Today I had the chance to watch "Erin Brockovich" on one of our movie channels, for the first time in a few years. This is one of those films that (as the right-wingers tell us) shows that Hollywood hates America. I enjoyed it immensely.
If you don't recall, the film recounts the title character's participation in a lawsuit involving the pollution of groundwater with hexavalent chromium by the energy company, Pacific Gas & Electric. It resulted in a tort settlement of over $300 million.
Now, I've heard many conservatives whine that hating corporations equals hating America, and movies like "Erin Brockovich" hate corporations. Thus, they are anti-American.
But why is it that disliking a corporation that breaks the law makes a person "anti-corporation," any more than disliking a person who breaks the law makes one a misanthrope? And why is it that the Right thinks that individuals are so much less important than corporations, as though we all have no purpose other than to serve as cogs in the industrial wheel?
Of course, what it really comes down to is a right-wing love affair with power. They kowtow to it, they worship it... and they believe that we all should merely hope to live off the table scraps that the powerful deign to give us. And if we all die from chromium poisoning, we should be grateful.
Me? I have nothing against corporations, but I feel that following the law is as incumbent upon them as it is upon me or you.
The difference between me and the Right, in the end, is that they are happy to be lap dogs, while I continue to be an independent human being.
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