The Supreme Court decision

[gwillen]

For those on my flist, if any, who support the Court's decision in /Citizens United v. FEC/, I would be interested to know your answers to the following questions:

Is a toaster a person?

Is a corporation a person?

Can you explain the difference?

What would it mean for a toaster to have a right to free speech?

What does it mean, precisely, for a corporation to have a right to free speech? This is not the same as the free speech rights enjoyed by any of the people involved as individuals -- this, as ruled by the court, is a separate right, belonging to the corporation as an entity in and of itself, completely independent of the rights of any of the individuals involved.

Can you explain the difference?

ETA: Justice Rehnquist's dissent in /First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti/
makes for excellent reading on the subject.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

free market economic activity in an environment (mostly) free of deception, with enforceable contract law, will inevitably create net wealth with almost every single transaction. (If I go to a store and buy a loaf of bread, both I and the store’s owner are now ‘wealthier’, in the sense that we each gave up something that we valued less than the thing we received.)

I agree with this, as stated. But I think this "free of deception" part is significant and not representative of the behavior of modern corporations. I think many of the biggest corporations today are smarter than the average consumer, and will exploit predictably irrational (http://www.predictablyirrational.com/?page_id=6) consumer behaviors to generate revenue without necessarily benefitting the consumer.

I may be biased due to the fact that I work in the same industry as Farm (http://www.bri-lance.net/2009/farmvilles-5-psychological-hooks/)-"fucking"-ville (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/06/zynga-scamville-mark-pinkus-faceboo/), and furthermore, am watching my own coworkers in a tiny startup company adopting the same "viral" strategies as Zynga because it is apparently the most profitable thing to do and if you don't keep up you'll be left in the dust... Shit, this entry is public, I had better post this anonymously. I'd rather insult my coworkers to their face than through the grapevine. (Also I do not claim to be innocent, money is a powerful motivator, as is the feeling of obligation to the company.)

[(Anonymous)]

I guess anonymous users can't post links. Sorry for the crappy formatting.