Corporate Philanthropy-Misanthropy Ratio Holding Steady
Mark Graffis
From: Jay Hanson <j...@QMAIL.COM>
To: GRAF...@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: [GRAFFIS-L] Corporate Philanthropy-Misanthropy Ratio Holding Steady
http://www.theonion.com/onion3415/corporate_philanthropy.html
Corporate Philanthropy-Misanthropy Ratio Holding Steady
11 November 1998
Above: ITX Petroleum officials present a donation to arts
programs for youths. Below: ITX Petroleum officials bury
drums of toxic runoff.
WASHINGTON, DC--The National Corporate Philanthropy-Misanthropy
Ratio held steady at 1:770 in the third fiscal quarter of 1998, the
U.S. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday.
According to the department's latest quarterly report, for every
scholarship program, literacy drive, art exhibition or
tree-planting project sponsored by U.S. corporations between July
and September 1998, there were 770 acts of covert pollution,
foreign-labor exploitation, worker-safety violations and
profit-driven downsizing.
Though corporate America doubled its conspicuous good works during
the third quarter of 1998, the increase was offset by a concurrent
doubling of unethical and illegal acts, leaving the overall
philanthropy-misanthropy ratio unchanged.
The Commerce Department report cited the example of Dallas-based
oil-refining giant ITX Petroleum, which in October raised $50,000
for the United Negro College Fund with a $400-a-plate charity ball.
That same month, oil spills from unsound ITX offshore wells
contaminated hundreds of miles of Gulf of Mexico coastline, killing
millions of sea-dwelling creatures and putting hundreds of
fishermen out of work.
"The men from the American company gave everyone in my village free
measles vaccinations when the camera crews were here two summers
ago," Mexican laborer Jorge Sanchez said. "On the other hand, their
pipeline burst last week, burning thousands of villagers alive in
a lake of flaming oil."
Though it has fluctuated over the years, the National Corporate
Philanthropy-Misanthropy Ratio has not dipped below the 1:600 mark
since the 1930s, when automobile tycoon Henry Ford established the
Ford Foundation, his art- and education-funding organization.
During those same years, the Ford Motor Company was profiting from
trade with Nazi Germany chemical giant and Zyklon-B poison-gas
manufacturer I.G. Farben, and publishing anti-Semitic editorials
in The Dearborn Independent .
The Corporate Philanthropy-Misanthropy Ratio was established by
the Commerce Department in 1914. The ratio hit an early peak of
1:300 in 1920, when Standard Oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller began
making a public show of distributing dimes to children while
ruthlessly crushing his competitors, often through violent means.
In the decades since, corporate philanthropy has steadily grown,
today encompassing everything from funding AIDS research
organizations to underwriting PBS' Mystery! That growth, however,
has been accompanied by an even greater rise in misanthropy, as the
corporate elite continues to consolidate its power base and operate
under fewer and fewer constraints, abusing its power whenever
profit motive dictates.
"I never miss the Environmental Media Awards," said NBC executive
Carl Unger, arriving at the annual gala awards ceremony honoring
excellence in positive media portrayals of environmental issues.
"The pomp, the glamour, the celebrities--it's a fabulous night of
black-tie opulence that can be enjoyed without guilt." NBC's parent
company, General Electric, continues to manufacture thermonuclear
weapons components, producing profits at a staggering rate.
According to Wharton Business School professor Milton Scheidt, one
publicly donated charity dollar is the equivalent of 100,000
privately hoarded ones. "By keeping a limited number of these
'inflated' charity dollars in circulation at all times," Scheidt
said, "corporations can generate sympathy and public-perception
'breathing room' for misanthropic expansion in the future."
"By tossing the occasional crumb to a worthy cause, I'm able to
feel much better about the rest of my vast fortunes," Consolidated
Chemicals CEO Patrick Farnsworth said. "The best part is, I don't
actually have to give away all that much. Where charity is
concerned, a little goes a long way."
Jay
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