FOREWARD
I will send a DVD of the documentary The Corporation to the first 9 people who email me with their mailing address (bpoppy AT gmail DOT com). My express wish is that after viewing the film, those 9 people would then each forward it on to another person. If I receive more than 9 requests, I will ask that the first group pass it on to the next set.

The ripples out will be tracked here on this website. I will keep track how the film circles out from here. My hope is that a year from today, Labor Day 2006, the film has reached at least 108 people.

NOW FOR THE COMMENTARY

A couple of weeks ago, Kat posted at her site about The Corporation. I was intrigued and ordered it. Saturday night, T and I settled in to watch it. We had to stop half way through cause I was too physically ill to continue.

I woke up heartsick/soul sick yesterday and, despite being in one of the most beautiful places in the world, despite the weather being as radiantly lovely as one could imagine, I proceeded through the course of my day agitated, depressed and nauseaus.

Now, before anyone ridicules at me for not being fully apprised of all that is explored in this film I would simply say. NOAH. ARK. ARE YOU BLIND?

That's right people-- who else builds a home that virtually screams "Bring it!" to the Armageddon? Have you not been playing along? Has the utter adorableness of my dogs distracted you from the fact we are nearing completion on a home that is completely solar powered, fed from a natural well, with acres of firewood at the ready and is a stone's throw from a number of fresh water lakes?

Okay then.

And, before anyone jumps down my throat and tells me how one-sided this film is, or how it is just some ?liberal propaganda? let me just say I agree wholeheartedly with the film?s producer Mark Achbar when he writes, ?when it comes to the fate of the Earth, I don?t believe in legitimizing destructive forces by validating their perspective in a ?balanced? television-style journalism format.? Achbar goes on to say, ?reform comes from within as well as without, which is why The Corporation also tries to expose the institutional constraints many good people working inside big corporations struggle with.?

Last night we watched the second half and THANK GOD it had a number of totally uplifting stories of how people have made a difference and how people have succeeded in countering the corporate agenda. Including the CEO of a carpet company that could have written "Amazing Grace" such has been his life-changing epiphany.

I feel better today. Much, much better. My focus is clear and I have a number of initiatives underway* that soothe my need to make a difference when, in fact, I am the world?s worst activist. No, scratch that, I don?t even merit the word activist. I am an ostrich, pure and simple. I have run from the world. My head is buried so deep in the sand my ass is pointing directly up at the north star.

I'm not an activist. I am a fatalist.

Formerly, upon watching something like this film, my first instinct is to kill myself. I?m not kidding. I can?t explain why that is my response?I?m just telling you that?s what I would have spent all night Saturday thinking about doing if I hadn?t spent the last 20 years creating new ways of thinking so that suicide does not top my list of what to do in a time of madness. Sorry Albert?it?s not that I don?t love you, it?s just that I had to move on.

Today, my personal philosophy (ever evolving) is to live my life well and trust that by doing so I will positively influence the people I touch. I work hard to cultivate a peaceful heart so that when confronted with angry, resentful, mean, or otherwise aggressive people, I can maintain my core and let their shit move on by. That is my best effort and believe me, it requires constant vigilance on my part as I work . . . dum, dum, dum, dum . . .in a CORPORATION. And this is not a company that is bringing anything good into the world, I assure you.

Here are two verbatim quotes from our new president when he came to town last week to pump up our morale, ?we?re gonna ram a stake into the heart of our competition!? and ?we?re so glad we bought you cause you?re gonna bring us the revenue we need to kill everybody else.? Hip hip hooray! *rustles pom-poms* Steak knives for everyone!

The number one thing I urge you to check into (especially if you have children and are giving them milk and cheese every day) is the legally sanctioned activity in the U.S. (which Canada and Europe refuse to allow) of injecting cows with rBGH. Did you know that American milk is BANNED in Europe?

But how could this happen? Wouldn?t the FDA protect us?

Oh my little kittens, ?The FDA has trivialized evidence for increased levels in rBGH milk and insist that any such increases in IGF-1 are not dangerous, and do not pose a health risk. However, a 1990 study by Monsanto, the leading maker of rBGH, explicitly revealed statistically significant evidence of growth promoting effects.?**

And, when two news reporters from FOX news put together a compelling story of how this was allowed to happen and what the threats are to human beings?the story was killed and they were fired (more details with interviews in the film).

What stays with me most from this film is how corporations were allowed (under a heinous twisting of the 14th amendment) to be considered ?a person? with all the attending legal rights. However, as the film systematically shows, this ?person? is nothing short of a pychopath per the standard personality disorder diagnosis checklist:

~ Callous unconcern for the feelings of others

~ Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships

~ Reckless disregard for the safety of others

~ Deceitfulness: repeated lying and conning others for profit

~ Incapacity to experience guilt

~ Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors

Now I know I?m getting all heavy and political here and is there ANYTHING MORE BORING?!!? And, as T points out, this is more than a problem of corporations. Corporate dominance (to the point where they have more power than actual governments) is a natural result of a capitalist society if greed and acquisition is always more important than the welfare of living creatures or the planet.

All I?m saying is, I believe we must make a conscious shift. And I believe we can.

So, how about them Red Sox?***

*One of the first things I am doing this week is joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. For more information about this you can go here. CSAs are a network of mutual support between farmers and consumers. And, the CSA movement is growing. In 1990, there were about 60 CSAs in the country; now there are over 1,500 nationwide.

** rBGH

*** Inside joke. Whenever T and I get into a heavy conversation that needs to be put to rest for awhile, one of us will inevitably say, ?how about them Red Sox?? Funny thing, I said this to him the other day in a store (we were purchasing our appliances and things were getting a bit edgy) and the guy behind the counter says ?Yeah!? and starts going off in detail about the game the night before. Go Sox!

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