Italian neo-realism never had a better student.
Colour photography, something we take for granted today, is a century old. When I say colour in the context of early photography, I don’t mean those somewhat cheesy, tinted black and white pictures. Rather, a technology that allowed Prokudin-Gorskiy to study, develop and take colored pictures a century ago.
The man, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskiy, was an interesting character. From a privileged background, he elected to pursue a career in science (chemistry) and the arts (painting and music), which culminated in his pursuit of photography and its technology.
I wonder whether his privileged background helped him to get Russia’s sovereign, Tsar Nicholas’s, interest and, more importantly, the funding that allowed Prokudin-Gorskiy to pursue his long-term goal to photograph the Russia of his time, i.e., before the 1918 revolution. His Russian album spans quite a few years: from 1908 to 1918. It would seem that the comrades were not quite the tsar’s replacement that Sergei Mikhailovich may have hoped for. It was time to leave for safer shores. Luckily, many of his pictures have survived to our day. It’s worth taking time out, an hour or so, to go back in time.
While viewing the pictures, keep in mind the dates when the pictures were taken. As an amateur photographer, I have come to take for granted the current technology that allows me to quickly take pictures and “clean” them up with the help of Aperture. Viewing Prokudin-Gorskiy’s pictures a century later it was hard for me to remember this, and keep the jaw from dropping and staying open while viewing the vistas and visages of places and people now long gone.
As I look at the photo of Leo Tolstoy (left), I cannot help but wonder what would have Count Lev Nikolayevich made of the monsters who had destroyed his world as they worked on creating the workers’ “paradise”? What would have he made of our contemporary Man’s bestiality that allows him to bomb a far away wedding by means of an unmanned aircraft, manipulated by a uniformed gamer in New Jersey?
Looking at these pictures I had to wonder what was life really like at the time the shutter snapped to memorize that particular day and its protagonists. History is written by one’s contemporaries who are burdened with their own agendas and resulting need to sell their own interpretation of the long ago days now committed to the Past. As I slowly took in the old pictures, I couldn’t help but wonder about the subjective definition of the word truth, i.e. truthiness: a concept conceived by a presidential (#43) intellectual and philosopher.
History is not the only object of such manipulation. So, too, are the scientists as workers-for-hire. To expect objectivity from same tries one’s trust and faith in the outcome. The global warming hoopla with its questionable data is one such example. Or Big Pharma’s preference to invest in massive marketing and TV advertising, rather than honest and responsible research and testing. The swine flu hysteria – is Pharma’s most recent such effort.
History, also, is a tool for manipulating the end result, i.e., the student’s perceptions of same, with the aim to instill the illusion that never had humanity had it so good as what the here and now has on offer. The most egregious example are history books written to meet the expectations of those who will allow these into schools. Or forbid those or others from these same schools. The local pooh-bahs make sure of that. After all, the purpose of schooling in our day, or so it would seem, is to teach the masses to know how to fill out a simple employment form, and to be able to locate the on/off and mute buttons on the remote. Telling a hamburger from a cheeseburger is no longer a matter of reading the menu. The ability to point to a picture is all you need. A picture that was taken with a digital camera. The great-great grandchild of S.M. Prokudin-Gorskiy’s camera.
If you have time to spare and just cannot bring yourself to watch another hour of TV trash, make yourself comfortable in your very own Time Machine, a/k/a the sofa, and visit with those who had never heard of computers, digital cameras, fast food joints, even robotic drones. A time when the public health-care option consisted of a visit with the local healer at a price that enhanced the latter’s pantry.
© 2010
Our collective consciousness loves the myth of the “lone wolf”, “the maverick”, and “rugged individual” – all seemingly lonely solitary individuals able to function outside social groupings. Those who venerate these creatures forgot that those heroes are only a literary symbol for the tribe, the group, society, even a nation. A single allegorical heroic figure is an easier, cleaner vehicle with which to convey the journey of Man, i.e., humanity, within the context of the myth’s lesson. Let’s not forget that Hercules needed those certain members of the Greek pantheon to help him carry out his heroic deeds. That Don Quixote could not survive without his sidekick, Sancho Pansa. Jesus needed no fewer than a dozen Apostles to carry out and spread his message. Buddha needed the energy of no less than the Universe to achieve his Enlightenment. The God of the monotheistic religions needs every one of the inter-connected links among the faithful to realise and perpetuate his/her principles. (Let’s leave the corruption of same by the weak links for another occasion).
To lift a symbolic figure out of its context and apply it in its literal meaning to society corrupts the essential esprit de corps of the group, tribe or society by, at worse, invalidating, or at least, weakening, the group’s co-operative essence. This, of course, serves the interests of those who need a weak, fractured, warring and quarrelling community to exploit it to the Prince’s advantage.
In fact, the Prince is the best example that the individual cannot function effectively without his own clique, circle or community. Any one of the latter had to first convert the Prince’s idea into a strategy, then exercise it. The Prince and his group are, indeed, like a body: the head’s brilliant ideas are useless without the rest of the body’s components working in tandem – driving, feeding and transforming the ephemeral concept into its tangible manifestation.
Machiavelli’s Prince is our ultimate myth about, and warning against, the illusory and dangerous “lone wolf”. On the other hand, the myth of the Jungle Boy is a clear lesson that an individual needs a family to survive into a constructive, disciplined and creative member of society. However disparate, whatever the idiosyncrasy of each such family member. I expect that a psychologist would add that any individual who elects, or is forced, to function outside the herd or tribe is a seriously ill creature, desperately in need of society’s urgent help. The terms psychopath, sociopath, were invented to define this sad separation from the gorgeous human tapestry wherein every detail is relevant and essential to the whole. Every time we lose a fellow wo/man to his/her sad loneliness, we’ve just lost a part of ourselves.
The most sorrowful example of the latter are the soldiers who had participated in the execrable War on Humanity a/k/a “war on terror”. Many of those young and impressionable minds were brutalised to abandon their humanity to become an effective, mindless and unquestioning killing machine. (If you haven’t yet seen it, check out the film “The Hill”, to see how it’s done.) The returning young men and women who are trying to re-integrate into society and who are filled with the delayed realisation of the overwhelming barbarity of their actions, find that there is no money to fund the necessary organisations to help them. That money is needed to recruit more impressionable and easy to break kids, at the price of $1M/per annum of your and my tax moneys per soldier to feed the war machinery. That leaves the system with little to no money to create a safety net to catch the walking-talking killing machines hailed as heroes by the War Department’s PR hypocrites, before the loose canons kill innocents at a shopping mall and/or themselves. I find the latter a cruel barbarity of unimaginative monstrosity. To die with a realisation that one’s entire life has been a lie and deserving of a self-inflicted bullet to one’s head…
The creation of the European Union with the eager and willing participation of its members points to the rediscovery of our tribal roots and understanding that each community has unique gifts to share with other communities which are just as unique and special, different yet equal, designed to enhance our common quality of life. It is up to us to guard against “lone wolves” of the Tony Blair variety, who forgot his role as a temporary hire and servant of the People in his petty parochial pursuit of the thotchkes of the rich and in the service of the twice self-appointed evil Prince and his depraved enabling henchmen.
These disturbing thoughts notwithstanding, I choose to remain an optimist. The world’s population consists of an overwhelming majority of good, kind, supportive, smart, generous and co-operative individuals, each one essential to the functioning of society: whether a neighbourhood or a community of nations. We will, eventually, figure out a way to curb the evil-doers’ enthusiastic theft of our decency, respect and desire to know, work and play with each other.
©2010
Nah, I don’t do resolutions anymore. Yup. I tried, for a couple of years. Not my style. Don’t get me wrong. I made the lists with bestest of intentions, but Life got in the way in a manner that didn’t quite rhyme with my reality.
But there is one thing I like to do around the New Year and that is to imagine and wish for lots of happy days, to meet good people, to spend more time with friends, to discover great and yet unread books, see fascinating places, to not have to worry about the pedestrian aspects of life, for the parochial world leaders to choose to negotiate for the opportunity to participate in each others’ wealth, for doctors to deal primarily with prevention, for iRobot/MIT to invent a window washing gizmo, for left-turning cars to use their lights, for angelic traffic cops who can tell a silly oops! moment from bad driving (met one of those a few weeks ago – a very Happy 2010, Officer Sir!), for pharmaceutical companies to test their drugs before they put them on the market, for bankers to help you and me with their know-how to manage our funds, for someone to like my screenplay, for my dog to stop stealing the cats’ food, for spammers to get a life…
You know, regular stuff.
But most importantly – that we all remember that in two years, and according to the Mayan calendar, a New Era of One Thousand Years of Peace is supposed to get underway. Why not start to rehearse for 2012 with this New Year?
My wish for 2010 is that each Wo/Man start practicing everyday compassionate understanding, loving kindness and charitable grace. That we each one of us discover the magical power of our uniqueness and employ it to our own and our Fellow Life Travelers’ benefit and well-being.
Happy New Year! May all your dreams come true, may you know only success, happiness and good fortune in the coming year and all the years to follow!
© 2009
Christmas in not a pine tree, the lights, the ornaments, the suspense while ripping thru the colourful wrappings. Not even the, hopefully, desired toy inside the box. Rather, it is the Spirit of our shared Fellowship of Inclusion, Tolerance and Magnanimity.
In the Spirit of the Holidays, let’s reach for the best in each one of us, forgive those whose unkind weaknesses have in an inconsiderate manner toyed with our emotions, hopes and expectations in the past, and learn to ignore the one’s yet to be aimed at us.
We are, each one of us, unique and powerful individuals of the kind the Universe has never seen before. Let’s connect with our common Spirit of gentle affection and sacred humanity, enjoy the Holiday Season and take from it the best that Life has to offer. Let the warmth, joy and promise of fulfilled dreams and ambitions carry each one of us to that Perfect Place for which we all strive.
There is not a lot of anything outside of Family and Friends that will take place between now and the weekend after the New Year. Let’s soak up and share the Spirit of fun, love and compassion for each other and may it carry each one of us to our already envisioned Destination.
There will be enough occasions that will test our patience, even Good Will, after the holidays. Whenever a thoughtless word or deed brings you down, remember this time, give it up to the Universe to deal with the unpleasantness and impotence of others as you tap into our common desire and vision for success and happiness and may the latter land you, soon, in the place that will see your dreams come true.
I hope that you will accept the gift of my Spirit of care, compassion and charity. If we don’t practice this, who will?
A very happy Christmas and magical New Year to each one of Us!
© 2009
To say that we’re experiencing the Chinese curse (revenge?) of living in interesting times, is an understatement. Its most egregious aspect is the workplace whose waxing and waning may not move a drop of water in any ocean but which impacts the employed and unemployed in almost equal measure. At present, one-half is worried that they’re too young, don’t have enough experience or skills. The other half worries about the exact opposite, and the effect of their age. For a good reason.
The latter are the former Flower Children and their Baby Boom playmates who have lived through the b/s fantasy called the Generation Gap. The gullible and idealistic generation who dragged the nation fully and finally into the 20th century and who allowed themselves to be manipulated by corporate America which had successfully tapped into their spending habits all the way to the new and current Depression, part deux. If you want to understand how it happened, watch Julian Curtis’s brilliant documentary “The Century of the Self“, available on Google (video).
The generation whose taxes contributed to the nation’s bailout in the aftermath of Wall Street’s excesses of the 1920s, secured a decent standard of living and medical care for the survivors of the 1929 Depression, funded the GI Bill, wars of oppression by the wannabe empire, and most importantly, saved these United States from total and utter earlier collapse – these Baby Boomers are now cultivating a paranoia about losing their jobs because of their age and hard-earned experience that more than a few employers think unworthy of a decent salary. Indeed, corporate America, in its mortifying stupidity, expects to repeat its success of the 60s and 70s by sucking up to the current teens and 20-somethings. The times have, however, definitely a-changed. The quality of the current Grads’ education is tragically inferior to that of the now wilting Flower Children. The newly minted Grads’ income, derived from stuffing store shelves and flipping burgers, is not good enough to buy the many overpriced toys, they are in debt, even living with parents whom corporate America is laying off to afford the bonuses for the banksters and other boardroom beasts. The age factor is employed, yet again, on the premise that it worked 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
Divide et impera worked well in Antiquity’s days, and still does. The contemporary generations are pitted against each other so that the putrid puppet masters can profit from the populace divided because of their… age?
Truth be told, most employers do not care much about the applicants’ age, as long as their experience is relevant to the advertised job and how one comes across during an interview. The current market favours the employers who want unpaid or basic wage interns (the young), and cheaply bought experience (the older). The freebie Grads are rarely given the opportunity to learn anything of consequence that they can parley into a résumé asset. Such free labour, theoretically, liberates the salaried (older) employees to pull double duty – one’s own and that of the person recently laid off, with no money to compensate for this doubling. It doesn’t help that the employers add insult to injury by announcing an indefinite freeze on all raises and bonuses for the rank and file workers. Even worse, invent inflated titles to rid themselves of their legal obligation to pay for OT.
Older and experienced workers are hired if they agree to accept a lower, much lower salary than what was considered compensation commensurate with experience and education 15+ years ago. Low wages have been made even lower as a result of the 60+% rise of the price of groceries and taxes ratcheted up during the last 18 months.
This, of course, makes further mockery of the illusory “job recovery”. The disappearing disposable income in turn impacts all businesses which make non essential products or provide non essential services. How many malls will go dark after Christmas? How many more neighbourhoods will be bulldozed to discourage desperate squatters? When will children, already afflicted with malnutrition, start to die of hunger in these United States?
All of this adds to the escalating workplace wars where the Grads looking for a job come to resent the older workers whom they perceive to be holding on to jobs that they, the Grads, see as rightfully theirs. As a result, free and/or minimum wage labour by the resentful young entrants into the job market is often of inferior quality which, in turn, discourages the older workers from sharing any meaningful experiences for lack of time now devoted to redoing the Grads’ work. Oh, and the 40-hour work week is now history. We’re inching back to the standards from the Industrial Age written up so well by one Charles Dickens. Can debtors’ prisons be far behind?
This new generational warfare benefits the employers even further. Between the de facto “hire to fire” law and bad blood within the ranks, the employers can, and do, take advantage of this unhealthy situation. Some even go as far as to make it into a silent policy that pitches the two generations against each other. When it starts to affect the workplace, all are fired and promptly replaced with new blood. This, of course, impacts negatively the workflow, but corporate America can only see as far as the nearest quarter and their bonuses – everybody else, including the country’s future welfare – be damned! That this will sooner than any time later take a chunk out their own posteriors seems to elude the imagination of these captains of industry.
Employers can and do ask applicants if they had sued their previous employer. As a result very few abused workers will seek justice for fear of being blackballed. Furthermore, the fear of being fired forces the staff to put up with once unconscionable and illegal abuses. The vicious circle is now closed and feeding on itself. How much longer before “going postal” will affect your workplace, the local mall or hamburger joint?
In sum: age is not the issue. Neither is gender, race or religion. It’s how it fits into the big picture and whether enough people will learn to connect ALL the dots in time and before the total destruction of an economy that has been running on empty, too close to the edge, for far too long.
It has been suggested that the above paragraphs are depressing. It is not my observations that are depressing. Rather the reality and the strange predilection that so many prefer a cheerful illusion to the unvarnished truth. The oft quoted adage about “the truth will set you free” still holds.
All you need to prevail when facing any difficulty, is to realise that it is an obstacle, NOT a death sentence. I view and approach, especially big difficulties as I would deal with a big boulder that is blocking the flow of traffic in the middle of nowhere. The solution is really simple. Find a large enough object to serve as a lever and people willing to work with you – and, Viola! the stumbling block is no longer a problem. Ditto in real-life workplaces. Come together, discover your leverage as a group – and use it. What is that leverage? No business can survive without the staff that is doing the essential work. A group that works and supports each member of the group is virtually untouchable. Why? Together they deliver work of superior quality and in less time. Eureka!
The much cherished American individualism is an unhealthy and false myth. With rare exceptions, human beings cannot survive outside the herd or tribe. We NEED others to make our life’s journey a success. Corporate America’s privileged few will, in too many places, apply cruel cunning and abuse the law to further their own goals and profit. Note that they, too, function as a pack. Their leverage comes in the form of bribes taken from the business’s profits to buy their breaks They need each other and the easily bought off officials to succeed. I am hoping that my article is read as a call to abandon the unhealthy myth, to grow up and shake off our dependence on patriarchal authority and exercise our right to a fair and just workplace and community. No, not a supportive one. That’s something that each person needs to extend to one’s co-workers and neighbours.
The sooner we give up the ghost of the illusory American individualism and learn to work together, the sooner our current nightmare will be over. The unhealthy myth was designed to keep people apart, yet dependent on the authorities. The authorities serve the needs of those who gave them the power and, at present, the average individual does not fit that description.
Just look at any of the major, history changing, events: every one of them was a from the bottom up movement of regular people. Consider the overthrow of apartheid lead by Nelson Mandela or the final blow to segregation dealt by a united citizenship under the leadership of Dr. M.L. King. No, the example of the Russian revolution does not apply. That was a very skilful manipulation of the illiterate masses to further the ambitions of a gang of criminals.
Authorities, governments – are not designed to care about each person, rather to maintain the status quo. They will, however, change and be quick about it, when enough pressure is applied. In short: authorities are NOT an active force, rather a reactive one. That same principle applies to the workplace. Age, just like gender, race, religion, etc., are wedges used to separate a group into quarrelling and frightened units.
As for humanising the workplace, read “The No Asshole Rule”, by Stanford’s prof. Robert Sutton. A growing, albeit slowly, number of business are applying the book’s simple principles to great effect and considerable profit.
© 2009
Words that are commonly grouped into the verbotten four-letter category were, until recently, considered definite no-nos in polite society, including the workplace. It would appear, however, that the last decade or so has taken a bite out of this interdiction. The most significant contributors to the relaxation of these rules are mounting sources of frustration that shorten the fuse of one’s patience.
“Isn’t it a shame that people aren’t able to control their frustrations” – I was once told.
Sometimes the number and intensity of frustrations exceed the limits of the “control” factor. It is not uncommon for many workplaces to force people to work 12-hour days, and expect more than a few weekends as free gifts to the employer. In exchange for keeping one’s job, of course, and $OT – not a consideration. This in turn affects one’s R&R time with family and friends, distorting it into a perfunctory and meaningless routine. Kind of like the omnipresent, throwaway “Love ya” uttered at every occasion and just as meaningless and automatic as the “Love ya back” return. I remember a time when good natured banter was part of social get-togethers and upset no one. More and more often, people respond to a differing viewpoint by snapping back with a nasty put-down and huffy ridicule.
I don’t have a problem with the F-word. It’s a silly taboo that adds to the so many other social proscriptions designed as weapons of social control. I view it as a word which, just like any other, has its place and purpose. When used appropriately, it can, will and does – on the one hand, take the edge off stress (cheaper and healthier than prozac, and works instantly. No side effects, prudes notwithstanding.). On the other hand – it allows the souls within hearing distance to know that a situation is seriously in need of immediate attention from EVERYBODY and NOW. When the sky is about to fall, “Oh, dear me”, just doesn’t quite cut the mustard, does it?
If the workplace, or any other environment where the occasional expletive is let loose, has a liberal attitude towards certain words marked as “inappropriate” by society at large, it is not a tacit permission that allows one indiscriminate usage. I used to work with a medium power, capable and articulate executive, who was ultra liberal with her F-bombs towards those on the lower (than her) rungs of the corporate ladder. She was simultaneously extremely careful NOT to use those words when talking with males from Western countries and very high power Asians. Those restraints, however, did not apply towards women and the rest of the world to whom she did not need to defer. Clearly, in her case, the words were used not as an expression of frustration when faced with a seemingly exasperating problem. Rather, an indication of poor upbringing, arrogance and a prop needed to project a phony image to hide her low self-esteem.
My point? It’s a social agreement to use or not to use. If used, and the situation is clearly the prompting agent – let’s not get our knickers in a twist over it. However, it is not permissible when applied as a gratuitous tool consciously used to intimidate or manipulate one’s environment. Let’s fight the person’s problematic attitude, not a sound.
F-bombs do not belong in written forms of self-expression unless they are used in an otherwise impeccably written article by the likes of Matt Taibbi and the words, when used, make a very strong and eloquent (yes!) point simultaneously on many levels. Written communications that include four-letter utterances are a poor excuse for one’s frustration. Not least of all because they do nothing to solve the problem at hand. They also leave the bad taste of premeditation. After all a verbal reaction is a tiny packet of information that flies past one’s ear and is usually quickly forgotten. The written F-zingers, can be and are used as lasting proof of one’s lack of self-control, bad judgment and poor vocabulary.
No, kids should NOT be allowed to use the “forbidden” vocabulary at home or at school. This is not a prude’s admonition. Just as they must learn to crawl before they can walk, similarly they must learn the weight of each word before they utter them. A “please, may I…” makes better sense than a punch in the nose to get what one wants, no?
Lastly, many words that were once clear expressions of anger, frustration, etc., their emotional leverage has become eroded by inappropriate use, even distorted by double-speak, to serve the petty purposes of petty tyrants in position to defang the language of its once-effective arsenal of acceptable “strong” words.
© 2009
Humans are a gregarious lot, very few of whom can survive outside the herd. Submit to think and live like the rest of the herd, or kiss your hopes for a rewarding life without preconditions goodbye. Unless you are incredibly lucky to find like-minded independent kindred spirits.
I grew up in a world where spirited exchanges and original thoughts were encouraged, where thinking was the primary goal of schooling, AND being a productively creative individual within the herd was a normal expectation in an abnormal world. It was a shock when I moved to the West and was told that I’m “too heavy” to socialize with. No, it had nothing to do with my perfect figure.
Thank goodness for WP and the blog - a great way to express one’s opinions without being slammed for engaging in grown up behaviour. It, further, saves me from spending money on shrinks and/or Prozac. Heaven!
The fact that in this country the herd view is very much expected and encouraged is reflected in our current crisis. Bankers who confused diabolical infantile pranks with creative expansion/modification of services, are the result of such immaturity allowed to run free and without adult supervision. Adult, i.e., one who can and does think and act in the best interest of all concerned. Saving the herd from its own mindlessness, even apathy.
Testosterone driven machismo exercised in a “chicken race” to the edge of the cliff may belong among the half-child/half-man pack. MBAs and their peers, however, who are trying to hold on to the myth of the eternal and obstreperous child, idolised by the TV producers, take a lot more than a car and themselves when they go over the edge. They have an oversize and overstuffed cushion to land on. I don’t. Do you?
The myth of the “eternal, irresponsibly cute brat” is further propagated by the ad industry. Children and teenagers are the primary target because they’re easy to manipulate. Make it loud, crude and crass – are the only demands on the “creative talent”. To create an ad that wows an adult who is capable of having his/her own POV, rather than submitting to the herd’s dictat, seems a daunting task that makes demands on the seemingly limited abilities of some of Madison Avenue’s average majority.
Here’s an example of a great ad: http://tinyurl.com/yfldu48. All those with whom I had shared it, voloutarily elected to watch more! An advertisers dream. It’s a Brit ad, of course.
Kids and teens have little, if any, experience of real life and being part of a pack, at any price, is touted as the grand prize. The success of infantile ads is further spurred by TV and movie productions where adults are idiots, or at best, infantile nincompoops. This in turn has spawned the quest for eternal youth, where 30 is the new 60, and where grown ups shoot themselves up with botox to freeze time and their faces.
If you want to see how the ads have manipulated this country all the way to destruction by capitalising on the individual’s fear of “upsetting the apple cart” (aka the herd) and “CEO knows best” mentality, watch Julian Curtis’s phenomenal made-for-BBC documentary “The Century of The Self” (http://tinyurl.com/ycck3yb). Then check out Curtis’s other documentaries, also on Google Video, that brilliantly expose the tragedy behind the unfolding demise of the US and UK.
My Mum once tried to modify my independent streak by quoting an old proverb about the meek and mild calf who gets to suckle not one, but two cows. I came back with “..and died from being too fat, in a slaughterhouse, as prime veal”. Mumsie laughed, even if we both knew I’d pay the price for it. I still am.
© 2009
Oh, gawd. Another piece of well-intentioned exercise in futility. I wonder who came up with this piece of nonsense.
Violence against women, children and/or animals is an excuse for those in position of power over their victims to act out their frustrations resulting from subjugation, injustice and/or hardship, and resulting feelings of worthlessness and impotence. Our own crumbling reality brings more stress to people with no insurance and no hope of seeking and being granted help from mounting stress. Creating a “Day” of hoopla will only drain much needed resources from where those meagre assets are really needed.
Let me say that again: violence is a physical RESULT, a REACTION to gross and continued stress that drives men and women to do the unconscionable.
Cultures, including our own, must arrive at their own way of dealing with this abomination. I think that the US has done enough damage by interfering and trying to superimpose its own imperfect values on other cultures. At this time, let’s eradicate violence from our own culture, before we go, again, unprepared, untrained and uneducated about other cultures, and meddle. Any culture that can claim to have eradicated violence will serve as an unimpeachable example that will work every day of the year. Pontificating by well-intentioned do-gooders from far away will only give more ammunition to those who need to stoop to such oppressive measures.
Let’s not forget that Afghan women had won, by themselves, many rights. The invasion of, first the Russian, then the US, troops had only given an excuse to the forces representing backward traditions to come back and destroy those hard won victories. Before we give “good” advice to others, let’s first clean up our own backyard.
Eliminating capital punishment would be a good start, by showing that the state does not condone violence is a good example. Next – stop torture. Stop police violence. Then tell a husband he cannot thrash, humiliate or subjugate in other ways his wife, or parent – a child, or employer – an employee. Create civilised and stress-fee workplaces, by abolishing “hire/fire at will” and by adopting prof. Robert Sutton’s “No Asshole Rule” (see book of same title). The latter, by the way, is slowly being adopted by a growing number of workplaces – all that would be a good start. Violence has more ugly faces than a battered and bruised body.
Finally, let’s not forget that American women had to wait 150 years to be granted equal rights. They did it by themselves and aided by enlightened men who understood that a progressive society cannot tolerate inequality, a violation of basic human rights by itself.
In sum: all forms of violence must be eradicated. Picking one or two to mount a photo op for a celebrity in-between gigs, or a self-rightous editorial that pushes a button here or there, is an affront to one’s intelligence, good intentions notwithstanding.
© 2009
Twitter is just one more source and its uses are versatile enough for anyone to be able to tweek its application for one’s own purposes.
For me it’s a valuable communication tool and often preferable to the cell and emailing: it’s quick, succinct and easy to access. Would I want it used for business? Beyond a few, VERY limited occasions, probably not. The VERY limited ones subject to my express permission, of course.
Aggressive businesses tried to intrude on cell phones – the market responded rather quickly with an expanded “Do Not Call” registry. Any business who tries to breach my privacy will find itself reported to the appropriate authorities. If businesses invade Twitter, even more people will select the Direct option. Or opt out of it altogether.
Furthermore, anyone who will intrude on my privacy will definitely NOT get my business. You’re product or service is not THAT unique. I am like most people: I know what I like and know how to use search engines to find your business and plenty of others. I prefer to think that I am capable of choosing for myself by myself. When comparing similar products, I will seek advice from Amazon’s commentators and bucket sites. The best advice comes from those who are seriously, yet constructively, critical of the product. Nothing that marketers can manipulate here. What may be a serious shortcoming for some users, to others may be of lesser, if any, consequence.
That’s how I learned about Canon. I am now a fan, even if their customer care and follow up could use a major overhaul. Come the day they offend my present enthusiastic interest, I will never again as much as consider the brand.
Toyota: at least their ads tell me why I want to buy their car for moi, rather than watch a possessed ad editor’s frenzy of speeding cars full of teenage drivers, or a road menace of a bad driver. Toyota’s after-care is of legend.
Ditto Weetabix and Alpen – my favourite breakfast cereals since forever. However, the day I find out that they make their product with wheat manipulated by Monsanto – t’will be a day of sad and sudden parting. Caveat manufacturers!
The new marketing menace: coercion of social websites to do the manufacturers’ or service providers’ bidding, posing as word-of-mouth. It will work for a short while. Anyone I know who tries to foist unsolicited ads on me gets one polite cease and desist, then the emails are directed to the Junk folder. Once a fortnight, just before hitting “Delete All”, I will quickly scan the Junk folder. If my request is ignored, that person is out of my life. I love Google Voice! I care about and trust my friends and anyone who tries to take advantage of that is not worthy of my consideration.
Are you a business with designs on tweeting your product to me? Consider the number of businesses in existence, a growing number of which share your enthusiasm and have already implemented your cogent points. Now imagine thousands of tweets going out every hour… to your private Twitter account.
Do you remember the early days of email and the marketers who came up with the idea to impose on your privacy to sell, sell, sell – using your email address? That idea was a reasonable success in the first few months. Then, and almost suddenly, it became a menace that was given a name: SPAM. The cell phone users were ready for the onslaught with an expanded Do Not Call registry. Disposing of, and getting a new Twitter account is a matter of 30 seconds.
No business is going to push its product or service by saying it’s bad, faulty, even that it could be better. The majority of consumers know this and, as a result, tune out the ads. Just ask your local sewer service about the huge surge of water usage during TV commercial breaks! That same lack of interest spills over to websites overwhelmed by ads. Ads blocking software is doing brisk business. Solution: make a great product with superb back-up service. Don’t just ask buyers to register: promise and provide prompt feedback. Result: you have just saved yourself a fortune on PR BS and marketing mumbo-jumbo. Instead plow that money into making your business a great place to work. It will, in turn, inspire the troops to great feats. Oh, and the $rest into R&D.
What to do with the PR and marketing gurus, you ask? Simple. Many are communication and/or psych grads: make them write easy to follow user manuals, think of packaging and disposal of the expired or about-to-be-replaced product in Green terms, deal with complaints in a constructive manner. As users and employers they are in the perfect position to contribute to the product’s success with user-friendly suggestions – all far more valuable and longer lasting than a glitzy and very costly PR event. The list is endless. No, fancy packaging, no well-endowed starlet, will make me buy your product. Oops, I’m repeating myself.
Last, but not least, if a business wants my consideration, it had better offer a great product or service, a helpful, knowledgeable customer support with a direct phone number (without the endless laundry list of for whatever press 79, kind), a civilised working environment for its employees (see prof. R. Sutton’s book “The No Asshole Rule”), AND an enthusiastic word of mouth from real customers or consumer service organisations whom I know and have learned to trust.
Caveat no.2: this trust is more fragile than an ancient glass goblet. But it can be just as long lasting and become just as valuable.
© 2009
