“Tell Michael it Was Only Business”
Those were Salvatore Tessio’s words to Tom Hagen, just before he was taken away to be killed for betraying Michael Corleone in the classic film, Godfather I. In Mario Puzo’s script, he has his Mafia bosses justify their felonious behavior by claiming that they are no worse than large corporations and corrupt politicians. When Vito Corleone apologizes to his son, Michael, for getting him involved in the family business, Michael tries to ease his father’s concern by saying that they are all “pezzonovante’s anyway” In Standard Italian it is "pezzo da novanta" (ninety-calibre… a big gun). In Sicilian slang , it is not a good person.
I truly enjoyed the Godfather series because they were well made films but I never viewed those characters as romantic anti-heroes. They were larcenous cold psychopaths whose amoral behavior caused the death and suffering of many. But the business metaphor is appropriate.
One thing you have to admit about the Business Tribe in this country is that they are completely upfront about their agenda. Their one major priority above all is profit---the bottom line. They will readily admit that in any formal or informal communication with others. They are customer oriented only because they have discovered that the strategy yields economic rewards for the private owners or the stockholders of corporations. Calvin Coolidge said it clearly “The business of America is business”. The implication, accepted by many in or out the business world,is that it is truly “American” to support business and anyone who doesn’t accept this is not a true patriot.
The interesting thing about true believers in this tribe is that they separate their personal lives from their business lives. As private citizens they abhor cruelty, injustice, mercilessness and selfishness. When they return home to their family, friends and neighbors they adhere to the Golden Rule. They are like the Nazi Concentration Camp commandants who would return home from Auschwitz or Dachau and celebrate Christmas with their families and neighbors. Dorothy Thompson, the brilliant journalist, called it “doubling” in a 1930’s essay.
Do you think I am exaggerating? Well let’s look at the record. The Tobacco Companies continued to advertise and sell cigarettes even though their own research indicated that they were cancerous. The oil companies made comfortable deals with Middle Eastern Monarchs who funded the terrorists who ultimately viciously attacked our own country. They also were warned many times about the risks of deep water drilling until the gargantuan oil spill that devastated the inhabitants of the Gulf of Mexico.
The mining companies for decades have ignored safety regulations resulting the maiming and premature deaths of men who risked their lives in the bowels of the earth. The corporate environmental polluters whose carbon footprint has resulted in an unnatural climate change that threatens all of us. The weapons manufacturers hide behind the second amendment and the NRA to peddle their automatic weapons at gun shows that kill and maim law enforcement professionals, students, innocent bystanders and even politicians. And finally we have the Wall St. CEO’s whose greed and incompetence almost resulted in another Major Depression.
When you challenge them they cry “Un-American”, “Socialism” and “Communism” or like Sal Tessio, they want you to understand that it is not personal. ”It is only business” they say. I say “leave the gun; take the Cannoli”
