Just a short little note here; I've been watching all of the election coverage, and taking note of McCain's tactics. They are very nasty. He's a finger-pointer. He seems to be asking America to just trust him based on his experiences in a long-ago war, and making unfounded accusations about his opponent. When Obama criticizes McCain, however, McCain claims that he's being unfairly attacked. It's pretty ugly.
Now, however, in the wake of the failure of the big bailout plan, which a number of republicans have not voted for, McCain finds a way to blame Democrats! He blames Nancy Pelosi for criticizing past Republican behavior hours before the vote ended, claiming that her remarks "poisoned the outcome." What, the poor little republicans had their feelings hurt, and so their failing to vote for this measure is somehow Pelosi's fault? Please. It's ridiculous. So now I have a new name for the Republican candidate for President: Senator McBlame! I just thought it fit.
So there you have it! More later but now back to studying . . .
PS - oh, well, I guess I'm not the first one to think of this name for the nasty little piece of work running on the republican ticket, but I'm proud of it anyway :-)
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Manipulation by Advertising, or "What Happens in Vegas?"
Well, so there's this movie, "What Happens in Vegas." It is a little annoying, since it brings to mind the really moronic tagline I started hearing about 3 or 4 years ago give or take a few, that claims that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
And now, they've turned it into an ad. As if.
Come on, folks.
Is anyone that stupid?
It's obviously an attempt to start this mystique about Las Vegas, where everyone keeps their shenanigans some kind of big secret. It's manipulation by advertising. Get weak minded people thinking that there's some honor about keeping all the whoop-de-doo you do in this one place secret, or, conversely, that there's some dishonor about revealing the details of the revels.
It's insulting to every person whose significant other goes off to Vegas and cheats on them, or loses the money they had plans for together, or even to the people who get fooled by this stupid philosophy itself.
Ok, ok, enough about that - so it's a pretty annoying ad campaign.
So then, here comes this new ad. It's all about how thinking is hard, it hurts, animals don't think, they just do - claw, run, whatever, I forget exactly what it said but it is just so much more stupid than that last thing. The idea is: don't think, just go to Vegas!
I'm so glad I went back to school and am putting in all the effort learning bio and chemistry and going for the pre-med thing. It is the end of the semester and I'm getting a little tired, the end in sight, not doing as well as I hoped I would in this chemistry class, but I have learned a lot about studying and my own process, and believe I will do better as I go forward. This ad, now, just reinforces my belief that I'm doing the right thing and all the hard work and pain is worth it. Because I know one thing, and that is that going to Las Vegas and dropping a whole lot of hard-earned money in that swamp isn't worth it.
Don't do it, folks! Don't go to Vegas and think your secrets will be kept. Don't fall prey to the "do the easy thing" idiocy they are trying to promote now. They want you dumb and happy. They want you to work like an animal most of the year and then go there on your vacation and give them all the extra money you made. And maybe some that isn't extra; they don't care. Bet the rent, lose your house, it's all the same to them.
Instead, go back to school. Get a GED if you didn't graduate from high school. Get an associates degree if you never went to college, or a BA if you went but never graduated. You'll qualify for a higher-paying and more satisfying job, than what you are doing now, guaranteed. This is not a gamble. Increase your education, increase your income.
Don't listen to the marketers, folks! Ads lie.
And now, they've turned it into an ad. As if.
Come on, folks.
Is anyone that stupid?
It's obviously an attempt to start this mystique about Las Vegas, where everyone keeps their shenanigans some kind of big secret. It's manipulation by advertising. Get weak minded people thinking that there's some honor about keeping all the whoop-de-doo you do in this one place secret, or, conversely, that there's some dishonor about revealing the details of the revels.
It's insulting to every person whose significant other goes off to Vegas and cheats on them, or loses the money they had plans for together, or even to the people who get fooled by this stupid philosophy itself.
Ok, ok, enough about that - so it's a pretty annoying ad campaign.
So then, here comes this new ad. It's all about how thinking is hard, it hurts, animals don't think, they just do - claw, run, whatever, I forget exactly what it said but it is just so much more stupid than that last thing. The idea is: don't think, just go to Vegas!
I'm so glad I went back to school and am putting in all the effort learning bio and chemistry and going for the pre-med thing. It is the end of the semester and I'm getting a little tired, the end in sight, not doing as well as I hoped I would in this chemistry class, but I have learned a lot about studying and my own process, and believe I will do better as I go forward. This ad, now, just reinforces my belief that I'm doing the right thing and all the hard work and pain is worth it. Because I know one thing, and that is that going to Las Vegas and dropping a whole lot of hard-earned money in that swamp isn't worth it.
Don't do it, folks! Don't go to Vegas and think your secrets will be kept. Don't fall prey to the "do the easy thing" idiocy they are trying to promote now. They want you dumb and happy. They want you to work like an animal most of the year and then go there on your vacation and give them all the extra money you made. And maybe some that isn't extra; they don't care. Bet the rent, lose your house, it's all the same to them.
Instead, go back to school. Get a GED if you didn't graduate from high school. Get an associates degree if you never went to college, or a BA if you went but never graduated. You'll qualify for a higher-paying and more satisfying job, than what you are doing now, guaranteed. This is not a gamble. Increase your education, increase your income.
Don't listen to the marketers, folks! Ads lie.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Open letter to Senator McCain on his statement that women need more education to earn equal pay . . .
Senator McCain,
Your comments about women needing more education to earn salaries commensurate with those paid to men are simply . . . well . . . uneducated! Did you know that nationwide, women tend to be equally or more educated than the men in their own families?
Saying that women need more education to equal men is analogous to another very common abuse of women. Men have long blamed women for their own poor behavior toward them, something that happens all too frequently. You're putting the onus on the victim.
Women have been trained to take the blame for years, and men have been trained that they can often shift the blame for their actions to women. Women are scapegoats for all kinds of things. Generally speaking this is a fairly emotional process between individual people, with women being complicit in the deception, and willingly taking the onus upon themselves because they were not taught to set strong boundaries and respect themselves in their youth. This is a tragic situation but is being corrected in younger generations, thank goodness.
However this situation is worse, because we're talking about employers manipulating this sorry state of affairs for their own economic gain. There's an old saying: "Where there's muck, there's geldt." As in, where people are so powerless that they have no say in what they are paid for their labors, they will be paid the least amount the boss can get away with. Each worker that can be paid even a little less, means, over time, more money in the boss's bank account. This is not about education, it's about corporate greed - on any scale, small or large. It's deceitful, and it's cheating. And, Mr. McCain, you are supporting this miserly deception with your hateful and just plain wrong comments.
But this falls right in with the entire McCain outlook. You've proven that you are weak on human rights, soft on regulating big business, and that you basically represent more of the same old poop.
You've also shown that you would be happy to maroon our troops in Iraq for 100 years, while torturing gay members of the armed services by supporting the ridiculous "don't ask, don't tell" rule. No, I'm not gay, but I think it is abusive to force any person to hide their most basic nature from their fellow humans, as if it were in any way shameful.
I'm sorry to say this, but it looks like you are resting on your laurels as a soldier in the past, when you should be standing up and supporting those who are now soldiers. Information is coming out of Iraq suggesting that the same kinds of brutal things we did in Viet Nam are being done again in Iraq. Kids are coming home dead-eyed and damaged, from being made to do inhuman acts. (Take a look at http://www.ivaw.org/wintersoldier ) You're supporting the same old "Might is Right" garbage that allows an armed force to treat weaker people horribly, and seeks to justify this treatment. The fact is, however, that they do it because they can.
Which leads us right back to employers paying women less, just because they can. Why can they? Because senators like you refuse to legislate equal pay for women. Why do you, and they? Because it serves the economic interests of you and people who support you. It's not about education, it's not about rights. It's about money.
Your comments about women needing more education to earn salaries commensurate with those paid to men are simply . . . well . . . uneducated! Did you know that nationwide, women tend to be equally or more educated than the men in their own families?
Saying that women need more education to equal men is analogous to another very common abuse of women. Men have long blamed women for their own poor behavior toward them, something that happens all too frequently. You're putting the onus on the victim.
Women have been trained to take the blame for years, and men have been trained that they can often shift the blame for their actions to women. Women are scapegoats for all kinds of things. Generally speaking this is a fairly emotional process between individual people, with women being complicit in the deception, and willingly taking the onus upon themselves because they were not taught to set strong boundaries and respect themselves in their youth. This is a tragic situation but is being corrected in younger generations, thank goodness.
However this situation is worse, because we're talking about employers manipulating this sorry state of affairs for their own economic gain. There's an old saying: "Where there's muck, there's geldt." As in, where people are so powerless that they have no say in what they are paid for their labors, they will be paid the least amount the boss can get away with. Each worker that can be paid even a little less, means, over time, more money in the boss's bank account. This is not about education, it's about corporate greed - on any scale, small or large. It's deceitful, and it's cheating. And, Mr. McCain, you are supporting this miserly deception with your hateful and just plain wrong comments.
But this falls right in with the entire McCain outlook. You've proven that you are weak on human rights, soft on regulating big business, and that you basically represent more of the same old poop.
You've also shown that you would be happy to maroon our troops in Iraq for 100 years, while torturing gay members of the armed services by supporting the ridiculous "don't ask, don't tell" rule. No, I'm not gay, but I think it is abusive to force any person to hide their most basic nature from their fellow humans, as if it were in any way shameful.
I'm sorry to say this, but it looks like you are resting on your laurels as a soldier in the past, when you should be standing up and supporting those who are now soldiers. Information is coming out of Iraq suggesting that the same kinds of brutal things we did in Viet Nam are being done again in Iraq. Kids are coming home dead-eyed and damaged, from being made to do inhuman acts. (Take a look at http://www.ivaw.org/wintersoldier ) You're supporting the same old "Might is Right" garbage that allows an armed force to treat weaker people horribly, and seeks to justify this treatment. The fact is, however, that they do it because they can.
Which leads us right back to employers paying women less, just because they can. Why can they? Because senators like you refuse to legislate equal pay for women. Why do you, and they? Because it serves the economic interests of you and people who support you. It's not about education, it's not about rights. It's about money.
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