserve some extra degree of your loyalty as you see it, to be reasonable and rational. But you should be as loyal as a company will be to you and you always have to have that consideration in mind. And you should have loyalty to yourself in your need to advance, and your need to remain true to your own self and ethics. But does that mean you should never make use of any resources, not entirely and specifically your own?

There may be a fine line between stealing and utilizing available resources. Typically you might think this is all referring to supplies, stealing paper, pencils, what have you. But there are other considerations, one should consider. Should you use personal relationships you have developed through the company to better your position? Yes, why not? Some companies however would find that to be disloyal or even illegal. And in some cases they may be right and you should exercise due caution and reason. Should you use off time to find another job while at work. Sure, why not? Could you get fired if caught? Very possibly for some companies.

Would that be illegal? Possibly. I would suggest considering the caveat that you should also try to do this kind of thing as little as possible. Your work, the work that you are paid to do, certainly should not suffer. At that point, you would lose all justification and

Would that matter and could you win a court case over it? Maybe, maybe not, but consider what it would cost you in time, money, energy and emotions? It's always best to err on the side of caution. Because even if what you are doing is perfectly legal, it can be taken in completely the wrong way. And I guarantee in that situation, you would be the one to suffer in the end.

So do your best not to waste the company's money. Use your lunch time when possible. Do not steal office supplies, but if you need to make copies of your resume, if you can't afford to pay for them yourself, within reason, do it. It's a personal thing and you should know if you are being reasonable or not.

If you are not happy at your job, the best thing for the company is for you to move out as soon as possible and if it costs the company a little to get rid of you, don't you both benefit? And yes, this is a slippery slope.

But good people will keep it in check, while questionable types will rip people and companies off.

It will fall on the side of the company if you are doing ANY thing that doesn't benefit the company at all.

When you look the other way around and see the things that companies do to people, to their employees, it simply will not play out as counting the same. You will end up on the bottom. Almost every time.

Why is that? Because there is an imbalance before you even start that sides on the side of the company. We have laws to protect people from companies, but there are always grey areas that companies will use, and sometimes over utilize. But that's, okay. Right? Unethical, but legal?

If you steal from the company you are a criminal. If the company steals from you, many times it is perfectly legal and done under the guise of enhancing the need of the company in some way and they will use many legal rationalizations for this. Remember that the US Government has indicated corporations as individuals. A radical and unethical thing for them to have done that has done nothing but help to break down the protections of the US Citizen-worker.

Corporations have stolen people's retirement funds, laid workers off at the worst possible times, not infrequently at times like Christmas time, during the so called "suicide season", and even at times when they didn't need to; and so on.

You have to take this all into consideration in these ethical arguments, even though it may not directly really come into play in your situation. And remember  just because they are unethical, doesn't necessarily mean that you should be.

Or does it, in reality?

So, ethical? No, not usually. But realistically you have to ask yourself sometimes, how much does that really mean? Or, matter? In the end, just as with the corporations and company, YOU need to take care of yourself... and your family. Don't wait for a company or especially a corporation to do it for you. Because you'll be waiting a long time.

The argument that making use of resources will turn you into a criminal, is pretty much the same logic in saying gay marriage leads to pedophilia or bestiality It's just insane. Or, whether pot is a gateway drug. Mother's milk is too, nearly every pot smoker started on mother's milk. It's a non sequitur, right? More so is alcohol being a gateway drug, but no one ever notices that one. Still, I think you get the idea from what I'm saying in that, and if you can pick it apart you are totally miss what I'm saying.

In the end it's a personal decision. Be careful but be aware of what is around you to help you.

It's reminiscent of how I've raised my kids. No, not to be criminals, or unethical. But to be ethical. And to know that sometimes ethics and laws dictate one do unethical or unlawful things to maintain the status quo. The world simply isn't fair, I've told them. Sometimes, you have to do what you know to be right and suffer the consequences. Sometimes, you will do what is right and go to jail, maybe even for saving someone's life. Because to do what is right, might even be generally considered unethical, or in some cases illegal.

So should you not do what is in the end, the right thing to do for you, and your family, and the company? Remember that just because it seems at first to be wrong, or your company might superficially view it is a firing offense, or worse, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.

Sometimes, you have to gauge your behavior and do what is right for all involved, regardless of how they would at first judge it. Sometimes, it's just the way it is. But keep your eyes open. Consider the options.

Make the world work for you. But remember that in the end you will need to live with yourself.

I'm sure that in the end, you'll make the right decision.