As I watch the brilliant Nolan film Inception for the third time I still marvel at what I see. The art of going into someone else's consciousness and implanting an idea into someone's head, then getting out before they knew you put it there, essentially allowing them to think that they came upon this revelation themselves. Amazing. But what also plagues my mind the reality that we live in. While the ideas and technology might be pure fiction the reality is that there are people out there who have the power to perform inception on us, while we're awake. And the fact is that the major networks, conglomerates, and umbrella corporations that run this country's mindset is performing this act every damn day. The media is implanting these ideas in the minds of our people through the constant focus on general themes that all encompass a primary agenda that is beneficial to only the stockholders and the advertising dollar.
America has always been the country to make first stake claims, it has been very common for Americans to refer to America as #1 or quote itself as being the “freest”. The mindset of the American people has always been one of comparison, we want to view ourselves as better than other countries. Since the very inception of the United States this has been a recurring theme. America is growing at a very rapid rate, but the industries that once made America powerful are all being outsourced away from American workers.
Americans have more choices than ever when it comes to programming, but it seems that every channel is owned by the same few companies, thusly limiting the viewpoints available. America is more informed and connected than ever, but it seems that the only real connect that is valued are those appeased by participating in social networking. But the truth is that America is getting smaller and smaller and less free by the day. And most people have no idea its happening around them. But it is, due to a corporate juggernaut known as conglomeration.
The art of combining two comparing companies, groups, services, or factions to achieve a greater combined goal seems like a great idea at the time, but the truth is that it could not be more of a dangerous animal. What in the explanation phase might come off as beneficial to all parties involved, especially the American people quickly turns out to be anything but a positive note for the common man. With a smaller playing field, that gives way for the possibility of fewer options, therefore the attractive thought of variety goes out the window. With conglomeration also comes the extinction of competition.
Anybody who analyzes a market can tell you that competition is a good thing. As cliché and obvious as it might sound competition brings out the competitive side in people. Competition causes those involved to step it up because in a competition environment if you do not come out of the heap as the winner, most likely you are the loser. Competition encourages those involved to bring their A-Game to the party and really stretch themselves in the realm of not only what’s expected, but what’s appropriate. Innovations begin to play just as vital of a role as the very product itself, every manufacturer and competitor in the fight wants to have that one selling point that will bring in the buyers to their dance floor. But with conglomeration often comes stagnation, because when there is nobody else to go to, the urge to continue to produce an exciting element to your product, as mundane as it might be (be it a washing machine or a tire) is not as vital.
Also with conglomeration comes consolidation. When two companies combine their efforts, this is not only combining the very idea of the product, the patents, and the distribution in the marketplace, it also effects their manpower needs. The sad fact is that when most major merges take place there is a dominate partner in the effort, and usually the opposite member of the relationship must experience a number of painful cutbacks. In many situation entire warehouses, packaging plants, distribution centers, assembly lines, and satellite stores close. When Sirius and XM radio merged for example, the companies decided that there was no need to two 80’s rock channels on the new Sirius/XM so they had to cut one, this rang true for almost fifty percent of all of the other channels on the two satellite radio providers. When Maytag and Whirlpool merged many of the local distribution centers closed if there was another one in the vicinity that could pick up the workload. The congressmen who had stake to lose if the FCC lost another frontier used such taboo topics such as Howard Stern to hold us talks and filibusterer discussions for months on end. The bottom line is that it’s all about the bottom line, the all mighty dollar that controls all is the same that will urge a company’s board members for a merger, then to recoup some immediate cost, they let go a few hundred workers, but this is all a part of the game and it is thought to be understandable, this is why is goes ignored a majority of the time.
The scary reality is that conglomeration and combining of ownership has become such a way of life that children from future generations will not know what a true variety of marketplace options is. The analogy that to me is most prevalent and concerning is the thought that there are children in America today whose soul identities are owned by Viacom. Viacom gets them while they’re young and unable to change the channel with Nickelodeon, then as they grow they introduce them to Noggin, MTV, VH1, and Comedy Central, and then they convince them that that’s all they need. There are people in America today that are diluted enough to think that they are receiving a “balanced diet” of programming when in reality they never stop suckling from Viacom’s almighty teat. These poor souls think that they’re getting culture and therapy from the rehab shows on VH1, they are staying in the know with pop culture and modern-day problems with MTV, and then they flip it over to the “news” when in reality they are simply watching a 1 hour block of political satire on Comedy Central. These people are real and their thinking is dangerous.
Conglomeration is just one more treacherous phenomena producing a lazy America. The fact is that they are implanting ideas in our heads. The Inception of the Tea Party and the creation of Sarah Palin as a political figure at all is all thanks to this art form of warping the public's minds through the manipulation of information. The big companies limit the options available without letting the public realize it. These American people are the ones that will also probably live the longest because they aren’t faced with the threat of sudden stress-induced aneurism like those who know exactly how fixed the world has becoming. They are the reason why we more people care that an ex-vice presidential candidate’s teen-mom daughter is on a dancing show than the fact that our actual president has called for an eventual end to ground fighting in a foreign land.
America has always been the country to make first stake claims, it has been very common for Americans to refer to America as #1 or quote itself as being the “freest”. The mindset of the American people has always been one of comparison, we want to view ourselves as better than other countries. Since the very inception of the United States this has been a recurring theme. America is growing at a very rapid rate, but the industries that once made America powerful are all being outsourced away from American workers.
Americans have more choices than ever when it comes to programming, but it seems that every channel is owned by the same few companies, thusly limiting the viewpoints available. America is more informed and connected than ever, but it seems that the only real connect that is valued are those appeased by participating in social networking. But the truth is that America is getting smaller and smaller and less free by the day. And most people have no idea its happening around them. But it is, due to a corporate juggernaut known as conglomeration.
The art of combining two comparing companies, groups, services, or factions to achieve a greater combined goal seems like a great idea at the time, but the truth is that it could not be more of a dangerous animal. What in the explanation phase might come off as beneficial to all parties involved, especially the American people quickly turns out to be anything but a positive note for the common man. With a smaller playing field, that gives way for the possibility of fewer options, therefore the attractive thought of variety goes out the window. With conglomeration also comes the extinction of competition.
Anybody who analyzes a market can tell you that competition is a good thing. As cliché and obvious as it might sound competition brings out the competitive side in people. Competition causes those involved to step it up because in a competition environment if you do not come out of the heap as the winner, most likely you are the loser. Competition encourages those involved to bring their A-Game to the party and really stretch themselves in the realm of not only what’s expected, but what’s appropriate. Innovations begin to play just as vital of a role as the very product itself, every manufacturer and competitor in the fight wants to have that one selling point that will bring in the buyers to their dance floor. But with conglomeration often comes stagnation, because when there is nobody else to go to, the urge to continue to produce an exciting element to your product, as mundane as it might be (be it a washing machine or a tire) is not as vital.
Also with conglomeration comes consolidation. When two companies combine their efforts, this is not only combining the very idea of the product, the patents, and the distribution in the marketplace, it also effects their manpower needs. The sad fact is that when most major merges take place there is a dominate partner in the effort, and usually the opposite member of the relationship must experience a number of painful cutbacks. In many situation entire warehouses, packaging plants, distribution centers, assembly lines, and satellite stores close. When Sirius and XM radio merged for example, the companies decided that there was no need to two 80’s rock channels on the new Sirius/XM so they had to cut one, this rang true for almost fifty percent of all of the other channels on the two satellite radio providers. When Maytag and Whirlpool merged many of the local distribution centers closed if there was another one in the vicinity that could pick up the workload. The congressmen who had stake to lose if the FCC lost another frontier used such taboo topics such as Howard Stern to hold us talks and filibusterer discussions for months on end. The bottom line is that it’s all about the bottom line, the all mighty dollar that controls all is the same that will urge a company’s board members for a merger, then to recoup some immediate cost, they let go a few hundred workers, but this is all a part of the game and it is thought to be understandable, this is why is goes ignored a majority of the time.
The scary reality is that conglomeration and combining of ownership has become such a way of life that children from future generations will not know what a true variety of marketplace options is. The analogy that to me is most prevalent and concerning is the thought that there are children in America today whose soul identities are owned by Viacom. Viacom gets them while they’re young and unable to change the channel with Nickelodeon, then as they grow they introduce them to Noggin, MTV, VH1, and Comedy Central, and then they convince them that that’s all they need. There are people in America today that are diluted enough to think that they are receiving a “balanced diet” of programming when in reality they never stop suckling from Viacom’s almighty teat. These poor souls think that they’re getting culture and therapy from the rehab shows on VH1, they are staying in the know with pop culture and modern-day problems with MTV, and then they flip it over to the “news” when in reality they are simply watching a 1 hour block of political satire on Comedy Central. These people are real and their thinking is dangerous.
Conglomeration is just one more treacherous phenomena producing a lazy America. The fact is that they are implanting ideas in our heads. The Inception of the Tea Party and the creation of Sarah Palin as a political figure at all is all thanks to this art form of warping the public's minds through the manipulation of information. The big companies limit the options available without letting the public realize it. These American people are the ones that will also probably live the longest because they aren’t faced with the threat of sudden stress-induced aneurism like those who know exactly how fixed the world has becoming. They are the reason why we more people care that an ex-vice presidential candidate’s teen-mom daughter is on a dancing show than the fact that our actual president has called for an eventual end to ground fighting in a foreign land.
0 comments