Monday, September 14, 2009

Missing out... so foolish, so sad



I'm still pulling weeds during harvest.







Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Am I right or am I wrong?

I have been trained to discern error. But am I my own false-teacher?

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Will government election-parties become "Brands" that fail?

I was reading the always-behind, monthly 'update' on Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve (the Culture Pulse section) for this September. It is titled "The End of Brands."

Summary of the short article: Brand loyalty is going away. Quickly!

Her assessment? Because Brands don't really deliver on what they promise. The antithesis of 'the Brand' (or, read another way, where Brands have failed) is "transparency", "Honesty", and "Serv[ing the customer]".

Jean Baudrillard in his anti-Consumerist (read: semi-Marxist) days had a pretty interesting observation: those running for Office in the U.S. use a marketing approach (vs. an intellectual or governmental/service or ...).

Putting Baudrillard and Popcorn together, the "Two Parties" have become Brands. And they are failing. They promised Utopia and are, at best, fulfilling their own Utopia of power and importance (amongst those in D.C., ironically).

But we can't stop 'buying' the government like we can a Brand. The government doesn't 'go out of business' if we don't vote. It's easy enough to simply buy the brand stocked right next to The Brand. Maybe we should buy the Party right next to the Brand parties.

[ Unless you live in Washington, and maybe other states, where the "pre"elections make sure we leave off the non-Brand options. Isn't the Pacific Northwest supposed to be 'progressive'? not Super-Limiting?!?! ]