Corporations no more to blame than expectations of consumers

I am writing in response to an opinion piece you published Friday by Ben Carlson of the Anderson News.

Carlson spends about three-fourths of the column doing a fine job of exposing the perils of working for an employer that uses technology to engage in draconian surveillance of workers.

The examples he chooses are the United States Postal Service and Amazon.

Carlson makes great points about the misery suffered by workers whose freedoms are so restrained that some become distraught to the point of suicide.

So I was taken aback when, near the end of the piece, Carlson resorts to name-calling prominent American politicians who have fought for workers’ rights.

He then proceeds to lay the blame for this outrage not on the lack of adequate oversight by government agencies charged with protecting workers, but on you and me.

That’s right, folks. When Amazon employees are pushed to the brink of suicide by their masters, it’s not the fault of the company that pays less income tax than we do.

It’s our fault because we expect to receive our Prime packages in two days.

This is the kind of thinking that now dominates conservative thought in this country.

What a sad time it is.

Pete Koutoulas

Winchester