I love the documentary, The Corporation. Here‘s an interesting economics lesson on the rise of corporations, and the (author’s) projected decline of their power on our culture, particularly, mastery of our attention and the amount of ‘free agents’ who offer attention-grabbing content. Interesting, even if I didn’t get it all.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noL8nFSzsDc&feature=player_embedded]
If you were a jobless parent, could you survive on $1000?
(Thanks Pete!)
Like many teachers, perhaps, I have found that one of my least favorite things is one of my favorite things to talk about in class. In this case, The Secret, a trumped up argument for the Law of Attraction (LoA). The foundation of LoA is that you attract good and ill to yourself, by what you radiate out into the world. This hyper-individualized thinking is the opposite of how most serious people look at the social world: Big, social forces like sexism and racism are always at work, somehow. If you are not a sociologist and read this blurb, I’ll say this: The secret of the Secret is that it blinds you to the deep, hidden social structures at work. I find it particularly appalling that an African-American woman like Oprah would offer such full-throated endorsements of LoA. One of the charlatans in this video (the opening ten minutes is available online) claims that a hurricane was diverted because of all the positive vibes pumped out by his local radio listeners. See it here:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b1GKGWJbE8] What do you have to say to the folks further up the coastline? What of a Glass ceiling? The Secret blames individuals for their failings–Have you been turned away from a job based on your skin color? Perhaps you are to blame!–and offers a battery of books and self-help lectures as the cure. One of the people behind The Secret is back with a #1 best-seller, The Power. Ugh. Kelefa Sanneh reviews it here.
I like showing the first few minutes of The Corporation when teaching Politics and Economics in 101. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkygXc9IM5U&feature=channel] I’ll have the opportunity to touch up that opening gambit on Corporate Personhood with a few recent news clippings. The first is the much-avoided (in the mass media) topic of the Citizen’s United ruling which, according to the majority opinion, is a validation of First Amendment free speech. (Justice Alito, when POTUS did a public shaming of the Court on this matter, reportedly mouthed ‘Not true’.) The other part is a nice news clip (and here) about how, in the economic meltdown, corporations have been walking away from their $4.4 billion debt, called an ‘underwater property’ (like the massive 56-building/11,282 property Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town complex), to ‘protect shareholder value’ while individuals are shamed into their debts: In the Wall Street Journal, the head of the Mortgage Bankers Association was quoted as saying, “What about the message they will send to their family and their kids and their friends?” (Morgan Stanley walked away from five San Fransisco office buildings last month too.)
Update 2/10/10: A student informed me that a PR firm, Murray Hill Inc., is running for the Republican primary in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, tongue in cheek. Campaign Manager William Klein “plans to use automated robo-calls, ‘Astroturf” lobbying and computer-generated avatars to get out the vote.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHRKkXtxDRA&feature=player_embedded]
My students have a hard time imagining that all kids don’t start on a level playing field. After reading George Farkas’ ‘Black White Test Score Gap,’ and showing them this video, they’re changing their minds. (Although I may never convince them that Disney has racist and sexist elements to it.)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-5x9mkBcCU&feature=player_embedded]
