America: Land of the Get What You Grabbers

[Freeky]

So, is it just me or is American society (I can't ask about other countries, I don't know about them at all) is like "SHUT UP, NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS.  SHUT UP AND GO AWAY.  And while you're SHUTTING UP, SHUT UP SOME MORE!"

See, I know DOUR, in his previously dead form, started just coming out and saying it, but I never really felt like he meant it, right?  Everybody else though (not PDites), they don't say it but that's what they want.  They don't want to hear about how the neighbor they see every day must work two full time jobs and a part time job to make ends meet, and it makes them physically ill.  They don't want to hear about how they can't do anything without having in some way benefited from slavery.  They don't want to know that YOU have problems.  This even comes into play among co-workers and friendly acquaintances. 

It's barely even about having more stuff than you do, because that seems like it would be the first accusation.  GOTTA GET MORE STUFF THAN NEIGHBOR JOE.  And I don't think it's because it makes them uncomfortable.  No, they just.  Don't.  Care.  Couldn't give a good god damn about anything that has no relation to themselves.  It's an inconvenience to their pursuit of having fun in their own way (which may or may not be False Slack, depending). 

Because I think most people are told from the beginning, "If you want anything, you have to be willing to take it because no one is going to give it to you."  There's a subtle message in there, something along the lines of, "Other people are just going to get in the way.  Leave them to worry about themselves, because they are of no consequence to winners.  And you are a winner, aren't you? Aren't you?  You better be."

It's like, you know, the rat race isn't really that much of a metaphor.  There is nothing that isn't a competition.  There is nothing that matters more than WINNING.  Everyone has to win, and if there's a winner, that means there's losers.

So just ditch the losers when they show a weakness, because they are nothing but baggage, getting in your way.

Comments, arguments, may I take your orders?

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

SHUT UP, get out of my way with your "facts"—I'm a winner pursuing Happiness™.

I feel you on that, but I'm convinced that there are cracks in their facade, little spaces between their uniform and the person that a well crafted idea can slip through whether they wanted it to or not. Advertisers, marketers, and public relations firms all exploit it to people's detriment. Can spags use this same susceptibility to stoke people's compassion? Isn't it possible to sneak some inconvenient facts through? Provide a glimpse of a horrible truth that they never will forget?

It was with the help of social pressures that people became so self-absorbed and callous, but remember that YOU are a social pressure too. Those masks, uniforms, and memetic false consciousnesses are social fictions and they're permeable.

[Freeky]

SHUT UP, get out of my way with your "facts"—I'm a winner pursuing Happiness™.

I feel you on that, but I'm convinced that there are cracks in their facade, little spaces between their uniform and the person that a well crafted idea can slip through whether they wanted it to or not. Advertisers, marketers, and public relations firms all exploit it to people's detriment. Can spags use this same susceptibility to stoke people's compassion? Isn't it possible to sneak some inconvenient facts through? Provide a glimpse of a horrible truth that they never will forget?

It was with the help of social pressures that people became so self-absorbed and callous, but remember that YOU are a social pressure too. Those masks, uniforms, and memetic false consciousnesses are social fictions and they're permeable.

Compassion is teachable, I think (I hope).  You can teach it to children, certainly.  Adults I think would be harder.  They have their uniforms and causes and talking heads that tell them what to believe.  I would hope that it is not impossible, though, and it's certainly worth a shot. 

So where does a spag start?  There are dozens, hundreds, thousands of inconvenient truths that are all important and worthy of attention.  Perhaps start with things that are at home?  It's easier to say "Well, there's nothing I can do about China working twelve year olds to death.  So it's pointless to even worry that all of my trinkets are made by slave labor in a country that I'm supposed to hate anyway," than to try and do something about it. 

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

So where does a spag start?  There are dozens, hundreds, thousands of inconvenient truths that are all important and worthy of attention.  Perhaps start with things that are at home? 

I don't know where a spag ought to start or even if they should. Spags know themselves and their situation better than anyone else, so only they can make those decisions.

When I have too many choices I like to put all of the worthy choices in a hat and just pull one out at random and run with it.

The way I learned to craft advertising messages goes like this:

• research the issue like a banshee
• narrow down a very specific audience
• figure out exactly what you want people to do
• write a ton of headlines and subheads which take into account the above
• choose the best ones (based on: does it get your attention, is it relevant to your audience, and is it memorable)
• deploy your message
• evaluate what seemed to go right and what seemed to go wrong

If you get stuck at 4, start at 1 again.

It's much more applied creative writing rather than science. 

It's easier to say "Well, there's nothing I can do about China working twelve year olds to death.  So it's pointless to even worry that all of my trinkets are made by slave labor in a country that I'm supposed to hate anyway," than to try and do something about it. 

Part of the puzzle is to have something for people to do, very specific things. For example, ALEC continues to lose members due to the public merely gaining awareness about how it operates and who is a part of it.

Coming up with likely counters to your message is good, that can help you craft more potent ideas.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

One essay I'd dearly love to write if I had time, is on whether offshoring and outsourcing is really making consumer goods cheaper.

In some cases, as with simple manufactured goods, yes, it is... in other cases though, as with complex manufactured goods like electronics, parts are sourced from so many vendors and pass through so many brokers that by the time the product arrives at the retail site, it costs about the same as it would had it all been made in one factory, domestically. The difference is that the consumer can get it faster.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

One essay I'd dearly love to write if I had time, is on whether offshoring and outsourcing is really making consumer goods cheaper.

In some cases, as with simple manufactured goods, yes, it is... in other cases though, as with complex manufactured goods like electronics, parts are sourced from so many vendors and pass through so many brokers that by the time the product arrives at the retail site, it costs about the same as it would had it all been made in one factory, domestically. The difference is that the consumer can get it faster.

Ooh, I'd like to read that.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

One essay I'd dearly love to write if I had time, is on whether offshoring and outsourcing is really making consumer goods cheaper.

In some cases, as with simple manufactured goods, yes, it is... in other cases though, as with complex manufactured goods like electronics, parts are sourced from so many vendors and pass through so many brokers that by the time the product arrives at the retail site, it costs about the same as it would had it all been made in one factory, domestically. The difference is that the consumer can get it faster.

Ooh, I'd like to read that.

HEY FREEKY

YOU WANNA DO THE RESEARCH AND WRITE ABOUT THIS?

I don't foresee having the time in the next eight years, especially since I just added a second grad degree to my planned trajectory.

[Freeky]

One essay I'd dearly love to write if I had time, is on whether offshoring and outsourcing is really making consumer goods cheaper.

In some cases, as with simple manufactured goods, yes, it is... in other cases though, as with complex manufactured goods like electronics, parts are sourced from so many vendors and pass through so many brokers that by the time the product arrives at the retail site, it costs about the same as it would had it all been made in one factory, domestically. The difference is that the consumer can get it faster.

Ooh, I'd like to read that.

HEY FREEKY

YOU WANNA DO THE RESEARCH AND WRITE ABOUT THIS?

I don't foresee having the time in the next eight years, especially since I just added a second grad degree to my planned trajectory.

Ooooh.  Yes!