As many of you know, TEPCO, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, has been receiving a very hard time because of events at Fukushima. Ok, so they made a few mistakes. But how were they to know a tsunami would happen in Japan? Its not as if tsunamis have ever happened there, well, at least, not that often. Ok, so they do happen on a regular basis, but it would be expensive to protect against them, you know what I mean?
And what bad timing! Just as the world was about to embark on another round of building nuclear power plants, they convince the world that private enterprise could never be competent to run nuclear power. Sure, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima did not work out, but is that enough to turn away from such a great way to extract profits?
And what bad timing! Just as the world was about to embark on another round of building nuclear power plants, they convince the world that private enterprise could never be competent to run nuclear power. Sure, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima did not work out, but is that enough to turn away from such a great way to extract profits?
And people are so critical about the plans for nuclear waste, or rather the lack of plans. People are so fickle sometimes. They do not mind when we dump toxic waste in Africa or plastic in the ocean. Why should they all of a sudden get so picky about nuclear waste? It just isnt fair.
But
that is not what this post is about.
Its easy to point the finger at large corrupt companies and governments. After all, they have a lot of money and power which they can use to betray trust and steal things. But what about the little people? The individual entrepreneur? What can they do to exploit the sick or the poor or the frightened and steal money? Do they also have a role to play in our modern globalized economy?
I believe that they do and this post celebrates the contributions of the little guy and his/her work to make our world even more screwed up than it is. Our heroes or heroines did not attend the elite schools that prepared them for corruption on the big stage. No, these are the small-time grifters, the petty thieves, the kind of people who would steal money from the poor or the sick on an individual basis. The kind of corruption we discuss today is much more personal and demonstrates the lofty spirit of the individual criminal in society.
Its easy to point the finger at large corrupt companies and governments. After all, they have a lot of money and power which they can use to betray trust and steal things. But what about the little people? The individual entrepreneur? What can they do to exploit the sick or the poor or the frightened and steal money? Do they also have a role to play in our modern globalized economy?
I believe that they do and this post celebrates the contributions of the little guy and his/her work to make our world even more screwed up than it is. Our heroes or heroines did not attend the elite schools that prepared them for corruption on the big stage. No, these are the small-time grifters, the petty thieves, the kind of people who would steal money from the poor or the sick on an individual basis. The kind of corruption we discuss today is much more personal and demonstrates the lofty spirit of the individual criminal in society.
I
have extracted from a Reuters article about the latest TEPCO scandal
two comments that are part of a beautiful scam to exploit the unfortunate circumstances of Fukushima. These comments attempt to exploit the fear of radioactivity to sell the reader some worthless snake oil to protect him or her from its dangers. What spirit this shows! What indomitable will! Our enterprising criminal can not provide a direct link to his product because many comment systems forbid this in order to prevent exactly this kind of abuse. So our spammer creates a brand/product name and asks you to search for it, so that
he may attempt to exploit your ignorance and fear and steal your money.
Here are his/her advertisements masquerading as comments to an article about TEPCO.
We must thank the Internet for providing a medium for bold entrepreneurs like this. Where would we be without the Internet and its anonymity, so useful and necessary to protect criminals of all types?
Here are his/her advertisements masquerading as comments to an article about TEPCO.
We must thank the Internet for providing a medium for bold entrepreneurs like this. Where would we be without the Internet and its anonymity, so useful and necessary to protect criminals of all types?
What a beautiful example of the beliefs and values of our fellow bipeds! How clearly it shows us the very best that our society aspires to! Not in some vast epic of stupidity and corruption like TEPCO but in the actions of the little people we find the true spirit of our civilization and our hope for the future.
The
article from Reuters about TEPCO is here.
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