Assignment #9-The Corporation film

First and foremost, I am appalled by the fact that life forms can be patented! I knew about this before the film because I do a lot of research on industrialized animal agriculture and found out that Monsanto was trying to patent a breed of genetically modified pig a couple of years ago. The ethical issues here should be obvious, and the threats to biodiversity are dangerously scary.

I had no idea that news stations can lie, cover up, and fabricate stories as much as they want. I was certainly being ignorant, but it didn’t occur to me that they are nothing more than a business. They show what sells, nothing more and nothing less. What really bothers me is how the public completely absorbs what they see on the news and make a point to watch it religiously. That is quite frightening because their opinions are completely in the hands of a corporation. Even my own parents are completely brainwashed by the television. When the swine flu was blown out of proportion, they bought hand sanitizer. When Michael Jackson died, of course they had to watch the documentaries about his life. When natural disaster struck Haiti this winter, it was likely the first time many Americans had even heard if that country (since it is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, and therefore doesn’t fit in with the capitalist regime).

When I watched to segment about the World Bank charging the impoverished people of Bolivia for WATER, I became, once again, outraged with the World Bank! Water is a human right; all people should have access to the clean water that they need for survival. Period. I’m not sure I have ever heard good things about the World Bank. The last time I was reading about that particular institution it was about how they essentially force impoverished tropical countries to grow food to sell cheaply to places like the United States. I mean come on, did anyone ever wonder why we have such unlimited access to bananas when the people in the countries where they grow are starving?

And finally, words of hope that I love to hear which were in the film: “The People, united, will never be defeated!”

Assignment #9-Letter to Obama

Dear Mr. President,

Before taking a course called Media Literacy and the Environment, and reading Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn, I had no idea just how much power and domination corporations actually have over our entire society. I had no idea that news channels are allowed to lie, cover up stories, and even make them up. It has become increasingly obvious to me that giant media corporations are essentially holding onto the steering wheel of this country and everyone is a passenger with no seatbelt, whether they realize it or not. Most have no idea.

In 1886, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations have protection under the Bill of Rights, and therefore the right to free speech. This gives them the same rights as people. The important difference between a person and a corporation is that corporations have no soul or consciousness. The one and only motive of a corporation is to make money. Issues of human rights, environmental preservation, and animal rights are tossed in the landfill (so to speak) as externalized costs. How can dispassionate entities be enabled to have so much control over legislators, lobbyists, and the public?

Really, is there such a thing as democracy anymore? When common citizens are up against multi-billion dollar industries with the same constitutional rights, it is obvious which will win over the lobbyists and legislators. When nearly every American gets their news from a source that is owned and censored by a corporation with only profit in mind, do we ever really know what is going on? When a person can’t even drive down the road without seeing advertisements, how do we know what it is that we really want? The American people no longer hold the status of conscious beings; we are consumers, and the country is a corporation.

Just when I’d almost lost all faith in democracy and the ability of the people to make changes, I discovered grassroots organizing. “The People, united, will never be defeated!” There is a lot more to grassroots organizing than meets the eye. It is more than just some scruffy hippies holding signs and getting arrested. Rather than being a victim of consumer culture, we citizens can be leaders of change. Every day there are moments when individuals can do something thought provoking, something that questions the status quo. I have learned the importance of boycotting unethical products and NOT fitting-in when the “cool” thing to do is blindly consumptive and cruel. I believe that someday, maybe soon, enough people will realize that corporate power is wrong, television isn’t that great, and shopping isn’t really making us feel better about anything. When that happens, the giant corporations won’t be making so much money, and they will die.

My question for you, Mr. Obama, is how will you be a part of this change? I voted for you in November of 2008 and when you took office I had faith that this country would become a much more ethical and simplistic place. As the leader of the United States, you are my last hope. Please take away the rights of corporations under the Constitution of the United States, and give those rights back to the people.

Sincerely,

Megan Clark

(I will put my contact info when I mail it, but not on the internet.)

Assignment #8- Culture Jam

Observations:

1. Immediately, on pages 73-75, I was struck by the stories of young adults so affected by how sexuality is perceived in the media. In order to sell products, the beauty industry has lead us to believe that if we have the correctly proportioned body (skinny) and the right clothes (expensive, useless ones), than we will be worthy of love. Each of our insecurities are targeted, so that our bodies aren’t one entity which allows us to live our lives and have fun, it is a set of features that are supposed to look a certain way. Of nearly all of the topics we’ve discussed in class, this is the one that frustrates me the most. I have a couple of friends who deal with eating disorders, and body image issues. These days, it seems like everyone is on a diet. I even feel that the “sexy woman” image is not even considered attractive by a lot of men, and yet women completely buy into it. We are being conditioned to believe certain features are sexy. What would we find attractive if there wasn’t media to influence us???

2. “Gone the connection between the actual growing of food and its consumption (pg. 80).” Immediately I thought of the film Food, Inc.- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQVll-MP3I

If anyone in class has not seen it, I would highly recommend watching it. In essence, agriculture has become industrial and mechanized to the point that cement factories, machines, and chemicals are more involved with producing food than are land and people. The majority of people have been so distracted by modern entertainment or whatever, that they’ve not stopped to think mindfully about where their food comes from. More than that, huge corporations, like Monsanto, keep details of food production and safety away from the public eye. I notice this conspiracy on a daily basis. I have found that most people are convinced that cows “need to be milked”. They don’t even consider the fact that, just like humans, cows are mammals, which means they lactate if and only if they have offspring to feed. The dairy industry has become mechanized to the point that hundreds of cows are kept in cement barns 24/7, feed corn (which they can’t digest) instead of hay, are artificially inseminated and kept pregnant all the time, and the calves are taken away at birth to be slaughtered for veal. There is absolutely nothing natural about the process, and the only reason they can be milked is because the natural recipient of that milk, the calf, is taken away.

3. I liked the section Two Schools of Thought which started on page 86. I was excited to see a good discussion of Ecological Economics because some of the most infamous experts in the field do their work right here at the UVM Gund Institute. It is so clear to me why neoclassical economics (capitalism) is inherently unsustainable. In order for capitalism to work, there must be constant economic growth. Growth requires input of natural resources, which come from a finite planet of scarce resources. The environmental and social impacts aren’t taken into account under capitalism. In a society where corporations are completely interlaced with the government and the media, it is not at all surprising that the effects of capitalism (externalities) are hidden, or made to seem insignificant. Disasters are even considered positive, or beneficial, because they lead to an increase in GDP. An obvious example of externalized costs, yet very controversial, is the current war between the US and several countries in the Middle East (it seems like new countries are attacked every time I pick up a news paper). I think we can agree that at least a significant piece of motivation for the US government is access to oil sources. The US is completely dependent on foreign oil, and will do basically anything to make sure that we can get it. Billions of dollars are spent, thousands of young men and women from this country are taken away from home and productive lives, and thousands of civilians in other countries are killed in vain. Needless to say, the cost of a barrel of oil is much more than what lies next to the dollar sign. At what point will human life hold enough significance to change the materialistic, selfish consumption paradigm of the western world?

4. My favorite section was The Revolutionary Impulse. The author compares the culture jamming movement to that of civil rights, hippies, anarchists, and other countercultures. “What we all have in common—besides a belligerent attitude toward authority—is a willingness to take big risks, and a commitment to pursue small, spontaneous moments of truth (page 99).” I can really relate to, and draw inspiration from, the idea of ‘spontaneous moments of truth’. The key to changing people’s perspective isn’t necessarily to be a radical, but rather to be someone everyone can relate to, but invoke critical thought at key times.

5. I loved the section on new activism. The examples of simple little actions were really inspiring. I have done a lot of guerilla activism, and it is really liberating. I was really excited to see Edward Abbey quoted: “Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.” I have had that quote handwritten and taped to my bedroom wall since I was fifteen. It is something that I try to live by each day.

My question is: How can the public go about placing restrictions of corporations, when they have so much money invested in the government? Is democracy effectively dead?

The Corporation (film) Part One

I found the film to be overwhelming. The biggest theme was that corporations have the same rights, under the US Government, as a person. Unlike a typical person, corporations CAN NOT empathize with others. Therefor, the only interest of a corporation is profit. One of the economist interviewed in the film said that the only thing a person in the developing world has to offer is cheap labor. I was baffled by this comment. Any and every person, no mattter if they have no money at all, have intrinsic value. The impoverished people of the third world have plenty to offer, just as much as any other person.

I have observed that real people have begun to take on the "personalities" of corporations. People in my own life display traits of ignorance, profit motivation, and lack of empathy and compassion for others. I worry about how to reverse this trend before it is too late.

Assignment #7

Culture Jam-Free Write

I found the Introduction to be very informative, and sincerely helpful in preparing the reader for the purpose of the book. Culture Jam was written to catalyze a paradigm shift away from consumerism and corrupt advertising, toward a more sincere, authentic society. A big theme was civil disobedience. The author emphasizes that consumerism is unethical to the core, and thus working to “jam it” is inherently the ethical thing to do. This is a philosophical statement, and I LOVE IT. Basically, civilly disobeying advertisements and boycotting big corporations is what needs to happen.

A beautiful quote on page six which I underlined: “If the Earth felt less like something out there, and more like an extension of our bodies, we’d care for it like kin.”

I read the first seventy pages of Culture Jam over spring break. I did Alternative Spring Break this year, which means that I volunteered my time to do social work with a team of ten UVM students. Our group went to Macon, Georgia to work at a community food shelf, as well as an after-school club for impoverished children. The culture in the South, or “Bible-Belt”, is much more capitalistic, conservative, and consumerist than what I am used to in Vermont. On the road trip down there, one thing that really stood out were the billboards. As soon as we crossed the Vermont border, giant advertisements were everywhere along the highways. I feel that they invade a person’s free will because it is nearly impossible not to see them, and be influenced. The one that struck me most, by far, was one in South Carolina that read: “Get US (The United States) out of the United Nations”. I was appalled that such a statement would be written on a sign the size of a building. Yes, it is the right of the public to voice their political concerns, and I will admit that I am not always pleased with the United Nations, or at least the behavior of the United States as a member of the United Nations. Anyway, that message really emphasized how conservative the South really is. The United Nations aims to alleviate global poverty. How could a group of people be against that? The only reason I can come up with is economical. The conservative “Right” may believe that the UN restricts the freedom of the US by placing limits on how corrupt we can be towards other, poorer nations in order to make a buck.

In 1886, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations have protection under the Bill of Rights, and therefore the right to free speech. This gives huge corporations the same rights as private citizens. Equal, right? Wrong! Corporations have far more financial and political resources than any individual. The free speech exercised by a corporation is inherently meant to influence billions of people. In my opinion, corporations, by having protection under the Bill of Rights, actually have more power in the democratic system than the people themselves. By 1919, corporations controlled 80% of the workforce. To me, it seems characteristic of a dictatorship for just one (or a few) powerful entities to control the majority of a given population. A main task of our government is to allocate resources, or manage the economic system. When a handful of vitally linked conglomerates control most of the GDP of our nation, who is really in charge? Can it be that the capitalist economic system has actually become the government, rather than economics being merely a sector of democracy? There is literally NO LIMIT to how large and powerful a corporation can become. They are free to become more powerful than entire countries, and they have.

One of my favorite sections was "Ecology of Mind", because it discussed all of the physiological problems that are rampant in Western culture, likely as a result of media brainwashing. I would like to look deeper into the correlation between watching television and the onset of childhood ADHD and adult depression/anxiety. In addition, there is really something to be said about the ever expanding division of GDP and overall happiness of a nation. Beyond a certain GDP, the wealth of a nation can no longer determine the comfort and happiness of the citizens. This has become the case in the US, likely because we try to buy things to heal our sorrows. I think the Beatles said it best: "Can't buy me love!"

I really could go on and on about my disdain for consumer culture, and I could find a great quote from nearly every of the first 70 pages, but it is nearly midnight, so I will save it for class discussion on Tuesday.