Shoot the Bad Guys – Or Change the System?

My starting point is an article from The Guardian (June 5) by George Monbiot about the corporate promotion of baby formula in the Philippines. Most Filipinos lack access to clean water, so the widespread use of formula instead of breastfeeding kills thousands of children every year. The Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP), representing the manufacturers and backed by the US government and Chamber of Commerce, has led a campaign to thwart an attempt by the Philippines government to restrict the promotion of formula, using lobbying, diplomatic pressure, legal action, and (apparently) targeted assassinations.

For more detail please read the article, together with readers’ responses. It is an excellent article, unusually forthright for the generally wishy-washy Guardian. But I do want to raise some problems.

It is a pity that discussion is so easily diverted into the channel of national hatred or, to be specific, anti-Americanism. “America Puts Profit Above Babies’ Lives” – runs the headline in the newspaper (though not on the website). Of course, the American government and American business do put profit above babies’ lives (and above everything else). So do government and business in other countries. But ordinary American readers are likely to feel that an accusation against “America” is aimed at them too. “You British are just as bad!” – is their natural response.

In fact, nothing could be more irrelevant than the nationality of a profiteer. The first target of activists opposing the promotion of baby formula in underdeveloped countries was Nestlé – a Swiss company. The members that PHAP represents include European, Australian, and Japanese as well as American companies. They are equally ruthless.

Another thing that makes me uneasy is the moralistic nature of the agitation against “baby killers” and the extreme emotion it arouses. Extreme emotion paralyzes thought and generates futile fantasies of revenge. “The world right now,” one reader writes, “needs another Revolution like the Bastille when all these greedy, unprincipled, corrupt and criminal politicians/industrialists are rounded up and are summarily executed.” Another reader replies: “Please, do try to understand the ‘root cause’ of the problem, in which we ALL play a part (including you on the Left), before shooting anyone.”

Indeed, this remedy has already been tried in various countries (France, Russia, China, etc.) and there are still plenty of bad guys around, so why should another lot of executions do the trick? The really clever bad guys survive such upheavals by joining the winning side in good time. It is mainly the small fry who get shot.

Most of the people involved in making and selling harmful products are not intrinsically evil. The saleswoman dressed as a nurse to sell more baby formula and earn her commission, the Chinese tobacco farmer and the Afghan poppy grower, the armaments worker making landmines that will maim and kill children in theaters of war – they are all doing immoral things. But they have to make a living somehow. They have to feed and clothe their own children. Some are lucky enough to come by a livelihood that allows them the luxury of a clean conscience (more or less). Some are not so lucky.
There are systemic forces that place people in such excruciating dilemmas, penalizing altruistic impulses while rewarding ruthless selfishness, inexorably turning good guys into bad guys. If we can understand these forces, we can devise a way of freeing people to heed the voice of conscience and freely contribute their talents to society, without thereby jeopardizing their families’ survival and wellbeing.

Stefan