Cyric's Mad Mad Blog

I'm not one to condone violence or to make light of brutality and murder, but the cynic in me smirked a bit upon reading this story:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle4810644.ece

To summarize for those of you who don't care to read the whole story, a mob of recently-laid off Indian workers. The workers had allegedly been trying to use their power of numbers to manipulate the running of the plant, and the plant was shut down because of it. When the workers were called to discuss reinstatement, a melee ensued.

Am I siding with the former employees, no. I'm mostly amused by the reaction - specifically this quote:

“Such a heinous act is bound to sully India’s image among overseas investors.”

Could we use a little perspective here? Sure, this is bound to be a concern, but the fact that human life and well-being is perceived to be so cheaply valued compared to India's image among investors (and thus India and its companies' profitability) is really the issue here, in my opinion.

The treatment of workers everywhere as assets instead of people continues to sicken me. I think the majority of us can agree that life in the corporate world can be an exercise in endurance and occasional humiliation. And while I spend a decent amount of time looking for a way out of this perverse corporate culture, my sense of irony is at least somewhat sated by the knowledge that those who casually toy with the livelihood of hundreds are sometimes held accountable for their actions.