Greed has many faces. The way I see it here, it pushes the modern society in all its corners towards a future that has no shape yet, a dangerous future maybe, created by the ever changing present, bursting into future as a chemical compound still reacting would reverberate in new shapes.
Source: an ordinary TV show, like many others" Mary, Queen of Shops. Youtube, I tube, we all tube and can easily get an idea about what this type of shows is about. It's about forming the opinions of the masses, shaping a way of thinking, ultimately shaping a form of human being. a mean one.
The "trend" arguments are revolving in a vicious circle: someone claims that he/she knows what is "up", "trendy", "in fashion", "popular" and states whatever stupidity with such a fanatic conviction that in fact it actually creates what he/she claims already exists. It is just another borrowed term from the real people to the manipulative system. Whether for rating, money or other more obscure reasons, the main stakes nowadays, the core of the power in social terms is the skill of manipulating.
So this basically older and not so beautiful lady, expert in shaping and branding fashion stores, comes "to the rescue" of small business, and deploys a real flood of management terms, interpersonal psychology and loss of old style common sense. Her motto "what I don't know isn't worth knowing" - she uses this arrogant expression for some of her experts, too... How does she transform the small boutiques? By bowing to the masses of young shoppers, to the celebrities and their looks (which in fact are carefully chosen - they are paid to wear various items, or they get free stuff if they subtly or not so subtly promote them), to the wacky fashion shows collections... and by raising the prices of the sold items in almost every case. Changing names, shops decorum, prices... throwing away loads of clothes that are not in fashion and do not sell well at the moment.
OK, how about the production of the new "praised" items? Are they made in Bangladesh of China by some third world slaves? Eh, why bother...
What about the materials - cotton or other natural fibers, or just the old pain in the ass unhealthy plastic? How do the clothes feel? What are the clothes we associate with memories, that we care for? Meh, who cares...
Not a word about how clothes should be infused with our unique personality, about buying wisely, about the existence of more that one category of shoppers. For this woman and this show, only the carefree youngsters with lots of money on their hands or their older corespondents matter... The fashion is given by anonymous sources, yet pinned upon this crowd of potential buyers ...
How about giving us a break with the ultra skinny figures and the unisex aspect of the people promoted nowadays in this forced culture? We are not aliens. Yet.
Normal people should come in various shapes - not pathologically obese (probably the effect of altered metabolisms, altered by pollution in water, air and food), and have differentiated faces and looks. Nobody should look like a clone of other users of the same cosmetic shop, for example...
And, to come back to the title - the greed! To pray on the peoples' weaknesses, preferences and dreams in order to get the money out of their pockets. To consider them stupid animals which deserve to be cheated and pushed around into actually wanting to pay more than less on an item, because cheap is dubious after being brainwashed that only expensive means quality. To get them to pay for the brand, for the magic keyword that some publicity shithead produces to mesmerize the crowd... To eliminate the more human competitors and keep the big money only with those who apply the same policy...
In society terms, it is almost impossible to go back to less once one has induced more. Progress is addictive. only ad hoc situations or those who shake the people from its hypnosis can stop the movement forward.
So, what the heck are we moving forward too with all this greed? Weirdly enough, playing it low and saving this and that seems to be a weird attitude. Money attracts money, abundance is the same. Living in a minimalist style - when it is not fake - when the loads of people are going the other way makes a person feel weird and lonely. Like it or not, the movement is too big and rapid in a direction that comprises greed, unhealthy materials, using more and more natural resources...
The only compass - probably covered with dust, figuratively speaking- for most of us is an intrinsic common sense. Why change this while still good? Why have 2 or 3 cars when one is enough? Why adopt the ideas of others, be them on TV, in the newspapers or on the city walls?
If these are not motivated from the inside, we are just caught in the dance of greed, mainstream, consumerism, boredom...
Yes, we are bored. The main products ruling this world are now "geek products", reality-compensating products As cruel as it was for them, geeks (although the term is somehow limited) didn't have much of a social life in recent history - hence staying inside, dreaming alternate realities, creating them later through movies, computing, books... OK so far, but from here to dragging the entire world into staring at some screens relentlessly, because the outside world is becoming more and more polluted, ugly, deserted and "not cool"... that is not OK.
The race for the modern industrialization and for progress almost always reaches a point where it goes wrong, where a useful invention is simply topped with some useless features in order to "sell" and "keep it going"... and in the process the earth is drained of its beauty and resources. The once normal people feel alienated in this weird universe where most of us don't even understand what we are doing, using machines through an users' interface as much as we are allowed to, without really understanding how these machines work. the bigger this gap, the more not normal and insane it is... Practically many have become stupid moving among notions and machines completely strange to them.
For the humans is horrible - we need to understand, to interact with the others and with the nature and planet. We need to feel in control and happy because our thinking structure - typical, classical, call it however you want - is being engaged in useful actions and thoughts. Why not be needed and appreciated for a clever everyday idea, for a kind heart, for a sense of humor? Why be useful only in terms of skills, money, trends and progress?
Why no greed equals no good life? Even the self help tones of books, the spiritual healing teachings (at least the ones who fill all the libraries' shelves) teach people to be greedy and selfish: find YOUR way, spoil YOURself, change YOUR life, be the kindest, say the most prayers, save YOURself when the world would end... Why, may I ask? Again with the competition and the race, with the improvement and the progress...
I will not enter into maybe another topic, but something is fishy here, considering how much the mainstream ideas share in their core with the supposedly their opponent philosophies. The same "hook" techniques, the same "sell-buy-convince" vibe...
Stop with the greed, or at least assume it for what it is, and stop pretending that other things are motivating various actions, when its slithering shape can be easily guessed underneath the so called reasons
Showing posts with label modern society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label modern society. Show all posts
Thursday, 4 April 2013
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Work
Via the same site quoted in my last post : "hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing to do" (Oscar Wilde).
I would say these words are witty. I would also add that I used to know and still do know quite a few persons to whom these apply.
Moreover, I would extend this nugget of truth to a present truth: after decades of brainwashing people into the idea that work is a must, a natural requirement and a duty, even if it turns out not to be the right work for a person, not the activity sprung out of his or her talent, we now live in a society that for the masses is made by workaholics and creates workaholics.
Maybe the link is a simple psychological step: an empty life pushes a person towards an unhealthy addiction for work, after which, by a mean, robotic effect, the standards of time spent working are set by this type of persons, thus leading to empty lives for those who would not have had such alienations.
What do I mainly remember about my working parents? That usually they were... not there. Time went by, and they were working and working, until my feelings of something missing turned into indifference. And it was the same for many of my friends.
Why are some hating so much what makes people better? Spending time with one's family, getting bored sometimes, celebrating through the year, taking a walk in the park, slowing down the hectic crazy rhythms of today's life...
It is a huge lie that people should be extremely busy while working because there is no alternative. There are professions which require a presence per time duration, indeed. one cannot do his job and then go home because he fulfilled his duty for that day, even if he managed to be very skilled and did what one had to do quickly - in some jobs. In these positions the full days of work should be compensated by free days, by alternating with a job partner.
But most of the jobs, the huge mass of the less qualified jobs, presume tasks that can be completed quicker by certain individuals. An average worker would do the standard amount of work in X hours. but if one does it in X minus t, why not let him go home for the day, if the job is well done?
Because it would create a precedent in flexibility and freedom. I read somewhere that the Nordic countries are actually trying such different approaches to work. But such news are unpopular, they are barely seen in the spotlight, they might give ideas to the people so hardly forged by the evil twins: socialism and capitalism.
Better make fixed amount of work per fixed number of hours, and if someone is managing to get everything done quicker, keep him at work to get bored and to use his time in vain, or (the modern management idea) throw some more work at him, taking advantage of vague contract provisions and of the power position the employer is in in such "crisis" times...
Thus the personal life is turned into dust permanently, the classes are kept separated by falsely created privileges (the mere worker is glued to his post so many hours, while the manager is mobile, yet has to account - officially- for his whereabouts). The rich dad can, if he makes a mentality effort - spend more time with his kids, the poor dad barely has quality time to spend with them. The firm has to consume electricity and space to cover for all the exaggerated task-time work dynamics.
Some, giving more freedom to their employees, give them work to do wherever, if the activity permits: at home, in the park and so on. Not supplementary work, just work. As long as you deliver on time, you can choose where you function better. Reciprocal advantage. You use your home electricity to power the computer, but you can watch your kids playing in yard in the same time.
Caring for people and growing intelligent future generations apparently is labeled as a luxury. Not many states are bothering to try human approaches to work. Most just apply the street rules and push around some paperwork to pretend they are supporting the human rights. And the "human rights" package, actually mocked enough in the modern society aka counting in the bigger more developed states and being just a prop in the less powerful ones, should be a minimum, not something for granted, never to be surpassed...
Why bother to even talk about state policy - some think. A new decoy is trendy nowadays, the idea that the state is expected to do nothing because the citizens have taken it upon themselves to manage their problems, individually or in smaller communities. I would say it is a nice idea for a theory, yet a very transparent excuse for the faults of the state and those who are "milking" the state's budget remains... and the purpose is to make it seem like it is the wish of the people.
Who knows, soon the people will be convinced it is their idea, considering that this mantra of "managing ourselves" is repeated with the same dedication with which the socialist and corporatist ideas were repeated, straight into the minds of everyone.
Work should be healthy, in equilibrium with free time, and with family time. For family time is not quite free time, it is a separate type of work, forging the future through the new generations. And free time gives adults energy for both.
The best work scheme turns talent and skill into activity and rewards efficiency instead of punishing it, on all levels. An unskilled worker can come up with a new solution as much as a boss, each in his own way, and each good thing should be rewarded. And the option of taking free time should be right there, available as a reward.
Where do the ideas of "one is normal to hate his work" or "one has to suffer professionally if he if he has a family" come from? Why are they so viral? Why nowadays it is non important if someone is a drunk or an immoral person, but it is a problem if one has family obligations, in the sense that many jobs are fit with "socially free" persons rather than parents or grandparents?
Maybe the legal frame tells a different story, but when one feels ashamed to ask for some time off work because one's kids require it, while others are proud to take free time to go to the concerts or to go shopping or cure drunken headaches, the position of society over the private life via the work regime seems to tell in fact quite another thing, scripted by the people who really have nothing to do at home or in the middle of their families.
I would say these words are witty. I would also add that I used to know and still do know quite a few persons to whom these apply.
Moreover, I would extend this nugget of truth to a present truth: after decades of brainwashing people into the idea that work is a must, a natural requirement and a duty, even if it turns out not to be the right work for a person, not the activity sprung out of his or her talent, we now live in a society that for the masses is made by workaholics and creates workaholics.
Maybe the link is a simple psychological step: an empty life pushes a person towards an unhealthy addiction for work, after which, by a mean, robotic effect, the standards of time spent working are set by this type of persons, thus leading to empty lives for those who would not have had such alienations.
What do I mainly remember about my working parents? That usually they were... not there. Time went by, and they were working and working, until my feelings of something missing turned into indifference. And it was the same for many of my friends.
Why are some hating so much what makes people better? Spending time with one's family, getting bored sometimes, celebrating through the year, taking a walk in the park, slowing down the hectic crazy rhythms of today's life...
It is a huge lie that people should be extremely busy while working because there is no alternative. There are professions which require a presence per time duration, indeed. one cannot do his job and then go home because he fulfilled his duty for that day, even if he managed to be very skilled and did what one had to do quickly - in some jobs. In these positions the full days of work should be compensated by free days, by alternating with a job partner.
But most of the jobs, the huge mass of the less qualified jobs, presume tasks that can be completed quicker by certain individuals. An average worker would do the standard amount of work in X hours. but if one does it in X minus t, why not let him go home for the day, if the job is well done?
Because it would create a precedent in flexibility and freedom. I read somewhere that the Nordic countries are actually trying such different approaches to work. But such news are unpopular, they are barely seen in the spotlight, they might give ideas to the people so hardly forged by the evil twins: socialism and capitalism.
Better make fixed amount of work per fixed number of hours, and if someone is managing to get everything done quicker, keep him at work to get bored and to use his time in vain, or (the modern management idea) throw some more work at him, taking advantage of vague contract provisions and of the power position the employer is in in such "crisis" times...
Thus the personal life is turned into dust permanently, the classes are kept separated by falsely created privileges (the mere worker is glued to his post so many hours, while the manager is mobile, yet has to account - officially- for his whereabouts). The rich dad can, if he makes a mentality effort - spend more time with his kids, the poor dad barely has quality time to spend with them. The firm has to consume electricity and space to cover for all the exaggerated task-time work dynamics.
Some, giving more freedom to their employees, give them work to do wherever, if the activity permits: at home, in the park and so on. Not supplementary work, just work. As long as you deliver on time, you can choose where you function better. Reciprocal advantage. You use your home electricity to power the computer, but you can watch your kids playing in yard in the same time.
Caring for people and growing intelligent future generations apparently is labeled as a luxury. Not many states are bothering to try human approaches to work. Most just apply the street rules and push around some paperwork to pretend they are supporting the human rights. And the "human rights" package, actually mocked enough in the modern society aka counting in the bigger more developed states and being just a prop in the less powerful ones, should be a minimum, not something for granted, never to be surpassed...
Why bother to even talk about state policy - some think. A new decoy is trendy nowadays, the idea that the state is expected to do nothing because the citizens have taken it upon themselves to manage their problems, individually or in smaller communities. I would say it is a nice idea for a theory, yet a very transparent excuse for the faults of the state and those who are "milking" the state's budget remains... and the purpose is to make it seem like it is the wish of the people.
Who knows, soon the people will be convinced it is their idea, considering that this mantra of "managing ourselves" is repeated with the same dedication with which the socialist and corporatist ideas were repeated, straight into the minds of everyone.
Work should be healthy, in equilibrium with free time, and with family time. For family time is not quite free time, it is a separate type of work, forging the future through the new generations. And free time gives adults energy for both.
The best work scheme turns talent and skill into activity and rewards efficiency instead of punishing it, on all levels. An unskilled worker can come up with a new solution as much as a boss, each in his own way, and each good thing should be rewarded. And the option of taking free time should be right there, available as a reward.
Where do the ideas of "one is normal to hate his work" or "one has to suffer professionally if he if he has a family" come from? Why are they so viral? Why nowadays it is non important if someone is a drunk or an immoral person, but it is a problem if one has family obligations, in the sense that many jobs are fit with "socially free" persons rather than parents or grandparents?
Maybe the legal frame tells a different story, but when one feels ashamed to ask for some time off work because one's kids require it, while others are proud to take free time to go to the concerts or to go shopping or cure drunken headaches, the position of society over the private life via the work regime seems to tell in fact quite another thing, scripted by the people who really have nothing to do at home or in the middle of their families.
Monday, 31 December 2012
Greatest toy ever made
The slinky was invented by an engineer... all those those studies blooming into a toy!
The Internet is kind of the same, a serious thing turned into a toy by the millions of people that give it this purpose. it is the most versatile toy ever... its only flaw is that it cannot be felt, touched, it is mono dimensional.
Probably some serious adults are planning right now to confiscate it, one way or another...
Aren't toys always used as a means to condition the kids who became too independent?
Yet it will remain in our lives or in our memory as the greatest toy ever made... at least in the minds of those who were childish enough to take it as such, for laughs, pictures, games and stories.
It Chaucer was saying in Napoleon of Notting Hill that God may have created the world as a joke, yet the people transformed it by taking the joke seriously... then the Internet might have been created as a serious matter by some grumpy adults, yet it has been transformed by the childish of us into a toy...
Happy New Year 2013, lots of laughs and play nicely!
The Internet is kind of the same, a serious thing turned into a toy by the millions of people that give it this purpose. it is the most versatile toy ever... its only flaw is that it cannot be felt, touched, it is mono dimensional.
Probably some serious adults are planning right now to confiscate it, one way or another...
Aren't toys always used as a means to condition the kids who became too independent?
Yet it will remain in our lives or in our memory as the greatest toy ever made... at least in the minds of those who were childish enough to take it as such, for laughs, pictures, games and stories.
It Chaucer was saying in Napoleon of Notting Hill that God may have created the world as a joke, yet the people transformed it by taking the joke seriously... then the Internet might have been created as a serious matter by some grumpy adults, yet it has been transformed by the childish of us into a toy...
Happy New Year 2013, lots of laughs and play nicely!
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