The Fury of Me

My First Meme Contribution

Commercial Grade Ignorance

Maybe it is just me, but I have noticed a serious level of cognitive dissonance or just plain idiocy in commercials lately. I’m not saying it hasn’t always been there, but it seems like the people that create the commercials have just gotten lazy or decided that their audience is completely ignorant so they no longer feel the need to cover it up. Below are three examples with some commentary.

 

Exhibit A is a commercial for Nexium which apparently you need if you refuse to clean up your diet and get constant heart burn.  The commercial starts out demonstrating why we wouldn't want our doctors doing our jobs and then immediately tells us that we should go to our doctors and suggest what drugs we should be taking?  How did this get approved?  We don't want doctors using a jack hammer but we should go ahead and self-prescribe. My vision is starting to shade a bit red.

Next up is ConnocoPhillips which apparently has figured out how to use fiat on an industrial level.

 

 

ConnocoPhillips has decided to use cavemen level platitudes in demonstrating that natural gas is safe, environmentally friendly, and job creating.  All I can say about the first commercial is those are the worst students in the world because apparenlty none of them had the inclination to ask the most important questions of "why" and "how?"  Oh, ConnocoPhillips creates jobs? Great! It's safe, too? Awesome. I'm sold. The same goes for the ignoramuses at the farmers' market in the second commercial.   The takeaway I get from the commercial is that natural gas is safe, eco-friendly, and job creating just because ConnocoPhillips says so (or their schills in the commercials) so who am I to question?  First off, 100 years doesn't even sound like that long of a time in terms of energy consumption.  Second, an oil company declaring themselves eco-friendly just because (or through an inventive use of fiat) is kind of hard to swallow.   Maybe it's just me, but I'm starting to feel a blood vessel rupture.

Finally, allow me to present to you an advertisement for ChristianMingle.com.

  

If you have a television, you've probably seen the ads for ChristianMingle. com and wondered if you should have a Christ centered relationship.  I have no problem with online dating sites.  My problem comes with the phrase at about 23 seconds: "Sometimes we wait for God to make the next move, when God is saying 'it's your time to act.'"  What?  Couldn't that logic be applied to nearly every aspect of our lives?  We have Christians running around telling us that they've received messages from God to run for president or just seen Jesus in a pancake.  The whole religious construct is that we should or shouldn't do things because God does or doesn't want us to.  Now apparently, we should just arbitrariliy determine that God's telling us it's our time to act?!?!

I'm probably paying way more attention to these commercials than any other person out there, but stuff like this drives me nuts. I get that these are just ads trying to get me to buy something, but is it too much to ask for at least logical reasoning in the way the message is conveyed?  In my opinion, the Nexium ad is by far the worst since it seems to be completely oblivious to what the ad itself said not to do three seconds earlier.  It's reasoning like this that causes anuerisms like that one I'm currently having.

Iowans Miss the Point

Recently, there was an article in The Atlantic about Iowa and some reflections on the state from a professor who has lived there and taught at the University of Iowa for the last twenty years.  Understandably, it was harsh, honest, unfettered, and insulting to Iowans who think their state is the best and should be allowed to be a ridiculously disproportionate weight in who gets to be the presidential nominee for both parties.  It’s insane. It’s a state of 3 million (less than 1% of the US population), and are 91% white.  Give me a break.

Things Iowans got pissed off about in Stephen Blooms article: references to “non-existent” mudrooms; a hunting fanaticism, a huge emigration of young people; it contains several meat-packing plants that hire non-union (il)legal immigrants to earn essentially nothing for a filthy, and unsafe job; an exceptionally high suicide rate; and finally that religion is the glue that binds Iowans together. 

Most of the people outside of Iowa would respond, in order, okay, yep, huh, I think I heard about that, didn’t know that, and no shit.

Bloom’s article triggered a bunch of comments which always teach me a lesson that I apparently refuse to learn – if I really want to be pushed over the edge, the best way is to read reader comments on any article posted on the internet.  It also brought on two published articles, one by the University of Iowa’s president, Sally Mason, and another by some recently laid-off reporter.

My response to the university President who felt it was important to declare that Stephen Bloom “did not represent the University of Iowa in his opinion” basically made me wonder if she just felt like she needed some attention.  Bloom didn’t sign the piece, “the University of Iowa.” He signed it with his name. So no shit Madame President.  Thanks for declaring that and letting us all know how great you think Iowa is.  Congratulations on being one of a few “literary cities of the world.” I’m not sure what I means, but here is a gold star.

And to the reporter who got bent out of shape over mudrooms, the crackling of corn, and some other stuff that essentially didn’t matter.  That’s great that Dubuque just did a $30 million renovation on a luxury hotel, but that money might have been better spent making sure people have even heard of that city.

Anyway, as someone who went to college in the South and got to experience what to me was a very different culture for four years, I understand what he is saying.  He wasn’t insulting Iowa to be mean.  He was being brutally honest. Something that people don’t like.  And Iowans should own it and do what they can to improve the state.  Don’t lie to the rest of us.  I’m a Californian. Our state is totally jacked up. I own that. I’m not going to try to tell other people that we have our financial house in order.  Californians like to spend money that we don’t tax ourselves for.

And of course there is Bloom’s observation about religion.  This is a point that neither of his responders addressed because there is nothing to address.  It’s true, pure and simple.  This was also something that I learned while at school in Texas.  There is a baseline assumption among everyone you meet that you are a Christian.  People are pleasant and friendly, and most probably don’t even realize that they are making this assumption, but in my experience it is there.  When, in some off-hand conversation or experience, this assumption gets blown up, there was always some kind of reaction.  Some people didn’t care, but were surprised to find out nonetheless.  Others, withdrew and were still friendly enough, but being a non-believer, I was now less relatable.  And of course, there were the few that had never made the assumption in the first place and it was a big deal. This was the minority, but they existed.  If I had been gay, it would probably have been an even bigger issue, maybe not to my face, but in the absence of my presence, I can assure you that I would have been ever more of an outsider.

My point is, Iowans and people in the Midwest need to be open to criticism.  If Bloom lived there twenty years, he’s an Iowan and I’d take his experience for what it’s worth. He has no incentive to lie or make anything up.  It’s also good to be proud of your state, but no to the point of denial.  Don’t talk about “small farmers” like they are the everyman.  The majority of farms are huge agri-businesses that are heavily subsidized by our government.  The common farmer is probably getting dicked over by Monsanto every year.  Don’t sell me the farming lifestyle, when your farmers are getting screwed. I like growing stuff. I like gardening.  I also read enough to know the whole small farmer thing is the same thing that comes out of your Holsteins – bullshit.

Everyone wants to think their state is great – and in some ways every state is great.  It’s when people can’t take the criticism.  People in the Midwest put down us egg-headed, coastal elite, limousine liberals all the time like they know what the hell they’re talking about.  If you can dish it out, then be able to take it, especially from someone who has actually lived there for a long period of time.

Finally, no offense, but you don’t deserve to have as much influence over the presidential primary process as you do. Neither does New Hampshire, another tiny, mostly white state.  It’s bogus.  I don’t care how seriously you take your politics.  There are people that take politics seriously in all states, most of which have more people than you and a more expansive array of issues other than Farm Bill subsidies for your resident agri-conglomerates.  It’s not personal.  It’s just that reality doesn’t defend your position.

And for the love of the God that most of you Iowans believe in, don’t get bent out of shape that your state is perfect. If I had a nickel for every time some journalist slammed California for not having it’s financial issues in check, I’d be able to fix our deficit myself.

More Evidence that Americans are Retarded

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Kabulvision
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The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Kabulvision - A New Lowe
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

The Real Job Creators

My initial response to a record setting Black Friday was that it was a bunch of people acting like animals (probably indicative of something that Wal-Mart was ground zero for most of the violence) and spending money they don’t have.  While I still stand by that statement, economically speaking, we need people to spend money (while, hopefully not plummeting into debt in doing so) because that is the only way that we can stimulate demand.  Since Republicans are completely focused on making government as weak and feckless as possible so that they can bolster their case that government is weak and feckless, the biggest boost to demand that we could have is not possible.  We need the US government to undertake big spending projects like infrastructure and high-speed rail.  If the government helped people like me with health care, that would give me more money to spend on consumer goods which in turn  would generate demand which means companies start producing and hiring again.

Corporations are sitting on over two trillion dollars in cash.  Right now the Fed is loaning money to corporations for free who buy government bonds with that cash and earn tax-free interest. If this doesn’t seem wrong to you, then you’re probably also okay with sticking babies in microwaves.  This is a complete waste of money!  All of the interest that our government is paying banks and corporations, who are essentially free bondholders, is money that could be spend on actually improving our country. (For improvement ideas, see my previous blog post.)  Essentially, the Republican termed “job creators” are doing dick to create any jobs.  The only people that are helping create any jobs are the poorest and hardest hit people that essentially have to spend every dollar they have in one way or another just to survive. 

If Black Friday gave these people the most bang for their buck, then I was wrong to be derisive in their spending habits (excluding those that acted like animals). 

Obama was also wrong: there are two Americas.  They aren’t blue and red, but rather, rich and poor.  Poor people disproportionately serve in our military.  Poor people have the least access to education and health care.  And I’m not talking about people who fucked their lives up by doing drugs, dropping out of school, or hurt themselves in some other way, but instead people who were born into poverty and were never given a path out. 

When Bush was legacied into Yale because of his father and money even though he had crap grades and no ambition, he took the place of another student who may have come from a poor background but had worked their butt off taking advantage of every opportunity they had, only to get turned down because a politician’s son wanted to get in.  It’s not a level playing field.  It’s not even the same field.

There are a lot of hyperbolic morons taking part in the Occupy movement that throw around terms like “police state” and “end the Fed” and that’s truly unfortunate because those clowns cover up the truly good points that can be made.  One of which being the incredible amount of inequality in our country and political system.  There are good points to be made. They just aren’t as jarring and abrasive as “police state” which honestly makes you sound like a dumbass. (Just ask the people in Congo, Chad, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, you get the point?!)  A police presence does not equate to a police state.

The Fed is necessary. Instead of ending it, we need to make it accountable to it’s charter and the general population again by trying to maximize unemployment and control inflation.  The problem is that the fiscal policy of Bush, mixed in with a little Clinton, and Obama having to clean the mess up means that the Fed is basically neutered.  It can’t do what it was meant to do effectively.  However, I put the responsibility of cognitive clarity on the occupiers.  As long as they are the sellers of ideas (change) no matter how right they are, it is incumbent upon them to take away the defects which make the product unappealing. 

That doesn’t mean politicians should make stupid declarations like “take a bath and get a job,” when it is obvious there aren’t jobs readily available for the most clean among us.  It does however, mean that 98%ers like me are stuck defending Occupy to those that dismiss it on one hand.  While on the other hand, we try to inform Occupy that they are not actually causing any lasting change and need to shape up.

To conclude, it should be painfully obvious that the political “job creators” aren’t the actual job creators.  The job creators are in the middle and lower class that are forced to spend money because they have to, regardless of whether or not it is on holiday crap, medicine, food, rent, etc.  They are the demand that stimulates the economy because basic items are necessities to them.  The rich have homes, cars, and generally won’t need anything at the urgency that poorer people do.  In essence, they aren’t holding up their end of the demand equation proportionate to their income or wealth.  It is with that that I send my gratitude to those of you that sanely and humanely went about your Black Friday shopping.