Wednesday Open Thread: Good morning, fellow consumers.
It's Day 100 of the Year 2019 CE (Gregorian), meaning that it's April 10, 2019 (Gregorian), or 13.0.6.7.1 by the long count
It's also the Feast of the Third Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)
I considered writing about Thelema. After all, we all need a basic understanding and appreciation of all of the major cults religions. That picture of Crowley, however, cast a sinister pall over all of his works and efforts, which inspired me to write about something far more sinister -- Consumerism.
So, here's the story of stuff - if you haven't seen it very recently, give it a look, it has a lot of good information:
Now, for grins, check this out: https://www.youtube.com/user/storyofstuffproject There is a project of folks dedicated to producing informative and educational videos on the specific histories of specific products and markets, including a whole series on plastics. Up in the original story of stuff video, you will find a famous marketing and PR wallah named Victor Lebow quoted with a major elision as follows (without elision):
Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into
rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfactions, our ego satisfactions, in consumption. The measure of social status, of social acceptance, of prestige, is now to be found in our consumptive patterns. The very meaning and significance of our lives today expressed in
consumptive terms. The greater the pressures upon the individual to conform to safe and accepted social standards, the more does he
tend to express his aspirations and his individuality in terms of what he wears, drives, eats- his home, his car, his pattern of food
serving, his hobbies.These commodities and services must be offered to the consumer with a special urgency. We require not only “forced draft” consumption, but “expensive” consumption as well. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing pace. We need to have people eat, drink, dress, ride, live, with ever more complicated and, therefore, constantly more expensive consumption. The home power tools and the whole “do-it-yourself” movement are excellent examples of “expensive” consumption.
What becomes clear is that from the larger viewpoint of our economy, the total effect of all the advertising and promotion and selling is to
create and maintain the multiplicity and intensity of wants that are the spur to the standard of living in the United States. A specific
advertising and promotional campaign, for a particular product at a particular time, has no automatic guarantee of success, yet it may
contribute to the general pressure by which wants are stimulated and maintained. Thus its very failure may serve to fertilize this soil, as
does so much else that seems to go down the drain.
Read that puppy a couple of times, especially the first paragraph. SOURCE: https://www.gcafh.org/edlab/Lebow.pdf - a reprint of "Price Competition in 1955" by Victor Lebow, Marketing Consultant, President, Victor Lebow, Inc. originally in the Spring 1955 Journal of Retailing. Earlier on, in discussing the Strong Influence of Television, he notes that:
Probably the most powerful weapon of the dominant producers lies in their use of television. To a greater degree than ever before
a relative handful of products will share a monopoly of most of the leisure time of the American family. We will have over 30 million
television households next year. And television achieves three results to an extent no other advertising medium has ever approached. First,
it creates a captive audience. Second, it submits that audience to the most intensive indoctrination. Third, it operates on the entire
family.
Clearly this man and his works and his programme are far more sinister and destructive than anything Crowley ever thought of, but I cannot find his picture. Marketing, like public relations, is a hybrid of Propaganda and psychology, to the extent that those two are separable. In fact, the term public relations was invented by Edward Bernays, a serious propaganda expert, to disassociate it as a form of propaganda from the Nazi's, who, at the time he invented the term, wee strongly associated with the word propaganda. The techniques and skill set grew, but it is the very same game Goebbels played, brought to you pretty much every waking hour by the entirety of your everyday surroundings.
Consumerism is a disease and a curse, it is destroying our lives, our leisure, our pleasure, happiness and sense of self worth. Most of all, it is destroying our planet. The great irony is that it is, for the most part artificial. We have hungry and homeless people and others who have far more than they need or can really make use of. Much of that is a misallocation of the products of our labors and our means of production, but embedded therein as a vast trove or over consumption based on artificially stimulated demand for things that not only aren't needed, but which in reality don't benefit us at all. Back in High School I read The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard. It was, as of that time, recently published expose of the whole advertising and marketing game and some of its tricks and trickery. If you have never read it, antique though it is, it is worth a look. I found it at the archive, here: https://archive.org/search.php?query=The%20Hidden%20Persuaders . There are, as I write this, two loaner copies with very short wait lists, a free for download .pdf copy, a second free for download copy available in numerous formats with an MLSU Central Library Bar code and the cryptic reference The Hidden Persuaders Vance Propaganda nwo illuminati freemasons on the webpage, and a downloadable audio copy available in multiple formats. (Please, btw, support the Archive at archive.org)
So, I could ramble on and on, but that really shouldn't be necessary. Wanna be a subversive? Wanna be more fearsome and threatening than those damn commies and leftists could ever be. Commit the following to memory and practice saying it until you really feel it and want to live by it. I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied with what I have, and I don't really want any more stuff. Enough of that for now.
Little Eva Died 16 years ago today:
Image is Aleister Crowley and is public domain
Its an open thread so have at it. The floor is yours
.
Comments
buy into avoiding consumerism
The car is the consumption item that is at the center of many of our problems...
no public transportation, neighborhoods designed for driving, acting as a status symbol, and so on...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lD7VqQbrEw]
Garden and create food from air and water...the wonder of it never escapes.
Thanks for the OT. Have a good day everyone.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning Lookout. Yes, the car is a great problem
and that problem is exacerbated greatly by the shift since WWII away from walkable cities and the focus on auto-centric locales such as bedroom communities and shopping malls. It is a problem that has been known for ages, and we have seen the planned creation of walkable and bicycle friendly towns and communities as well as the teaching of how to plan and create them.
Let a million gardens bloom. Ever more gardens for ever more, preferably organic, fruits and veggies, more flowers, shrubs, pollinators, and habitat for birds and other small animals. Done properly to not only conserve, but actively "harvest" water and flow it into the water table and ground water.
Thanks for reading and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
You have one item in your checkout basket
Mysteriously placed by google recommendations. Proceed to secure payment options.
They make it so easy to buy and spend on stuff. The incredulous looks I get from people because I do not have a smart phone, drive a well used car, live in an old house and wear well used clothing is a bit humorous. Don't live paycheck to paycheck either.
Sheesh.
Thanks for the OT EL. Excessive consumerism is a treatable condition.
Good morning QMS. It is funny that we have finally achieved
automobilt technology that makes 200,000 miles or more a perfectly reasonable expectation in this day and age, leading to the incessant clamor for NEW as a psychological bludgeon to spur ever more consumption of same. Something in a conversation yesterday brought up the fond memory of "blems". They were functionally sound tires, every bit as good as any others, that had visible blemishes or imperfections of a purely cosmetic nature. Such imperfections resulted in significant price discounts even though their utility was not impaired in the least. The term was applied, by extension, to other such damaged but not defective goods.
I guess today one can still find such goods as "seconds", and maybe even "damaged goods" (dents and dings) and, of course, the fruits and veggies at farm stands and farmers' markets and even in the organic sections of some retailers. In the seventies, iirc, Oakland had a sizeable store named something like "canned goods" that was dents and dings and generally stuff not suited for the ordinary marketing flow of goods such as where a carrier had been in a wreck and pallets and cartons dumped. Whole lots were deemed damaged and wholesaled out leaving it up to the end consumer to inspect them on an item by item basis.
I resisted smart phones for a long time, and then discovered that they can be very powerful tools, though service providers do try to force obsolescence by filling them with bloat ware and such. While not remotely dependent, my wife and I get a lot of use out of ours.
Have a great one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Living in a blem world fer sure
The amount of raw materials harvested at the local transfer station is amazing I try to dump more than bringing back home, but there are opportunities in trash.
Re: consumerism
Indeed there are
Trash and other rejected/discarded materials. I remember a few things from my youth of which it was said "If you wish to be set for life, find a use for this stuff".
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Breaking the pattern isn't easy...
Because the DIY movement is obsessed with power tools and promoting power tools rather than acknowledging the work can be done by hand... It's more WORK, but it's more fulfilling, which is something that the merchant corporations are never going to get.
I WANT to work. On something that means something. That's the sticking point, I think. So much of consumer culture is based off the work being useless, just convincing others that it's valuable is the whole trick. No American really WANTS to work, they just want to be rich. The entire concept of putting your work out there for NOTHING, well, it freaks people out. Seriously. You talk about it, and people immediately think you're trying to con them.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Good morning detroit. It is a sad commentary on our mental
processes that if one gives away the product of their labor, their art, craft or work product, most will reflexively deem it to be worthless simply because it is free.
I am of two minds regarding DIY because, as a kid, it wasn't a hobby or movement for my family, but a necessity. If you wanted something beyond basic necessities, you made it, or acquired a broken one and fixed it. Later, I did some work in the trades and for a while as an artisan in order to earn a living. As a result, while I like to make stuff by hand and to work with hand tools, if I want to get something done and done quickly for utilitarian purposes I will drag out the power tools, providing that the project is sizeable enough that it makes sense to do so.
Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Rgr. And nothing against the tools themselves...
But far too often I see guys who'd rather brag about the quality and size of their tools than actually use them. (The Freudian implications of that statement ARE intentional)
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
yeah, far too often the case, I fear. Mine are generally
"serviceable", no more and no less. There is one exception, sort-of, a torque monster of a 1/2 corded drill that I'm getting afraid to use any more. As I age and get easier to injure it has become a threat because of what it will do to my wrists and forearms if the bit seizes.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good morning, el ~~
"Thrifting saves lives, Oma," said the wise granddaughter to her grandmother. So, I only purchase my clothes at thrift stores and give clothes to thrift stores. The only things I purchase new are underwear, socks, and the occasional shoe, although I have found shoes in thrift stores, too.
In 2013, we decided to sell our house. In that exercise, we downsized considerably. The house didn't sell and we decided to stay, but we didn't replace anything we got rid of and are loathe to purchase anything extra now. We already have enough of everything and are working hard not to have more than we need to live. We are also about to purchase a greenhouse in order to grow more of our own food. We want to begin to live as minimalist as possible. We'll see how it goes.
Consumerism is the bane of America's existence and now we see how it came about - thanks Mr. Lebow, your legacy lives on in the destruction of American lives. Thanks for bringing this essay to us, el - it needs to be shared far and wide.
Have a great hump-day, everyone!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Good morning RA. Thrifting indeed saves lives. A return
to the victory garden would also be an enhancement. Downsizing can result in enhanced enjoyment of life, it is all in the approach.
Have a great one yourself.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Aleister Crowley and propaganda
Crowley somewhat assiduously cultivated his reputation as "the wickedest man in the world", derived from his behavior and from his Law of Thelema ( “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”), which was, in effect, his brand. It wasn't that new, actually among occultists, but it was severely at odds with all of the more traditional cults with all of their hidebound rules about nudity, adultery, blasphemy, sodomy, dancing, singing, what to eat and drink and when to do so, respecting sabbaths and all of that mindless dreck. Western organized religion and all of its fragments had already devolved into a propaganda and marketing fest, punctuated with periodic fits of violent oppression and suppression, war, torture, imprisonment, and murder long before he threw it all back in their face. It is still something of a surprise that he was not assassinated for his advocacy and embodiment of spiritual anarchy.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Morning el
et al...
You, me ‘n Greta. Gotta quit consuming. My latest thought on this is that the folks who make stuff do NOT have our best interest in mind. But wait. Their goal is to make stuff as cheaply as possible. Especially food. Any packaged food we buy, which is a lot of what is out there, is not about our nutrition and health. What got me started thinking about this was seeing the pictures of the soaked grain silos in Nebraska, in waist deep water with the huge piles of grains spilling over onto the flood plains. They had been holding the grain waiting for prices to increase. So just how old is our food. Anyway. Seriously. Food for thought. Heh. Have a good one...
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
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Good morning magi. Yes, the extent to which one consumes
proecessed and packaged foods will definitely be reflected in one's physical health, probably emotional and attitudinal as well. As to the age of one's food, there is the whole problem you illustrate, but oddly enough, a counter picture as well. If one utilizes some processed and packaged stuff, what is the real purpose of that "use by" date, safety, or to drive consumption by triggering disposition and repurchase. Why, for instance, does water have a use by date?
Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Right
And what about the use-by date on those grain silos. I never think about that when I buy bulk goods. I used to get a big bag of red winter wheat and grind the grain when I needed it to make bread. It was supposed to be organic.
How do they manage to store grain for years without chemical preservatives I wonder. Agribusiness, just another cog in the machine.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Now that's what I call "whole grain". Why did you quit?
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
moved
and went back to school. long story. but the Mother Earth magazine had a grain grinder that was run with a bicycle. Always thought that would be the way to go. Also found a niffy bread recipe for which you warmed the grain in the oven in a cast iron skillet before adding yeast. It was ready to go after one rise. A bit grainy but really fast.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
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seeing all that ruined grain should worry you,
but not out of concern for how old your food is. grain kept dry will last for a very long time, as long as you can keep the vermin out. and that's a good thing, because it means we (i.e, the entire nation) can afford to lose an entire year's crop to bad weather and have enough calories stored in the bins to survive till the next harvest.
except now we maybe don't, and it's looking like a whole lot of the grain-belt isn't going to get planted this spring.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
also, of course, most of that grain is
animal fodder, not people food.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Black hole day, el. :) Spot on essay.
"Astronomers have captured the first image of a black hole, heralding a revolution in our understanding of the universe’s most enigmatic objects.
"The black hole itself – a cosmic trapdoor from which neither light nor matter can escape – is unseeable. But the latest observations take astronomers right to its threshold for the first time, illuminating the event horizon beyond which all known physical laws collapse."
The breakthrough image was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a network of eight radio telescopes spanning locations from Antarctica to Spain and Chile, in an effort involving more than 200 scientists.https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/apr/10/black-hole-picture-captu...
Really enjoyed today's OT. Most readers here probably have seen The Century of Self, but for those who have not, here is a link.
"The story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays. Bernays invented the public relations profession in the 1920s and was the first person to take Freud's ideas to manipulate the masses. He showed American corporations how they could make people want things they didn't need by systematically linking mass-produced goods to their unconscious desires."
Hey, spring is making headway, buds on trees and blossoms downtown, yea.
Thanks for the good read and have a great day.
Good afternoon, smiley. The hilarious, in a dark way, side of
that bit of history is that Freud was pretty much shooting from the hip. There really wasn't any rigorous science supporting his ideas, theories and framework. Bernays, however, along with his followers, adherents, or whatever else one chooses to call them, did provide substantial empirical support for some of Freud's ruminations.
Ah yes, black holes, salvation in another form -
Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
This is what makes the movie Branded so brilliant
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1368440/
Don't waste time with the story line synopsis on that page. It's almost like Wall St. doesn't want you to watch this movie. Hardly anyone has heard of it.
It's really good. Will change how you look at marketing forever.
Good afternoon, Battle, thanks for reading. I haven't seen
Branded and as far as I can recall, have never heard of it either. I'll have to try to give it a look one of these days.
OTOH, I doubt that anything can much alter my view or opinion of marketing, which is horrifically negative.
Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Nah, this is stuff
+1 for Crowley, one very strange dude.
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
Good morning Ed, thanks for reading. Yeah, Carlin was good
on stuff. Thanks for the clip.
Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
“No good deed goes unpunished” dept.?
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=craig+brewer+waffle+house+samaritan
I already have a mental image or the murderer and his
girlfriend. Another in an endless series of "Florida man ..." items, for the person keeping that file/blog/page. Thanks.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
This 1000x
I have neighbors who are lovely people but they live to buy things. Amazon drops things off to their house nearly every day. In the last week, they've bought a big screen TV, hooked up their new security system with "Alexa", and bought a device with a camera that dispenses pet treats remotely, so when they're away they can see what their animals are doing. But the thing they get that distresses me most are those single service plastic K-Cups for Keurig coffee makers. A big box comes monthly. Geez! All that freaking plastic. Where do they think that's going?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Good morning zoebear. Sometimes some folks are
so far gone that it is hopeless to even try to talk to them. We have a neighbor someting like that who also has their house and yard sprayed for bugs every week or two, wastes tons of water and all that. We tried to talk to them, subtly, abut changing, but they don't get it, and pretty clearly can't get it, so we just gave up. We use them as an inspiration to do more ourselves, to try to offset them.
Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
What do they suppose organic gardeners do?
Terrible. I sure hope you don't have kitty cats that like to roam in tneir yard.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier