#corporatewarfare

[shannonimages]

Cost and Value

Disclaimer: political views on this particular piece are views of the artist only,the model is of composition use only, this image has been altered from the original and Photoshoped, signed releases on file.

[bootsykitty]

Honor our soldiers by not asking that they spill blood for profits. #MemorialDay #WarProfiteering #CorporateWarfare #IndustrialWarMachine

[fuckadvertising]

Seth Godin on Art.

"Art isn't only a painting. Art is anything that's creative, passionate, and personal. And great art resonates with the viewer, not only with the creator. What makes someone an artist? I don't think is has anything to do with a paintbrush. There are painters who follow the numbers, or paint billboards, or work in a small village in China, painting reproductions. These folks, while swell people, aren't artists. On the other hand, Charlie Chaplin was an artist, beyond a doubt. So is Jonathan Ive, who designed the iPod. You can be an artists who works with oil paints or marble, sure. But there are artists who work with numbers, business models, and customer conversations. Art is about intent and communication, not substances. An artists is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. And an artists takes it personally. That's why Bob Dylan is an artist, but an anonymous corporate hack who dreams up Pop 40 hits on the other side of the glass is merely a marketer. That's why Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos, is an artists, while a boiler room of telemarketers is simply a scam. Tom Peters, corporate gadfly and writer, is an artists, even though his readers are businesspeople. He's an artists because he takes a stand, he takes the work personally, and he doesn't care if someone disagrees. His art is part of him, and he feels compelled to share it with you because it's important, not because he expects you to pay him for it. Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn't matter. The intent does. Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another."  — Seth Godin (Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?)

[putthatontoast-blog]

For years I have felt the vortex pull of mental pollution dragging me down into a place the human mind was never designed to endure. A small cramped room that was intended to hold no more than a desk, a chair, a lamp and perhaps some stationary. A room that is now being squatted in by a hoarder. Filling the room with junk mail, piling it to the ceiling, leaving just a small path by which one can squeeze into, ever so carefully stacking in hopes that the avalanche will come down long after the room has been abandoned.

I have a mind which allows for me to see certain things and store them for far longer than I wish. For some things it's a boon, no doubt. I have no problem with directions for example. I can go somewhere once and then have no problem getting back there ever again. I can remember land marks and seem always to know in what direction I need to go. I can not, however, remember faces and names without having met someone a handful of times or remember what that person and I talked about for 10 minutes at a party. What my mind seems to be very apt at is sponging up all sorts of pop culture news, bands, actors, celebrity rag covers at the super market. All this garbage, once seen, is implanted into my memory like a tick. A parasite, along for the ride, taking up space that should for all intents and purposes be used for something much more interesting or at least useful.

Advertising has to be the worst of all the mental pollution that we are subjected to on a daily basis. Weather it's on the t.v., radio, internet or magazine there is no escaping the loud, smelly, shiny hooks that barb themselves into our consciousness. With these advertisements we have at least signed a social contract which allows for these intrusions. T.V., radio, internet, magazines, all of these are possible because of the advertising revenue. We all know this, it's fine. When I start to feel violated is when the city bus that i'm waiting for arrives with an advert for a new cologne, or blue jean, or television show plastered along it's side. Even worse if I'm in my car and that bus pulls up along side me. The adverts on the billboards, the neon signs for fast food chains, the blimp, the dancing inflatable balloon man. All of these are a violation of the mind. A sensory overload, driving a collective mental collapse closer and closer to the brink. 

I've been looking at photos from inside North Korea these days. There is of course photos of thousands of people participating in mandatory events which look slightly terrifying. There are photos of giant statues of glorious leaders. Photos of subways and street cars, apartments and slums and mansions and all the rest. There is a striking thing about all these photos though. It was the first thing I noticed but I didn't realize it right away. The thing I noticed or more fittingly, didn't notice was advertising. There is none and I don't mean that figuratively. Not a single billboard, buses with nothing on the sides, stadiums with out HSBC in big lit up red letters 60 feet high. It is, remarkable.

The argument would be that there is wall to wall propaganda in place of advertising. This is indeed true, but what is advertising if not corporate propaganda? National pride or  Pepsi pride. It seems as though if global capitalism is to continue, the nation state as we know it serves no purpose. If Capitalism is to work, all trade is done without the involvement of the government. If there are no governments and only corporations with a world wide currency would this not seem to be the end game of capitalism. A world wide capitalist oligarchy. If we are to celebrate our national pride than it should also be at its most pure. Schools, stadiums, libraries, hi-ways, should all be state owned and free to be used by anyone. 

We are seeing it now on a world wide scale. People are no longer throwing stones at parliament or the court house. They are throwing rocks at the Chevron, the bank, the 7-11. People know who is really running things. There aren't any politicians who can stop the pulling of strings by their lobbyist puppet masters. What good does it do to cut the head off the Hydra? It is not the job of one person either. Look at poor Obama. He never stood a chance. Americans let him fail, the people were the ones who could bring about change but it takes more than voting. We will have to be ready to fight. Both bleed and draw blood. Corporate warfare is at hand. They have been at war with us for a long time and have not only won the physical battle to this point but they have almost won the war of the mind. If we don't act quickly, within a matter of generations there will be no fight to be had. Our surrender will have been complete. All that will remain in our minds will be slogans written in the new texting language that we ourselves help to create.

Find a friend and find a way to create a new sport. One centered around the destruction or corporate properties and slogans. It's easier than you think and a hell of a lot more fun than playing modern warfare in your moms basement.