One of my personal hobbies is to look up documentaries or interesting discussion topics online. I like expanding my mind and thinking about issues people usually do not touch on because most of us are too busy in our day to day tasks to pay heed to them. I stumbled upon a podcast delving into how what we do as a society has now changed to what we do for corporations.
At first, I found myself disagreeing with what the speaker said. He stated we do more to benefit corporations now in our daily routines than we do for each other as a society. After all, occupations such as teachers, doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, policemen, and farmers are viable positions serving society and its people today. However, the more he spoke, the more reasonable points were made.
For instance, when it comes down to a basic job search, the ones heavily promoted are for industries serving its company. In food industries, the ones heavily marketed to us are fast-food chains, which are knowingly unhealthy for the consumer but advertised despite its negative impact on the human body. Oil industries consistently recruit more engineers even though oil itself is a nonrenewable resource we cannot depend on forever. Tobacco industries continuously seek out more customers regardless of the fact its very product can kill its consumers.
Why are these companies, who do nothing to benefit society as a whole, not stopped? I believe any reasonable person faced with a choice to benefit society or contribute to a corporation would want to help people rather than the latter. Unfortunately, money dictates our economy. In fact, money is so ingrained into the structure of how we live; most believe we cannot live a long prosperous life without such a form of currency.
Ironically, humankind has been able to live prosperously without relying on currency in the past. However, as this technological age we’re in progresses, owners of corporations do not want to lose the power their money has gained them. Because of this, products are put out into the market where businesses are more focused on promotion rather than research. Instead of spending a majority of their budget on concepts such as genetically modified foods, advertising comes first since its cost-efficient and produces more. Some farmers are convinced to adopt genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into how they produce to cut back on expenses and yield commodities faster. These are the same GMOs linked to poor health and even cancer. The FDA has been speculated to bend to the whims of manufacturers working for these companies.
Our ignorance of these concepts is also a significant factor because companies depend upon it to have us consume products potentially harmful or is harmful to us. And because there is so much profit to gain in the positions they provide, we are willing to step on each other just to get a little more ahead. I suppose the real issue when it comes to corporate jobs versus society jobs is when did life become about supporting those with money rather than each other? Fingers can be pointed to whose at fault, but it is ultimately our decision as a community to decide where the world goes from here.
Reginald andah 