Pages

Friday 3 April 2015

Favouring shadows


There is sometimes in the social order a favouring shadow thrown over iniquitous trades, in which they thrive.
Victor Hugo - L'Homme qui rit (1869)

Once one sets out to identify modern iniquitous trades and their favouring shadows, the sheer number of them becomes a little daunting. It isn't merely trade either. All professions cast their favouring shadows as a matter of policy, often sheltering charlatans and bunglers as a matter of policy too.

One might begin with banking, many national charities, professional sport, the IOC, climatologists, wind turbine subsidy-seekers and so on, but the list soon becomes overwhelming and ethically complex. The trade in health nostrums from pharmaceuticals to herbal remedies for example.

When I first envisaged this post, I thought a modern list might short. It isn’t.

5 comments:

James Higham said...

Give us a couple more examples to make this clear.

Demetrius said...

Highly seasoned food that is the norm these days. We now make our own sausages.

A K Haart said...

James - the BBC is probably the best example of all.

Demetrius - not a bad idea. At least you know what's in them.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, AK, now I feel better about once having been a member of the second-hand car trade.

"Gentlemen traders all are we . . ."

A K Haart said...

David - the second-hand car trade is probably as honest as the average trade or profession. Just more exposed.