Category: business ethics

The Agenda Shaping Our Worldview (via It Could Be Simpler)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

The idea of a “comforting illusion” is one you can easily think of when confronted by the apathy of so many. Myself I’ve studied the mortgage crisis (more like crimes) and have seen how little it bothered so many that this was going on. So many people still say, “They made a contract, they owe the money, things didn’t work out, they should pay up or get out of the houses.”

No one seems to care whether the original contract was fair, laden with fraud, or sold to those least able to understand what they were signing.

I see a lot of comforting illusions. I don’t like them. This fellow doesn’t either.

James Pilant

My thanks to “It Could Be Simpler.”

“If we choose, we can live in a world of comforting illusion.”- Noam Chomsky Manufacturing Consent For the majority of people journalism is still the primary source for their view of the world, it doesn’t just show how events unfold from day to day, but how the world is defined. This obvious power has not gone unnoticed, since the inception of mass media governments have understood the abilities of radio, TV and print to enhance the propaganda el … Read More

via It Could Be Simpler

LOST INTERNET

On By southwerkIn business ethics

My main computer will not load the new wireless driver software. I’m writing this from another more primitive computer without my files or any of the other stuff I use. I’m sorry. I’m working on the problem.

James Pilant

Do No Harm — my UU sermon from May 1, 2010 (via Ironicschmoozer’s Weblog)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

In the last three generations of my family, there have been a good number of ministers. Of course, my family were Free Will Baptists and not Unitarians. (There is a lot more certainty in the sermons of the Baptists.)

I don’t attend church much anymore but I still like sermons. This gentleman has put one of his up as a post. It’s well written, choppy tight paragraphs, messages that seem to go in different directions but tie up like little bows into the big message by the end, and a couple of good personal stories to round it out.

I like what he has to say, I believe in ethics and morality. In the field of doing the right thing, the best move is often to do nothing at all, thus, do no harm. It’s a good topic.

James Pilant

Do No Harm Sunday, May 1, 2011 Unitarian Universalist Society Sacramento, CA Hymns: 126, 21, 162. Music:  “Trouble,” Coldplay; sung by Eric Stetson Reading  “To Be of Use,” a poem by Marge Piercy, from Circles on the Water Shared Offering: Turning Point Community Programs:  A Path to Mental Health Do No Harm.  What does this mean? This world is full of harm and woe.  We human beings feel it, and cause it, at a staggering level.  Modern-day slaver … Read More

via Ironicschmoozer’s Weblog

Human Development vs Eco-footprint (via design 2 good)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

I’m very fond of graphs and charts. So is this fellow. We need clarity to make good decisions and unfortunately words only go so far. Of course, we can do pictures but sometimes pictures don’t convey data accurately so we marry mathematics to words and pictures. Thus, we can,  sort of,  see facts and numbers in action.

And also, the Human Development Index is one of my favorite concepts, measuring human development not by per capita income but by a number of factors.

So, look at the graphs and read the comments. Best wishes!

James Pilant

Human Development vs Eco-footprint   A version of a favorite chart of mine… there are other versions with GDP vs Eco-footprint, Plastics/capita vs Eco-footprint and so on.  In this version, we have:   Human Development Index:  in simple terms, is a normalized average of a country’s life expectancy, ed … Read More

via design 2 good

“Visionary works of art inspired by blind rage” (via NewSong40)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

This is a really fascinating post from an obviously well read author. The insights there are very appealing and display a clever imagination.

But you might go there just to see the picture (thumbnail below). That was my first thought. I have another from this set of artists on my wall in the living room of my home.

James Pilant

Special thanks to NewSong40.

"Visionary works of art inspired by blind rage" So ran the headline of the advertising blurb for a documentary by Andrew Lloyd Webber in last week’s TV guide. The documentary was part of ITV’s “Perspectives” season and was entitled A passion for the pre-Raphaelites. “The Industrial Revolution:” the blurb continued, “A turning point for mankind but not necessarily for the better. Mass productivity went together with mass poverty. Soaring profits saw soaring prostitution. And increasing mechanis … Read More

via NewSong40

Hidden Agenda to derail Anti-Corruption Drive? (via Deshpandevm’s Blog)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

I found this an interesting commentary on the anti-corruption movement in India.

I find the level of suspicion to be right about the same level as mine. Which maybe healthy or not. Nevertheless, any successful movement must take account of its enemies and I like the article’s predictions as the moves likely to be made. I would have suggested many of the same ones. The one that I focused on immediately was putting loopholes in the legislation to make enforcement impossible. In America, the use of loopholes (known as jokers in American law) is endemic. I strongly agree they are a major danger.

Anyway, read the article. This movement may change the world. It deserves attention.

James Pilant

Hidden Agenda to derail Anti-Corruption Drive? Hidden Agenda to derail Anti-Corruption Drive? Anna Hazare’s fast unto death to press for demands on Jan Lokpal Bill in April 2011 took the UPA government at the centre by surprise in spite of intelligence inputs. The massive public response it evoked shook the crisis managers of the government. 24 x 7 media coverage had multiplier effect to spread the message and participation to the remote corners of India. As the response of the government unf … Read More

via Deshpandevm’s Blog

Rep. Rehberg, Whose Net Worth Is $31 Million, Says He’s ‘Cash Poor’ And ‘Struggling’ (via Crooks and Liars)

On By southwerkIn business ethics2 Comments

I keep seeing this. People with enormous sums of money somehow believe they are suffering. They are. Their egos may explode and kill them.

James Pilant

From Crooks and Liars –

At a town hall earlier this week in Montana, Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) began comparing the plight of every day middle class Americans like those at his town hall with his own economic circumstance. He droned on about how he’s ‘struggling’ as a small businessman. A constituent asked him what his own net worth is and he said he’s “land rich and cash poor”:

REHBERG: I’m a small businessman. My wife is a small businessman. She hasn’t taken a salary in ten years as a result of business. We’re struggling like everyone else. With the ecnoomy.


Lost in the Stacks 4: Writers and Readers (via The Labyrinth Library)

On By southwerkIn business ethics2 Comments
Public Domain

Some days, I do not want to write. I want to do anything but write. My mind says, “Please James, let’s watch a movie, go shopping, have a nap, anything that isn’t typing into that machine.”

I still drag myself to that online beast and write once again. You cannot not post. Your readers will leave, not all of them, but some. And I prize every reader I have. They are like gold coins to a miser. I remember all too well getting 35 hits for the entire month I began posting.

My readers are supportive and kind. Their comments enrich my thought and change how and what I write about.

I am greedy for more readers but I don’t want as much encouragement as the picture and caption indicate!

James Pilant

Lost in the Stacks 4: Writers and Readers With the debut of HBO’s “A Game of Thrones” miniseries and a new article in The New Yorker, the strange story of George R. R. Martin and his fans has been on my mind. So, in this episode of Lost in the Stacks, we examine the weird, often dangerously codependent relationship between the Writer and the Readers. What does the writer owe to his or her readers, if anything? What can the readers honestly expect of their writer? What promises, implicit … Read More

via The Labyrinth Library

Marketing as a Four-Letter Word_ Round 2 (via Heretical Thoughts of an Archivist)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Any time I see someone talk like this, I feel a certain pride in the tenacity of the human spirit to refuse to conform to the culture of greed, conformity and that abomination, “emotional intelligence.”

I think this post represents a high standard of morality compared to much of the marketing I see. I am pleased to re-post this work.

James Pilant

Peter Drucker said that “the aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” He uses a similar maxim, quoted by former pupil William A. Cohen, to the effect that good marketing makes sales unnecessary. In the first case, he is discussing knowing the customer well enough to know his need, and then apply innovation and find a way to meet that need. In the second he is speaking of kn … Read More

via Heretical Thoughts of an Archivist

Japan nuke workers nearing max exposure (via flying cuttlefish picayune)

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

Flying cuttlefish picayune is staying on the Fukushima story with tenacity. I admire this. I’ve tried to follow it everyday but my recent cable loss knocked me off pattern. (As a writer it is fascinating to watch how your style and approach are varied by things you never would have thought of as having an effect.) Following this blog has recommitted me to following the story and I will begin going back to daily or once every two days posting.

Public domain

I will be going to the international media because our corporate, news of the strange focused, press is fairly useless in dealing with any complex issue in any persistent or intelligent way. It is utterly astonishing how different the press is outside the United States. I have been looking at the Anna Hazare story news coverage in India (you should too) and the way they confront politicians with difficult questions and follow-up gives me pride in the field of journalism, a pride which has been steadily diminishing as I have watched the wretched posturing, incompetence and brazen profit seeking of American media.

My warm thanks to my fellow blogger, flying cuttlefish picayune!

James Pialnt

TOKYO, May 1 (UPI) — Some nuclear workers at Japan’s damaged Fukushima power plant are approaching the maximum allowable annual radiation exposure, power officials said. Prior to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that badly damaged four of six reactors at Fukushima, Japanese labor law said the maximum radiation nuclear workers could be exposed to per year was 100 millisieverts. Four days after the disaster, the maximum exposure was increased t … Read More

via flying cuttlefish picayune