Corporate Terrorism – When Profits Fly Higher Than Lives

 

A New Kind of Terror

When we hear the word “terrorism,” we think of bombs, bullets, and angry men with beards and ideologies. We imagine fear spreading like wildfire across cities, airports, and schools. But there is another kind of terrorism — calmer, quieter, dressed in suits, armed not with guns but with Excel sheets. It doesn’t shout in the name of God. It whispers in the name of growth. And it doesn’t attack once. It works daily.

This is corporate terrorism — the cold-blooded sacrifice of human life at the altar of profit.

The Air India Crash: A Wake-Up Call?

On an ordinary day, an Air India plane fell from the sky. Unverified but serious claims began to spread — that this jet had been flagged twice for technical faults, and that it had been grounded just days before. If that’s true, one has to ask: Why did this plane fly again?

In the modern corporate world, the answer is often simple: money.

Grounding a flight means losses. Delays irritate customers, investors panic, and headlines hurt the brand. So sometimes — just sometimes — it’s easier to gamble with people’s lives than risk the next quarterly report. The machine must run. The profit graph must rise.

Even if it means a few bodies along the way.

Not Just a Plane Crash — A Pattern

Let’s be honest. This is not just about Air India. It is a global pattern. A new culture where companies are allowed — even encouraged — to take dangerous shortcuts. Where safety becomes “too expensive,” and human life becomes just another column in a cost-benefit analysis.

Boeing 737 MAX:

Two deadly crashes. 346 lives lost. Why? Because Boeing hid a design flaw in their new aircraft. Why did they hide it? Because telling the truth would delay deliveries. And delays meant losing to their competitor, Airbus.
Result? Two planes crashed. Thousands of families shattered. Boeing paid billions in fines — but no one went to jail.

The Rana Plaza Collapse, Bangladesh:

A building full of garment workers collapsed in 2013. 1,134 dead. Why? Because global brands wanted cheap clothes — and local owners wanted bigger profits. Cracks had appeared in the walls. Workers begged not to enter. But profit said, "Go in."
And they did. And they never came out.

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy, India:

Still considered the world’s worst industrial disaster. In 1984, poisonous gas leaked from a Union Carbide (now Dow Chemicals) plant. Over 15,000 people died. Why? Because safety systems were weak, and maintenance was ignored to save costs.

From aircrafts to factories, boardrooms around the world make decisions like these every day — often with full legal protection.

Why Is This Happening?

Because we now live in the age of unregulated capitalism — where the market is treated like a god, and profit is worshipped like a religion.

The rules of this religion are simple:

• Maximise shareholder value.

• Minimise costs.

• Externalise risks (let someone else — often the poor — pay the price).

• And if something goes wrong? Hire lawyers and PR firms.

Governments, often weak or complicit, fail to regulate these giants. And consumers, busy scrolling on phones, don’t even realise how many lives are priced into the products they use.

"This is not a system failing. This is the system."

Corporate Terrorism vs Traditional Terrorism

Let’s compare the two:

 

Terrorism	Corporate Terrorism
Driven by ideology	Driven by profit
Kills to prove a point	Kills to save money
Outlawed and hunted	Legal and respected
Operates in shadows	Operates in daylight

We chase terrorists with drones. But we award corporate leaders with bonuses, knighthoods, and statues.

The man who bombs a plane is a criminal.
The man who knowingly flies a faulty plane is a CEO.

My Reflection – From the Eyes of a a Student,  a Thinker,  a Human

Honestly , when I see things like this, I can’t help but wonder — how are we still letting this happen? We read in history books how slavery was once normal, how women were treated like property — and we shake our heads. But maybe one day, our own children will look back and say,
"Wait, they let companies risk lives just to save money? And they called that business?"

We’ve turned profit into a god. We let rich men in suits make life-or-death decisions while the rest of us stay silent, just hoping it won’t be us next time. But it could be. Any day.

It's time to stop this blind faith in the market. A life should never be cheaper than a plane ticket or a brand’s reputation.
Because if we stay quiet now, this new kind of terrorism — corporate terrorism — will keep growing, with clean hands but dirty hearts.

"Let us not wait for another crash to learn the value of a life."