30 April 2010
28 April 2010
I agree with Nick.
A selection of thoughts and influences i've collected over the course of this general election run-in so far.
- If we end up with a hung parliament, which MP should we start with?
- Take care of the credence you give to what you read, watch and listen to. Rupert Murdoch controls 40% of British media and will not be looking to entertain notions of impartiality. He is a fervent conservative party supporter due to the assistance their policies will give him as a man in big business.
- Check this link, play with the toy and tell me we're not in need of electoral reform. Then ask yourself who is it that is offering the most significant electoral and political reform.
- Vote for change, vote conservative. Isn't that an oxymoron?
- The hustings (candidate's debate) held by Wakefield Baptist Church exposed the tory candidate to be considerably incapable. Hysterically and offensively incapable actually. The labour candidate (and current MP) is, as an individual, very convincing, but sadly she couldn't escape the state the country has got into on her party's watch. The lib-dem candidate came over much as the rest of his party are doing at the moment: energised, creative, modern, open and credible. The green party candidate did her job; she raised the green agenda well and made intelligent insights on contemporary society and politics without looking in danger of being elected.
- If you have the opportunity before 6th May (not that it will be rendered useless after that date, but it might be a good influence before it) i would heartily recommend getting hold of Mark Thomas' 'The People's Manifesto'. It's a few quid and a lightening quick read. It takes a very creative approach to lots of the issues on the political agenda, as well a several that really should be there but aren't. Oh, and did i mention it's wet-yourself-funny?
Other thoughts:
- The life injected into British politics by the TV debates.
- Constant surprise at the degree of apathy that continues to exist, perpetuated by the incredibly misguided notion that politics is an optional subject within society, rather than the construction of society.
- The lack of political education received by my generation.
- The question of the place of nationalism before God.
- The way moments, like calling members of your electorate bigoted, will swing this election
- If we end up with a hung parliament, which MP should we start with?
- Take care of the credence you give to what you read, watch and listen to. Rupert Murdoch controls 40% of British media and will not be looking to entertain notions of impartiality. He is a fervent conservative party supporter due to the assistance their policies will give him as a man in big business.
- Check this link, play with the toy and tell me we're not in need of electoral reform. Then ask yourself who is it that is offering the most significant electoral and political reform.
- Vote for change, vote conservative. Isn't that an oxymoron?
- The hustings (candidate's debate) held by Wakefield Baptist Church exposed the tory candidate to be considerably incapable. Hysterically and offensively incapable actually. The labour candidate (and current MP) is, as an individual, very convincing, but sadly she couldn't escape the state the country has got into on her party's watch. The lib-dem candidate came over much as the rest of his party are doing at the moment: energised, creative, modern, open and credible. The green party candidate did her job; she raised the green agenda well and made intelligent insights on contemporary society and politics without looking in danger of being elected.
- If you have the opportunity before 6th May (not that it will be rendered useless after that date, but it might be a good influence before it) i would heartily recommend getting hold of Mark Thomas' 'The People's Manifesto'. It's a few quid and a lightening quick read. It takes a very creative approach to lots of the issues on the political agenda, as well a several that really should be there but aren't. Oh, and did i mention it's wet-yourself-funny?
Other thoughts:
- The life injected into British politics by the TV debates.
- Constant surprise at the degree of apathy that continues to exist, perpetuated by the incredibly misguided notion that politics is an optional subject within society, rather than the construction of society.
- The lack of political education received by my generation.
- The question of the place of nationalism before God.
- The way moments, like calling members of your electorate bigoted, will swing this election
19 April 2010
15 April 2010
Stand up if you hate Arsenal...
The second clip on this post features some very strong language and i would therefore advise those of a nervous disposition to wait for the next post and not participate in this one.
Last night was an epic and perfect night for Tottenham Hotspur, getting back into the race for 4th in the premiership by beating the gooner monkeys and ruining their title hopes in the process.
1999 was the last time Spurs beat the filth in the league...
This has been a long time coming and oh boy was it sweet...
Last night was an epic and perfect night for Tottenham Hotspur, getting back into the race for 4th in the premiership by beating the gooner monkeys and ruining their title hopes in the process.
1999 was the last time Spurs beat the filth in the league...
This has been a long time coming and oh boy was it sweet...
9 April 2010
Coca-Killer .4
Brand Dis-recognition.
I've done this as a mini-series for a couple of reasons. Firstly, breaking this whole thing into parts made it easier for me to construct the points i wanted to make in response to the book. Secondly, without breaking it up it would have been an epic post and therefore much less digestible. But the main reason for doing it this way is because Coke is a nothing product. It's not even a nothing product, it's a less than nothing - a negative value product. What i mean is it's not something we need. It's a fizzy pop. It's water, sugar and whatever that secret '7x' ingredient is. It's actually really, really bad for you.
And this is the point - the only thing they have, therefore, is the image. They sell some fantastical ideal that makes you feel like you're participating in something magical when you get that 'pffsssst' of opening a bottle. And even more so as the first glug of fizzy washes down your throat. They have their funny shaped bottles and a brand, and that's it. That's why their advertising budget has to be so (literally) astronomical (2008 - US$655 billion, a figure that could sustain the UN and all its operations for 33 years!): It has to perpetuate this beautiful myth about itself. And therefore the more times i get to use the...
...logo the more it causes a questioning of their myth; it ever so slightly dents their claims of being 'the real thing'; it stops us handing over our money for their fattening-teeth-rotting-joy-in-a-bottle quite as mindlessly as they would like. Hence four posts, not just one.
Do check out and get hold of Belching Out The Devil, it is very compelling and well researched (although, infuriatingly, all his footnotes are at the back of the book), as well as being very moving and funny.
I've done this as a mini-series for a couple of reasons. Firstly, breaking this whole thing into parts made it easier for me to construct the points i wanted to make in response to the book. Secondly, without breaking it up it would have been an epic post and therefore much less digestible. But the main reason for doing it this way is because Coke is a nothing product. It's not even a nothing product, it's a less than nothing - a negative value product. What i mean is it's not something we need. It's a fizzy pop. It's water, sugar and whatever that secret '7x' ingredient is. It's actually really, really bad for you.
And this is the point - the only thing they have, therefore, is the image. They sell some fantastical ideal that makes you feel like you're participating in something magical when you get that 'pffsssst' of opening a bottle. And even more so as the first glug of fizzy washes down your throat. They have their funny shaped bottles and a brand, and that's it. That's why their advertising budget has to be so (literally) astronomical (2008 - US$655 billion, a figure that could sustain the UN and all its operations for 33 years!): It has to perpetuate this beautiful myth about itself. And therefore the more times i get to use the...
...logo the more it causes a questioning of their myth; it ever so slightly dents their claims of being 'the real thing'; it stops us handing over our money for their fattening-teeth-rotting-joy-in-a-bottle quite as mindlessly as they would like. Hence four posts, not just one.
Do check out and get hold of Belching Out The Devil, it is very compelling and well researched (although, infuriatingly, all his footnotes are at the back of the book), as well as being very moving and funny.
Coca-Killer .3
Shake it up.
There's the story of the guy who's something of an anti-Coke campaigner... who's a not insignificant share holder. He uses the profit from his shares to run a large homeless shelter, and he uses his position as share holder to attend annual stock holder meetings to attempt to shape policy. He's not alone, there are a band of people who own shares so they can get to these meetings and do likewise. All you need is one share to get into these meetings. As i was reading this i thought how brilliant a means of addressing the issues of Coke's, um, fallibility.
Doing such a thing of course means that you'd be actively looking to get a reduced return on your investment. Would it be charity? Could it be seen, in a different light, as buying human rights? Would it be effective?
On the one hand Coke is painted out to be (by itself) a company going through the growing pains of corporate social responsibility. This is verified by this share-owning-protestor character acknowledging that a speech delivered by Coke's CEO wouldn't have happened even 3 years previous. However, on the other hand, this guy's pitching of the idea of Coke appointing a human rights board comittee is met with derision, and noises of massive support are instead given to the gentleman who says "to the naysayers, The Coca-Cola Company is not the conscience of the world, or the policeman of the world. The mission of The Coca-Cola Company is to enhance shareowner value and I think they do a terrific job in that. And I have another personal message for the naysayers: Sell your shares and get out of the way. Thank you".
It seems that Coke will only begin to pay attention when their profits are lessened due to their immoral practises. The way to do this? Abstain from Coca-Cola products and let Coke know why, thus supporting those looking to affect change from the inside.
Do check out and get hold of Belching Out The Devil, it is very compelling and well researched (although, infuriatingly, all his footnotes are at the back of the book), as well as being very moving and funny.
There's the story of the guy who's something of an anti-Coke campaigner... who's a not insignificant share holder. He uses the profit from his shares to run a large homeless shelter, and he uses his position as share holder to attend annual stock holder meetings to attempt to shape policy. He's not alone, there are a band of people who own shares so they can get to these meetings and do likewise. All you need is one share to get into these meetings. As i was reading this i thought how brilliant a means of addressing the issues of Coke's, um, fallibility.
Doing such a thing of course means that you'd be actively looking to get a reduced return on your investment. Would it be charity? Could it be seen, in a different light, as buying human rights? Would it be effective?
On the one hand Coke is painted out to be (by itself) a company going through the growing pains of corporate social responsibility. This is verified by this share-owning-protestor character acknowledging that a speech delivered by Coke's CEO wouldn't have happened even 3 years previous. However, on the other hand, this guy's pitching of the idea of Coke appointing a human rights board comittee is met with derision, and noises of massive support are instead given to the gentleman who says "to the naysayers, The Coca-Cola Company is not the conscience of the world, or the policeman of the world. The mission of The Coca-Cola Company is to enhance shareowner value and I think they do a terrific job in that. And I have another personal message for the naysayers: Sell your shares and get out of the way. Thank you".
It seems that Coke will only begin to pay attention when their profits are lessened due to their immoral practises. The way to do this? Abstain from Coca-Cola products and let Coke know why, thus supporting those looking to affect change from the inside.
Do check out and get hold of Belching Out The Devil, it is very compelling and well researched (although, infuriatingly, all his footnotes are at the back of the book), as well as being very moving and funny.
Coca-Killer .2
No-one like Coke.
This exploitative stuff that Coke gets up to is all well and good, but it's nothing we haven't heard before. We know this is how massive multinational corporations ensure their standing - these are the ways you get the biggest profit margins. It's this kind of awareness that can so often lead to compassion fatigue's twin sister: ethical consumer fatigue. So what's particular about Coke in this instance?
There is a point in the book where one of Coke's PR bodies asks tubby, little, lonesome Mark, from behind however many billion dollars worth of brand recognition and lawyers, "Why are you picking on us?". Mark obviously has something of a field day with the idea of Coke playing victim to him, but the question is reiterated "No, why us, why not Pepsi or someone?". Mark's response was quite simply "Well, no-one has the number of human rights abuse charges against them that you do".
Do check out and get hold of Belching Out The Devil, it is very compelling and well researched (although, infuriatingly, all his footnotes are at the back of the book), as well as being very moving and funny.
This exploitative stuff that Coke gets up to is all well and good, but it's nothing we haven't heard before. We know this is how massive multinational corporations ensure their standing - these are the ways you get the biggest profit margins. It's this kind of awareness that can so often lead to compassion fatigue's twin sister: ethical consumer fatigue. So what's particular about Coke in this instance?
There is a point in the book where one of Coke's PR bodies asks tubby, little, lonesome Mark, from behind however many billion dollars worth of brand recognition and lawyers, "Why are you picking on us?". Mark obviously has something of a field day with the idea of Coke playing victim to him, but the question is reiterated "No, why us, why not Pepsi or someone?". Mark's response was quite simply "Well, no-one has the number of human rights abuse charges against them that you do".
Do check out and get hold of Belching Out The Devil, it is very compelling and well researched (although, infuriatingly, all his footnotes are at the back of the book), as well as being very moving and funny.
Coca-Killer .1
The sweetness in light.
I've just finished reading Mark Thomas' book Belching Out The Devil. I've been reading it on and off for about a year, but yesterday, in the bath (where i do my very best reading), i finished it.
It took just 2 chapters for me to decide to give up Coca-Cola products. Well, 2 chapters and a quick scan of the end of the book to check that it didn't finish with the lines "...and that's how Coke made the shift to becoming the ethical corporate role model we see today". It didn't.
The book is Mark's personal account of his travels around the world - Columbia, India, Mexico, Turkey, Ireland, El Salvador, England and USA - as he follows leads about Coke's exploitation of its workers and the communities in which it bases its production. His journey takes in, amongst other things:
- Murders of workers looking to unionise by para-militaries who understand that Coke will move operations elsewhere if unions get off the ground in Columbia.
- Child workers harvesting sugar in cane fields.
- Coke's water use depriving communities and villages of water for drinking and farming.
- Protection racket tactics used by Coke sales reps on shopkeepers attempting to sell other cola products.
Do check out and get hold of Belching Out The Devil, it is very compelling and well researched (although, infuriatingly, all his footnotes are at the back of the book), as well as being very moving and funny.
I've just finished reading Mark Thomas' book Belching Out The Devil. I've been reading it on and off for about a year, but yesterday, in the bath (where i do my very best reading), i finished it.
It took just 2 chapters for me to decide to give up Coca-Cola products. Well, 2 chapters and a quick scan of the end of the book to check that it didn't finish with the lines "...and that's how Coke made the shift to becoming the ethical corporate role model we see today". It didn't.
The book is Mark's personal account of his travels around the world - Columbia, India, Mexico, Turkey, Ireland, El Salvador, England and USA - as he follows leads about Coke's exploitation of its workers and the communities in which it bases its production. His journey takes in, amongst other things:
- Murders of workers looking to unionise by para-militaries who understand that Coke will move operations elsewhere if unions get off the ground in Columbia.
- Child workers harvesting sugar in cane fields.
- Coke's water use depriving communities and villages of water for drinking and farming.
- Protection racket tactics used by Coke sales reps on shopkeepers attempting to sell other cola products.
Do check out and get hold of Belching Out The Devil, it is very compelling and well researched (although, infuriatingly, all his footnotes are at the back of the book), as well as being very moving and funny.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
