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CorporateLIESation |
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by Frank M. Ahearn
Email: frankmahearn (nospam) aol.com (unverified!) |
20 Jun 2004
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Choiice is not a question of either or! |
CorporateLIESation
The word scares the hell out of me. The only thought that comes to mind is the word one. One way of doing things, which tells me no choice? Who is to say corporateLIESation is the right choice? Perhaps I’m lacking in my acceptance of modernity. There’s this buzz in my head telling me something is wrong. First of all if corporateLIESation is accomplished certain things shall cease to exist. Like a dinosaur those that are subterranean shall be abolished by the evil twins, government and big business.
Slowly we are losing our choice. MTV tells our impressionable youth what to listen to and what to wear. Cnn and the others decide what news is and what is not. Sure we can change the station. Unfortunately that’s like switching from Coke to Pepsi. Some say that is choice, I say is controlled preference. It’s name recognition, its brand recognition; it’s a name repetition game.
I can tell you, as I stare out my window typing away that Starbucks is green, CNN is red, and Verizon has the red V. My brain is stamped with these impressions. Like fish in a tank they float around every so often coming to the surface and I need them. I don’t simply want a coffee; I need a Venti Latte for $4.50. It’s not just the news, I need extra news with a sidebar or even streaming quotes flashing underneath as a reporter, report the weather every fifteen minutes, I need to know about and earth quake and murders. Fill my head with it all, it’s only a hard drive for corporate sponsorship. Along with constant reminders how dangerous the world is. Why is the news always trying to scare me?
If I want to hear about peace and love I can switch to so me bible beating TV station offering gods forgiveness for a hundred buck. As I channel jockey I can watch the fat guy yelling it’s a Micky Mantle baseball card and its worth three hundred dollars. That kind fat man will sell it to me for 29.99 all I have to do is pick up the phone and call. Why is the fat guy so nice? Or is he?
There is a station for everybody, choice is alive. There is the crime station, the love station, the station for woman. If I want more of the weather they have their own station too. All this choice from one remote, well I want two remotes. I want the remote that tells us the truth. I want the remote where I can flick and find news that is honest and admits that sometimes our president is a horse’s ass. I want the weather man to tell us the truth; I want him to tell us to look out the window because weather people are never correct. I mean is this too much to ask? I want that second remote for people who can look beyond the lies.
I want the remote that offers a presidential debate that does not give the questions to the candidates before hand. Isn’t that the same as in school knowing the questions before the test? It creates the opportunity for a candidate to be prepared. I want the candidate that can think on his or heir’s toes. I mean, it’s the presidency a quick thinker is needed. Now that I mention the word her and considering women make up a large percent of the population, where is the choice of male or female candidate? Politics is like my remote with only two stations. Democrat or Republican, sure there are other parties that run, however, for some odd reason my remote just never seem to tune into those other station. Democrats on one side Republicans on the other. We have a choice of either or, our choice does not go beyond either or. Either or sounds limited, left or right.
I want the station I can flick to that has commercials that offer truth. I want the product that tells us the truth. I’m tired of hearing the words new and improved. Does that mean your last version sucked? If so how about a refund? Or are you telling us you only redesigned the packaging and now have a more viable spokes person to market your product? I want the car salesman to openly admit his cars are ok but it beats walking. Maybe I just want truth; I don’t want to see a cartoon of roaches walking into a hotel. I’m a grown up, I’m intelligent, just tell me it works.
The question is who is to blame? The advertisers, the ad executive are who create these mindless inventions of dramatized unreality? Do they really perceive the public as that stupid? I guess so, it’s been happening since I was a kid. When do we as consumers stand up and take action for being looked at like were dumb? When do people write to a company and simply acknowledge the product is fine but the advertising is insulting? All advertising does is make our youth mask who they are inside and create an image on brand name clothing. There is something amiss in this situation. Sneakers should not cost what they cost, jeans shouldn’t either. Both are basic necessities.
Our fashion statement to the world brought to you by MTV or VH1? Or the best coffee available on any street corner in the United States of America provided by Starbucks, Inc? Take your laptop and you can sit there all day and drink their expensive coffee and surf the net. I believe this is a wonderful country, however, I believe were a little off track. Perhaps other countries do not want to participate in our globalization. Perhaps those countries see us as an imperial power in an expansion mode. Is it at all possible some countries see us for what we are?
American’s are probably the hardest working people in the world. We spend most of our money trying to live and our extra money trying to get a little more. Our taxes balloon every year to new heights. Our liability to the government is rising not reducing, some one eventually will have to pay for all the bombs we drop. How do we consider ourselves the most modern of nations when our murder rate is the highest? How do we consider ourselves the most advanced when we consume more cocaine then any other nation? How do we call ourselves a democracy when we have mandatory minimums for first time offenders? How are we a kinder and gentler nation when we execute so many in this country? It appears that justice is blind to those that can afford it, to those that cannot justice sees all.
I read a quote in a book once, where an individual said that American citizens wouldn’t know the difference between a good or bad government. I hate to say it but there is some truth there. Most Americans are blind to what democracy is and should be. Are American’s really better then the rest of the world? Is our way so right?
Truthfully I don’t know and probably will never know. However, I want truth not corporateLIESation, I want culture, I want more choice then either or. I want the subculture of our society to continue to exist. I don’t want America to be the defenders of the so called free world. I want America to solve its own problems before we dictate how the rest of the world should be.
Ben Franklin said it best, “The king’s cheese is half wasted in parings; but no matter, ‘tis made of the peoples milk.â€
Frank M. Ahearn |
Copyright by the author. All rights reserved. |
