Opinion: Norman Mailer on corporations

I read this on the "Adbusters" website. It's pretty eye-opening. Check it out:

http://www.adbusters.org/home/
Disclaimer:
This doesn't mean I don't still subscribe to Lucky magazine, or occasionally like to go to the mall...but at least I know I should know better. Haha....

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THE BIG EMPTY
BY NORMAN MAILER

Corporations are stifling our lives. Not only economically, where they can claim, arguably, that they bring prosperity (and, frankly, I’m certainly not schooled enough in economics to argue that point pro or con), but aesthetically speaking, culturally speaking, spiritually speaking. They flatten everything. They are the Big Empty. One of the virtues of Fahrenheit 9/11 is that you could see all the faces of the Bush administration, those empty faces, those handmaidens and bodyguards of the Big Empty. And then Moore contrasted them to all the faces of American soldiers over there: innocent, strong, idealistic or ugly, but real faces, real people. Plus all those suffering Iraqis. Obviously, people in such torment are always dramatic and eloquent on film. Still, most of those Iraqis had different kinds of faces. That shade of alienation from natural existence had not yet gotten into their skin. They might be hard to live with but they were alive.

The war against the corporations is profound. They are deadening human existence. That, I think, is the buried core of the outrage people feel most generally. There is, after all, a profound difference between corporations and capitalism itself, at least so long as capitalism remains small business. The small businessman is always taking his chances. He leads an existential life. He’s gambling that his wit, his energy, and his ideas of what will work in the marketplace will be successful. He can be a sonofabitch, but at least he’s out there in the middle of life. He could be creating something that’s awful, but at least, he’s taking chances.

The corporation is the reverse, and turns capitalism inside out. The majority no longer give their first concern to the quality of their product. Since they have the funds to advertise on a large scale, it diminishes their need for a good product. Marketing can take over by way of language and image. Over the years this has produced a general deterioration of the real value of products for the same real money.

To win this war will take, at least, 50 years and a profound revolution in America. We’ll have to get away from manipulation. What we’ve got now is a species of economic, political, and spiritual brainwashing, vastly superior to the old Soviets, who were endlessly crude in their attempts. Our governmental and corporate leaders are much more subtle. I remember years ago when my son was around 15, he wore a shirt that said Stussy on it. And I said, “Not only do you spend money to buy the shirt, but you also advertise the company that sold it to you.” And he said, “Dad, you just don’t get it.” All right, he was right, I didn’t get it.

What we do have is the confidence that we breathe a cleaner spiritual air than the greedbags who run our country and so it is not impossible that, over decades to come, much that we believe in will yet come to be. But I do not wish to end on so sweet and positive a note. It is better to remind ourselves that wisdom is ready to reach us from the most unexpected quarters. Here, I quote from a man who became wise a little too late in life:

“Naturally, the common people don’t want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist government, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”

That was Hermann Goering speaking at the Nuremberg trials after World War II. It is one thing to be forewarned. Will we ever be forearmed?
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Norman Mailer has, amongst other things, written 39 books, plays, poems, essays and movies, and co-founded The Village Voice. This essay is adapted from the transcript of an interview he gave New York magazine.

Opinion: Marketing, media, obesity

Today's New York Times ran an article about how the U.S. Diet Guide put more emphasis on weight loss for this year's edition. I am so happy about this!

Every time I'm at the grocery store I experience strong emotion when I see some of the 'average' American shoppers. What I REALLY hate to see is a family with three or four overweight kids, pulling a cart full to the brim with the following:

Brightly packaged puddings in neon colors, Lunchables (are those even real food?) and other fake lunches in blue-yellow-and-red boxes, family packs of chips, canned 'juices' like Hawaiian punch, soda, 'fruit snacks' full of preservatives and sugar, 'fruit juices' with no real juice (or a meager 10œ frozen pizzas, sugared cereals, Easy Mac, Popsicles, hot dogs, white buns, frozen ground beef in the long round cylindrical packages, and so on. It makes me sick to see nary a vegetable among these. I get irrationally angry at the ignorance of people who are taking years off their life by heeding the media's call.
It's good to pay close attention when you watch television and see advertisements for fast food, too. If you eat real food, you will notice that the food may have vegetables in it (let's say, a Taco Bell fajita commercial), but somehow it oozes numerous sauces and the veggies look like they have been frozen for about 7 years. These marketing geniuses have us fooled into thinking this looks appetizing? And when you finally TASTE such food, it's pretty much the same way. Oozy sauce filled with salt, MSG, and powdered spices; bite-sized diced vegetables that seem like they've never been fresh, and white-floured grain product that is sugary and almost oily in its consistency.

Why, oh WHY do people fall for all of this? I do know many people don't cook. This is the crux of the situation for these 'convenient' times. How can we teach these young moms and dads that for every Lunchable they give their kid, they're adding grease, salt and sugar to the kid's physical makeup? How can we teach them that advertisements are going to make them unhealthily fat?

What we are now getting is a nation of young, inactive children who watch 3-5 hours of TV average daily. They see ads for fun, 'special' food, hyped by their favorite TV, cartoon, and kids' show characters. The marketing folks know these kids will see the ads about 7 times in 3 days, and next time at the grocery store, you can see it in action! The kids then pull out all their wily ways, schemes, and scenes in order to get that product home with them and in front of the TV.

So, repeat this scenario for another 8 years. The teenager is now obese with all the complications that go along with it; not just the health problems, but also abject self-loathing and major self-esteem issues. In particular, this is the case for girls. So then they decide to combat this problem with any number of solutions. For just as the media provided us with unhealthy yet 'easy' food, they also provide us with unhealthy yet 'easy' methods of weight loss. Good lord! When will it end?

I just wish all parents could teach their kids a few key pointers at a VERY young age. Less TV is better. Don't listen to people who just want to take our money and make our tummies hurt. If you eat this now, you will gain wieght, feel bad about yourself, and have to work extra hard to lose it later. Also, take heed: lifestyles can be addictive. The more fat, salt, and sugar we take and the more TV or movies we watch, the more we crave. Break the cycle!

Does anyone know of a way to combat or circumvent this vicious cycle of corporate greed and marketing brainwashing? Do I need to start teaching educational nutrition classes to the people in line behind me at the grocery store? Because that's about the point that I'm at.

Yay, I'm listening to a related story on NPR right now!

***On a side note, I'm not a super-activist sort of person, but there ARE a few things that I feel very strongly about. Unnecessary animal cruelty (in the name of testing say a razor, a shampoo, or a lip balm) is another thing I get all bent out of shape about. For this, I am grateful for Avon.

Unearthing Jo-Ann Campbell

So yesterday on my way into work, I grabbed "Jo-Ann Campbell: The Complete Gone & Roulette Recordings". Sitting listening to it at my desk, there arose within me an urge to find out just what the hell this lady's been doing lately. She's still alive as of two years ago is all I really know. That PBS documentary I was in actually had gotten in touch with her for the film. Funny thing is, she's nowhere in the movie. This makes me wonder if they cut it because she's not currently performing anymore, or if she requested it.

So what my snooping uncovered is that apparently she lives in Nashville and is an advocate against wearing fur for the Humane Association. I went on their site trying to find her but didn't have any luck. I guess I'l need to check with Beth Harrington, the director of "Welcome to the Club", in order to get more info. She's been pretty helpful to me thus far. Maybe she'll put me in touch with Jo-Ann.

One thing I also found out on my online search was a wee bit of a shocker, though! I didn't know she had a big old relationship with Bobby Darin prior to the whole Sandra Dee thing. I just saw "Beyond the Sea" a couple of days ago...and while not totally factual, there was no mention of Jo-Ann and I wish there had been!

I'm sure they don't care though, since no one really knows who she is in the mainstream. So there's all these articles from the time period with Jo-Ann Campbell, entitled "Why I Left Bobby Darin" and all that. Maybe he was rebounding from Jo-Ann? And maybe those articles will tell us about him a bit more...like who he really is? I've heard over the years that he was a racist, a wife-beater, a raging alcoholic, and all had manner of sordid personality traits. Of course, if Kevin Spacey's doing an artistic piece he's not going to exactly focus on that, is he? Huh.

Anyway, this is my obsession of the day! I must find Jo-Ann Campbell and see if she will do an interview with me so I can do a feature on her. I'm so eager to hear what her life was and has been like. I also need to check my resources and find out if anything has been written about her recently.

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Word of the Day for Tuesday January 4, 2005

distrait \dis-TRAY\, adjective:
Divided or withdrawn in attention, especially because of
anxiety.

Yet when she stopped for a cup of coffee, finding herself
too distrait to begin work, the picture was in the course
of being removed from the window.
--Anita Brookner, [1]Falling Slowly
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I have found the daily dictionary emails to be more foretelling than horoscopes. Maybe I read too much into words. Hah.