Profiteering of A Corporate Perpetrator or Industry – Lots of Deaths

The Dark Pattern

[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

WARNING: LONG POST

The Book of the Week is “The Dark Pattern, The Hidden Dynamics of Corporate Scandals” by Guido Palazzo and Ulrich Hoffrage, published in 2025. In this hodgepodge of a volume, the authors listed the various goings-on that inevitably lead to a scandal at a big-name corporation. They cite several real-life examples such as Theranos, Boeing and Uber.

Although the authors have European names and do college-level teaching in Switzerland, this book covered American companies and reflected the American mentality. It is difficult, if not impossible to fact-check propaganda spouted by American companies because they manipulate the media.

Prior to the scandal, the media crow about how the CEO is doing a great job in enriching the company’s shareholders. Leadership (that is toxic and heading for trouble but the public doesn’t know it) is enhancing shareholder value (yay!). Until it isn’t. After breaking news of the scandal, the media pile on about the company’s seamy underbelly that led to the failure.

Scandals erupt again and again due to human nature– fear and greed are the two major motivators that cause most of the trouble in the world. Moral failure gradually occurs on a colossal scale throughout the organization, because if it really were only a “few bad apples” there wouldn’t be a scandal. Here’s how it happens.

A large number of employees are eventually brainwashed into rationalizing away their bad behavior, through:

ethical shift (baby steps which gradually take one down an unethical path, until matters come to a head; breaking one taboo makes it easier to break more of them);
pluralistic ignorance (getting influenced by how others react in an unclear situation);
evaluation apprehension (fear of getting publicly judged for speaking up);
bystander effect (not reporting bad behavior because one thinks others will do it);
euphemistic labeling;
what-about-ism;
minimizing, ignoring or misconstruing the consequences;
dehumanizing the victims to make it easier to harm them.

The human resources department covers the employer’s legal ass by establishing an “ethics hotline” for employees. It is a joke because employees are reporting the bad behavior of their bosses to the very perpetrators of that bad behavior! The bosses will be vengeful– harassing those employees, shutting them up, or firing them.

When interdepartmental rivalry within the company is taken to the extreme, one of two things happen: the company has a scandal, or a group of workers will leave to form a company that competes against their former employer.

The usual cliches apply: The fish rots from the head down; if the truth makes you angry, you’re living a lie; and just another case of the fox guarding the henhouse.

Anger from perceived unfairness will lead to additional vicious office-gossip, and an even more hostile work environment.

Excessive greed led to: 346 deaths in two plane crashes in 2018 and 2019; attendant trauma, lawsuits, hearings; a few heads’ rolling; an attempt to move on, so as to forget all that unpleasantness. Never mind learning from it.

Such was the case with Boeing, whose CEO James McNerney, made approximately $290 million between 2001 and 2016.

Boeing was aware of its software bugs in its plane mechanics. It was cutting costs to the bone in the name of profit. It deemed training pilots in a simulator or in the actual upgraded plane, too expensive.

Boeing also forgot to tell the FAA about that issue. The understaffed, underfunded FAA (a federal agency which is supposed to regulate airline safety) changed its language and became besties with Boeing. “By 2018, Boeing already certified a stunning 96% of their own work [doing the FAA’s job.]”

Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos was a spellbinder, and became a cult leader. She was able to fund her pipe dream because her family and friends were wealthy. The social networks of the wealthy, trust one another even when they lack direct knowledge of a technical subject, such as medicine or investing (like with Bernie Madoff), so they throw their money at the opportunity, blinded by greed.

Uber slapped the new name “gig economy” on an old idea, but became successful because the concept was ready for the technology of the times. The problem was, Uber’s purely libertarian culture got it into legal trouble. A corporate culture of pure libertarianism means zero-sum, cut-throat competition. One independent-contractor’s gain means another’s loss.

After the fact, there is: displacement of responsibility and blaming the victim.

Read the book to learn additional lingo of psychology describing more details of the above, and about other corporate scandals.

Strongmen – BONUS POST

The Bonus Book of the Week is “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present” by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, published in 2021. In this hodgepodge of a volume, the author described the traits and behaviors of a “strongman” through a few real-life examples of dictators of the past hundred years.

A strongman is a male leader who finds ways (that happen to be nefarious) to maximize and maintain his power; including: causing needless deaths and ruined lives in the forms of propaganda (repeated scapegoating, generating crises and other brainwashing techniques), waging war, engaging in sexual conquests, seeking political dominance and enriching himself, usually through looting resources from the territory or territories he rules.

In October 1922, in an Italy of about forty million people, approximately thirty thousand people comprising the Fascist Party appointed Mussolini as prime minister. In the next two decades, in order to rule by fear and force, Mussolini formed various political and military groups, and passed laws that violated human rights. He incited excessive violence, and had dissidents killed.

In July 1925, Mussolini pardoned all political criminals (those who would help him stay in power). But by 1926, he had run out of money. Fortunately for him, he had friends in high places. Thomas Lamont– his contact at the American financial institution, J.P. Morgan, arranged a loan of one hundred million dollars for him. At that time, Hitler actually looked up to Mussolini and eventually got friendly with him, in order to get mentored. By 1933, the German industrialists had fallen for Hitler’s populist rhetoric.

In 1965, Mobutu, who engaged in drugs and arms sales, (with the help of the CIA) came to power in Zaire. He, along with a number of other dictators, had been war heroes, so they had military backing. Beginning in 1969, oil money allowed Gaddafi to give his government a socialistic bent– funding Libyans’ education, housing and other basic needs.

In 1994, Italy’s Berlusconi controlled very nearly all the messaging heard and seen by his people. He crafted laws to: give himself a get-out-of-jail-free card, and his businesses, to weasel out of legal and financial trouble. His propaganda screamed that immigrants were criminals. Gaddafi and Berlusconi (who should have been enemies) became besties– keeping their friends close and their enemies closer. Libya got weapons from Italy, and Italy got oil from Libya.

In Trump’s United States, “Women advance their careers by making it easier for the leader and his inner circle to harm other women.” Another strongman technique Trump uses is to put his assets in foreign bank accounts. In 2014, Eric Trump said, “We [Trump Organization] don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need from Russia.”

Like Berlusconi, Trump and his media outlet, Fox News, have repeatedly, emphatically smeared immigrants as criminals, and he has used his military, ICE, to detain or deport them. The author named locations of various detention camps that had inhumane conditions: in Florida– Homestead, and in Texas– Clint, McAllen, Rio Grande, and El Paso del Norte.

In sum, once the strongman has stolen all he can get from his citizens, his next tricks are to negotiate a peace treaty and schedule elections.

Read the book to learn much more about how the above-named and a few others have used strongman tactics to turn into not-so-benign dictators.

ENDNOTE: Here’s a song that describes Trump’s strongman tactics.

MODERN STRONGMAN

sung to the tune of “Modern Woman” with apologies to Billy Joel and to whomever else the rights may concern.

You see Trump on the idiot box touting his high-tech war-toys of his cronies’ design.

With his continual cruel smears he aggravates the tension. Tries to save face while losing his mind.

Now Trump’s in trouble. He fired all the intellectuals. He always figures voters aren’t very smart.

Or maybe he hopes his hype covers up his conflicts. Oh, he’s got to use PR tricks ’cause his wrongdoing’s off the charts.

He always puts on an ACT of ranting-frat-boy modern strongman. And he’s an old fascist man. He understands just what he’s doing. He’s a modern strongman.

His mean streak is exceptionally unprofessional. He’s got a lot of cockiness, it’s easy to see. You don’t want to be rude but you get so furious when he’s so injurious to American democracy.

He’s got bile and he’s got billionaires’ money and lots of attorneys so his-foes, he quickly disarms. His slow rise means you may not realize, YOU’RE jeopardized by his gradual harm.

He’s got his plan of attack and got the power-play knack of modern strongman. And he’s an old fascist man. He understands just what he’s doing. He’s a modern strongman.

The king won’t die. There is no president. He says he loves you but he treats you unkind. In the morning he detains you. You’re accused by your neighbors. It’s a cagey situation for an old fascist guy.

Times have changed, and you cry in vain, lately. He’s become extreme in his bad attitude. His cock-and-bull just used to be for kicks. But now he controls your politics. After 2026, you might get a clue.

You can’t relax and face the facts of modern strongman. And he’s an old fascist man, he forces your hand in the things he’s doing.

He’s a modern strongman. He’s a modern strongman.

He’s got the sociopathic zip that allows the grip of the modern strongman.

Haiti After the Earthquake

The Book of the Week is “Haiti After the Earthquake” by Paul Farmer, published in 2011. In this hodgepodge of a volume, the author (a medical doctor and cofounder of the organizations, Partners in Health and Zanmi Lasante) and some of his contacts, described the complex set of factors that go into helping people deal with the aftermath of a disaster in a Third World territory.

Haiti’s chaotic political history brings into question whether it has ever been a sovereign territory with sincerely elected Haitian officials (without foreign overseers and funders) for more than a few months since 1804.

There are various major reasons Haiti is still poverty stricken in the twenty-first century. Haiti lacks:

adequately functioning systems of basic services (healthcare, education, housing and food procurement) that allow self-rule;
an inspirational leader with ambitious plans to start the said service-systems with a staff who’s sufficiently experienced and competent to do so;
the money to start the said service-systems, and continue them even after disasters strike;
a way to break its centuries-long cycle of receiving outside aid; such aid prompts its dependence on countries which have strategic interests in it; such aid is perpetuated because it never learns how to create its own service-systems.

Each system is incestuous with the others: better education leads to better healthcare, housing and agriculture, and the improvements feed on themselves.

Haiti was hit with multiple storms in 2008 which brought mudslides and flooding. In January 2010, it was hit with an extremely strong earthquake. In the wake of the latter, a huge percentage of: its buildings were destroyed (including government buildings due to shoddy construction) and its population died (most of which was in poor health in the first place).

Within days, the international community sent a deluge of humanitarian aid workers to sift through the wreckage and treat the numerous injured and ill survivors. The author and his colleagues were immensely frustrated at the way administering of aid was very poorly organized, and at the severe shortages of resources, such as medical supplies, drugs and transportation.

One common scenario was that of a ten-year-old girl whose father died in the earthquake. To prevent her family’s starvation, her mother went to work transporting produce to the marketplace to be sold by other women. The girl thus had to take care of her four younger siblings in the family’s hovel made of sticks and debris. The girl was repeatedly raped. There were numerous reports of after-dark sexual assaults of females at squat-toilets which were a long walk from their makeshift housing.

When a disaster hits Haiti, the Haitian people are blamed when they can’t bootstrap themselves into independence. Unluckily, Haiti lacks valuable resources such as oil or minerals, and it has been stripped of its forests (for various reasons). So there are many other regional areas in which aid-providing countries would rather locate their military bases.

Read the book to learn much more about the stakeholders, issues and traumas involved in helping Haiti get back on its feet after so much devastation.

Perpetual War / A Mysterious Country – BONUS POST

“To be fair, one cannot entirely blame the current Oval One for our incoherence. Though his predecessors have generally had rather higher IQ’s than his, they too, assiduously served the 1 percent that owns the country while allowing everyone else to drift.”

-written NOT about American “president” Donald Trump, but about George W. Bush, by Gore Vidal

The first Bonus Book of the Week is “Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, How We Got to be so Hated” by Gore Vidal, published in 2002. America’s arrogance and international meddling obviously play a role in why it is hated by most of the rest of the world.

In this hodgepodge of a short volume, Vidal lamented over how the Bill of Rights was slowly becoming violated by American presidents’ signing of freedom-curbing legislation over decades. Just one current manifestation of that is the ever-present, ubiquitous government’s spying on Americans without their consent.

In 1996, president Bill Clinton signed the Anti Terrorism Act and in 2002, president George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act. The contents of both laws smack of Hitler’s 1933 Enabling Act. Clinton and Bush at least involved Congress in most of their actions. Trump has not. His goal is to outdo all presidents who came before him, in terms of abusing his powers in war, profiteering and political retaliation while evading punishment. He will not stop until he dies.

Anyway, to the date of the book’s writing, Vidal listed all military actions in which US troops were sent overseas to do “peace keeping” in regions of conflict from 1990 onward (but there may have been numerous other operations that are classified). Needless deaths, ruined lives, no doubt.

Asia: at least through the 1990’s, 607,600 troops;
Africa: 1992-1995, 1998-1999, 32,752 troops;
the Balkans: 1992-1996, 1998 at least through the book’s writing, 21,600 troops;
Central America: 1998-1999, 5,700 troops;
Haiti: 1994-1995, 21,000 troops

…not to mention 4,500 troops sent to Los Angeles, CA in 1992.

Read the book to learn additional information about how the United States is becoming a dictatorship, and on when and why the author started to feel this way.

The second Bonus Book of the Week is “A Mysterious Country, the Grace and Fragility of American Democracy” by Norman Mailer [his previous writings], edited by J. Michael Lennon and John Buffalo Mailer, published in 2023. This hodgepodge of a volume showed that decades after Mailer described political, cultural and social affairs in the United States– the old cliche still applies– The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Mailer reviewed LBJ’s book, My Hope For America in 1964. He wrote that 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater proposed there be a federal police force to protect ordinary Americans (especially young ladies) from “hate groups and bigots, Southern bullies and oil pirates.” In the 2020’s, the latter are alive and well.

Behind George W. Bush’s war, was the goal of eventual world domination. His supporters, who insecurely waved around the American flag as a way of showing they were patriotic, might not have even been aware how power-hungry Bush was. Mailer also thought Bush attacked Iraq to send a message to China that the U.S. was hegemonically superior.

According to Mailer’s description– “Terrorism is not attracted to negotiation. Rather, it would insist on no termination short of victory.”– Trump is a terrorist.

Read the book to learn much more information about the tenor of the times of Mailer’s generation, and how there has occurred more of same, in spades.

ENDNOTE: One Bertrand Russell quote in connection herewith bears repeating:

“There is something feeble and a little contemptible about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths. Almost inevitably some part of him is aware that they are myths and that he believes them only because they are comforting. But he dare not face this thought! Moreover, since he is aware, however dimly, that his opinions are not rational, he becomes furious when they are disputed.”

Such is the situation with Trump and his henchmen. Here’s a song Trump is singing now. [To avoid a spit-take, do not drink anything while singing this.]

I OWN THE WORLD

sung to the tune of “We Are the World” with apologies to USA For Africa, and to whomever else the rights may concern.

This is the time, when I maximize my gall, when the world must come under my rule.

There are people dying, and it’s time to force your hand.

My life’s the greatest of them all.

I will go on, spending every day, bossing everyone, everywhere.

My globe is making a change.

You are all part of helping my family, and the truth,

you know the world is all I need.