According to Michelle Chabin of Religious News Services, in her recent article for Huffington Post: "Passengers carrying any non-Islamic article of faith (emphasis mine), will not be able to fly code-share flights from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia under Delta Air Line's new partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines that is set to begin in 2012."
It's time to boycott Delta Airlines. (It's time to lead planeloads of women to Saudi Arabia in protest but that's another post.)
This is what happens when American corporations do business with Saudi Arabia - or really, any other nation that doesn't share what we publicly call our "values." Delta just exposed Saudi Arabia as the misogynistic, narrow-minded, backward-looking "state" that it is. And this is how low (and how far) our corporations will go to make money. This is why the power of corporations should be limited. They exist solely to make money. The bottom line is that the decision to enter into the partnership with the Saudi airline that necessitated such concessions on Delta's side was money. Do you suppose anyone who signed that agreement really cared what the Saudis might stipulate, as long as the price was right?
There are many forms of tyranny. The Founding Fathers - bless their 18th century minds - understood two: tyranny from above and tyranny from below. What they didn't understand was the tyranny of greed which has become manifested in the behavior of corporations.
The power structure of a corporation - which evolved out of the Rennaissance and is pre-democratic in origin - is essentially feudal. The motivation of a corporation - one could argue its primary existence - is fundamentally the desire to make more money, or, more simply - greed. Those at the top answer ultimately not to the "values" of their shareholders, but their corporation's bottom line.
We have thrown off our kings and we have a political process. It's time to recognize the new kind of tyranny which has reared its ugly head - and end it. Now.
Note: This blog was originally submitted to Viewshound to be published as an article, and was rejected as being too inflammatory.
It's time to boycott Delta Airlines. (It's time to lead planeloads of women to Saudi Arabia in protest but that's another post.)
This is what happens when American corporations do business with Saudi Arabia - or really, any other nation that doesn't share what we publicly call our "values." Delta just exposed Saudi Arabia as the misogynistic, narrow-minded, backward-looking "state" that it is. And this is how low (and how far) our corporations will go to make money. This is why the power of corporations should be limited. They exist solely to make money. The bottom line is that the decision to enter into the partnership with the Saudi airline that necessitated such concessions on Delta's side was money. Do you suppose anyone who signed that agreement really cared what the Saudis might stipulate, as long as the price was right?
There are many forms of tyranny. The Founding Fathers - bless their 18th century minds - understood two: tyranny from above and tyranny from below. What they didn't understand was the tyranny of greed which has become manifested in the behavior of corporations.
The power structure of a corporation - which evolved out of the Rennaissance and is pre-democratic in origin - is essentially feudal. The motivation of a corporation - one could argue its primary existence - is fundamentally the desire to make more money, or, more simply - greed. Those at the top answer ultimately not to the "values" of their shareholders, but their corporation's bottom line.
We have thrown off our kings and we have a political process. It's time to recognize the new kind of tyranny which has reared its ugly head - and end it. Now.
Note: This blog was originally submitted to Viewshound to be published as an article, and was rejected as being too inflammatory.
3 comments:
The power of the dollar - and where does it get them or anyone really? And this subject is too hot for newshound? Don't want to upset the Saudis.
Don't have to ask me twice, I'm already boycotting Delta for charging Military personnel for their baggage-- bags they are required to carry for deployments! And yes, the govt will eventually reimburse those troops, but it still comes out of their pockets while they are just trying to get to or from Hell. BOO DELTA!
No arguments here.
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