A Creative Contradiction

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A Creative Contradiction
by Raymond Green, Guest Columnist

July 26, 2002

Raymond Green “Fat man sues fast-food outlets”, says a report at CNSNews.com (July 25, 2002). The report goes on to explain his accusation that major fast food outlets are responsible for his being obese and unhealthy. That claim is about as senseless as saying a pencil is responsible for bad handwriting and my word processor is responsible for bad columns.

Although extreme leftists will endorse the idea of suing fast food outlets, I wish to cast light on the extreme contradiction at hand.

Liberals endorse nearly every lawsuit against big business and are struggling to enforce more corporate responsibility. Liberals are capitalizing on the natural side effects of capitalism. “It’s time for business to accept responsibility,” they’ve been shouting. Now they will say something along the lines of, “This poor obese man is a victim of profit and misleading marketing strategies.” Although it may be a bit presumptuous to predict what liberals will say, it’s based on history. Anti-capitalist liberals are still attempting to make smokers out as victims – even with warnings, laws restricting advertising, and government funded anti-tobacco campaigns. To put it in perspective: They believe successful business is evil; consumers are victims of that evil.

While they are smearing businesses’ marketing strategies, they are also championing corporate responsibility. In light of the recent corporate scandals, liberals are so outspoken about corporations you can’t keep track of exactly who said what – but they all said the same thing: Corporations need to become more responsible for their practices. The “responsibility of corporations war” has been successfully waged against tobacco companies and gun manufacturers in the past. Some liberals are so set on establishing responsibility among companies, they are pursuing reparations to backtrack on responsibility from the days of slavery.

But what happened to responsibility in terms of all people – not just people in business? What about the smoker that smokes and knows damn well it’s going to cause lung cancer? What about the obese people that continue to eat Mc Donald’s knowing how unhealthy it is? What about the criminal that knows that murder is both immoral and illegal but happens to be stupid? What about the individuals that are merely lazy and irresponsible, and that is why they have 6 kids and are on welfare? What about the people that know promiscuous behavior has consequences, yet they continue to have unsafe sex and wonder why the AIDS epidemic is so severe? Where is the responsibility then?

Liberals cast smear campaigns on corporations. This, as most of us know, is primarily done on behalf of the lawyers that own the Democratic Party. If society can perceive someone as a victim, there’s a lawsuit in sight. More lawsuits mean money for lawyers.

This is more than severely contradictory and scarily hypocritical; it is a downward spiral. The “consumer victim” perception that leads to lawsuits, also leads to higher prices for the consumer. Contrary to naïve belief, companies don’t pay for lawsuits (or taxes). You do. The more money they dish out to lawyers, the more money businesses have to charge to pay employees, manufacture the product, and make a profit. Then, the real victim is the consumer, but only as an unintended side effect to a liberal theory – if you can call it that – which perceives the consumer as a victim in the first place. Liberals victimization policy only creates victims; it doesn’t help in eradicating them. ***

Photo of Raymond Green courtesy of staff files

Be sure to visit Raymond's site at http://www.supportnospin.com