Book Observations
1. Our Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare topped of in terms of progress in 1975! Holy shit! How is this happening? I suppose it is most likely from people who think that it is “easy to substitute other factors for natural resources.” We are depleting our resources and the economy is only benefiting from things that are hurting us. How is this okay? That is one of the scariest statistics I’ve heard in a long time.
2. This quote through me for a loop…”many times a day, each of us comes to a fork in the path. We can do one of two things: act the way we normally, reflexively act, or do something a little risky and wild.” In fact I just had a conversation with my boyfriend the other day about this. We were talking about what we do to relax, and how we could just sit and watch television or we could go outside and try to explore and exercise our brains. More people need to be having this conversation and thinking about what they should do with their lives, for real!!
3. Cool is not consumer America!!!! Is it? I want cool to be someone who makes a difference and not someone who drives a BMW. Our landlord drives an Escalade, common!!! There is no reason why people can’t be cool by riding bikes and helping the world and drinking more tea! America is an outrage.
4. I love that some culture jammers are making a difference. Seeing the victory in the tobacco industry and then seeing how jammers are moving on to new global issues is so exciting! I’m so happy to hear how the jammers are getting more organized and are growing in numbers. Rock on culture jammers!
5. I seriously want to create a gripe site… but then when I think about it, will it do any good? Will it do good to create publicity for a company we don’t like, isn’t any publicity good publicity? After thinking about this it makes me nervous because I want to start some culture jamming of my own but I don’t want to inadvertently help the company that I want to hurt. What can we do that is full proof?
Movie Observations:
Every single component of this film stood out to me, however most of all, I kept thinking about all the companies I have no idea about. I had no idea that some of the companies I thought were good companies are just as shady and evil as Monsanto and Nike. I feel like most of America does not know about these issues because these companies are in control of everything, including what the public knows and wants to know. People don’t want to hear about the companies that they ‘love,’ they just want to keep shopping and shopping because the companies that they should be hearing about have created these horrid opinions in their minds. I feel like there are larger institutional forces at hand here. It is not that we are dumb, we just suffer from corporation mind control, SCARY! I don’t think we are distracted either because somehow America is able to watch somewhere around 4 hours of television per day; we could spare some time to learn something new. I think we are just swept up in this devotion to the psychopathic corporation. This movie is terrifying to me. Where should I shop? Where do I get the things I need without giving into this horrible corporation run society.
1. CJ: We can all make a difference - if we choose. So exciting to hear you write about jamming. Good point about "any publicity is good publicity" (this was our challenge with Burton protest). I think shame is a powerful tool... How can your gripe site focus energy in the direction you want? How do we make bike riders, tea drinkers and social activists 'cool'? We'll get a chance when we create our video PSA's! :)
ReplyDelete2. The Corporation: Yeah, scary stuff, but not insurmountable. A little cross referenced internet search should let you know the best places to shop with a conscience! And I promise the second half of the film will offer some hope and ideas for positive social change!!