DonRocks Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 "Water Is Not A Human Right, Should Be Privatized" says the Chairman of Nestle Foods, who is the ... umm ... world's largest producer of bottled water. I'm reconsidering my personal views on gun control. I feel like I'm watching a 1980's dystopian science fiction movie, except that I'm not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveO Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 screw him and his butterfingers and baby ruths and goobers and toll house cookies. let alone his bottled water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktmoomau Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Wasn't there just a James Bond movie about all of this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deangold Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoramargolis Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Why don't we just privatize air, while we're at it? Think of the profit potential for some international corporation if everyone on the planet had to pay a fee in order to breathe. And that would incentivise cleaning up parts of the atmosphere--because, of course, it would cost a lot more to breathe clean air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lion Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cizuka Seki Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Why don't we just privatize air, while we're at it? Think of the profit potential for some international corporation if everyone on the planet had to pay a fee in order to breathe. And that would incentivise cleaning up parts of the atmosphere--because, of course, it would cost a lot more to breathe clean air. that's more or less the premise of TOTAL RECALL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 that's more or less the premise of TOTAL RECALL Total Recall (a *very* fun movie) is exactly what came to mind when I saw this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoramargolis Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 that's more or less the premise of TOTAL RECALL Interesting. I never saw it because I hate science fiction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Why don't we just privatize air, while we're at it? Think of the profit potential for some international corporation if everyone on the planet had to pay a fee in order to breathe. And that would incentivise cleaning up parts of the atmosphere--because, of course, it would cost a lot more to breathe clean air. Also the premise of the movie they made of the Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 From Ursula K Leguin's review of Margaret Atwood's novel The Year of the Flood: "The Corporations... are in total control. As in the earlier book, all science and technology is Corporation-owned, in the service of furthering capitalist growth and keeping the populace unrevolutionary, while destroying the resources and ecological balances of the planet at an ever-increasing rate." (The "earlier book" is Oryx and Crake.) These two authors had a bit of a spat about the nature of "science fiction" and "speculative fiction" that was amusing to follow. Regardless, they are both excellent at creating dystopian realities, extrapolating from current events such as this humdinger about privatizing water. Sometimes fiction is the best tool for exposing the truth. wondering how long before Rocks cuts this over to the Fine Arts forum, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 wondering how long before Rocks cuts this over to the Fine Arts forum, [No. This one's too topical, so it stays. (This makes sense, right? No need to answer - just a rhetorical question.)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnb Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 No need to delve into science fiction to find the idea of owning the air. Carl Barks gave that idea to Donald Duck in July of 1952, in a story called "The Golden Helmet." Barks is nearly unknown, since he was never credited for his work at the time, but was a genius and a true national treasure. He often penned Donald Duck stories, but more importantly created and singlehandedly wrote and drew the Uncle Scrooge series of comic book stories from the late 40's the the early 60's. Unlike 99% of comic books, the Uncle Scrooge series represented something akin to true literature, with complex, well-thought-out, and meaningful stories that gave life lessons in the guise of entertainment. His work influenced many. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rieux Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 No need to delve into science fiction to find the idea of owning the air. Carl Barks gave that idea to Donald Duck in July of 1952, in a story called "The Golden Helmet." Barks is nearly unknown, since he was never credited for his work at the time, but was a genius and a true national treasure. He often penned Donald Duck stories, but more importantly created and singlehandedly wrote and drew the Uncle Scrooge series of comic book stories from the late 40's the the early 60's. Unlike 99% of comic books, the Uncle Scrooge series represented something akin to true literature, with complex, well-thought-out, and meaningful stories that gave life lessons in the guise of entertainment. His work influenced many. I collected Uncle Scrooge comics as a teenager (I'm 36 now) and the Carl Barks ones are by far the best, and really do have amazingly prescient storylines about our current corporate culture. So nice to randomly see him referenced on a food site! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktmoomau Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I doubt I would agree with anything the CEO of Nestle thought was a brilliant business plan, but I also think what Monsanto does is a crime. What is scary is thinking that something we read about in whatever you want to call it science fiction or speculative fiction that is so horrendous could become a reality. I hope it never will, but what an awful world it would be. There are laws to protect land owners rights to water downstream, and etc, but non-land owners have very little protection in that way. When so many non-profits are working so hard to bring fresh water to places that don't have access to clean water, thinking about it being a for profit enterprise is really sickening. Growing up in really rural areas it really sickens me to think about what would happen to our country and world if something like this ever happened. I mean we do pay for water, but it is regulated. With the cost of bottled water being what it is, I can't imagine having to pay that price for every bit of water you needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 This reminds me of a scheme promoted by the World Bank, no less, (or maybe it was the IMF--which doesn't have the goal of eradicating poverty as its raison d'etre) back in the 1990s to privatize the water supply to a large population of Bolivians. It wound up impoverishing already impoverished people and political unrest ensued. What a surprise. You wonder why a Socialist like Evo Morales was elected? And yes, for the record, I believe a clean water supply is a human right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 You know ... People overuse the phrase, "This is scary!" talking about this, or that, or a politician here, or a law there - the phrase, with all its accompanying melodramatic conveyance of concern, is just hackneyed to the point of being an annoying, knee-jerk reaction by lily-livered twits who spend too much time in front of the computer. But *this* is scary. It's stick-with-you scary. (I'm talking about the original video here.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 If you're not sure about this, just ask the 300,000 or so people in West Virginia who suddenly found themselves without their usual source of water. It's one thing to be in a place where bottled water can be delivered by the many hundreds of truckloads and a place where your sole water source is contaminated and nobody locally seems to care or have any solution. Is water a human right? Is life a human right? These two things seem to go together, don't you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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