KOP - a quibble with ch. 1

[Guest guest]

On page 6, Hillman says: " ... Business has no standing army, no

ruling king who must be obeyed, no SWAT teams or secret police,

no codified laws or educational dogma for indoctrinating youth, no

concerted political program or national party, no church, credo,

priests or holy writ. Whertein lies its power? "

Allowing, for the moment and for argument's sake, that he is

accurate in claiming busines/economy and the lust for power as

THE ruling power on the planet (I would be more inclined to

consider it as one among several), I cannot blithely pass over this

incredible statement without comment.

What does he imagine the media and advertising industries are if

not indoctrination and creators of 'law', albeit a law subject to the

vagaries of the marketplace (cf. the saying: 'If twenty businessmen

anywhere on this planet decide to do something - whatever that

may be - it immediately becomes legal " )... There may be " no

standing army, no ruling king who must be obeyed " but King $ and

Queen £ make absolutely sure that there are those who are

acceptable in eyes of the law and those who are not. Their

standing army is all those who accept that law without question

and mock those who don't into subjection or marginalisation.

There are no uniformed " SWAT teams or secret police " , but one is

continually under the surveillance of the tax-man and your bank-

manager not to mention those to whom you are indebted for one

thing or another... If you honestly believe that there are " no codified

laws or educational dogma for indoctrinating youth " , ask any kid on

the block the following questions -

~ What is 'The Credo' and can you recite it?

~ What make of shoes does Jordan wear?

~ What is the past tense of the verb 'wreak', and what does it

mean?

and see which one they get right.

As to " no concerted political program or national party, no church,

credo, priests or holy writ " , switch on the TV, the radio or your

computer, open any newspaper or magazine... They all say one

thing: If you don't have one of these you're (delete which not

applicable) impotent/stupid/outmoded/ugly/fat, etc., ad nauseam.

And your education system is telling you that too: be a producer;

be a consumer; there is no other way. Holy writ is just about

anything writ that aint pure lit (rhymes with shit)

Sorry. Couldn(t pass over this one in silence.

m

[Guest guest]

Mike writes:

> On page 6, Hillman says: " ... Business has no standing army, no

> ruling king who must be obeyed, no SWAT teams or secret police,

> no codified laws or educational dogma for indoctrinating youth, no

> concerted political program or national party, no church, credo,

> priests or holy writ. Whertein lies its power? "

<snip>

> What does he imagine the media and advertising industries are if

> not indoctrination and creators of 'law', albeit a law subject to the

> vagaries of the marketplace

IMHO, you've done a great job of answering Hillman's question. He is

challenging us to look at how business exerts its influence, and you've hit

the nail on the head.

Actually, I would argue that a business does have a standing army - they are

called a " salesforce " . If you look at how salespeople are trained, it is

done the same way we train soldiers. We whip them up with Shadow projections

onto the enemy (competition), and send them out into the " field " .

Business has a ruling king of each company: the president/CEO. Just as in

ancient times the king was sacrificed when the fields were no longer fertile,

now we " ax " the CEO when sales drop.

Business has a secret police: the Human Resources department. It is their

job to make sure all employees are thinking proper thoughts.

The language of Strategic Planning is that of warfare - in my MBA program I

was taught " Guerilla campaigns " , " flanking maneuvers " , " frontal assaults " .

The gods of war have become the gods of business.

--Kurt

[Guest guest]

Kurt says: " The gods of war have become the gods of business " ,

and I must say tha the 'chain of command' in any company that

practises vertical as opposed to horizontal management

techniques is definitely military, and - especially in France where a

lot of top management is ex-Ecole Polytechnique, i. e., military

college - expressly so. Makes for the 'lick up, kick down'

management style and total cut-off between the levels of the

heirarchy.

Hillman is a damn good writer.

m

[Guest guest]

Hi Kurt - You and Mike are right on when you talk about advertising, and

business in general. I just came across some info on a video called

" The Ad and the Ego " - " a comprehensive examination of advertising and

the U.S. culture of consumption. The film intercuts clips from hundreds

of familiar television ads with insights from media critics. It shows

how ads sell not only products but also values, concepts of love,

romance and success, a sense of identity, and above all, what is

" normal, " all of which is racialized and gendered. It also shows how

citizenship has increasingly been replaced by spectatorship and civil

society by consumer culture. "

It's listed in the Teaching for Change Catalog, p. o. Box 73038, Wash.

D.C. 20056-3038

Shirley

[Guest guest]

Shirley

When I was hunting around for a 'real job' after my first wife had

thrown me out because you don't make money as a household-

name musician in South Africa, I joined a packaging company run

by two friends ('a packaging company', I say! - It was THE

packaging company in Southern Africa) for a while. One day I

came across the following message printed on the back of a

cardboard stand: " Place near till so as to incite impulse buying'. I

turned the box over: it was for throw-away sun-glasses.

The term 'impulse buying' so turned my guts I quit on the spot.

They're probably still wondering why twenty-seven years on. We're

still friends. And I will NEVER work in advertising.

m

[Guest guest]

--- cloudhand@... wrote:

<And I will NEVER work in advertising.>

Advertising. What about Law? Walking past one of

the lawyer's offices today I overheard a lawyer

speaking with a client saying " Truth is not the

process we are engaged in here. "

Startling huh!

in the dance,

Frances

_______________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

>What about Law?

*The point is: where do you anchor?

The answer: nowhere.

Nine tenths of the problem is this need to be 'someone',

'somewhere' when we never can be. THAT's what power's all about -

the need to feel we be. But we don't be, except fleetingly as this or

that.

And therein lies the terror - If I am not being, who the hell am I?

Answer: precisely!

Which is utterly unacceptable.

..

After all, dammit, I KNOW who I am, me! - I am ME! - I KNOW

what that means - what it's pointing t... Just can't point to it myself

is all.

But I'm SURE I know what I'm talking about, what I *mean* by 'me' -

I mean how could you ever begin to doubt me? the most obvious

thin gin the whole thing, isn't it? You know?...

I mean you don't *really* doubt me, do you?... DO you?...

Course not!

(Do ya?)

(Does everybody?)

Your

immoderate

moderator

[Guest guest]

I, shrink, therefore I am.

Gene Baker