Commercial Addiction

Capitalism has made the world addicted to commercial products.

Commercials are a primary revenue method for media, so we have been bombarded by advertisements as a way of life for generations. It was not always this way; there was a time for thousands of years when life was more organic socially, and common people sang while they worked on community crafts. Yes there were always big cities and pharaoh-type slave-drivers and lordly bosses for whom people worked, but the masses were less dependent on polluting and consuming for the rich.

Sadly most people are so addicted to commercial products, they consider spending money on independent artists to be a ‘cheesy waste’. Culture is brain-washed to be economically snobby. You can call me pathetic for wanting a more grass-roots economy, but there are millions disenfranchised by our commercial system, even while being fans of products they have been conditioned to buy because they ‘like them’. Professional critics play a prominent role in perpetuating this social-economic problem.

i like plenty of commercial products, but i have found it very hard to get people to spend even a fraction of what they spend on companies, on SCOD associate art no matter how much i publish and promote. Our economic purchasing habit situation is a problem, but it will not stop me from working on my projects. Quality should be more sustainably defined for the good of all society, rather than designed to support the rich. So many ignore this large economic problem by saying “You should make better stuff and advertise more if you want to make more money.” To me that crass attitude is part of the problem, again because they think of quality in terms of class idol worship, rather than average people’s lives.

To all those like me who buy independent and organic products as much as their budget will allow, thank you with all of my heart! We are in this together. Our efforts are not in vain, it is not selfish to want to live a better life and leave a better world to children who care more about other animal and plant lives. We should encourage each-other to ask our friends if there is something of theirs they want to trade for, rather than expecting them to get the nerve to ask us and seem ‘pitiful’ for wanting value to their lives.

– Drogo

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corporate Media Addiction

Do you have a loved one addicted to corporate media?

There is independent help available. [ SCODcast Audio Recording ]

This article is based on personal left-wing beliefs, supported by recent independent media Youtube channels. My primary premise for choosing channels that reflect my ethics are because it was impossible to find main-stream media support for the popular peace, civil rights, or environmental movements. Now that they are available, and even PBS and NPR are exposing their corporate bias, we have more options to get news and journalism and opinions which are better alternatives. My favorite daily ‘liberal’ media outlets are: Democracy Now!, Democracy At Work, The Ring of Fire, Kyle Kulinski, Humanist Report, Jimmy Dore, Kim Iverson, Redacted Tonight, The Real News, Joe Rogan, the Grayzone, Status Coup, and TYT (The Young Turks). TYT is one of the most influential networks, because they have funded many associates due to strong bold leadership from founder Cenk Uygur; who has also co-created ‘Justice Democrats’ (AOC and ‘The Squad’) and ‘Wolf Pack’ (get money out of politics). Some corporate shows (hosted by progressive liberal comedians like Cavett, Stewart, and Colbert) were able to entertain by pushing boundary issues in the name of getting laughs.

MSNBC, CNN, and other main-stream neo-liberal channels (stations) and newspapers are as saturated as Fox News by corporate propaganda at this point with their war on Bernie Sanders. They have always been centrist leaning for corporate wars, pollution, health-care, but on civil rights at least they were better than Fox; however now they are calling an anti-fascist leader a Nazi, which is obviously absurd. They are blatantly attacking the peace and environmental movements by speaking against our strongest leader. It is sad there is no main-stream outlet for a better future except for Bernie Sanders; but Sanders does represent the totality of liberal alternative visions for a stronger democracy and humanist America. Seeing them react so negatively when a civil rights leader becomes popular, exposes how serious they were about undermining leaders like Sanders from emerging in the first place. As Malcom-X said “The chickens have come home to roost.”

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) central bank said (‘The Green Swan’ paper) that climate-related events could be the source of the next financial crisis. The increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events could trigger non-linear and irreversible financial losses. In turn, the immediate and system-wide transition required to fight climate change could have far-reaching effects potentially affecting every single agent in the economy and every single asset price.

At Davos ‘Wall Street’ banks discussed how climate change alters the conversation around what economic growth can be, and how ‘policy-makers’ should pursue this end. “Debt, inequality and environmental damage are major issues for growth sustainability,” said economists at Deutsche Bank in a note last week. “However, one could argue that the first two are cyclical, whereas the third is potentially structural.” Deutsche Bank adds that, “The problem for the environmental lobby is that a world without economic growth may create a damaging backlash against such climate policies. Nevertheless, the problem with the status quo is that the irreversible damage to our planet will increase.”

Corporate media has been brain-washing most people to think the opposite of the populist reality however, and may help people to continue voting against their own interests for fake candidates that are always the lesser of two evils, rather than a legitimate candidate. It is worth noting that recently in elections their attempts backfire, and voters react by doing the opposite of what corporations want (2016 general and 2020 DNC Primary). The corporate DNC (Democrat Party National Committee) does not even need our over-paid top secret agencies to intervene for the establishment, because they steal the elections for corporations openly and legally in public, and with the help of commercial conditioning they even sway the popular vote. As a reminder to anyone who wants evidence of DNC rigging please reference the 2016 fallout: Jordan Chariton vs Donna Brazile, WV and MI voters chose Bernie unanimously and then voted for Trump, the Hillary Clinton email and DNC server scandal that revealed the rigging, and the DNC lawsuit where they basically stated on record “The DNC is allowed to make decisions that break its own rules, and we will do back-room deals anytime we want for the sake of our rich corporate donors”.

Corporate centrists argue “no reason to try things that will be defeated by republicans, because conservatives have all the power”, but the Obama message of “Yes we can!” is what leads and wins for populist causes (even though his policies were 1980s style republican according to Obama himself). Progress means pushing social boundaries, thus the name “progressive”. So it will be interesting to see how those the conservative corporate democrats (who think they are more practical) behave the more that Bernie wins. Is there a tipping point for many of them with money or social influence, if they have no personal integrity? How much corporate media addicts sell out to corporate interests is an interesting study. I think there is enough support for popular left ideas now to take over the DNC and replace the leaders, and those behind the times will either go to the republicans, as that party reforms after Trump, or get behind the civil rights movements our platform claims. The NEW GREEN DEAL is now a mainstream liberal political policy for implementation; if only corporate power can be checked.

There are a few things we can do to help those loved ones who cannot make the change for themselves, from corporate to independent parties or grassroots collective networks. The first thing is to play alternative forms of media for them; nice recordings of music they like, movies without commercials (Netflix), games, or local or online social groups. Next convince them to cancel their subscription to commercial cable TV and newspapers, at least for a trial period. Show them it is ok to let go of one habit, and replace it with a less destructive and more educational outlet. Finally show them you care by rewarding their cooperation with affection and gifts. Tell them over and over that they are not alone, and you love them.

Trumpian Economic Report 2020

Artisan Vs. Commercial Market Selling

By Drogo Empedocles – January 2020

In a Trumpian economy most of us are forced to be beggars even when we offer work in return for money, due to an excess of labor not needed or desired by the rich. Trickle-down Reaganomics has failed us, and is still being pushed on us by Trump and all corporate politicians who sold out. We must resist falling to the attacks causing the destruction of our lives and plan to not just survive but rebuild a better world for our children.

Trump’s tax plan benefits the rich, and diminishes the middle class. The estate tax is gone now so that rich children can inherit all their parent’s wealth freely without earning it, while poor children suffer without deserving it. Personal exemptions have been removed. You can still itemize donations, but the standard deduction bar was raised with an overall .5% tax rate reduction. Those basic changes might negligibly benefit lower incomes, but average to upper middle class households are losing thousands on whole due to other changes in the tax plan.

I lost some financial support despite my working through the holidays on several projects. I won’t be able to do as much free or low-budget work with others, until i can secure more income to cover my own expenses at least. my income is only $700 a year recently, so i feel like i get by with quite a little actually. I only currently use one sound program most weeks, and focus on word (writing) programs, which have glitches between formats, but i am able to publish that way. So for over a year i have only been using two editing programs.

Most people should know that any work has a price; and so my work is for sale, as with any artist; we need means to live so we try to sell prints and originals if we can. If people do not know how to want to share money with others, i am not sure how i can help them except to remind them by bringing it up sometimes. I focus on my work more than sales, because i do it for the work not the sales. If i am asked to be more of a sales person i would not do it. i dont know if stating that i will keep doing my own work the way i want no matter what will reduce interest in investing in me or increase it long term; but i really do not see many options to sustain my career legacy. I may get some temporary side jobs like working for Census, but even if i got a huge increase in income what matters to me is what is created with what i have ultimately.

SCOD social capital has increased overall i believe, which is hard to define since it is not income based. I am close to founding a tristate network for hosting art, music, and writing events; but the design is mostly socially dependent, using properties in WV, MD, and VA. The financial components like ticket sales and payments are totally based on how many people i can get to coordinate together. we currently have several proposals still being formed, for multimedia broadcasting and sharing local events, i can pursue these negotiations without financial losses. ive felt on the verge of something big over the years, but i never know when the tipping point will come because … and this is the hard part to talk about, the complex dynamics of partnerships.

I am proud to ‘beg’ with something of quality to offer in return. When you buy my work, you support many other people; because I collaborate with and buy from other artists and friends. To anyone that thinks I am begging by being honest that I do not earn much, I argue that bragging about how good your work is and saying you have been ‘financially successful’ by taking more than you need is worse than begging because to me that could be considered just as unworthy of support. Getting money from other people is not proof of deserving money, it is simply how people pay their bills. Also I am not just begging because I offer plenty of services and products in various fields. I am simply saying why I could use more income, as opposed to those who do not need more for basic living. I have many jobs, and i do them. I tend to give things away for free and make reasonable deals to work with lower income people.  I apply to better paying jobs, but I do not get them, and when i have had them before i cannot keep them for psychological reasons, one being i cannot stand authoritarian control because i desire to fight back against bosses the same as I would with any willful cruel or ignorant jackass; but when we trade self-respect for money we suppress our resentment which can fester and build to a break-down or illness.

I will not spend time defending myself by arguing against assholes, they are not worth my time. I am too expensive for them because they cannot pay me enough to work for them, and it is easy enough to block them and delete their petty comments. Their attempts to troll me are pathetic when i can shut them down easily. It is amazing that people will ‘friend’ me only to wait for chances to attack, without ever once being kind.  These are the type of people that would tell homeless street musicians to “get a job” too.

If fees are low enough with time i can advertise more without major losses on more websites; in hopes to get at least a few sales. Social reception is usually less than enthusiastic on a whole from audiences on platforms. Amazon is the best example ive had because ive been using it for years, i struggle to get a few sales a year even when i post the links and talk about them etc. I know it is not because my books are not as good as ‘Diary of a Whimpy Kid’ or ‘Captain Underpants’ which are best sellers, it has to do with commercial control of the market at the high levels. I mean sure we could argue whose art or story sucks more, but with enough exposure anti-authoritarian subversive books like ours do well with children and ne’er-do-wellz, which are a large portion of the population.

Ironically most of the people who buy my books are part of the vanishing middle class; not the lowest or the highest earning. There are more lower middle class people so they do buy more books, compared to the few upper middle class people who are interested in my books. I have had people with large incomes talk with me for hours, and i gave them books and they still did not buy any, so spending money has more to do with personalities than wealth; which is why those with less wealth will spend more if they have an income, which creates financial flow and opportunities in an economy.

All of these opinions of observations are reasons why many of us are not satisfied with status-quo commercial politics. We want more leaders like Bernie Sanders and progressives on the right or left who can be held to account by their voters who are also the majority of their campaign financing. We cannot afford allowing corporate sell-outsto further rig our own economy, environment, and country against us.

[ see also Lucas Chancel, World Inequality Lab ]

 

PBS & NPR Corporate Funding

Corporate Propaganda Influence on ‘PUBLIC’ Broadcasting

PBS is routinely threatened with significant budget cuts by Republican U.S. Congress attacks. Republicans oppose government public funding for broadcasting in favor of capitalist commercial corporate crony ownership over content. The right-wing war against journalism and documentaries labels them as ‘left-wing’ is because of their fear of public opinion. Most people (see the history of unions) have concerns that go against the grain of corporate power and pollution, so it is in corporate ownership’s interest to reduce democracy in favor of plutocracy. Environmental and peace programs threaten corporate profits, and both corporate-run neo-lib-con parties of our 2-party system will not tolerate sharing their national wealth hoarding in favor of resource desecration. [See Climate Change & Current Extinction Rate] 

Some members of PBS self-audit and comment on the problem of increasing corporate influence. PBS ombudsman Michael Getler reported “on what seems to be ethical compromises in funding arrangements, and lack of real transparency for viewers caused, in part, by the complicated funding demands needed to support public broadcasting.”

The LA Times reported on the billionaire John D. Arnold production of ‘Pension Peril’, which blamed pensions for California state economic losses. “In another such case, a PBS unit that funded independent documentaries canceled a film about the Koch Brothers last year, fearing the reaction of one of its major donors, David Koch. That underscores the cynicism of the steady withdrawal of public funding from PBS since the Reagan administration. It’s another example of the old story of big government getting off the horse, so big business and the wealthy can saddle up.”

Salon article headlines by David Sirota read “When did PBS become the Plutocratic Broadcasting Service? Proof our public media is doomed: Former Enron trader John Arnold is using the network to wage his war on pensions. Our most prominent public media outlets are becoming instruments for special interests to launder their ideological agenda through a seemingly objective brand. Starved for public resources, these outlets are increasingly trying to get their programming funded with money from corporations and wealthy political activists – and that kind of cash comes with ideological expectations. It doesn’t have to be this way. To preserve some modicum of independent journalism, Congress could simply provide the same amount of resources for public media as other advanced democracies do. Congress could then bar PBS from accepting corporate and special interest funding.”

According to Wikipedia – The following corporations have funded PBS programs: Exxon Mobil; Liberty Mutual ; Suburu ; Canon Inc.; Chevron ; Bank of America Corp.; Intel ; Monsanto ; Toyota ; Merrill Lynch ; General Motors Corporation (GM); Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad; GlaxoSmithKline ; British Petroleum (BP); Merck ; Pfizer Inc; Siemens AG; Dow Chemical Company; McDonald’s ; Columbia Forest Products…

A Truth-Out article titled ‘The Corporate Dictatorship of PBS and NPR’ reads, “On November 7, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Public Broadcasting Act. The act set up public broadcasting in the United States, by establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which led to the creation of the Public Broadcasting Service, or PBS, and National Public Radio.”

The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 states – “It is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of public radio and television broadcasting, including the use of such media for instructional, educational, and cultural purposes… it is necessary and appropriate for the Federal Government to complement, assist, and support a national policy that will most effectively make public telecommunications services available to all citizens of the United States.”

The original purpose even as stated by President Johnson was that ‘we the people’ declare that we want more than just material wealth; we want spiritual, ethical, or environmental quality of life. Reaganomic’s ‘trickle-down’ ideology slashed funding accountability since the 1980’s political deregulations for corporate oligarchy. Public broadcasting institutions now rely more and more on corporate and billionaire cash to operate, which is why PBS and NPR now filter what they play on their airwaves, so that they don’t anger their wealthy backers.

“David Koch has donated upwards of $23 million to public television. And when you donate $23 million dollars to public television, you get more than just a tote bag or a coffee mug – you get to dictate the on-air programming.” – Jane Mayer of the New Yorker

Regarding the PBS & NPR budget diagrams below, i doubt the overall budgets reflect the funding by corporations TO MAKE all the programs. They may only show the purchasing and distribution funding within PBS and NPR, not the corporate manufacturing money invested into the products they then purchase and distribute. Also “Individuals” may include plutocrats who donate large sums on behalf of their companies, as there is no evidence of a cap on individual member donations.

 

 

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Corporate Chemical POISONS

First rule regarding Corporate POISONS: #1 DO NOT TRUST THE COMPANY;

Second rule regarding Corporate POISONS (and big money influence): #2: Do not trust the ‘test results’.

My grandfather was poisoned by arsenic lead that the company said was safe for farmers to breathe in the fields. It made his lungs bleed because it actually did poison him, despite their claims. Any chemical manufactured and sold commercially should not be trusted to be ‘safe’, even if ‘scientists tested it’. The only chemicals we can truly ever trust, are natural organic chemicals that humans have worked with for hundreds or better yet thousands of years. Poisons that have negative affects on some carbon-based life-form species who have DNA, probably have some adverse affects on related carbon-based life-form species who have DNA; because Ecology and Biology tend to work like that.

FUCK MONSANTO!!! 

Commercial Propaganda Exploiting Nature

Here is a short study of one commercial product whose propaganda greatly affected me as a child. I recall enjoying the deep psychological pleasure that the addition of the bottle (with a small image of a tropical jungle on it) gave me when showering. My mind had been conditioned to imagine spiritually floating through a series of tropical paradise landscapes towards a waterfall for blissful “natural” cleansing. The irony is that no proof is given of the “organic” or “natural” chemicals in the product, and clearly the real under-lying goal is to profit from the economic loss of the consumer (as is the case with typical capitalist corporations).

HERBAL ESSENCE

  1972

  2015

The more recent commercials are extremely sickly POST-MODERN, playing on their own popularity by exaggerating and exploiting the sexual and “natural” aspects to an insane and self-defeating level. Yes the images are very appealing, but the message has become about declaring “yes we are an amoral company that doesn’t really care about the natural environment, or real communal spirit, or native tribes; but buy our product because you are just as selfish as we are, and the commercial is sexy“.

2015 Crass Post-Modern Commercial: “Take Your Hair To Paradise” 

In fairness, SCOD can credit commercial products like this for exposing how propaganda works to encourage people to adjust their behaviors. SCOD Bog Peeps project was based on this premise, of showing beautiful people in natural ‘paradise’ settings. The difference being that SCOD is truly dedicated to helping people to live WITH-IN Nature.

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BOG Peeps

Beautiful Organic Garden People –

This art series advocates Organic Agriculture (Gardening / Farming / Foraging), Permaculture, and Sustainable Architecture. A series of ‘beautiful’ images of humans and animals, males and females, working or meditating or playing in the garden, farm field, barn, orchard, or wilderness…. poses not bound to traditional commercial or pinup surface objectification… in favor of equal-rights showing strength, intelligence, and skill. One idea being that people will see attractive or cute people and other sentient beings gardening, and more and more people will want to garden and feel or look like them; and by relating to them, they will want to garden; and vice versa. Based on “Organic Pinup Girls” project, expanded.

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* BOG PEEP Book – for sale on Amazon

Journalist Laura Flanders about SCOD Bog Peeps – “If I had to pick an avatar from those cool Organic gardeners, I’d go for the green haired woman with the shoulder tattoo and the shovel. Funnily enough, I just walked inside after a morning spent wielding a machete in an overgrown garden.” – in an email to Drogo 8/2/2017