Corporation personhood essentially means corporations are guaranteed personal rights. That means companies have every right that an individual has, most notably the first amendment.
During WWII, many companies were faced with what to them was a tough decision. Business decisions are typically made in binary methods. By this, I mean businesses think in terms of making or losing money. So when Nazi Germany sought out these companies to help them, some of these companies obliged. One of these companies was IBM.
As it turns out, IBM powered Nazi Germany. They helped organize and improve the efficiency of this terrible organization. According to the readings, “the Holocaust had six stages: identify the Jews, isolate them, exclude them and seize their assets, put them in ghettos, deport them and, finally, exterminate them.” IBM participated in each of them. They tracked census information of Jews, managed concentration camps, and used tattoos to keep track of prisoners. IBM chairman and CEO Thomas Watson even dined with Hitler before approving a school that would teach European schools how to operate and maintain the machines.
No, what IBM did during WWII was not in any way moral or ethical. Yes, corporations should be held responsible for the immoral or unethical use of their products. The actions that IBM committed during these times should not be in any way be condoned. IBM lent a hand to one of the most horrific and atrocious genocides in the history of humanity. No, their actions are not in any way ethical or moral for obvious reasons. Doing business with a man who is a racist anti-semitic man who constantly spewed hate surprisingly had repercussions. Corporations should refrain from being associated with any entity that is unethical or immoral. A corporation, regardless of corporate personhood, cannot just choose to make immoral choices just because they want.
It really is hard to determine things from hindsight. In the past few months, with everything going on in this country, I have been very interested in the history of Nazi Germany and the every day working class citizen during that time. I ask myself if they had any idea what was going on or if they truly believed what they were doing was actually correct. So if a person at that time how horrific Nazi Germany would be remembered what is to say IBM knew. Though now, it can be said their actions were incredibly disgusting, I struggle to say I would do anything different at that time because I simply do know what they knew. For them, Nazi Germany could have just been another country at war. Think about all the wars America has gone into in the past century. Businesses from everywhere are probably lending a helping hand to aid us. How do we really know where we stand in history? Did IBM know the amount of blood that would be on its hands? I would think so but I really do not know for sure. Ultimately, I think the moral of this specific case is to not mix business with war. No matter what, no good will come from it.
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Michael Martinez 