Waiting for Barbarians
A little stream of consciousness. A little too 101 for my tastes but it’s interesting.
The issue of this selective marketing is that it tends to funnel the unprofitable market out of the mainstream market. This then has the effect of collecting these scattered people into generalized groups, which then creates new markets which can be marketed to. Continue reading “Shaping Art Through Sales”
Here’s the approximate set up from Dawn of the Dead.
Year is 1978.
Three weeks after the zombie apocalypse has begun. Society is crumbling and fallen in some places. Some people are trying to keep society together, others have died or have fled from society to try and find their own way. Your group has decided to strike out on their own, taking what they need to do so, whether it be legal or not.
Zombies are slow and their bite will infect & kill anyone within two to four days by infection, antibiotics help counter the effects for while. After death, the victim will then become a zombie with some memories of their past life, still with the goal of eating humans, even friends. Continue reading “Dawn of the Dead Scenario”
Social institutions shape a person’s perspective and direct his or her interactions with the people he or she encounters. The social institutions that exist within a given society are not necessarily in agreement with one another; indeed, they often have different values and priorities. This tension between social institutions serves a functional benefit by freeing the individuals within society from the absolute control and influence of any one group. Society requires varied and separate social institutions in order to fulfill their roles and to remain vibrant. Continue reading “Equality and Diversity Require Disagreement”
Libertarians sometimes tick off other people. The concept of a bleeding heart libertarian has been a long time in coming. The libertarian movement has for a long time been the domain of people who have read the book Human Action. These people have trouble interacting with feeling thinkers because they themselves are logic thinkers. Continue reading “Communicating with Feelers: Or Why no One Likes Your Spock Impressions”
Following the train of thought that lead to my essay about empowering communities with liberty; I want to write about social change in general. I just had a conversation with a man from Schwan’s, that purveyor of delicious frozen foods.
Did you know that stores may not require a minimum purchase for credit or debit purchases? Some gas stations require at least five dollars for you to pay with credit or debit. Apparently, this is not legal. That fellow from Schwan’s I had a conversation with said that one fellow insisted on paying for a $1.39 pack of gum with his card. When they told the fellow no, he called his bank, who called the credit card company they processed their credit payments through, who then called the company that maintained the register card readers, who then called the gas station company, who then called the gas station and told them to run the purchase for the pack of gum. This story is a mixed bag to me. On the one hand, the man was right and he stood his ground and won. On the other hand, he didn’t change anything. All this man really did was waste a lot of people’s time over a 1.39 pack of gum. Continue reading “Keeping People to Their Contracts”
My father was at one time a pastor of a small church in Independence, Missouri. The former superstar of convenience shopping, K-Mart, was up to their shenanigans. They were stocking adult magazines where children could plainly see them. Parents were understandably upset at this and wanted K-Mart to stop. K-Mart however did not seem to care. Enter stage left, my father, the pastor. Continue reading “My Father’s Boycott”
Revenge, he was crafted carefully. He was different from hate, he could not be a blind slave to anger nor be apathetic. He had to care, at least in the beginning. Through a lifetime of parts and pieces, his life was a collage of broken hopes and dreams. Betrayal was the key, betrayal and impotent rage. The final act came through his wife. She had been the perfect love, for three years he had everything he wanted. This was crucial, a man without hope becomes dissallusioned, loses concern for the world. A man with hopes continually ravaged, this is the springbed for revenge.
His ascension arose midway through a vacation. His wife was five months pregnant. On the second day of the vacation, she disappeared. His search was long and arduous. When he finally found her, he believed that he had won back his life. His wife then pierced him in the back. As he lay dying she told him with as much contempt as she could that she had already killed his unborn child and that she had never loved him. In his death, his hate was cemented. The ritual had been fulfilled. Continue reading “Paragon of Revenge”
Our culture is increasingly oppressive, in that people are taught to not speak out or take a stand for themselves and others. From children bullied to corrupt officials going unpunished, we are shown that injustice is the norm to be expected and accepted. Such desensitization and apathy bleeds into all aspects of life, from work habits, to our communal standards of decency and empathy. Unethical behavior towards others is commonplace. The degradation of ethical standards of justice is happening all across the world.
I was told of a prime example of such apathy towards injustice when I lived in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The president of Bolivia arbitrarily raised the price of gasoline to approximately five U.S. dollars per gallon overnight, which was more than twice the normal price. Public transportation doubled their prices to compensate for the increase in fuel cost. A group of children aged 8 to 12 peacefully complained about the price increase on their way to school. The bus driver dragged them out of the bus, and two additional bus drivers joined him in savagely beating the children. No charges were leveled against the drivers. What lesson could those boys have learned other than that to speak out means being beaten and silenced? Continue reading “An Issue of Importance to Me”
We’ve all been there when the die hard political guy gets up and preaches that we should all endorse his political views because anything else is tantamount to hating poor people or ruining the country. But, what if I told you that many people think the same of libertarians? That you can just as easily replace hating poor people or destroying the country with tyranny.
The fact is, when someone starts talking about politics, any politics, more than half the room is shutting down and the other half probably won’t do anything with what you’re saying. Politics is not persuasive enough to change the majority of people, and a lot of folks just find it offensive. If you would like to check this out, try going out and speaking to people about politics. Odds are, you will either find someone who disagrees with you, does not want to talk about it, or they agree with you but are still too busy to help out with your group or project. Continue reading “Changing Society Through Communities rather than Politics: An essay on Strategy and Approach”
Dogecoins raise an interesting concept.
Celebrities are not as financially successful because there are just too many of them. We have people who have been widely famous, well liked, and even talented who are still flat broke.
Why? Because our ability to show our support is spread too thin. Most people online today can measure their success in the nickels and noses of likes, comments, and followers. None of these however amount to financial success. This is why we see all of those annoying advertisements online. That is the internet gurus way of making some money to help finance their art. Continue reading “Dispersed Support: Pennies to You, Room and Board to an Artist”