A Better World ?

Yes, indeed! It’s getting better and better—isn’t it? If you don’t believe, or you find yourself asking, “For whom?” take a listen to the Ira Basen documentary, “In The Valley of the Kings”¹ [Silicon Valley, that is] (42.06 min.) at

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/sundayedition_20150220_88670.mp3

The world is certainly an over-regulated, mixed-up mess, but do we really think that monetizing / capitalizing, the new “sharing economy” via BIG corporations with clever apps and no regulation is the nirvana we seek? The myth of corporate beneficence² is almost as true as touting that a “sharing economy” is sharing when everything is for rent.

We have to admit though that there is financial genius in app-controlled, independent little guys doing all the work while the BIG guys skim off the top for providing an automated connection. Except it seems more like “back to the future”—like back to a serfing³ paradigm. Seems like the little guy always gets the squeeze in pursuit of the bottom line.

We should also admit that it does present as a profitable step-up from the Nike, et al. model. Those old-style companies divested themselves of factories, workers, permits, licenses, properties, etc., etc., etc, and claimed ownership only in third-party, third-world  manufactured product. But with the new “sharing” apps, these new companies (like Uber and Airbnb) don’t even have product to warehouse or sell—no cars, no driver costs, no repairs, no houses, no towels or bedding or breakfasts—nothing, niente, nada. All that detail-stuff hangs to the little guy. And yes, sometimes it is good for the little guy and the consumer, but where there is an opening for power and gain, as night follows day, the “sharing-app” execs will find a way to control and exploit with no one to control them.

Besides, in the déjà vus of history, when did the bottom-line make anything safer? (Ask Nader.) When did it bring out the best in integrity? (Observe the tobacco, auto, banker, Wall Street, etc. boys.) When did it foster fundamental human rights? (Read a BIG corp. employment contract.) When did it truly serve the little guy with equity? (Ask the little guy.)

We keep looking to technology to solve our escalating problems and shortcomings, but what if the best solution is not in tech at all—even with all its best advances? What if a better world is in consciousness of spirit and love for our fellow human beings? Yes, let tech be a valuable resource—but please, can’t we keep it free from the prison of corporatism?⁴

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1. See the CBC Sunday Edition program ad and cartoon at http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-niqab-and-citizenship-the-bystander-effect-train-love-in-the-valley-of-the-kings-1.2963290/in-the-valley-of-the-kings-an-ira-basen-documentary-1.2963565 . Documentary aired Sunday morning, February 22, 2015.
2. http://www.dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/2010/05/free-agents-one-and-all.html
3. http://www.dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/2011/01/are-we-serfing-yet.html
4. This label with 30+ posts details many of this writer’s views about corporatism at http://www.dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/search/label/Corporatism

Soda and Circuses ?

Once upon a time, in ancient Rome, a satirical poet observed:

The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things - bread and circuses! (Juvenal, Satires¹)

But in our day, now that the once nourishing bread staple has become “gluten-toxic” to tens-of-thousands, we seem to have found the perfect substitute for our sedation. What better companion (or not²) could we have invented to stash within reach of our numerous e-circuses?

But the question is: Have we given up the staff of life for the addictions of life?

When do we clue in that the business of addiction is BIG Business aided by degraded science? Here once again (déjà vu upon déjà vu), we close our eyes and ears to the witness of real science and sensibility. We eat, drink, read, watch, smoke, inject, and medicate with things that have been engineered to maximize their addictive potential.³

Here are two samples of a voice that the majority seem to have ignored:

Salt Sugar Fat: NY Times Reporter Michael Moss (Time: 18:26 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3fiYKnYECQ



In Conversation with Michael Moss on Salt Sugar Fat | GBCHealth Conference 2013
(Time: 44:50 min.)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxFmqajTn3c

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1. Translation from http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Juvenal/
Another translation from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses
… Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, [we] the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses. (Juvenal, Satire 10.77–81)
2.  http://time.com/3558281/soda-tax-berkeley/
3. See also: http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.ca/2013/07/in-house-of-our-friends.html ; http://www.dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/2013/03/blissful-ignorance.html