Trending: greed

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

The value of dislike

On Facebook, we are able to express out opinions or our presence only by no action or by using the like button. The comments are nor here nor there, but negative comments can be considered trolling - I am not sure who establishes the thin line here between not agreeing and being offensive. Anyway, the mighty button is oriented versus "Like" and this might be not just a random thing. People are forcibly pushed towards tolerating everything and being ashamed of not liking stuff. The dis-likers must be mute and ashamed of themselves...

Well, disagreeing verbally or in a written comment is not such a bad thing - it is an educated form of expressing an opinion, and it can lead to clearing up repressed feelings, that otherwise would miscellaneously erupt or would distort people bit by bit. Being able to dislike things or people in a social, acceptable manner  actually is a valuable asset. It is against the current of nowadays, I admit. But the humanity should be sincere. If on the inside we are not at the point of being a huge fraternity, we shouldn't lie about it on the outside.  Yet, it is recommended to be optimistic, tolerant, polite and as much as possible emphasize one's connections to the others rather than one's particularities, but more important that all these should be honesty. If someone feels different, his thoughts and reasoning should come to the surface...

Not to be content is a right for whose expression people fought in different times. Without the "not content" ones how could the world have changed time and time again? Inventions have appeared because someone had not been content with the speed of the horse cart, with the light of a torch, with the rules already established. It is the circle of life that the ex-criticizers become the new critique-es.

The right to speak your heart or to not be content is sold in our days, is renounced because people are entangled in circles. It kind of goes without saying that we should like the policies of the company we work for, its sympathies and its friends, or of the person who in a corrupt system manages to help us with a problem, or that we should adopt gradually the ideas that prevail in the city, neighborhood or family we are in. It's a big no-no to have an independent stand and sadly it is completely uninteresting for the other people. The disliker is not even raising curiosity, and the modern psychology took care of that by labeling this attitude as one of social failure and attributing dark possible reasons to it.

Sometimes I do not like my own outcome, sometimes the things others do. Some other times, I do not even like other specific people, and this is not out of rudeness, it is an educated dislike. And it is my right and the right of each of us. We kind of use it anyway, so why be hypocrite about it? Why pretend we are the number one fan of all and anyone whom we meet and fill ourselves with resentments meanwhile...

A healthy - expressed dislike has its own value and it is a way to be sincere and to part the water around us and see the path towards the ones we share opinions with, towards the ones whom we naturally like and we feel comfortable around because we can be ourselves in their presence.

Complicated

I have heard a legend. Apparently, some artists, actors, entertainers dare not to force themselves to be gadget wizards and have some old phones and dim-looking computers, that sometimes they don't even know to manipulate. Some of them even declared to hit, throw or dismantle their gadgets at times. OMG. As many times as you care to repeat this overrated acronym.Computernym.

But this is a luxury few can afford. Openly complaining about how complicated our world has become. Having some people listen to you while doing this... For the regular Joe, complaining about some annoying endless mandatory shits that come with every technical appliance or with any human endeavor is admitting he or she is modern stupid.

Modern stupid is not the regular stupid, he can think, read, write, and has good if not sometimes brilliant ideas. But he has no portofolio, experience, know how, technical abilities, and generally a proneness to all kind of time-wasting- futile gestures that "are required" in order to this or that. 

All this fuss about the newest gizmo and all the manuals about mastering photoshop and windows or the brilliant ted speeches, seminars and other yaky brands and their cocky-ness are not liked by the MS (modern stupid) - and the lack of proper caps lock is intended. So are the invented words - if technology has invaded our language in so many ways, who says we cannot make words ourselves. We, the humans. Not the geekiest, not the illiterate-st. 

I am not against the progress in technology, nope. But they just forgot to wrap up the progress in some easier interfaces lately. And changing and progressing everyday can be just as boring as not changing at all. Everyday there is an upgrade, a new look, a better format, a renewed image, and now they are becoming violent too. They pop, open by themselves, poke, alert, warn. Move to that, change to this or...you will be outdated, not work properly, be ostracized, may experience problems, blah, blah...shit. 

So, I do not want to fill in tons of forms before I get to do this or that, especially considering that I was not so much decided I wanted to do that in the first place. I do not want to register, log in, promise, engage, pledge, sign contracts, agree and so on every effing time I am trying to just be casual. Just sample, see, try, stay close to the exit if I wanna change my mind. Even for doing volunteer work people have to prove themselves - fill in, sign, apply, confirm, travel, interview; how absurd. Too complicated. 

And I will not upgrade to this or that, no matter how annoying the pop ups are, and how persistently they tell me that a "new more exiting" something just appeared. I know, I know...one day "they" will have upgraded me nilly-willy, or blocked mt MS cozy old format. 

A simple AARGH should suffice.