we live in a corporate dictatorship

El_Kabong · May 2008

corporations control our media, our view of the world and life. they tell us who is electable and realistic. essentially they tell us who to vote for. it's obvious how much of our governmental policy is catered towards corporate interests and lobbyists have more sway than me and you.

so why play along? the only person who can make a candidate unelectable is you.

Urban Hiker · May 2008

The vast majority have sold their souls for shiny cars, cell phones, houses with yards and a boob tube to alert them of what they can get for just a little more apathy.

Abookamongstthemany · May 2008

Urban Hiker wrote:

The vast majority have sold their souls for shiny cars, cell phones, houses with yards and a boob tube to alert them of what they can get for just a little more apathy.

SO TRUE!!!

El_Kabong · May 2008

Urban Hiker wrote:

The vast majority have sold their souls for shiny cars, cell phones, houses with yards and a boob tube to alert them of what they can get for just a little more apathy.

The American Dream

I wanna live in a gated community
I wanna live my life in total apathy
I want corporate op/ed channels to form my opinions for me
Pump me full of fear so I can cling to your distractions
I want to just accept your wild rationalizations
Tell me what to buy so I can fit in
I wanna live my life by what the TV tells me
I'd stop and think for myself but I'm far too busy
I don't wanna know about your problems
I can't afford to help ya cos i'm defined by my possesions
I don't care if you don't have enough, only that I have more
I'm not gonna help cos I'm a greedy little whore
I want to consume overprocessed food and bottled water
the newest usesless contraption for a few months until they come out with something better
I buy magazines just to find out who I'm supposed to be.

Urban Hiker · May 2008

El_Kabong wrote:

The American Dream

I wanna live in a gated community
I wanna live my life in total apathy
I want corporate op/ed channels to form my opinions for me
Pump me full of fear so I can cling to your distractions
I want to just accept your wild rationalizations
Tell me what to buy so I can fit in
I wanna live my life by what the TV tells me
I'd stop and think for myself but I'm far too busy
I don't wanna know about your problems
I can't afford to help ya cos i'm defined by my possesions
I don't care if you don't have enough, only that I have more
I'm not gonna help cos I'm a greedy little whore
I want to consume overprocessed food and bottled water
the newest usesless contraption for a few months until they come out with something better
I buy magazines just to find out who I'm supposed to be.

Hehe. It would be fun to mail this to all of the houses in a gated community.

inmytree · May 2008

Urban Hiker wrote:

The vast majority have sold their souls for shiny cars, cell phones, houses with yards and a boob tube to alert them of what they can get for just a little more apathy.

question: Do you own any of the following: car, house, tv, cell phone?

polaris · May 2008

all that is wrong in america can be summed up by what i witnessed while in florida a couple of weeks ago:

in the middle of the day in a cul de sac, a man lives maybe with his wife in a big house (maybe 4 bedrooms) and a huuuge yard ... he stands on his driveway and begins to powerwash his driveway inch by inch ... temperatures around the 90's ... for 45 minutes he's running water full bore to clean his driveway that as far as we could see had no dirt ...

all along the interstates in florida are signs of conserving water - but this guy is using it to clean his driveway ... excessive waste of a precious resource by someone living far beyond his needs ... and he does this why? ... because he can - and that is the "american way" ...

Collin · May 2008

"Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn’t watching. [...] Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed. [...] He’s making sure your attention is always filled. [...] With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what’s in your mind. With everyone’s imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world."

Chuck Palahniuk

Collin · May 2008

inmytree wrote:

question: Do you own any of the following: car, house, tv, cell phone?

I don't think he meant everyone who owns a car, house, tv or cell phone sold his soul. I think he's saying more and more people consider these things and the pursuit of these things more important than anything else, it has become their purpose to own more. They need to have the newest cell phone, the biggest tv, the biggest house... These are things they don't really need, they can easily live without them. They're working jobs, to earn more money, so they can buy more and spend more... But it's not necessary at all. They associate happiness with new things. It's becoming an addiction.

Materialism.

RolandTD20Kdrummer · May 2008

Don't buy useless things you don't need to survive.

If you own a house, plant a garden. If I lived more southernly where the growing season is much longer I'd be pretty much eating for free, and only buying meat when necessary, and on sale.

Unless you're loaded and you interest outruns your spending habits, you're only promoting them to carry on and maintain their control over you financially.

I would love to break free completely.

farfromglorified · May 2008

El_Kabong wrote:

corporations control our media, our view of the world and life. they tell us who is electable and realistic. essentially they tell us who to vote for. it's obvious how much of our governmental policy is catered towards corporate interests and lobbyists have more sway than me and you.

so why play along? the only person who can make a candidate unelectable is you.

Your candidate is unelectable, regardless of the "corporate dictatorship" we live under. Furthermore, your use of the words "our media" is disturbing -- it's their media. If you want media, create your own. Finally, the irony is thick in your complaints about "corporate interests and lobbyists". People like you have been calling for a government "for the people" forever, yet you fail to even understand that your "people" is also a subset, just like theirs. I'd try not to be so disappointed when someone else simply plays your game better than you do.

RainDog · May 2008

Collin wrote:

Materialism.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

From Websters: The doctrine of belief that matter is God, or that there is no God except matter and the universe; pantheism.

And the American Heritage dictionary of Culture Literacy: In philosophy, the position that nothing exists except matter — things that can be measured or known through the senses. Materialists deny the existence of spirit, and they look for physical explanations for all phenomena. Thus, for example, they trace mental states to the brain or nervous system, rather than to the spirit or the soul. Marxism, because it sees human culture as the product of economic forces, is a materialist system of beliefs.

RainDog · May 2008

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

Don't buy useless things you don't need to survive.

Like a computer?

farfromglorified · May 2008

RainDog wrote:

Like a computer?

LOL...it never gets old

Kann · May 2008

RainDog wrote:

You say that like it's a bad thing.

From Websters: The doctrine of belief that matter is God, or that there is no God except matter and the universe; pantheism.

And the American Heritage dictionary of Culture Literacy: In philosophy, the position that nothing exists except matter — things that can be measured or known through the senses.

I find it's a sad doctrine, it does kill imagination.

farfromglorified · May 2008

Kann wrote:

I find it's a sad doctrine, it does kill imagination.

Imagination is a very material thing.

Kann · May 2008

farfromglorified wrote:

Imagination is a very material thing.

How is that? It involves none of the 5 senses?

RainDog · May 2008

While I agree that corporations excert an enormous amount of influence in our society, a popularly elected president still has to be popularly elected - i.e. gets most of the votes. "The people," however, seem to be shrinking into a smaller and smaller subset of the population.

And to that population? Well, if they're all fooled, then the most rational short term solution is to do away with democracy. After all, as far as I can tell, people are voting for the wrong candidates. And I'm being honest with that last sentence.

But the sentence before? What if they're not all fooled? What if, by it's very nature, large scale democracy (like a presidential election), always trends toward the "mushy middle"? That the media doesn't report on fringe candidates as much, because "the people" simply aren't interested in them? Or are "the people" not interested in them because the media won't report? Real chicken or the egg situation right there.

Rationally, a "fringe" or "radical" candidate cannot be elected president, because then that candidate would cease to be "radical" or "fringe." Louisiana is vastly different than Oregon - but it helps for a candidate to try and reach the most in both; and, let's be honest, our similarities are pretty bland.

farfromglorified · May 2008

Kann wrote:

How is that? It involves none of the 5 senses?

Imagination involves many of the senses, but that's not the issue here. The issue here is whether or not imagination is material, and it very much is. Are you of the belief that imagination is some rootless product of the ether? Imagination stems from your brain, and the material structures that comprise it. Damn the material and you damn imagination.

Strangest Tribe · May 2008

I agree with the OP. To a certain extent we still have to play the game. You can choose to cut yourself loose from society but IMO that's only one step above suicide.

I kinda follow Jello Biafra's MO... Plant seeds of change every day... There are simple things you can do everyday with the materials you possess.

If you are tech oriented there's all sorts of tomfoolery you can partake in.

Go into enemy territory and look for shit to fuck-up.

Send in all those cards that are stuffed inside magazines with free postage. Send a subscription of Guns and Ammo to the vacant house down the street, or better yet send a Playboy subscription to that vile church down the lane.

Have fun being a debaser

farfromglorified · May 2008

RainDog wrote:

That the media doesn't report on fringe candidates as much, because "the people" simply aren't interested in them? Or are "the people" not interested in them because the media won't report?

I suspect that the answer is a compromise between the two, with a heavier dose of the first.

The media, by its nature, needs to report to people what they believe the people are interested in seeing. However, the media does not know what the people are interested in seeing with any kind of glorious accuracy. As such, it has to accept the risk of guessing, to some extent. And reporting on a charasmatic major party candidate well known to the electorate is a much safer bet than reporting on fringe candidates or unknowns.

The positive answer to your second question above is partly disproven by people here and many elsewhere who do seek out information on fringe candidates and find countless media sources from which they can glean information. Those people, however, are a severe minority and their sources reflect that.

I think the fact of the matter is that if you were to take two media sources with equal reach and have the first devote its attention to a broad review of candidates and races while having the second obsess on a select few issues or candidates, the second outlet would receive many more willing eyeballs. Maybe that's sad, maybe it's not, but it is what it is.

we live in a corporate dictatorship

Comments

Categories