The Subliminal Influence of Disney: A Bastion of Family and Social Values?

Disney, as an entertainment institution, began in the 1920s spanning a time period close to a century. That's a long time when you consider that the Disney films have been a mainstay in the social, moral, intellectual, and even spiritual influences subliminally transmitted to billions of people.  Yes, the picture to your left is an example of that transmission of moral purity .

Few Amer­i­can icons have come to be asso­ci­ated with whole­some, vir­tu­ous images as Walt Dis­ney.The Disney empire spans across the universe...in classic cartoons, television shows, books, toys, baby apparel, music, video games, art, decor, etc. We have the Disney Channel, Walt Disney Studios, Touchstone Pictures, Touchstone Television, Hollywood Records, Hyperion Books, Hyperion Books for Children, Disney Press, Capital Cities/ABC, Pixar Animation, and television stations like A&E, Lifetime, History Channel, and ESPN...Disneyland, Walt Disney World, EPCOT Center, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Resort Paris, California Adventure, Downtown Disney, Tokyo Disney Sea, and Disney Cruise ships.

So, is Disney really the bastion of family and social values?

note window in background

Early Disney (Personally, I think this film goes a little too far in its commentary, and even in its examples; however, there is no question that Disney ain't what it portrays itself to be):









The rest of the installments can be found here.

And the not so subliminal:



Links:

6 Classic Disney Animated Wartime Propaganda Cartoons [Stuff to Watch]

Disney Pedophiles

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Lessons of the Eastland Lost:: When Technology and Profit Trumps Humanity:

Early, one sunny Saturday morning, July 24, 1915, 7,000 eager and excited men, women and children, dressed in their summer Sunday best, prepared to board chartered lake steamers that would carry them across Lake Michigan, from the Chicago River piers to the picnic site in Michigan City, Indiana for Western Electric's 5th annual company picnic. The festive mood was thoroughly contagious.  Laughter and shouts filled the air as a mandolin-and fiddle orchestra belted out upbeat ragtime tunes, making the tens of thousands of people gathered at the dock, looking out at the "sea of white shirts, white duck trousers, and fluttering white handkerchiefs" waving from on deck of the large steamship, [1] totally immune to thoughts of potential tragedy.

Of all the chartered steamers, it was the SS Eastland that was the star. Bold and breathtaking, with her sleek lines, twin funnels from which rose tall plumes of smoke, at 265 feet long, 38 feet wide, weighing 1,963 tons, she was built for speed; her reputation, the fastest boat on the lakes. Despite, the Titanic tragedy, just three years prior, "newspaper ads heralded her as: 'the Twin-Screw steel ship, Eastland, Largest, Finest, and Fastest Excursion Steamship...' The ads neglected to mention that the Eastland had a history of being an unstable ship." [2]

It wasn't long before hints of impending disaster became obvious to anyone paying attention; however, the jovial atmosphere, and the encouragement of uniformed officials, and crew blinded all, but the most observantly realistic to what was to become one of the greatest and heartbreaking maritime tragedies in recent history. Oh, people noticed the tilt of the massive ship, especially upon embarking, but, apparently, thought nothing of it, given the celebratory festivity, and, even more importantly, the emboldening promotions of authority. 

Yes, the star of the show, the Eastland, was listing at an angle of at least thirty degrees! That's before the massive ship even departed. People were herded like cattle, pressed cheek to jowl, on the upper deck, waving their handkerchiefs in the air as the captain gave the order for the tug to pull her down the river, out into Lake Michigan

“When boarding the boat we all remarked jestingly: ‘The boat is listing!’ Reaching the big dancing hall on the lower deck where many hundreds of excursionists were enjoying the music, we noticed that the floor was strongly tilted. Then a man cried: ‘All hurry to the other side, lest the boat tip!’ Even now we enjoyed rushing up the sharply inclined dance floor, when suddenly the mighty boat rolled to the opposite side, and all occupants were hurled into a helpless heap. In the dance hall the furniture, the tables and chairs, the heavy piano, the large icebox and counter of the tavern, crashed upon the poor victims, so that many were killed outright. Those who had been on deck were trapped deep down in the river, under twenty-three feet of water.”

“I was one of the few who came out of the water although I was imprisoned inside the dance hall. I could swim well and tried to rescue a little girl, but a man took hold of my arm and pleaded, ‘Lady, please save me!’ I screamed: ‘Let me go! I have all I can do to save myself and this child!’ Then the fellow pulled me and the child down to the bottom. I fought him off, and in the scuffle I lost hold of the poor child. Only five other girls and men were swimming within the dance hall. Luckily they found a ledge to which they now clung, and they called me to come and hold on. For half an hour we took this rest, but the suspense became unbearable. We screamed for help. Finally we were noticed and strong arms drew us through a porthole.” - an anonymous passenger gave her account to a news reporter after she was rescued

While still moored to the dock, all aboard suddenly noticed that the ship was tipping over into the river.  After a moment of surreal silence, the horrified screaming began. "Men, women and children slid from her like ants brushed from a plank. ... The entire surface of the river was black with writhing, drowning humanity." [3] Out of the 2,500 on board, 812 met their death in all of six terrifying minutes. The death toll later reached up to as many as 1080, wiping out 22 entire families.

Later, it was disclosed that the SS Eastland was known as "the crank ship of the Lakes." This was not the first time the ship started to tip. Several times before, passengers had been ordered to shift from side to side until she stabilized. However, on this perilous day, the passengers couldn't have shifted if they wanted, they were so tightly packed together. In fact, reports of the Eastland's instability had become so widespread that in 1910 her owners, the Port Huron firm,  had run an ad in the newspaper offering $5,000 to professionals who would claim her seaworthiness.

People lined up outside the temporary morgue at the Second Regiment Armory to identify victims of
the Eastland disaster

All of the evidence pointed to the fact that the only goal of the shipbuilders was "a ship fast enough to make the 170-mile round trip between Chicago and Grand Haven Michigan, twice, in 24 hours", safety, be damned. Lawsuits were brought into the courts, by survivors courts as late as 1935.  Despite overwhelming evidence of neglect and conspiracy to cover up life threatening flaws, no one one was indicted for contributing to the disaster.

The entire Sinclair family- all eight members -perished on the Eastland

Fireman holds dead child after the Eastland tipped over.

Moreover, in a tragic twist of fate, the mandated - by the 1915 federal Seaman's Act passed because of the  Titanic disaster - complete set of lifeboats, absent on the Titanic, made the already top heavy Eastland, more so.  Although the lifeboats required by this act were said to have the potential to cause many Great Lakes boats to capsize, it was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, anyway. Never mind that the SS Eastland was already so top-heavy that it had special restrictions concerning the number of passengers that could be carried. The additional weight of the new lifeboats made the ship even more unstable than before.

The interior of the Eastland changed suddenly, as if by the dark magic of a fun house mirror. Floors became walls, port holes became skylights, and the gigantic influx of water turned the mahogany trimmed rooms into sealed chambers worthy of Harry Houdini’s worst nightmares. - Jay Bonansinga wrote in his book, The Sinking of the Eastland: America's Forgotten Tragedy

One has to wonder why this tragic event was brushed under the rug while the memory of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, is as fresh as if it happened last year. Could it be that the Eastland's passengers were not as worthy of the attention, due to their "working class" status? Possibly. But more than likely, it has to do with the lessons that could have been learned from this atrocity that could've been easily prevented. What lessons? The danger of blindly trusting "officials" or so-called "authorities", while ignoring the proverbial elephant in the room. The danger of valuing profit and technology over human life. In other words, diminishing the value of humanity to a technological, profit-above-all-else society is not only dangerous to mankind, left unchecked, this type of society can wipe out mankind, or, at least, those of us who aren't in "the club".

Reference:

[1] Griggs, John. "Excursion to Death" American Heritage. February 1965: 32-35, 111.

[2] ibid.

[3] ibid.

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Babies are"Morally Irrevelant" So Killing Babies No Different than Abortion

As the abortion debate continues to rage on, the most important question at the center of this hot-button issue remains the same, "When does human life begin?." The answer very much depends on one's view of what a human being is. For instance, do you believe human beings deserve special dignity? Are human beings worthy of special respect? Or, is it okay to kill and eat human beings the same way we kill and eat chickens, pigs, and cows? Is it okay to enslave and use human beings the way we do horses and/or oxen? One thing is certain: the answers to these questions cannot be determined by empirical science.

Up until now, most of us believe human beings are intrinsically valuable - equal in fundamental worth and dignity - because of who we are. Not because of the transient qualities we may, or may not possess? Not because of what we can contribute to society. After all, we're human-beings, not human-doings. So, if we are intrinsically valuable because of who we are, and not because of our capacity to do things  when does that unique cluster of cells that we all start out as, become a human being? Remember, the physical/materialistic is the only aspect of the human being that empirical science can confirm. Science cannot substantiate the immaterial aspect of the human being - the consciousness/ soul.

Today, in America, one in four pregnancies ends in abortion. Most of us, including myself, do not give this subject much thought because it's become so universally accepted, whether we are "pro-life" or "pro-choice". This could also signal what might be called a hardening of sensibilities, especially considering what some academics are seriously discussing and publishing. That is, the right to kill your newborn, or as they so eloquently put it, "after-birth abortion".

That's right. The Journal of Medical Ethics recently published the paper, After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?  Parents should have the right to kill newborn babies because they are not "actual persons".  The authors argue that there is no moral difference between a fetus and a newborn because their capacities to do things are the same; hence, if abortion is lawful, infanticide should be lawful.

You might say to yourself, "So what...it's not been made law." While that's true, it's important to understand that since these arguments are acceptable to publish, the implication is there is potential for societal acceptance. To be sure, The Journal of Medical Ethics rejects many more papers than it accepts.

Abortion is largely accepted even for reasons that do not have anything to do with the fetus' health. By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people, the authors argue that what we call ‘after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.

As absurd as this sounds, it's not, when you really think about it. Many of those who cringe at the thought of killing a newborn, defend, tooth and nail, the right to kill that same child a few days/months sooner. They're that certain there is a difference. If a fertilized egg is not a human, then it never will be, because nothing is added to it after that time.

The bottom line is that this is just part of an overall message that becomes clearer everyday: if for any reason you are an inconvenient and/or non-productive member of society, you need to be eliminated for the "greater good".

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Point. Click. Kill. US Drone Strikes Target Civilians in Coward's War.

It's no secret that Nobel Peace laureate, President Obama has increased the frequency of drone strikes well beyond what former President Bush did, as they have been used with regularity, since he took office.  From the battlefields of Iraq, to Afghanistan, well situated for oil and gas pipelines, to tribal areas in Pakistan, from the comfort of their environmentally controlled offices, military forces, and the CIA are employing the use of drones with impunity.  According to the Brookings Institute, the US has 7,000 drones in operation and 12,000 more on the ground.

One military robotics researcher told Peter Singer, the author of Wired for War, “We modeled the controller after the PlayStation because that’s what these eighteen-, nineteen-year-old Marines have been playing with pretty much all of their lives.”

Just one week ago, January 31, President Obama (see video below) made the claim that the drone strikes, under his administration - 260 - have "not caused a huge number of of civilian casualties", and he went on to exalt the exceptional proficiency, and precision of unmanned aircraft, despite massive evidence to the contrary. Since 2009, between 282 and 535 civilians have been credibly reported as killed including more than 175 children. Is that a huge number?  Well, imagine it's American citizens who have died as a result of another country's drone strikes.



However, the huge numbers of civilian casualties, is only part of the story.  According to a recent report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, civilian rescuers are being targeted! At least 50 civilians died as a result of follow-up strikes.

The CIA’s drone campaign in Pakistan has killed dozens of civilians who had gone to help rescue victims or were attending funerals, an investigation by the Bureau for the Sunday Times has revealed.

The findings are published just days after President Obama claimed that the drone campaign in Pakistan was a “targeted, focused effort” that “has not caused a huge number of civilian casualties”. . . .

A three month investigation including eye witness reports has found evidence that at least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims. More than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners. The tactics have been condemned by leading legal experts.

Although the drone attacks were started under the Bush administration in 2004, they have been stepped up enormously under Obama.

There have been 260 attacks by unmanned Predators or Reapers in Pakistan by Obama’s administration – averaging one every four days.

Why is it a coward's war?

Precisely because we are arbitrarily waging undeclared, trillions-of-dollars, so-called  "wars", without actually having any "skin in the game." Engaging state-of-the-art stealthy pilotless vehicles that murder people - halfway around the world - by joy-stick without any risk to ourselves is cowardly and contemptible. Point. Click. Kill. How long  before our own enemies have the same capability? How long before the decision to kill is ceded by a machine (talk about accountability issues)?

Related Links:

Afghan civilian death toll reaches record high

The civilian death toll for the war in Afghanistan reached a record high last year with 3,021 deaths, according to the United Nations.

The number killed rose by 8% last year – the fifth consecutive rise – with a further 4,507 civilians wounded, the UN report said. Many were killed by roadside bombs or in suicide attacks, with Taliban-affiliated militants responsible for three-quarters of the deaths.

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Bioethicists Conclude Human Life is About as Sacred as Weeds.

Is nothing sacred anymore? Does anything matter? Is there any intrinsic value to life? Apparently not, according to two nihilistic American bioethicists in an online article in the Journal of Medical Ethics. That's right. Humanity has no innate value, no purpose, no meaning. And unfortunately, these two prominent bioethicists are not alone in their thinking. So, what makes killing wrong? Well, according to these "experts", human life is only valuable if is productive. Hmmm...if I remember correctly, this kind of utilitarian thinking was the same kind of rationale used by Nazi Germany.

“[I]f killing were wrong just because it is causing death or the loss of life, then the same principle would apply with the same strength to pulling weeds out of a garden. If it is not immoral to weed a garden, then life as such cannot really be sacred, and killing as such cannot be morally wrong.”

Take Bill "reduce the population with vaccines" Gates , for instance, with his 500,000 shares , of   Monsanto stock. Developer/producer of GMO seeds/foods, and all types of poisons like DDT/agent orange, and who spreads their toxic GMO seeds in order to sue non-corporate farmers with patent infringement.  Read Monsanto: Harvest of fear.

“The world today has 6.8 billion people… that’s headed up to about 9 billion. Now, if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent.” -- Bill Gates

As it is, a significant portion of the developed world's population believe in nothing greater than themselves, which tends to make the dehumanization of others fairly simple. What exactly is dehumanization? Basically, valuing human life about as much as you value the weeds in your garden. It's viewing people as statistics, commodities, or as interchangeable. This, I would argue is a direct result of our ever increasing acquisitive society.

Consumption has replaced production, and everything and everyone is a consumer item. The brutal underlying values of a casino/"free" market consumerist society are inherently nihilistic, in that nothing we do, nothing we create, nothing we love has meaning. Thus, 'we the weeds people' are essentially disposable, like dirty Pampers.

Related Links:

Executive order 13139: President Clinton signed this order authorizing the Department of Defense to administer "new investigational drugs" to troops ---- with or without their consent ---- to protect them from biological, chemical or radiological agents during military actions.

Executive Order 13544,  whose goal is to severely limit private and organic farming

Public Law 105-85 Use of human subjects for testing of biological or chemical agents

S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act precludes the public’s right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes. In other words, consolidated corporate control of your food.

Bill Gates, China jointly developing nuclear reactor

Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relating to foods, food production, and food safety.

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Besting God: The Versace Body Design.

Are people becoming obsolete?

"After all the body is an extension of fashion...We will have cyborg bodies. We will have augmented bodies.  We will auto-morph ourselves into whatever vehicle keeps us in existence for the longest period of time with the most pleasure, the least pain, and the most ease, the most elegance ." - Natasha Vita More transhumanist artist in documentary, TechnoCalyps, below

Non – biological intelligence is growing exponentially, while biological intelligence is not growing at all. Does this mean that one day machines will have consciousness? Will rule us?

At the dawn of the third millennium, we face the possibility of fully merging man and machine, radically changing mankind as we know it. Technology is about to take over the torch of history and guide us into a new era with the goal of transcending human limits and creating a more evolved species. This begs the question, what will happen to human beings? Like the Neanderthals, will human beings become a fossil of history? Or, will the new evolved species enslave human beings?

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What Should Be the Servant has Become the Master.

It's no secret that the ruling class does not want an alert and informed citizenry that can read budgets and ask critical questions. In fact, millions, if not billions of dollars are spent to keep the masses completely in the dark regarding our monetary system. Why? Those who "get it" are far more likely to fight for control.

In an overly acquisitive society such as ours, where the drive to amass obscene amounts of wealth trumps any and all regard for human life, it's time to reform our monetary system. Hence, the reason why it's so important to develop an understanding of what money really is. That is, if we, the masses, wish to not only take back our nation, but, moreover, to maintain our humanity.

Here's the thing, there is so much disinformation circulating, it's not easy to discern the truth. Nevertheless, this is some of what I've learned so far.

Economics is not a science, yet economists - in an effort to make economics, more scientific, I guess - removed "normative values" from its study. What are "normative values"? In one word, morality. Well, removing standards of ethics, honesty and morality from its study might be okay if economics followed the scientific method, and wasn't so intertwined with our survival, but it doesn't, and it is.

Unfortunately, too many economists ignore the historical origins of money, as most are trained to support the status quo...something that is clearly not working. As Alexander del Mar once said, "As a rule, economists do not take the time to study the history of money. It's much easier to imagine it and deduce the principles of this imaginary knowledge."

So, what is money? 

John Locke and Ben Franklin defined money as a pledge for wealth instead of wealth itself. However, it is Aristotle's definition: "money exists not by nature, but by law," that made "money" by it's very nature, a fiat of the law.  Now, despite the ranting and raving of the many against our fiat money system, fiat money, in and of itself, is not the problem; rather, it's fractional reserve banking...the private creation of "money" that is the problem here. Why? In a nutshell, it benefits only those who control its usurious issue.  If the money power is privately controlled, it benefits the few...if publicly controlled, it benefits the many.


It was Jeremy Bentham, best known for his advocacy of utilitarianism, and his influence upon modern welfare economics, who we can thank for redefining usury.  In a series of letters written to Adam Smith, he tried to convince Smith to give up his support for interest rate limits. Originally, the concept of usury was much more comprehensive than the mere charge of interest. According to Stephen Zarlenga, usury was the "antisocial misuse of the money mechanism for private gain".  Our entire monetary system is a usurious kleptocracy. 

Part of the "monetary" agenda consists of substituting the idea of credit for the concept of money, so that we, the people will come to think of money and credit as interchangeable, when that not true at all. Credit is only a promise to pay in the future; whereas money pays at the time of exchange. Not to mention, credit evaporates in a crisis; money does not.

What about Ron Paul and his mission to return to the gold standard?

Essentially, he is mis-defining money as a thing...in other words, as wealth. This will not give our society the ability to advance properly, because there will never be enough gold to keep pace with population and commerce growth. As history has shown,  banks will cheat and issue private bank paper that only pretends to be convertable to gold. One can only imagine the problems that would cause in a crisis. 

So back to Aristotle's defintion.  The only problem with  is that his definition is all too brief. Alexander del Mar later expanded on Aristotle with the following defintion of money:

"What is commonly understood as money has always consisted tangibly of the number of pieces of some material marked by public authority named and understood by the laws and customs that its palpable characteristic: mark of authority; essential characteristic: possession of value defined by law, and it's function: the legal power to pay debts and taxes and the mechanical power to fascilitate the exchange of other objects possessing value." -- Alexander Delmar

In other words, setting aside whatever is used to signify it - paper, metal, feathers, etc. - "money  is an abstract social power embodied in law, as an unconditional means of payment." *

Which brings us to Stephen Zarlenga's three elements (The American Monetary and Financial Securities Act) that he maintains must be included in order to create a monetary system that works for the benefit of all:

1. Put the Federal Reserve system into the US treasury so it is within our sytem of checks and balances.
2. Get rid of the fractional reserve Stop the banks from creating our money supply...any of it. If they create even 10%, they're smart enough to get all of it. Billions are being stolen under cover of law, for not only doing nothing, but for damaging and destroying society.
3. Government prints and spends new money into circulation to pay for infrastructure repair, either printed on paper or inserted on an account The key is that it's not debt; it's money.  Moreover, human infrastructure must be included:  health care and  education, as you cannot build the hardware without healthy, intelligent people. .

Source:

* Stephen Zarlenga, author of the ‘National Emergency Employment Defense Act of 2010’ (renamed The American Monetary and Financial Securities Act by Rep Dennis Kucinich, which gets rid of a private credit system, and puts into place, a government money system),  founder and director of the American Monetary Institute, and author of The Lost Science of Money

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A Question of Evil?

Most people agree that taking the life of, or severely harming another person or person(s), especially with premeditated malice, is evil. Most people agree that arranging the murder or downfall of another person or person(s) is evil.

However we hesitate to characterize those wealthy and powerful individuals - the corporate and political elite, whose main goal is massive profits at the expense of all other considerations - who either knowingly create, or powerfully influence legislation, (legalizing crime), and will even start wars to distract we, the people, from the plundering of our country and the world, as evil. Regardless of the fact that the body count and the destruction of the lives of billions of people around the globe is endless.

Oh, we might, in an off-the-cuff sort of way, declare the "almighty" elite as evil as we watch this group of greed and power-brokers collect their billions of dollars in bonus money as reward for ravaging our economy -- and that's only what we can see, the tip of the iceberg. That's only what we can see...can you imagine the trillions of dollars that exchange hands that we don't see?

But our actions or inaction tell a different story. We do not demand accountability of the greedy, corrupt individuals at the top. We do not demand retribution, even as we watch our own life-savings dissolve before our very eyes. Never mind all of the people around the world who have lost or who will lose their lives as a result of the actions of these individuals.

On the other hand, we, the people demand retribution and often times, thirst for vengeance for underprivileged individuals accused of even much lesser crimes than committed by those in power. We not only declare these people as evil, we believe these people are evil, as proven by the steps we'll take to make sure these people pay, guilty or not.

So, why is it so easy for us to classify people, who for the most part, grew up in a hopeless environment void of any kind of love; instead surrounded by hatred and indifference, impoverished, abused, and neglected, fighting for their own survival before they enter school, who end up destroying one or perhaps two lives a evil?

Yet, at the same time, we find it very hard to label men, who grew up nurtured in an environment of love, kindness, fully educated and wanting for nothing, who attain more wealth, power and influence than some nations; nevertheless, they knowingly push their agenda of profit over people, knowing full well it will end up destroying the lives of millions perhaps billions of people around the world?

Instead, we assume, or we like to convince ourselves that these highly educated, worldly-wise, privileged - from the time they entered this world beyond what most of us can imagine - individuals, didn't know better. They didn't know what they were doing.

The reality is that over the last thirty years, culminating in the last decade, the greedy elite players  premeditated a mass-crime, systematically planned and executed to destroy any opportunity for quality of life, and in certain parts of the world, even survival, to obtain even more money and more power for themselves.

In the end, if you believe the survival of humanity trumps the individual's right to line his or her pockets by exploiting the less fortunate, and the planet, than you believe that the actions of the power elite, is evil.

So, where is the accountability? Well, the banksters, corporate elite, and the politicians in their pocket, with the assistance of the mainstream news media, avoid facing the consequences of their actions by placing universal blame, pointing their fingers at everyone, but specifically targeting the defenseless "poor".

"Where all are guilty, no one is; confessions of collective guilt are the best possible safeguard against the discovery of culprits, and the very magnitude of the crime the best excuse for doing nothing."
I guess it's easier to put poor black men, who may or may not be guilty, to death, than go through the trouble of holding the truly evil, accountable. -- Hannah Arendt

Economic growth may one day turn out to be a curse rather than a good, and under no conditions can it either lead into freedom or constitute a proof for its existence. -- Hannah Arendt

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How to Avoid Becoming a Boiled Frog.

After 171 years of doing business, it's safe to say that the company Procter & Gamble (P&G) stands out as a strong survivor, not to mention, "thriver" in the cutthroat world of business. P&G is one of only nine companies from the Fortune 50 from 1955, to remain on that list. The other eight companies - six oil companies, Boeing, General Electric - may partially owe their survival to what's often called the "Military-industrial complex (MIC)", rather than their philosophy, way of doing business, reputation, "out of the box" thinking, and Value-Based Leadership.

According to Bob McDonald, current Chief Operating Officer of P & G, it’s not buildings, employees, brands, technology or product that qualify as the scarcest resource in today's world...it's leadership, because nothing happens without leadership. And by leadership, he means distributed leadership, in other words, leadership that's not designated by a person’s title or position, but an environment that fosters the idea that everyone can be a leader and that the leadership shifts depending upon what the issue or situation is.

McDonald believes discovering your purpose is essential to good leadership and to do that one must examine his values by, in his own words, “getting in touch with my culture, experiences, education, family” and that “leading a life driven by purpose leads to a more meaningful and rewarding life than meandering without direction.”

Once discovered, reassessing those core vales and beliefs by self examination, and focusing on the capabilities that you do not have, are absolutely necessary to thrive and survive in this "volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous world."

In addition, he uses as an example of why some companies don't survive, the parable of the boiling frog, which is basically to remain alert and responsive to gradual changes all around you.

“Character is the most important trait of a leader -- defined as always putting the needs of the organization above your own. The officer eats last. ... If your ambition is for the organization, people will follow you. If you’re a leader whose ambition is all for your self, people will figure that out.”

Robert (Bob) McDonald

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Bringing Ethics to Life Through Film.

The book International Relations on Film by Robert W. Gregg, explores the ways in which feature films depict the various aspects of international relations, considers the utility of the medium as a vehicle to dramatize issues and events, challenge conventional wisdom, rouse an audience to anger and even revise history and includes a very comprehensive movie list.

The Carnegie Council, through their programs, publications, and website,aims to be the world's central address for ethical decision in international affairs. Listed below you can find is the list of films from their website:


OPPRESSION AND CONFLICT, COLONIALISM AND ANTI-COLONIAL MOVEMENTS:

The Battle of Algiers(1966)
Shot in documentary style, this classic about the Algerian struggle for independence from France in the 1950s has become a learning tool both for rebel movements and those fighting them. The film graphically raises issues of what is justified in an assymetrical guerrilla war: Bombs killing innocent civilians? Torture of presumed terrorists?

Gandhi (1982)
This film, winner of eight Academy Awards, covers Ghandi's time in South Africa; the anti-colonial protest campaign that led to India's liberation from Britain; and his assassination after his efforts to restore peace between Hindus and Muslims.

The Home and the World (1984)
The story of a love triangle between a rich, English-educated Bengali, his wife, and a radical nationalist politician,this film dramatizes the political, cultural, and religious differences among Indians under British colonial rule at the turn of the 20th century.

Khartoum (1966)
After a messianic leader and his troops massacred a British-led Egyptian force in Sudan in 1883, the British sent General Gordon to Khartoum to evacuate British and Egyptian citizens. But Gordon disobeyed orders and stayed on to fight. It was his last stand. "A good example of Eurocentrism in filmmaking, as well as a cautionary tale about the perils of imperialism," says Gregg.

The Mission (1986)
In this visually spectacular film, Spanish Jesuits and Portuguese colonizers struggle over a group of Guarani Indians. It tells of clashes between cultures, between faith and greed, a struggle for redemption, and well-meaning efforts that go badly wrong. Of course, the biggest losers are the Guarani.

Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
From about 1870-1970, the Australian government forcibly took many aboriginal and mixed-race children from their parents and brought them to boarding schools where they were taught to forget their past. Rabbit-Proof Fence is based on the true story of three girls who escaped from one such school in 1931 and trekked 1,500 miles home. For an article on this topic, see The Stolen Generation.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)
In 1920s Ireland, two brothers join the IRA, which is fighting a guerrilla war the British. Both sides behave brutally and become brutalized. With the announcement of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922, there is initial rejoicing. But the situation soon turns into a civil war: idealism against pragmatism, brother against brother.

Zulu (1964)
Based on a true story, the film shows the 1879 battle of Rorke's Drift, when around 100 British soldiers stationed at a remote missionary outpost faced an assault from 4-5,000 Zulu warriors. Though seen from the British point of view this is a rousing tale of heroism on both sides, as well as a portrait of individuals, both good and bad, who did the work of imperialism in far-flung parts.

TOTALITARIANISM:

The Lives of Others (2006)
Taking place in East Berlin both pre-and-post the fall of the Berlin Wall, this subtle and gripping film tells the story of a playwright and his actress girlfriend, the Stasi agent assigned to spy on them. It lays bare their secrets, moral choices, and compromises, and the changes they and their society go through.

INSIDE THE WAR ROOM

Why We Fight (Documentary, 2005)
In 1961, Eisenhower warned that the interests of the increasingly powerful "military-industrial complex" might one day determine the direction of U.S. policy. Has that day come to pass?

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
In this classic black comedy, an insane U.S. General launches an unauthorized nuclear attack on the USSR, and the U.S. War Room tries to stop him. The film, says Gregg, "provides a veritable clinic on deterrence theory, the problems of command and control, and that high-wire act known as crisis decisionmaking."

Fail-Safe (1964)
Shot in black-and-white documentary style, this nightmarish film is the story of a fictional Cold War nuclear crisis. Due to a technical failure, U.S. nuclear bomber crews get the wrong orders and both the Americans and the Russians try frantically to abort their mission.

Thirteen Days (2000)
A recreation of the 13 tense days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, from the perspective of President Kennedy, his advisors, and military commanders, Thirteen Days portrays the hawks in the military as nearly as much of a threat as the Soviets.

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (Documentary, 2003)
In a series of interviews, former U.S. Secretary of State McNamara reviews his life, focusing on the difficult decisions he made and the lessons he learned from the failure of the Vietnam war.

COVERT OPERATIONS AND ESPIONAGE:

Breach (2007)
A dramatization of the operation leading to the arrest and prosecution of Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent found guilty in 2001 of spying for the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation, Breach explores one man's motivations for betraying the secrets of his country.

The Good Shepherd (2006)
Following 35 years in the life of a character who joins the CIA at its founding after World War II and becomes a star counter-intelligence agent, The Good Shepherd presents an unromantic picture of a career in espionage.

Missing (1982)
After the kidnapping of U.S. journalist Charles Horman during the 1973 coup in Chile, his wife and father embarked on a desperate search for him. Along the way they discovered evidence suggesting the involvement of the CIA in the coup as well as in Horman's disappearance. Based on a true story, this film urges viewers to consider the dark side of U.S. covert operations abroad.

State of Siege (1973)
In 1970 a USAID official in Uruguay was kidnapped and executed by leftist guerillas. Shortly after his death it was reported that the official had been secretly involved in training the military and police in counterinsurgency tactics, including torture. State of Siege, based loosely on this episode, sympathizes with the guerillas' actions.

Three Days of the Condor (1975)
A thriller about a CIA agent who learns of a secret CIA plot to infiltrate and destabilize the Middle East and who becomes a target as a result, this film illustrates the dangerous consequences, globally and domestically, of corruption in the CIA.

GENOCIDE

Au Revoir les Enfants (1987)
Tragic, autobiographical film about two French boys in a Catholic boarding school during WWII. One of them is secretly Jewish, being hidden by the priests from the Nazis. The film raises issues of courage, greed, and betrayal.

The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
This film is an adaptation of a play based on the diary of Anne Frank, a 13-year-old Jewish girl who, with her family and others, hides in a crowded attic during the Nazi occupation of Holland. The DVD includes interviews with the actors, historians, and members of the Frank family. Best to read the diary itself (The Diary of a Young Girl) but the film is powerful too.

Ghosts of Rwanda (Documentary, 2004)
This tells the story of the genocide through interviews with UN peacekeepers and other Westerners who were there at the time; Tutsi survivors of the slaughter; confessed Hutu killers; and high-level government officials and diplomats, including Madeleine Albright and Kofi Annan.

The Killing Fields (1984)
The true story of reporter Sidney Schanberg, and his colleague and friend, Cambodian journalist Dith Pran. Like most westerners, Schanberg fled Cambodia after the murderous Khmer Rouge regime seized power in 1975, but Pran could not. For the next four years, Pran labored in rice paddies as the genocide unfolded around him. He finally escaped and reunited with Schanberg.

Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Based on the true story of a Rwandan hotel manager who saved the lives of over 1,200 refugees during the 1993 genocide, this film points blame at the international community and the UN for doing almost nothing to intervene.

Triumph of the Will (1934)
Probably the most famous propaganda movie ever made, this film documents the Nazi Party Congress and in Nuremberg in 1934. Hitler commissioned it and plays a starring role.

THE EXPERIENCE OF WAR

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
A moving adaptation of Remarque's antiwar novel that follows a group of young German recruits from idealism to disillusionment in the trenches of World War I.

Apocalypse Now (1979) and(1986)as the two best movies about the Vietnam War (or the American War, as the Vietnamese call it). Based loosely on Heart of Darkness, it follows a U.S. Army captain on a mission to kill a rogue Green Beret colonel, Kurtz, who has deserted the military to lead a band of Cambodian tribesmen in the jungle. The film suggests that there is little difference between Kurtz's murderous escapades and the American soldiers' killing of Vietnamese peasants.

Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima ( 2006)
These companion films recreate the famous World War II battle on the island of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Americans (Flags of Our Fathers) and then the Japanese (Letters), who, though vastly outnumbered by American forces, fought for nearly 40 days to defend the island.

Casualties of War (1989)
The story of a five-man patrol in Vietnam that kidnaps and eventually kills a young girl and the one soldier in the group who refuses to participate, Casualties of War, based on an actual event, depicts war as a destroyer of men’s morals.

Gallipoli (1981)
Almost an entire Australian army unit was wiped out by Turkish machine gunners in a futile offensive later known as the Battle of the Nek, which took place during the Gallipoli campaign of World War I. Gallipoli tells the story of two young Australian friends who enlist in the army and wind up fighting side by side in this tragic battle.

Grand Illusion (1938)
In this story of French prisoners of war held by the Germans during WWI, we see friendships by social class that cut across national lines, and a call for humanism rather than patriotism. An anti-war classic, without a single battle scene.

Platoon (1986)
Told from the point of view of a middle-class college student who volunteers to fight in the Vietnam War and whose idealism about the war vanishes, Platoon realistically portrays the chaos and confusion that American soldiers faced in the jungles of Vietnam.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
In Burma in WWII, British prisoners of war are forced to build a railway bridge for the Japanese. "With an all-male lead cast, themes of heroism, pride, military tradition, hierarchy, and power are masterfully interwoven into a plot that is ambiguous enough to allow for various viewpoints and perspectives," says reviewer Tom Dirk.

MILITARY JUSTICE

Breaker Morant (1979)
In 1902, near the end of the Boer War, "Breaker" Morant and two other Australian soldiers were tried before a British court-martial for killing Boer prisoners of war. They were found guilty, even though their commanders had authorized to carry out such killings. The film raises questions about the accountability of soldiers for their conduct in war and the independence of military courts.

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Based on the Judges' Trial before the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunal in 1947, which charged judges under the Nazi regime with war crimes, this film with Spencer Tracy, Marlene Dietrich and a host of other stars raises the question of whether judges and other officials who carry out morally repugnant laws should be held accountable.

Paths of Glory (1957)
Loosely based on the true story of four French soldiers during World War I who were wrongly found guilty of mutiny and executed, Paths of Glory shows the terrible consequences of unprincipled military leadership, both on the battlefield and in the military courts.

The Execution of Private Slovik (1974)- The story of Eddie Slovik, who was executed by the Army in 1945, the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the Civil War.

NATIONALISM, ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS CONFLICT

Before the Rain (1994)
Set primarily in Macedonia during the Balkan wars of the 1990s, Before the Rain tells the story of intersecting lives devasted by the escalating violence between Muslims and Christians in Macedonia, where an all-out war fueled by religious and ethnic hatred appeared to be on the horizon.

Bloody Sunday (2002)
Docudrama of the events of January 30, 1972, when the British Army opened fire on unarmed civilians taking part in a civil rights march in Northern Ireland. None of the soldiers was disciplined, and the massacre caused the "Troubles" to swell to a new level of violence.

Cal (1984)
Set amidst the violence and bitterness of 1980s Northern Ireland, this is the doomed love story of Cal, a young Irish Catholic involved with the IRA, and Marcella an Irish-Italian (Catholic) widow whose Protestant husband was killed by the IRA.

SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
BUSINESS ETHICS

Blood Diamond (2006)
Set in Sierra Leone in 1999 in the midst of a civil war, Blood Diamond draws attention to the responsibility of citizens and businesses in the developed world to ensure that the diamonds they buy have not been used to fund conflicts abroad. It also highlights the plight of child soldiers.

The Constant Gardener (2005)
When a British diplomat stationed in Nairobi investigates his activist wife's murder—supposedly a crime of passion—he uncovers an unsavory conspiracy involving government officials and the pharmaceutical industry. Based on a book by John le Carré, who wrote in the afterword, "By comparison with the reality, my story [is] as tame as a holiday postcard."

The Corporation (2003)
What if corporations were human beings? According to a pyschiatrist in this documentary tracing the history and activities of corporations, they have ''all the characteristics of a prototypical psychopath.''

Rogue Trader (1999)
The true story of Nick Leeson, a Barings Bank trader, who unbeknownst to his employers, was gambling with company money. His staggering losses force Barings into bankruptcy.

Syriana (2005)
Set in the Middle East and inspired by the true story of former CIA agent Robert Baer, this is a political thriller with multiple story lines about the machinations of the global oil industry.

Wall Street (1987)
"Greed is good", says ruthless Wall Street corporate raider Gordon Gecko, in this morality tale of 1980s excess.

ACROSS BORDERS

Clandestins (1997)
This tragic story of six refugees from different countries trying to get to from France to Canada is set almost totally within the confines of a ship's cargo container.

El Norte (1983)
A Guatemalan brother and sister risk death to become illegal immigrants in "El Norte," the United States, but their dreams of a better life do not come true.

Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
Two illegal immigrants in London plumb the depths of the migrant experience, including uncovering the ultimate in exploitation, a ghastly trade in human organs.

Maria Full of Grace (2004)
Maria is 17, pregnant, and the sole breadwinner for her family in a small Columbian village. When loses her job over a request for a bathroom break she becomes a drug mule, flying to New York with 62 pellets of cocaine in her stomach. But once in New York, things go badly wrong. "Based on 1000 true stories," runs the film's tagline.

THE ENVIRONMENT
(These films could equally be classified under Business Ethics.)

An Inconvenient Truth (Documentary, 2006)
Al Gore explains the science of global warming, describes its present-day effects, and forecasts what the future may hold in store. We can reverse this trend, he declares, but we are running out of time.

The China Syndrome (1979)
This fictional thiller about a reporter and cameraman who discover safety coverups at a U.S. nuclear power plant was released just 12 days before the Three-Mile Island nuclear power plant suffered a partial melt-down.

A Civil Action (1998)
Based on a real-life case, a lawyer agrees to represent eight families whose children died from leukemia after two large corporations leaked toxic chemicals into the water supply of Woburn, Massachusetts, even though the case could mean financial and professional suicide for him.

Erin Brockovich (2000)
The true story of Brockovich, a legal clerk who brings a case against a company in California which had contaminated local drinking water.

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Is It Possible to Build a Fortune and Keep Your Soul?

Publisher, mogul Felix Dennis, founder of Dennis Publishing Ltd. who publishes Maxim Magazine as well as nineteen other publications, and author of How to Get Rich, amassed a fortune, estimated at around $1 billion. Mr. Dennis claims one must be ruthless and that the "sliver of ice" present in all of us must surface and expand in order to become super-wealthy, filthy-rich or insanely affluent...well, you get the point.

Mr. Dennis asserts that the pie is finite. If a person wants to join the very few whose single portion is larger than half the population's portion combined, he or she must hog his piece of the pie at the expense of many...it's common sense. In other words, "Don't be evil" is more than naive when you choose to join the ranks of those who rule the world.

As I was listening to Tom Ashbrook, host of On Point, interview Mr. Dennis about his book, Mr. Dennis made it abundantly clear that he was not talking about successful, or well-off, or even rich people...in fact, he considers millionaires poor. That should give you an idea of the scale of wealth he is targeting.

Then, along comes Ms. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, an Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at Harvard, and author of more than seventeen books, and who I'm sure is brilliant. She totally dismissed what Mr. Dennis has to say without attempting to understand his point. I think after she heard drugs and whores, everything else Mr. Dennis had to say went in one ear and out the other. Immediately, after calling him a pig, she defended Bill Gates, the Google boys and others, claiming they had stable families, stable lives and remained drug/whore free. In addition, she didn't seem to grasp Mr. Dennis was referring only to those who have amassed a huge fortune. Tom Ashbrook, who is one of my favorites, didn't seem to get it either.

What is there to get? Aside from the fact that Mr. Dennis repeatedly made it clear he was only referring to the infinitesimally small percentage at the top of the "food chain" and that people (a woman who called into the show who did seem to comprehend) who were trying to accumulate wealth to take care of their disabled children's future - who own one house with a mortgage, and that even though they can afford two nannies, this sector of the population are not the focus of Mr. Dennis' book.

Even more importantly, both Mr. Ashbrook and Professor Kanter seemed to focus only on ruthless behavior that blatantly manifests itself as addiction to sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Never mind, the "invisible" brutal, cutthroat decisions individuals en route to King Midas status must make fairly often. You know, those decisions that might result in the destruction, and possibly the death of thousands here and around the globe; those decisions that compromise the integrity of our Constitution; those decisions that might contribute to the collapse of our financial system...little things like that.

It is impossible to profit on the scale Mr. Dennis is talking about without first, activating that "sliver of ice" he mentioned, so that ice water can mingle and flow freely through the veins of those driven toward that goal. Relatively speaking, the Google boys and Bill Gates may appear to be teddy bears in comparison with the robber barons of previous centuries, however it's very difficult to measure the "ruthlessness" of the hyper elite today versus a time when the people's sense of morality was limited by ignorance; the level of technology only slightly more advanced than Bedrock; and a decent education, rare.

Let's forget the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll; the decisions that lead to atrocity and annihilation. Isn't the act of acquiring the level of excess wealth Mr. Dennis refers too, a little ruthless in and of itself, considering the number of people suffering from the lack of basic necessities? Remember, Mr. Dennis is not questioning the value of people like Bill Gates and the Google boys to society, as they have literally transformed and revolutionized our world in ways we could only imagine a few years ago. They may be worth every penny, however, a certain degree of an individual's humanity must be sacrificed in the process. I believe that's all Mr. Dennis was trying to say and I admire him for having the courage to illuminate the pitfalls and unsavory aspects of creating immense wealth.

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"Liberty and Equal Justice for For Wealthy, Powerful, Law School Grads"

"We build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures. But, we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens by our efforts; we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state." -- Chesterfield Smith

Could anyone guess the above quotation describes the law profession if they didn't already know? I doubt it.

The legal profession is supposed to "guarantees liberty and equal justice for all" however the tremendous imbalance of power between consumers and lawyers leave the majority of "we the people" at the mercy of lawyers and in need of a second lawyer to protect the consumer from his lawyer and a third...well, you get my point.

Liberated from the workings of the free market the courts are far from consumer friendly and they are designed so that the weakest consumer, with the least amount of financial power or status, are in the weakest position and many times end up victims of our "system of justice". The monopoly lawyers have over our courts, make it impossible for the average person to pursue justice without paying astronomical hourly fees.

The good attorneys, who really want to right wrongs, and place ethics above profit will find it hard to hang in, as greed, which trumped ethics long ago, continues to spread like a fungus throughout the profession we are forced to depend upon to "protect" our rights. Just as fungus, given the right conditions, feeds on organic matter in order to reproduce itself, the legal industry, regulated by their own tribunal and lacking independent oversight, provides the perfect climate for avarice and self-interest to feed on our system of justice, as it is composed of almost nothing but lawyers. This sad state of affairs makes those lawyers who stay true to their ethical duty and professional obligation invaluable or at least worth the hourly rate.

A few posts ago I brought up a friend who is going through a bitter divorce in relation to our welfare laws. Regarding that same case I'm also learning what a racket the legal industry is. This woman who struggled along with her husband to achieve the "American Dream" and raise their three children for almost two decades is a perfect example of someone who, through no choice of her own, was thrown into this lion's den of "justice". One day, her husband, thoroughly convinced of Ayn Rand's genius, after listening to a follower of Objectivism, spout on and on about Rand's selfish philosophy, and although he never read a single sentence she wrote, he decided it was time to live only for himself. He hired an attorney, withdrew his 401K and filed for divorce before she or the children even knew what hit them. Overnight, she plunged from a "soccer mom" standard of living to being trapped in a home with her children, unable to pay the bills, let alone an attorney who charges $300/hour.

Unless she has a rich friend who wants to open his bank account to her, there is not much she can do as she is not entitled to an attorney by law. If you are accused in a criminal case and run the risk of serving time, whether it be ten days or ten years, you have the right to an attorney. Losing your children, your home, your life savings, job etc. does not warrant representation...in other words, there is no right to counsel in a civil case, no matter how disastrous the outcome of the case could be to your life.

Legal does not always mean ethical or that something is right as we have learned over and over again throughout history. The law can be so complicated in and of itself, not to mention the legalese it's written in and spoken, making it impossible to comprehend that common folk don't stand a chance against someone who can afford an attorney. Attorneys and judges can interpret the law in so many different directions it could make a seasoned attorney's head spin let alone someone who barely graduated high school.

These immense gray areas in the way laws are written already allow lawyers and judges to evade ethics and morality for the sake of their client, however when lawyers take that a few steps further and circumvent the law, not for the sake of their client, but for greed, self-interest and cronyism, the law becomes meaningless. Lawyers focus so much on the technicalities of the law, that right and wrong, fair and unfair, many times do not factor in the decisions they make.

For example - in another case I learned about through the case I'm currently observing - a divorce lawyer, knowing that the lack of alimony in his client's case would make her destitute, nevertheless, told the woman the only way he would continue to represent her was if she would agree not to ask for any alimony. This woman, knowing she didn't have a leg to stand on as she had no more money and the attorney fees she already owed were coming out of her portion of the house when it sold, agreed.

Not only did every single penny earned from the sale of her assets go to her lawyer, her wealthy husband earned back any attorney fees he had to pay quickly, continued to receive pay increases, continued to build up his retirement, including 401K match and overall continued to prosper. The woman and her children received very little child support because her ex husband, holding an executive position in his company, was able to hide his true income from the court, knowing his wife did not have the attorney power to investigate, and therefore his child support was calculated on what he chose to submit to the court. This woman, only making minimum wage, ended up in public housing on food stamps, with all her earnings going to pay for her health insurance.

When a prospective client whose legal claim to $600 meant impoverishing a widow and her six children, Abraham Lincoln said, refusing to take the case,

"Some things that are right legally are not right morally, I advise a sprightly, energetic man like you to try your hand at making six hundred dollars in some other way."

“Equal Justice Under Law” sits above the doors of the Supreme Court, however it should read "Equal Justice For Those Who Can Afford to Pay Outrageous Attorney Fees, are Well-Versed in the Law and Powerful Enough to Make Their Lawyer Truly Represent Them" That may sound a bit awkward and wordy but it comes much closer to the truth than the few words that currently welcome people into the Supreme Court.

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Removing Organs Before the Patient is Dead?

Call me stingy, but I know I want to be dead as a doornail before they remove anything from me. I don't want doctors with scalpels in hand, hovering over my not-quite-dead-yet body anxiously waiting for the first sign of lifelessness to slice and dice me, only to prove how wonderful they are by saving someone else's life.

Some doctors and bioethicists, however, say the practice raises the disturbing specter of transplant surgeons preying on dying patients for their organs, possibly pressuring doctors and families to discontinue treatment, adversely affecting donors' care in their final days and even hastening their deaths.

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