I’m not entirely sure what this episode was trying to say. The message was mixed, at best.
Responsibility and Justice
One part was entirely clear: the focus on the ability of people in power to avoid responsibility. After the secret detention and torture facilities were revealed, and after fiscal irresponsibility brought about the recent financial crisis, how many people were punished? Not one. We have a two-tiered justice system in which the rich and powerful can quite literally get away with murder, yet ordinary people will get arrested for smoking weed.
But then I have no idea what they were thinking when they make the manager become a whistleblower who’s obviously doing it for his own self-interest. Are they trying to say that whistleblowers are greedy and selfish and that they should be punished? That’s sure what it seems like. And that’s equally absurd. Whistleblowers are the ones who get punished, not the irresponsible people in charge.
The Watchdog Press
As for the chickens— well, pretty clearly they’re saying that the people in charge are chicken and flee from responsibility. They’re even more afraid of the press. In America at least, this may have been true at one point, but now it’s simply absurd. The press are in bed with the rich and powerful. Here’s how it would play out in real life:
The Hague— Yesterday morning, the office of the UN inspector general released a report claiming that conditions in a chicken-owned factory bordered on criminal negligence. The chickens denied the claim, citing their extended commitments to worker safety and environmental protection.
That’s basically what the media is nowadays. Exchanges of “he said / she said.” There is no attempt to verify whether any of these claims are true or not. Because that, of course, would be bias!
Creating Monsters
Additionally, the chickens were probably supposed to be the villains, but I felt some sympathy for them. Many of the chickens were simply workers, and bore no responsibility for their leaders’ actions. But they were all killed in a brutal crime against chickenhood when an entire species of intelligent lifeforms was brought to extinction. The show seems to suggest that this is a good thing, because the skinless chickens were monstrous creatures who never should have existed. But they did exist.
It’s ultimately the fairies who bore responsibility, along with the humans whose needs led to the creation of the factory. But none of them were held responsible, only the chickens they had created.
Re the manager: Probably a reference to the Olympus scandal, as Michael Woodford (the red-haired guy is obviously from England), Olympus’ CEO turned whistleblower and later tried to take over the company’s board?
Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_scandal
Ooh, I bet you’re right! Thanks for pointing that out, I remember reading about it now but had completely forgotten! Plus, I do not understand the intricacies of corporate governance at all, it tends to all whiz right over my head.
I can relate with this episode. This episode is like looking at corrupt politics at work. I really like that the chickens are symbolism for people in power who are chickens in taking responsibility and the media are in cahoots with the people in power.
One thing that this episode really says clearly is that corrupt politics in time will produce scapegoats and the people in power who are usually are at fault get away scratch free.
To clarify, I don’t think this show was saying the media is in cahoots with the people in power. I think they’re saying that the light of the media’s eye can actually force the rich and powerful to take responsibility for their actions, which hasn’t seemed to work out very well recently.
But yes, agreed about the scapegoats. They never seem to be the ones who should be blamed…