The Observer, September 7, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 2
Political Connection: Support local businesses, not conscienceless corporations
Being the critical-thinking, coffee-drinking student/consumer that you are, you've surely come up against that awful struggle. You know, where Starbucks is right across the street, but Algebra Tea House, a local business, is just down Murray Hill Road. You should support local businesses, should you not? But as you reach into your pocket and, with a frown, pull out only a rubber band and ballpoint pen, you realize you'll have to resort to that last bit of CaseCash left after you bought books. You start to ponder, "Why do I care if the business is local anyway?"
Many of the loudest among us are against corporations, yet very few have a clear idea of why that should be. It seems relatively intuitive to dislike them: they're big and they bully smaller businesses. Of course, it's a shame for anybody to lose their money, and failing businesses can be particularly tragic for those affected, but capitalism is about competition and people start businesses with the knowledge of risk.
There is a reason why corporate goods and services feel slightly different from those of local businesses. I hypothesize that it is due to the fact that while individual humans have conscience and morality in abundance, it is not a characteristic of typical corporate behavior. Individually, neurotransmitters and various sections of our cortical and subcortical brain are responsible for morality, particularly the cingulate cortex, which also processes each person's self-image and makes value judgments.
Many will raise their hands in protest and say, "What about Google?" But in these relatively rare instances, it is usually due to the efforts of one proactive person, or a few people, or a PR scheme. There are times when a corporation acts unselfishly, but it's the major exception. The base tendency of a corporation is toward its algorithmic, profit-making function.
Being moral is an important part of who we are. For a company, however, morality is an inconvenient afterthought. The goal of a company is to maximize returns, and due to a lack of conscience, this is often at the expense of employees, consumers, the earth, or any other being that gets in its way. Keep this thought in the back of your mind next time you're about to step into that Wal-Mart.
David Noll, a senior cognitive science major, is a first-time writer for The Observer.
