Ethics of Luigi
Ethics of Luigi
I'm wondering about the Luigi line.
Post Trump, it seems as if there is no justice for the rich besides vigilante justice.
Would any of the below qualify for a Luigi? Where is the line? I find the cognitive ethical dissonance of Luigi disconcerting.
The following list is very dark, and super cynical - I apologize in advance.
A pharma company has found a cure for cancer, but suppresses it to make money on treatment. Causing innumerable deaths.
A pharma company has found a cure for Alzheimer's - but suppresses it. Causing suffering.
A pharma company knows a drug treatment is ineffective for some major illness, but pushes it anyway, suppressing other research. Causing suffering.
A pharma company pushes a drug known to cause massive dependence, with insignificant benefit. Causing suffering.
A car company knows an airbag is defective, and does not fix it. Causing thousands of deaths.
An airplane manufacturer creates an airplane with faulty construction, knowingly, and thousands die.
A manufacturing company pollutes a town's water, causing birth defects, general sickness.
This list could go on forever of course. But where is the line post Luigi, post Trump non-trial. What makes one CEO at risk, and another not?
Luigi isn't a solution, but a natural conclusion to the heightening contradictions of capitalism. Homelessness rose 18% this year in a country with something like 20x that amount in empty homes.
The only way out is class conscious collective action, and I hope this event at least opened some eyes on that front.
Nothing has changed since pre-Trump in regards to the rich and powerful getting away with killing us through very cool legal means.
All of those examples should have been shot already if they’re not going to be legally dealt with in an appropriate manner.
The end line is when you have a system that stops these scenarios from existing in the first place. Ideally this would be the states role, but it’s corrupted so this leaves it up to individuals to act.
There is no line. They want to play God. They think they deserve it. They think they are doing everyone a favor. Its your own fault if you forget you are mortal. Its your own fault if you subjugate and oppress countless people. They carved this place out for themselves. No one made them do it. They know what seeds they plant.
Buddy… I’ve got some bad news for you… almost none of these scenarios are hypothetical. They have already happened. In case you aren’t aware…
A pharma company has found a cure for cancer, but suppresses it to make money on treatment. Causing innumerable deaths.
I don’t know about a “cure” for cancer, but pre-Obamacare, depending on your luck with maintaining health insurance payments, you could be denied coverage altogether… and with Trump saying they’re going to get rid of Obamacare this time around (no McCain to save it this time), this probably will start happening again.
A pharma company has found a cure for Alzheimer's - but suppresses it. Causing suffering.
Unless there’s a profit motive, they wouldn’t suppress it… they’d just make it so it was really expensive, or drawn out over a long time… otherwise see above.
A pharma company knows a drug treatment is ineffective for some major illness, but pushes it anyway, suppressing other research. Causing suffering.
See the set of podcast episodes of Behind the Bastards covering the “Vioxx” drug scandal - which likely killed more Americans than the entire Vietnam War.
A pharma company pushes a drug known to cause massive dependence, with insignificant benefit. Causing suffering.
See above.
A car company knows an airbag is defective, and does not fix it. Causing thousands of deaths.
An airplane manufacturer creates an airplane with faulty construction, knowingly, and thousands die.
A manufacturing company pollutes a town's water, causing birth defects, general sickness.
Literally the plot of Erin Brockovich, which itself was about the real life events caused by a chemical company dumping shit nearby… also Dark Waters.
They already do almost ALL OF THIS.
Technically those are all luigi-applicable
Did your profit come at the cost of human lives that didn't need to be lost? Is there little to no chance the legal system will evenly apply justice? Then Luigi is the only option.
The real question is how long does Luigi apply? Coca Cola was hiring assassins in the 90s, Michelin is probably why Vietnam happened, Chiquita executed laborers in the late 20's, and Pinkerton was happily slaughtering striking workers about a century ago.
This is a sign that our (in the anglosphere) laws are broken: vigilante justice shouldn't feel necessary. But because executives, shareholders, and employees are literally getting away with murder, it feels appropriate.
A car company knows an airbag is defective, and does not fix it. Causing thousands of deaths.
this is basically the subplot to fight club
This is basically the history of the Ford Pinto.
The Pinto is so, so much worse.
The scene in Fight Club is about a defect discovered post-purchase. They apply a formula to determine whether to issue a recall to fix said defect, or simply pay out settlements to the victims. It's probably a reference to the Pinto, but it's been replicated in countless other cases.
For the Pinto, Ford knew about the defect for years. In fact, the infamous design failure was a US-exclusive for years, because other countries passed legislation to ban it. And by the time the US did the same, Ford just switched in the design they had already been using elsewhere.
Ford fully knew about the defect, and continued to produce it for as long as they could.
All of those people suck and I wouldn't be mad if they were shot dead
It gets trickier when there's multiple viable options. Like "save a child or save two adults" kind of stuff. Most of what people are mad about isn't that. It's just the rich trying to make even more money.
I don't condone murder of anyone, so there is no Luigi line for me. I can certainly understand why it happened and empathize, but would not support more.
That being said, the latter 4 items are worthy of executives going to jail. The first 3 don't cause suffering as you stated, just prolong it.
The only time they go to jail is when they fuck with other rich peoples money. Luigi applies.