Today, we'll take some rest -- and have fun. With the help of Joe Sullivan, we are going to visit the "They Rule" website.
By graphically mapping the individuals who sit on one or more U.S. Fortune 100 executive boards, www.theyrule.net gives a view of the close connections between board members and seemingly unrelated companies. And the site doesn’t stop there. Want your kid to rule in corporate America? As the "John Rules" map points out, there are 72 board-level executives named John among the Fortune 100 companies.
Here is a small image of the map called "Pepsi vrs Coke."
A better and larger version is available here (218 KB).
Joe Sullivan discussed with Josh On, of the artists' collective futurefarmers.com and designer of theyrule.net, to see how it all came together.
Q: Where did you get the idea for the site?
A: I knew that U.S. capitalism is at a very high stage of monopolization. I wanted to visualize that. I think that in 2001, 92 of the companies on the Fortune 100 were connected to each other through shared board members. I believe that this is the way that capitalism operates: The reality is that a "free market" requires close cooperation between the corporations and the state that represents them in the world.
Please remember to bookmark this site. This will not modify your lives, but it can be fun to look at who is connected to Bill Gates or Warren Buffett.
Sources: TheyRule.net; Joe Sullivan, Darwin Magazine, December 4, 2002
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