“In the US the corporation is defined as a person, more precisely as an artificial person. The idea of “person” has become shrouded in popular misconception. The ambiguity is attributed to a deceptive confusion between artificial and natural person (a human being). Adding to the confusion is the fact that the Latin origin of corporation is corpus or body. The word body in this sense does not mean a physiological organism commonly understood as a human body, but to a society or an association. In addition, the original Latin meaning for person is persona, a mask worn by an actor. One must keep in mind that the mask of a person, his or her personality, does not mean the essence of being, his or her soul.
The misconception about the meaning of person is exemplified by the oxymoron of corporate citizen. Although the corporation is considered an artificial person, it cannot be a citizen. Citizenship is granted either by birth or through the process of citizenship, one that involves the swearing and pledge of allegiance. In other words, it might be inferred that the misplaced meaning of person could be attributed to a misleading and deliberate corporate impersonation of a human being? ”
From: Iron Man: A Cinematic View on the Military Industrial Complex
