Showing posts with label Sociology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sociology. Show all posts
Saturday, January 23, 2010
It's NOT JUST The Money It's What They Do With It: Neuropsychology And Corporate Electioneering
.Every one is acting sooooo surprised.
Lets get something straight...
The courts ruled corporations have 'personhood' hundreds of years ago in England and they STILL rule that way in the United States.
Therefore, as-is, corporations have the right to 'freedom of expression'
How you spend money IS a form of that.
Any questions?
Look... That's just the publicly visible tip of the monetary-electoral iceberg anyway... The fact that corporations use their money to influence elections.
Lets talk about HOW they'll spend the money to do that now that corporations can more freely 'contribute' to candidates and electoral campaigns.
Hint... It won't be spent on Get-Out-The-Vote phone banks for the candidates.
It will be invested in advertising.
CAREFULLY crafted political neuro-psychological advertising.
Designed with your mind in mind.
Think of it however you like... in awe or abject terror.
A nation of sheep being led to the socio-cultural slaughter willingly.
The next time someone asks you why you believe something
political, or why you think Coke is better than Pepsi... consider:
The Real Deal... Neuro-Advertising:
Advertisers and Politicians Hunt for the "Buy-Button" in Your Brain (Buy! Buy! Buy! [Vote!])
Using a form of marketing known as neuromarketing, corporations and politicians are using MRIs, EEGs, and other brain-scan and medical technology to craft irresistible media messages designed to shift buying habits, political beliefs and voting patterns, as described in the World Business Academy's video "Spellcasters.".
By measuring activity in different parts of the brain in response to an ad or other media message, advertisers and political consultants can create advertising campaigns that tap into the pre-conscious brain. The idea is to assess central nervous system response to certain ads, the better to skirt the viewers' rational thought.
Since the dawn of commerce, sellers have tried to figure out how to best pitch their wares, grab attention and close the deal. Sales pitches have always been designed to create a willing buyer, often by creating needs and wants and then offering up a new product to satisfy them.
Clever and unscrupulous sales pitches are nothing new. They helped create a nation of smokers until litigation revealed that tobacco companies hid known risks. The court cases led to big damage awards, new warning requirements and, finally, fewer smokers.
The use of music, images and emotion to manipulate the consumer and voter is also nothing new. But neuromarketing involves a degree of intrusiveness and manipulation that needs to be exposed and stopped. Consumers pushed back when advertisers turned to subliminal advertising - the practice of flashing an image for a tiny fraction of a second, too fast for the cognitive brain to process.
It's time to push back again. [In Full]
.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Fear & Loathing! Ominous Music Heard Throughout U.S. Sends Nation Into Panic
...or is that the OTHER way around?
Either way... Be Afraid.... Be VERY afraid!
Ominous Music Heard Throughout U.S. Sends Nation Into Panic
Monday, August 24, 2009
California's Overcrowded Prisons By-The-Numbers (200% of design capacity a big enough number for ya?) - Sacramento Bee
(Click the image for an "Interactive" @ Sac Bee)Other charts are available from the sidebar:
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Thought for the day: "Who really established the idea that a society could benefit hugely just by lying to itself, or simply pretending?"
{Click the thumbnails for full size images):
The American victory over manifest evil in World War Two was so total that there was no one else left on earth to compete with in making and selling useful articles...
...at least for a while. And it produced a middle class so well-paid that it could express itself in a vast spewage of plastic and leisure across the land.The human race will look back on this society with wonder and nausea for whatever remains of its time on Earth. For at least twenty years, though, this way of life has been running on fumes, inertia, and promissory notes.
The amazing thing is that these life-extension strategies worked, especially the past ten years when there was really nothing left besides a Ponzi structure of interlocked swindles and rackets.
When the time comes when we do look back to understand what went wrong, I think we'll see that the Woodstock generation went off the rails in 1980, with the election of the actor, Ronald Reagan, who really established the idea that a society could benefit hugely just by lying to itself, or simply pretending...
[In Full at Clusterfuck Nation]
Monday, June 8, 2009
*Infotainment Society*: Top Ten Junk Food News Stories for 2008 and 2009 - Project Censored, CSUS
Photos of Jessica Simpson performing at a Florida Chili Cook-off looking a bit heavier than usual surfaced during the week of January 26, 2009. The purportedly unflattering shots of a curvier looking Simpson in an outfit that included "a muffin-top-inducing leopard belt" immediately made news headlines. Was she pregnant? Was she picking up eating habits from her NFL star boyfriend? Or was she simply hungry for publicity? President Obama even noticed Simpson was “in a weight battle” during a pre-super bowl interview.
The US is not only becoming a nation of obese people, but is on the verge of another phenomenon the equivalent of cultural and mental obesity.
*Infotainment Society:Junk Food News for 2008/2009 *
By Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff
The late New York University media scholar Neil Postman once said about America, “We are the best entertained least informed society in the world." From Jessica Simpson’s weight and Brangelina’s escapades, to Britney Spears’ sister and the Obama’s First Puppy, Americans are fed a steady “news” diet of useless information laden with personal anecdotes, scandals, and gossip.
Since the middle of the 1980’s, Project Censored at Sonoma State University has annually researched this phenomenon. Topics and in-depth reports that matter little to anyone in any meaningful way are given massive amounts of media coverage in the corporate media. In recent years, this has only become more obvious.
For instance, CNN’s coverage of celebrity Anna Nicole Smith’s untimely death in early 2007 is arguably one of the most egregious examples of an over abused news story. The magnitude of corporate media attention paid to Smith’s death were clearly out of synch with the coverage the story deserved, which was at most a simple passing mention.
Instead, CNN broadcast “breaking” stories of Smith’s death uninterrupted, without commercials, for almost two hours, with commentary by lead anchors and journalists. This marked among the longest uninterrupted “news” broadcasts at CNN since the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Anna Nicole Smith and 9/11 are now strange bedfellows, milestone bookends of corporate news culture.
While news outlets were obsessing over Smith’s death, most big media giants were missing a far more important story. The US ambassador to Iraq misplaced $12 billion in shrink-wrapped one hundred dollar bills that were flown to Baghdad.
This garnered little attention due to the media’s morbid infatuation with Smith’s passing. This is clearly news judgment gone terribly awry if not an outright retreat from journalistic standards. The once trivial and absurd are now mainstreamed as “news.”
More young people turn to late night comics’ fake news to learn the truth or tune out to so-called reality shows often scripted as Roman Holiday spectacles of the surreal.
Welcome to the Infotainment Society: American Media in the 21st century.
Here are the Top Ten Junk Food News Stories for 2008 and 2009 as chosen by Project Censored students and the online community via http://projectcensored.org:
1. Olympic Medalist Michael Phelps Hits a Bong
2. Jessica Simpson Gains Weight
3. First Lady Michelle Obama's Fashion Sense
4. The Brangelina Twins
5. Lindsay Lohan Dating a Woman
6. The Presidential First Puppy
7. Heidi Montag "Marries" Spencer Pratt
8. Barry Bonds Steroid Trial
9. Jamie-Lynn Spears Gives Birth
10. The Woes of Amy Winehouse
The British tabloid News of the World published an exclusive photo of Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps smoking marijuana from a bong on Sunday, February 1, 2009, with the headline, “What a Dope.” The picture was allegedly taken during a November house party while Phelps was visiting the University of South Carolina. The incident occurred nearly three months after the swimmer won eight gold medals for America at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Phelps quickly apologized to the public for his "regrettable behavior. " The bongs owner reportedly tried to sell it on eBay for $100,000.
In the weeks following, Phelps lost his sponsorship from Kellogg's cereal.
(More on how the media and sponsor companies 'played' our Number One contenda'.
February 17 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary
Given the fact that Kellogg kept Michael Phelps on after his drunk driving conviction a few years back (2004) even though alcohol is a major killer and is responsible for more social and economic mayhem (broken families and broken bank accounts for a start) than could ever be calculated accurately in the US, Kellogg's removal of Phelps should be seen for what it is... Boycott bait.)Photos of Jessica Simpson performing at a Florida Chili Cook-off looking a bit heavier than usual surfaced during the week of January 26, 2009. The purportedly unflattering shots of a curvier looking Simpson in an outfit that included "a muffin-top-inducing leopard belt" immediately made news headlines. Was she pregnant? Was she picking up eating habits from her NFL star boyfriend? Or was she simply hungry for publicity?
President Obama even noticed Simpson was “in a weight battle” during a pre-super bowl interview.
The US is not only becoming a nation of obese people, but is on the verge of another phenomenon the equivalent of cultural and mental obesity. We are a nation awash in a sea of information yet we have a paucity of understanding. We are a country where over a quarter of the population know the names of all five members of the fictitious family from The Simpsons yet only one in a thousand can name all the rights protected under the first amendment to the US Constitution. Journalistic values have been sold out to commercial interests and not even our core, national and constitutionally protected values are sacred.
Peter Phillips is a Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University and Director of Project Censored.
Mickey Huff is an Associate Professor of History Diablo Valley College and Associate Director of Project Censored.
Frances A. Capell, a Project Censored intern, contributed research.
For the full report see: www.projectcensored.org
The complete list of 'Contendas' and more @ Project Censored
...and now... A word from our sponsor
(Courtesy Cracked Magazine Online)
Thursday, January 8, 2009
"No, no, no," he said. "We should be hitting the greenhouses." - Israelis Watch the Fighting in Gaza ... They Come With Binoculars and Lawn Chairs
But IF they get killed, I'm SURE it'll be blamed on the Gazans or Hamas by the IDF's spin cyclers.
For those looking for real solutions, and dialogue, Da' Buffalo highly recommends Bitterlemons(War in Gaza II , January 5, 2009) and Bitterlemons-International (War in Gaza: the regional dimension). The current issues at the time of this posting are linked.
The squandering of a birthright by a PERVERSE society"If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with all others justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless, the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place…then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever." -Jeremiah 7:5-7
(Note the adult 'supervision' of these psychologically abused Israeli children)
"Jocelyn Znaty, a stout 60-year-old nurse for Magen David Adom, the Israeli counterpart of the Red Cross, can hardly contain her glee at the site of exploding mortars below in Gaza.
"Look at that," she shouts, clapping her hands as four artillery rounds pound the territory in quick succession. "Bravo! Bravo!"
Wall Street Journal Online
JANUARY 8, 2009
Israelis Watch the Fighting in Gaza From a Hilly Vantage Point They Come With Binoculars and Lawn Chairs; Nurse Znaty: 'I'm Sorry, but I'm Happy'
By CHARLES LEVINSON
Farnaz Fassihi in Rafah, Egypt and Margaret Coker in Tel Aviv contributed to this article.
GAZA BORDER -- Moti Danino sat Monday in a canvas lawn chair on a sandy hilltop on Gaza's border, peering through a pair of binoculars at distant plumes of smoke rising from the besieged territory.
An unemployed factory worker, he comes here each morning to watch Israel's assault on Hamas from what has become the war's peanut gallery -- a string of dusty hilltops close to the border that offer panoramic views across northern Gaza.
He is one of dozens of Israelis who have arrived from all over Israel, some with sack lunches and portable radios tuned to the latest reports of the battle raging in front of them. Some, like Mr. Danino, are here to egg on friends and family members in the fight.
Others have made the trek, they say, to witness firsthand a military operation -- so far, widely popular inside Israel -- against Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.
Over the weekend, four teenagers sat on a hill near Mr. Danino's, oohing and aahing at the airstrikes. Nadav Zebari, who studies Torah in Jerusalem, was eating a cheese sandwich and sipping a Diet Coke.
"I've never watched a war before," he said. A group of police officers nearby took turns snapping pictures of one another with smoking Gaza as a backdrop. "I want to feel a part of the war," one said, before correcting himself with the official government designation for the assault. "I mean operation. It's not a war." [In Full @ WSJ Online]
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Meanwhile, In America - And It Came To Pass They Prayed to God For Cheap Gasoline - Die Tageszeitung Germany Via Watching America
In a deep sotto voce:
"And it came to pass"
"And it came to pass"
Praying to GodFor Cheap Gasoline
By Karin Deckenbach
Translated By Ron Argentati
August 15, 2008
Source: Die Tageszeitung, Germany
As usual, the world’s most powerful nation exaggerates: First, gas was ultra-cheap at $1 a gallon. Now it’s super-expensive at $4.40 a gallon. When one considers that the average American drives 20,000 miles a year and their beloved monstrous SUVs only get about 7.4 MPG, it was obvious something had to be done.And it came to pass that Rocky Twyman, leader of a Washington church choir, stood in front of a filing station and prayed. "God is the only one we can turn to at this point," Twyman prayed at the pump. "Our leaders don't seem to be able to do anything about it. The prices keep soaring and soaring." Anyone who wished to follow his example-–and this was broadcast far and wide on American television--was advised to keep it simple: "God, deliver us from these high gas prices," Twyman said. "That's all they have to say." But Twyman quickly added a couple of secular tips: "People have to walk more, leave their cars at home, and carpool," he said.
Gone were the believers. Trying to get around without a car isn’t practical in a country where there aren’t even any sidewalks in the suburbs. In rural areas, there are only long-distance buses, and even in a big city like Los Angeles there’s no subway. The fact is, many commuters now avoid getting stuck in traffic jams by hitchhiking on those freeway lanes designated for two or more passengers per vehicle only.
Just a couple of months ago, congress set new fuel efficiency standards for the auto industry by mandating a fleet average of 35 MPG by the year 2020.
Meanwhile, a popular new sport has developed: “hypermiling.” Brake as little as possible, shift into neutral as often as possible, draft the vehicle ahead of you, turn off your built-in refrigerators and rooftop floodlights-–the internet is brimming with such tips to save fuel. All these things so people won’t have to sell their over-sized Ford Ranger Pick-ups (there’s no market for them now, anyway) and meanwhile, sales of hybrid models have tripled within a year.
Dealers react to the crisis with typical American marketing gimmicks: in Virginia, a supermarket promised free gasoline vouchers at their grand opening. Expectant customers had already created a tent city in front of the store the night before the event. In Nevada, a bordello enticed customers with promises of discount gasoline, although no customers would admit to taking advantage of the offer. The fast-food chain “Five Guys” offered to give customers 6 gallons of free gasoline for every 100 hamburgers they ate. If they haven’t exploded in the meantime, they’re probably still driving today.
But maybe Rocky Twyman’s prayers did manage to help. In June, Americans drove 12.2 billion miles less than the same period the previous year, a reduction of about 4.7 percent. Just like that, the USA was able to lower its crude oil consumption over the first six months of the year by 800,000 barrels a day as compared to 2007.
See? It worked.
Source, and link to original in German:
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