Saturday, June 14, 2003
"You Just Made Me Vomit In My Own Mouth": Warning: politics vs. commerce rant follows. Don't say I didn't warn you.
The most filthy and offensive thing I've heard all day just came through my TV on an ad for Cricket cellphones: "Here at Cricket, we believe that unlimited talk time is a basic human right."
Anybody who knows me knows what's coming next; to me, the most offensive thing about the consumer culture these days is the deliberate misinterpretation of the words "rights" and "freedoms" in advertising. You have a right to buy a huge, lumbering car that siphons off ungodly natural resources. You should feel free to get that big screen TV. CELEBRATE YOUR INDEPENDENCE from the high prices of standard cellular phone service.
Being able to spend money has nothing to do with freedom or rights; our country's thriving business relationship with China has proven that "free market" doesn't lead to "free speech." Look at the bill for your credit card...the one that you've maxxed out. Zoom in on the balance, the interest charges. Makes you think of a lot of things, I'll bet, and I'll bet even harder that "freedom" isn't one of them. Take it from one who knows.
If Cricket would set up "moles" from Amnesty International with some encrypted satellite phones, or something similar, so they can go to hotspots and tell the truth as they see it without fear, maybe I can forgive them of muddying a decent word with commerce. Maybe.
Anyhow, it's no wonder that the rumblings about Patriot Act II have been so tiny.
The most filthy and offensive thing I've heard all day just came through my TV on an ad for Cricket cellphones: "Here at Cricket, we believe that unlimited talk time is a basic human right."
Anybody who knows me knows what's coming next; to me, the most offensive thing about the consumer culture these days is the deliberate misinterpretation of the words "rights" and "freedoms" in advertising. You have a right to buy a huge, lumbering car that siphons off ungodly natural resources. You should feel free to get that big screen TV. CELEBRATE YOUR INDEPENDENCE from the high prices of standard cellular phone service.
Being able to spend money has nothing to do with freedom or rights; our country's thriving business relationship with China has proven that "free market" doesn't lead to "free speech." Look at the bill for your credit card...the one that you've maxxed out. Zoom in on the balance, the interest charges. Makes you think of a lot of things, I'll bet, and I'll bet even harder that "freedom" isn't one of them. Take it from one who knows.
If Cricket would set up "moles" from Amnesty International with some encrypted satellite phones, or something similar, so they can go to hotspots and tell the truth as they see it without fear, maybe I can forgive them of muddying a decent word with commerce. Maybe.
Anyhow, it's no wonder that the rumblings about Patriot Act II have been so tiny.
|| Eric 6:23 PM#
