Midterm

The documentary about the Enron scandal was an accurate portrayal of what human greed is and how it can take over a person. The leading figures in the one time successful company emulate the epitome of dishonesty and selfishness. While they were making millions and millions of dollars Enron employees and investors were losing everything. No matter how big the dollar sign was, I don’t think I could ever find it in my heart to make money in such a dishonest way, especially while others would be robbed of all their money and life earned savings.
As a graduating college student this year, finding a stable job is constantly on my mind. Working at a company similar to Enron (before it collapsed) would be a great opportunity. After college some people choose to take time off or others settle for a mediocre job until they find what they are really looking for. If the company I worked at started to grow and prosper I would try my hardest to do my job as best as I could in order to keep my job as well as benefit from it. When a company is doing well then more people are interested in working there, and if I was doing poorly at my position I could be easily replaced. I wouldn’t mind working 12-14 hour days as long as I had a decent amount of money and material possessions. As a newly graduated college student I would love to show my parents how the money they invested in me for college allowed me to get a good job with a high paying salary. I also wouldn’t mind working that many hours while I was young because when you are young you are supposed to work a lot.
Although I want money and material possessions I would never want either of them if it came out of corruptness and scandal. I strongly believe in personal ethics and doing the right thing. I would never do anything, especially a “dirty” job even if it strongly benefited my life financially. If I were to work at this Enron like company and knew about all the wrongdoings that were going on behind closed doors I would definitely leave. I think that the situation that happened with Enron can be related to themes found in the documentary “Zoo”. The movie “Zoo” was basically about a group of men who participated in, and enjoyed having sex with their horses. I know that it is hard to even imagine a correlation between Enron and Zoo but when you think about it, it all comes back to human morals. In the minds of the men who had these sexual relations with their horses they were doing nothing wrong. They said that they had so much love for their animals, and didn’t think there was a problem with it. However, to most other people in the world the actions those men had partaken in were unfathomable and absolutely disgusting. When looking back at Enron it’s basically the same situation. In the minds of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling they weren’t doing anything wrong either, just indulging in what they loved most; money. To the rest of the world those men were disgusting in the fact that while they made millions upon millions of dollars their investors and employees lost everything. People that had worked their whole lives for retirement or even college funds lost it all. It’s amazing to me how different personal ethics are in the fact that no matter how wrong someone can be they have justification for it, and honestly believe they are not in the wrong.
The common thread found in both the Enron and “Prisoner of Paradise” documentaries is propaganda. Kurt Gerron was one of the most famous actors and directors during his time. He had a good life and good career until World War II broke out and the Nazis came into the picture. During this time Gerron was surrounded by propaganda. Since he was Jewish, the Nazis advertised pictures of him next to rats representing Jewish people as a whole and how much of a nuisance they were to society. However, the worst part was when Gerron “made a deal with the devil” and agreed to help the Nazis in exchange for his life. His job was to make a propagandist film showing how the Jewish concentration camp was like a paradise, when in reality it was a living hell. In the end it was not worth it for Gerron to make the film because as soon as he finished it the Nazis killed him. Just like Gerron, Ken Lay used propaganda to give people false impressions of what the real situation was. Lay made many public speeches using propaganda to make sure his investors kept their stock in Enron. Lay was one of the only few people who knew the company was quickly going bankrupt but he still deliberately mislead people into believing the company was going to make a come back. He insisted that there was just low point and that the stock would move up to an all time high if people just patiently waited. Ken Lay was such a powerful and respected man that people believed in his words, and kept their stocks in Enron although the prices kept dropping.
If I were working at this company similar to Enron I would not be able to deal with the maze that confronts me. The company clearly has its’ employees brainwashed with the wrong ideals and influences. When I think about the term brainwashed the movie “Jesus Camp” comes to mind. In the documentary, “Jesus Camp” it appeared that many children were hypnotized by the idea that Jesus is the most important thing in the world. They yelled chants about him, cried at the thought of him, and in some instances caused their bodies to go into convulsions. Many of the children were only 10 years old but were such firm believers in Jesus and wanted to be part of his “army”. I feel as though the children had been brainwashed into being an intense and devote Christian from higher influences. In this case the higher influences were the parents and the lady who ran the Christian summer camp. Children can also be very easily influenced by their peers. One scene in the movie showed the children at camp jumping around crying and praising Jesus out loud. I feel that the kids were crying out to Jesus because one person started it and others just followed. I also feel as though the woman who was ran the camp pushed the ideas of Jesus as a savior onto the kids. I thought the camp scene was very similar to the office scene found in the Enron documentary. During one point of the movie it shows Enron workers frantically typing on their computers while talking and making jokes about all the money they were making. Many people at Enron were brainwashed into thinking that money was the most important thing in life. Enron employees also saw how successful their fellow co-workers were which made the job seem even better since everyone was on the same page. An example of how money brainwashed many Enron employees can be found in a news article from the 2006 New York Times. Ben Glisan was Enron’s former treasurer who could have left after he knew that things weren’t right in the company, but chose to stay. The former chief financial officer, Andrew Fastow, turned an almost $6,000 investment of Glisan’s into a $1 million profit in only 2 months. Glisan knew that the figures didn’t make sense, as the amount must have greatly exceeded any of his expectations. However, after the money was wired into his account Glisan kept it due to the high influence money has on people.
I think that no matter where you work you should never abandon your individual morality and personal ethics. I understand that sometimes you have to keep your mouth shut at work but if you are involved in a capitalistic work environment where illegal transactions and business deals are taking place then you should absolutely do something about it. If I was someone like Ben Glisan in the sense that I could get $1 million in just two months then I could not live with myself. The money is obviously not for working 12-14 hour days, but for the corrupt actions the company takes part in. Since money is such a sensitive topic between working adults I don’t even think it would be possible to bring about redirection to the company. The people who are working there and reaping the benefits don’t want to rethink about anything that has to do with morals, but just about the money and how they can get more of it. In this particular situation I would personally quit this “dream job” and work for a company where I knew I was making an honest living, even if the income was lower. The Enron documentary is such a reality check for me in the sense that I know what kind of work environment I don’t want to be involved with. It also made me draw correlations of underlying themes to the other documentaries we have watched in class.