Liberal Ideals Can Breed Business Success: Read it Again.

I hosted the carnival of the capitalists the other day, and I let some of my liberal and socialist tendencies show through.

I've reread the post several times, however, and still don't see what is overtly liberal or socialist. Anyone that knows what the COTC is, will know that people submit links to the host and the host simply assembles them in a post. Granted, I sprinkled in some questions about whether our system of capitalism and democracy is the best it could be, and placed some links to Michael Moore's new movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, but I certainly didn't come out and state that my own opinion was that "George Bush is Evil" or that "Capitalism is Evil". (of which I don't believe)... I simply raised some questions.

Nonetheless, I received some mean-spirited reactions in my comments:

I have no idea how you ended up hosting the "Carnival of the Capitalists" (instead of the "Carnival of the morose, anti-American Capitalist-hating Michael Moore sycophants") but I've got a pretty good idea why the French like you so much.

and this one:

Why not do something constructive and, rather than hijacking CotC, start your own "carnival" network - Carnival of the Self-Deceiving Socialist Dupes or something? CotSDSD - it's catchy! No charge!

As well as some extreme mis-interpretations (err...wild guesses) of my opinions:

Your attitude of taking the power to inovate and take risks away from the individual is a return to the dark period of 90's with the bright lights in our eyes and the abis just inches from our feet!

I was talking about this with my fiance, and she asked (paraphrasing):

Don't you worry about how your political opinions or other criticism that you put on your weblog, could affect the progress of your business?

And this is a very valid question.

I pretty quickly responded to her that:
1) It was my personal weblog.
2) I generally don't state my political opinions and I don't engage people in political arguments or discussions in my comments or from weblog to weblog.
3) I think most "potential customers" can separate their opinion of my political opinions,
from the fact that my company can deliever value to theirs. And make a financial decision whether or not to buy my company's services.
4) Some people may actually respect me for writing my beliefs and may appreciate what I say.

I still think these are good self-selected guidelines for me to follow after reflecting on it for a few days. And I was not very offended by the name calling, as I spend some time on a discussion board, where name-calling is about half of what consumes the political discussions.

What really irked me, though, was this comment about "success in business" and "my politics", being mutually exclusive:

Or are you too busy waiting for the government and the business world to take care of you while you relentlessly bash them? Think about this: who wants to do business with someone who so implacably hates businesspeople?

First of all, this statement is also a poor approximation of my political beliefs.

But more importantly, the implication that political beliefs and business success are intrinsically correlated, is extremely ill-founded.

Political beliefs about pornography, abortion, welfare and war, (for most businesess) have very little to do with the mechanics of running a business. My team is bringing a new service to market... with many features that have never been conceived-of nor implemented before. We (and especially me) are not the type of people that wait for anyone to tell us what is ok and what is not ok. Of course, we have legal counsel and we follow the law, but I hope you get my point: we intend to take the world by storm. There is no waiting around for anyone, for permission, or for subsidies, or anything or anyone else to tell us to move. We don't make excuses for failures. Instead, we try something new or try harder with the next idea or customer. (And this attitude is quite unique to the US and is part of what makes the US great.)

And I am the last person to hate business people. I do dislike it when people use money and power for the benefit of only themselves. I do think that businesses should be accountable for more than increasing the weight of their shareholder's wallets. I believe being a good corporate citizen means more than a tagline about how we care about our employees, or how we safeguard the environment.

I believe it should be built into the business plan. And this stems from more than business sense, but sense about my life's purpose. I believe we are each put here, with the task of making the world better by the time we are gone.

And I don't think this is a selfless act. In fact, it is pretty selfish. Because the motto that I live by is: By helping people achieve their goals (the ones they really want to achieve, not necessarily the ones they verbalize), then I will be helping myself.

And in business, If I can do this, I won't have to wait until I am in heaven to reap the rewards for this. It will come in earthly pleasures as well as respect from my fellow human beings. And although earthly pleasures and power, have the potential for evil, it is not inherent.

Because I am involved in a startup. I have 5 people I MUST make happy. Our goal is to make money... by serving our customers. So, we are all united in trying to make many people (our customers) happy.

We are involved in the online promotion and (some) planning of events. So, we are in a good position to make the world a better place, because increased interaction (especially in person at events), has the potential to unite the world. (Think of what meetup has done for re-enfranchising the voting public.)

I know this vision is very idealist and very liberal-minded. But, the worst thing you can say about it, is that it is unpractical. But, you might be wary, because I am not one to back down from a challenge.

And my goal is to prove that liberal ideals can guide capitalism and democracy to a higher level of greatness: one business at a time.

Please ask me how I am doing, in this regard, periodically. Please hold me accountable.

Comments

[Dean Esmay]

A quick answer:

Michael Moore regularly says things that many of us consider deeply hateful and bigoted--every bit as offensive as something someone like David Duke or a Neo-Nazi would say. I'm certainly in that camp. And for us the "just asking questions" defense doesn't cut it. If you'd said, "Well is it possible that black people are just inherently stupid, lazy, and criminally inclined?" it would not be an acceptable defense to say "I was only asking questions!"

This man is a vile, hateful, hurtful bigot who says horrid things that are deeply offensive to tens of millions of people, and it's not that we wish to "crush dissent." He can say whatever vile shit he wants, just like a Neo-Nazi can say whatever vile shit he wants. That does make him any less of a dishonest, lying, hatemongering pig.

Are you surprised and taken aback by that level of emotion? Sorry about that. But I can assure you that it's how I feel, and I'm not alone.

[Peter Caputa]

Thanks for sharing!

[Dan Sherman]

Wow, Dean. You expressed my exact thoughts. I was also a little taken aback by someone even glancing at the notion that Michael Moore was anything less than a HUGE idiot that's using his podium of public discourse to create division among American's.

Peter, I was in a bit of disagreement with your thoughts in CotC as well. But you didn't even come close to saying things that many on the liberal side are saying so I actually thought it was refreshing that a liberal can actually have a non Bush hate filled conversation.

If you think about that... that's pretty pathetic... we just want to talk with a liberal that can maintain discourse without going over the proverbial edge of sanity with the slightest mention of Bush.

My political monologue, for what it's worth.... :-)

The hate that Bush receives from the left stems from his self-professed (and proved out in his actions) sense of morality and principle, which he acts on. It's called a man of conviction. This type of man is heralded in churches and society as being someone who does the right thing even when given the easy way out. But libs aren't impacted by this sort of man on a daily basis since they tend to surround themselves with amoral people. So when you have someone at the level of the President being a man of convictions, this impacts libs greatly and they aren't used to dealing with someone like that.

Acting on the notion of universal right and wrong is a lonely job (as Bush can attest to) because doing so draws black and white distinctions and lines in the sand. Those that find themselves on the wrong side are instantly offended that they've been identified as being "wrong" and will fight you. Those that are identified as being right are villified and condemned for supporting the person that drew the line (Bush). It's a no win situation for the moral people of this country because those in the wrong (amoral) are more vocal and active in the political arena. That's because those of us in the right are too busy working and loving our families.

I was talking to a conservative friend of mine and he said that he's given up. He said our society is inevitably going to be taken over by those with no sense of morality. He just concentrates on what happens to him after this life... which should be the concern of us all, I guess. I just can't give in so easily.

The hereafter is where Bush and us moral conservatives will see our reward. We should rejoice in that fact. However, it will also be a sad day because the amoral people in life... the one's that defended the right of a woman to kill her unborn child... the people who are against the liberation of tyrannized people, the people set on mocking and debasing the Godly and beautiful union of a man and woman... they will all see the consequences of their choice of leading a life without morals.

Our happiest day will be many people's sad day. So, it is with every ounce of energy that I can put to it that I try to reveal to the liberal left the error of living a life without morals. It's a life without meaning now and eternal hope later.

How very sad.

With Love.... Dan

[Peter Caputa]

Dan. I enjoy reading your weblog and I respect you and your opinions. I do not agree with many of them. However, I do not wish to engage in political discourse on my weblog at this time. If I don't restrain myself, I will go on for too long. And I need to focus on other things in my life, right now. I also would not want my political opinions to offend anyone that enjoys reading my weblog, for the tech and business stuff. Maybe another time, in the future. With Peace, Love and Acceptance, -Pete

[Effern]

Peter,

Excellent post. I didn't see your original CotC post, so I won't comment on it here. However your vision for your company is commendable and I am glad to see you are thinking in that direction.

Good luck with your business, and I'll check out the rest of your blog.

[Peter Caputa]

thanks effern, for reading and commenting on thhe meaning of my post. And I appreciate that you appreciate it.

I added your blog to my bloglines subs a few days ago, actually.

good stuff on design/usability.

[Dan Sherman]

I can fully respect that you disagree. I actually encourage that. What would life be like if everyone were like me? :-)

I just can't deal with people comparing Bush to Hitler and all the other crap that the wacko leftist espouse. It just befuddles me where they come up with this line of thinking and more importantly, how they get away with it without being called onto the carpet by their buddies in the mainstream press.

What I've found VERY telling is most times conservatives can tolerate libs but libs can't tolerate conservatives. It's kind of ironic, since they claim to be the tolerant side of things.

I agree with keeping the political conversations off our blogs. I just had to fire my volley because of the Michael Moore mention. His name belongs on a business blog like hemmroids belongs on an opera blog. :-)

I like your blog as well, and respect that you can carry on a conversation without shrill political accusations. Keep up the good work.

So... on to another topic. Whatchya think of my Amazon
Secret Project entry? This news is nothing short of earth shattering yet it's not being reported anywhere in the press. (I guess they don't see me as a credible source of news yet... we'll see how that changes over time. Ha!)

Best,
Dan

[Effern]

Dan,

Amazon's last "secret project" ended up being the Segway. Not that it was officially an Amazon thing, but Jeff Bezos supposedly got a personal sales pitch and demo from the guy who invented the thing. I believe Amazon was the official distributor at first as well. So I am taking the proverbial grain of salt with your developing story. There are other reasons why I think that the "tunnels" thing could sound great, but are prohibitive. Hint: Power lines are kept above ground for a reason.

Good job on thinking differently about Amazon. I read somewhere that Ray Kroc said that McDonald's was in the real estate business. I had a mini epiphany when I read that, as it explained Starbucks perfectly. Also, way early on, Amazon ran radio spots that basically announced that they indeed were "power distributors" as opposed to yet another retailer.

(By the way, howza 'bout putting a comments option on your blog? That way we don't have to hijack this one.) Take this blog to Cuba!

[Peter Caputa]

I hate to call ideas "stupid", but I think the amazon tunnel idea is utterly stupid.

And I am glad you guys love my blog so much. These are the best things anyone has ever said about it...

"Take this blog to Cuba!"

"I just had to fire my volley because of the Michael Moore mention. His name belongs on a business blog like hemmroids belongs on an opera blog. :-)"

next up...

www.hemmroid-opera-blog-fromcuba.com

[Effern]

next up...

www.hemmroid-opera-blog-fromcuba.com

That's not available. You can register www.hemmroid-opera-blog-fromcuba.iq though, if you act fast.

Ehhh, fast-acting opera hemorrhoid(ahem) blogs from Cuba! Ehhhh!!!

(There, that should drive some wayward Google traffic here.)

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I am trying to dream up an excuse for using your invitation/event planning service. Trouble is, if the Empire finds out I'm having a Droid Appreciation Day at Six Flags, they might RSVP and find out who sold them to us, and that would lead them back....home!

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And one more thing... I read your CotC page (I can see where the usual suspects might have been a bit rankled there) and saw your comments about the French not actually hating Americans. I personally can attest to this, however for me, I would have to amend it to "they love Americans that take the time to actually engage in an open dialogue about each other's countries and cultures". Otherwise they seem to think that "American" = "blood relative of GWB". Not true.

(Ironically, I found out recently that he is a distant relative of mine, by way of Prescott Bush.)

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That should tide you over.

[Peter Caputa]

aaah... hemmroid humor always transcends political views!!!

and I'd say that this is probably true of 90% of people that actually sit down and engage each other in conversation...

"I would have to amend it to "they love Americans that take the time to actually engage in an open dialogue about each other's countries and cultures""

Very Good Point!