OPINION
It’s an odd thing: the very people who wax apoplectic that “corporations aren’t people!” also expect corporations to act like people.
Because, here’s the thing: only people can make moral judgements. So, when activists blither about “corporate social responsibility”, “triple bottom line”, and “social licence”, they’re very much wanting corporations to be people.
The rest of us just want corporations to shut the hell up about The Current Thing, and go back to making money for their shareholders.
Jordan Peterson has unleashed on Qantas, just months after he blasted the airline for playing an Aboriginal Acknowledgement of Country during one of their flights.
As anyone who’s travelled within Australia knows, it’s not just Qantas. I can’t even take the hop from Launceston to Melbourne without being served up a fatuous “Traditional Acknowledgement”. It’s not just airlines, workplace meetings, school assemblies, even classes, are all prefaced with this virtue-signalling bullshit.
The psychologist and self-help author shared a screenshot of an article written by Rita Panahi, a columnist for the Herald Sun, that celebrated the early resignation of the airline’s CEO, Alan Joyce.
‘Good riddance to the man who transformed Qantas from the ‘Spirit of Australia’ into an arrogant, underperforming, and overcharging activist airline,’ Panahi wrote […]
Dr Peterson went on to suggest that the airline’s Acknowledgement of Country message on flights resembled propaganda seen in countries like China and North Korea.
‘The worst propaganda of any airline anywhere,’ he wrote.
‘Although I haven’t flown in China Or North Korea. Do they have planes in North Korea?’ […]
‘I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way. Stick to (1) flying and (2) making money.
‘I don’t want or need moral lessons from you or any other corporation.’
Even Aborigines — the real ones, not the 1/128th, blue-eyed, blond-haired “box tickers” — are sick to death of it.
Some Aboriginal activists claim the are becoming so frequent that they’re losing the full power of their meaning and making the general public ‘apathetic’ toward Indigenous Australians.
Kiescha Haines-Jamieson, an Aboriginal activist from Western Australia said: ‘It was never intended for opening football games or corporate and social events’
‘It was actually a practice used for ensuring permission and safe passage to and through tribal boundaries and now it’s being so mainstreamed it has made people be apathetic.’
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has made similar arguments about the overuse of Welcome to Country ceremonies.
She has previously said she’d had enough of being ‘symbolically recognised’ and explained First Nations people wanted to be recognised and respected by their character rather than their race.
‘I personally have had more than my fill of being symbolically recognised,’ she said.
The Daily Mail
As Price points out, the constant “Acknowledgement” is most often about narcissism rather than any genuine respect. It’s almost always white people trying to impress other white people with how “progressive” they are.
Not to mention that it’s a nice little earner: anywhere from a few grand to millions. Just get on the tanning bed and buy a possum-skin cloak online, and you too can be “Aunty This” or “Uncle That” and jump on the gravy train!