In my paper I claim that companies only do things for profit:
Corporations exist to create a profit one way or another. A great way to maximize profits is to find an area of popular confusion and sell to both sides. Corporations exist in a grey area of right and wrong, good and bad. If it is profitable it is good, if it is costly it is bad. For instance companies like Standard Oil allowed millions of gallons of oil to leak from their facilities in the late 19th and early 20th century, and lacking public concern they profited handsomely from their sloppiness. That degradation was seen as a corporate good. Fast forward to today, companies spend millions preventing even the smallest of leaks. Changing attitudes have led to regulations, which have made such wastes unprofitable, and therefore bad to corporations.
The truth is it is all a matter of where you look. While there are some corporations whose actions could be considered dangerous and potentially psychotic, there are also several who work to make the world a better place. I recently did a research project for another class where I encountered one such company, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California. In the last thirty years Sierra Nevada has grown to be the second largest craft brewery in the U.S. They did this focusing on making every aspect of their operation the best it can be. As a result over half their main facility's power is generated through on site solar and fuel cells. These efforts at sustainability are revolutionary and forward thinking, but few efforts are immediately profitable. The best companies in the world don't put energy into projects in order to make a quick profit for their company, they put energy into projects because they are good for their society in the long term. In my research paper I was very one sided in how I presented capitalism in the United States.
If I am gonna attempt to poke holes in my paper, a great section to analyze is:
The truth as it is felt rather than know along with countless contemporary cultural influences forge how parents form opinions in our current culture. Popular medicine is based on one part culture and on one part education. While there is no such thing as an average American, the government census illustrates how broad opinions are formed. Where there are broad opinions, there is a large company selling to that group. That said, all but 15% of Americans have graduated high school, and of those 28% have a college education (census.gov). Therefore, it is relatively safe to assume that most parents have a very bare bones education in biology. They know there are microscopic organisms everywhere and some of them cause disease. They also know children, sick people and the elderly are especially susceptible to infection. Out of this popular medical wisdom parents go nuts attempting to kill all germs.
I really love this paragraph, it sounds kinda smart and has some cool statistics. But it makes a gigantic logical leap. I make an assumption about one thing (educational levels of average Americans) and connect it to something fairly unrelated (a lack of basic hygienic knowledge). The truth is that the modern United States has the most comprehensive systems to keep people clean and healthy of any civilization ever. We have over 1.8 million miles of drinking water pipes and 1.2 million miles of sewer pipe in this country (wikipedia.org). We have the largest hospital system ever devised . The truth is how long you were in school doesn't have much to do with how clean you are, your choices in buying cleaning products or your exposure to toxic substances .
Works Cited
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