is that shocking? but let's break it down a little. yes, McDonald's, due to its less-than-stellar corporate social responsibility (especially pre-McLibel) would not ensure that the beef it uses does not come from ranches which eat into the Amazon, hence each hamburger eaten (which figures into their projected hamburger sales for next year) [in]directly contributes to deforestation, destruction of carbon sinks, and increased greenhouse gases - ergo global warming. yes, McDonald's advertises to prepubescent gullible toddlers and hires teenagers who do not qualify for minimum wage rights - ergo child exploitation.
but we can break it down even further. it's pretty probably that not ALL McDonald's franchisees indulge in such corporate evils - there are store managers who go beyond their own prescribed standards out of personal conscience. still, the argument goes that as an entity with a certain unity at the highest levels of management, with a profit-based ethos squared solely on scientific efficiency, and accorded with certain superhuman legal privileges as a multinational non-human corporation, these minority managers would not likely ever buck the trend.
yet, there's still more to break down. as a consumer, it can't be my responsibility to prod a multinational into producing a conscience and acting accordingly! even if said entity is rather immune to traditional national regulatory bodies or even certain regional organisations. what can my eating one less hamburger do?
the truth is, it's rather simple. you are either with McDonald's or you're not. if you eat there, you're enriching them. no matter how small a margin the S$6 meal enriches them, you have quite simply shown your support. this is very very falsifiable: if you don't support McDonald's, you simply won't eat there. and btw, it's not the paltry S$6 that enriches them (much) - it's your abject apathy and/or nonchalant ignorance. consumers beget consumption: you either habitually continue in your buying patterns (often without much thinking) or you're likely to influence others to join in (e.g. eating with friends). your S$6 has a multiplier effect in a very real sense.
but then again... you might not know that McDonald's is such an enterprise. doesn't that absolve you? how can it be your fault if you didn't know... and certainly didn't do anything on purpose? i have a few other examples:
- A toddler touches a hot kettle and get scalded. Is the negligent mother at fault?
- An adolescent gets drafted into a gang while playing truant. Is the school at fault?
- A heartlander buys $1 tissue paper from a disabled man who was actually enslaved by an exploitative syndicate. Is the buyer at fault?
- A Sunday Catholic receives communion every week despite not having gone for confession in years; but she does not know she needs to receive communion in a state of grace. Is she committing double the sin? Is her parish priest at fault?
- An uneducated hobo voted for George W. Bush because they share the same first name. Is he at fault for Dubya's mistakes? Is the minister for education at fault?
let me expand this further.
sometimes certain parties are responsible while others are not.
sometimes some parties are more responsible than others, but all are responsible in part.
sometimes many are responsible but only a few are culpable.
sometimes few are responsible but many are complicit.
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
usually the parties who are responsible do not want to be responsible.
usually those who are more responsible blame those who are less responsible, and those who are less responsible claim they are not responsible
usually the many who are responsible absolve themselves by hanging the culpable.
usually the few who are responsible cause disproportionate harm to the complicit, who have no idea that they themselves had contributed to their own suffering.
there is only so much time for us to remain in denial. at some point the self-destruction would become too obvious to deny. by then it's probably too late.
i'm facing it. it IS my fault.
