The Following is a Pissed Off RANT
You have been warned.
Well, pissed off isn't really the correct term, I'm not pissed so much as annoyed and ... oh god, vocabulary fail.......But anyway, OH! Disillusioned. I'm annoyed and disillusioned with the world. Since Futurama and similar shows are so much a part of the American collective consciousness, I don't feel bad for using Farnsworth to illustrate my feelings. In the episode where he's arguing evolution, and the stupid monkey guy is arguing against him? Yeah, I feel a LOT like Farnsworth right now: "I don't want to live on this planet anymore"
So, society is in piss poor shape. All societies really, but American consumerism in particular. I know I haven't posted in forever and a half, and I'm not going to get into the reasons for that here. But a little background on my life at current: Still in school (god, that's like twelve rants right there) and just finished with the midterm in my 'hard' class (400 level and therefore actually difficult to BS through, I have to do real studying, omigod!) In my downtime between essays of BORING I've been watching online critics (escapist magazine and MovieBob in particular) and reading Transmetropolitan. No, I'm not gonna explain. It's an American comic, go find it, it's good. But all in all, and combined with my shit-tacular life in general, it's put me into a SUPER ... well, we've been over this, the word is disillusioned ^_^ And since I'm listening to a critic and reading about a newspaper editorialist, well, it's also put me in the mood to RANT LIKE A FUCKING BITCH!!!
Hmm, maybe pissed off was the right word after all, I don't curse like this when I'm just annoyed. Or maybe it's MovieBob rubbing off on me! LOL
So, my particular gripe for this rant is Capitalism. OH GOD GET HER, SHE'S A COMMUNIST!!!!!
Yeah, so, let's get one thing straight RIGHT off the bat. I am NOT an "-ist" It is possible to live in and support a concept while at the same time bashing it for all of the flaws and hypocrisies it has inherent to the system. What's more, just because you disapprove of a given system does NOT mean you are automatically a sleeper agent for the alternate system, ready to bring down the reigning authority at the slightest opportunity.
If someone pointed a gun to my head and demanded I pick a social system that I believe in and support? Well, I probably still wouldn't say and I'd have a chance to try for better in the next life. However, I understand that my mind works differently than most and it is next to impossible for some to discuss something without being able to label it. In this case, the something is me, so here you go: I am a Libertarian Anarchist who promotes Capitalism and Socialism simultaneously.
That being said, I fucking hate capitalism. Cue: "But you just said-!"
Yes, I promote capitalism. This is for several reasons! Capitalism encourages individual productivity because (in theory) it rewards effort and ingenuity, usually in the form of monetary gain, but also in promotions, trips, benefits and recognition. Capitalism also promotes advances in any given field because (again in theory) the company or individual with the best or newest product will invariably get more business and therefore more money. What's more, Capitalism encourages freedom of information because in order to improve you must first know the history and then the current situation of whatever product you're making. Capitalism ALSO encourages frivolous forms of production such as books and movies solely for entertainment as opposed to communism or fascism where all efforts even sports and art are produced in some way for the state and if unuseful, they aren't produced at all. And, just to finish beating this horse, capitalism also encourages peace because, while War my be big business, Peace means big TRADE and that is far more profitable.
So, wow, that's 5? Yeah, five reasons capitalism is a great idea and a good 'system' to have as the overarching theme of a country. Look at Japan, who are forbidden to raise a military. They follow capitalism and they're doing great! (okay, this is partly my rose-colored glasses and the fact that I don't live there. I'm sure Japanese capitalism has its own problems and indeed, probably some of the same that we Americans have.)
Here in America, capitalism has degenerated into a putrid sludge that saps all strength, individuality, skill and essence from the poor, hapless American consumer. Let's look at why! Well, to start off with, there's the monopolies: it's against the law for a reason. All that garbage about encouraging innovation and rewarding creativity goes out the fucking window unless there is competition in the marketplace. Competition, on the other hand, is designed specifically to drive your competitors away and ensure that you become that monopoly. Look at Bill Gates. It's a flaw inherent to capitalism, and one that I'll come back to when I get around to the actual example. Capitalism actually does an extremely good job at shooting itself in the foot, one flaw automatically canceling out another. For instance, the creativity that should be fostered in this environment is instead snuffed out before it even has a chance. The big new ideas are routinely passed over in favor of a simple reworking of some previous already-successful product - now with racing stripes! Whatever.
Another reason Capitalism sucks? It encourages crime, and I mean real crime: theft, embezzlement, business espionage, worker's rights violations, the list goes on. Oh, wait, what's that? Those all seem kinda lame compared to rape and murder? Well how 'bout this then: capitalism also encourages animal cruelty, environmental destruction on a global scale, smuggling, sweat shops and other human rights violations, arms trading, slavery and human FUCKING trafficking and, oh yeah, RAPE AND MURDER!! This one isn't directly the fault of capitalism, it is the result of greed. Greedy, bad, dishonest men and women enter the world of capitalism and will literally do anything to improve their profits. Just for a second, imagine that you needed to kill someone (this is a hypothetical, work with me here). Let's say you are a fairly decent individual and don't want to do the deed yourself. So you go find someone who will do it for you, most commonly known as a hit man. You know who that man is? He's an entrepreneur...you know...A CAPITALIST!
I just can't believe that people so blindly support this system that has proven itself a blight on humanity in its current incarnation. Yeah, it's good in theory, but so is communism and we've seen how spectacularly that has failed when set into the real world. Has anyone thought of what this is doing to us on the skill level? I place the blame of this one squarely at the feet of the fast food industry in general, and McDonalds in particular (no not because it's fashionable to bash Mickey D's - because if you look at the history, they really were the first to do this.) Raising unskilled labor. In the drive-thru business, everything is automated. I sold my soul for a year and a half to work in this third circle of hell because no one else would hire me at the time. But here's the problem: back when Ford first popularized automated assembly, people still had to know what the final product was supposed to be like, they still needed the skills to fix it if something was wrong. Today, McDonalds would rather hire a brand new employee than give a raise to a good worker. It costs them less to hire high schoolers who require work permits than to hire a 20 something college kid. I'm not joking! These fuckheads would actually prefer an unskilled and uninterested pisswad who literally wants the job for two months until school starts over a professional who is working towards a chef's liscense and wants real kitchen experience while finishing classes and before applying to some four star restaurant.
Okay, yeah, some of this bitterness is from other issues bleeding over into this one, but that doesn't change the truth. McDonalds, other fast food and chain restaurants, at least half of all retail stores and Target and Walmart in particular would ALL prefer an unskilled high school drop out to a college educated individual. And it's NOT because the one with the degree would leave sooner, the unskilled labor isn't planning to stick around either. But back on topic, these are the companies that are RUNNING THE COUNTRY, and that means that this preference for unskilled labor is growing. These places don't train you either, beyond knowing how to read the lit displays. So in another twenty years when my generation is in charge of more than just you lunch order? Prepare for America to fall and fall faster than it has been as it is taken over by the Unskilled Masses.
So, here we are at the end, and I'm finally getting to the complaint that sparked this entire mini-essay. I want cable. And (returning to the monopolies point) I only have one option because Time Warner is the only cable provider for my location. There is an option (namely AT&T) for internet and phone service, but not for TV. I've been without broadcast television for 7 months now, relying exclusively on internet, DVDs, and the wondrous invention of Netflix on my Wii. However, because I have no options, I am stuck with the piss-poor service that Time Warner will provide. And since they have no competition, they have ABSOLUTELY NO incentive to treat me as anything other than a number. They don't care about me or my wants, they don't care about anything other than my bank account. And if for some reason I don't give them money for TV, "oh well, tough shit. We'll see you soon since this is something you want that we carry EXCLUSIVELY". I do hope you see the issue here, because it's a flaming neon sign of everything that is wrong with this fucking system and indeed, this whole fucking country.
So here's the breakdown. I (and by I, now I'm talking about me and my roommates) already have internet, pretty decent internet even. The microwave sometimes kills the wi-fi, but you know what? It's actually MORE reliable than the internet at my school...where roughly half the classwork in a modern class requires the internet...but back on point! I pay $45 a month. To add cable TV would add about $60, which is not that unreasonable. Now here's the breakdown:
$45 for internet, already paying this.
$10 fee for that idiotic box. That's right, it has its own monthly fee.
$50 for broadcast channels (70 or so stations, mostly news and that sort of thing), basic cable (around 100 stations including History, Fox, ABC, Cartoon Network and the like), a couple dozen music stations (when did people start listening to radio on TV?), and my choice of another tier. This tier would probably be the Variety tier which has BBC, Animal channel, Logo and the like.
So the $50 gives me somewhere from 300 to 400 channels. Granted, I'm only ever going to watch 50 of those TOPS, but those 50 cover nearly everything I could possibly want from cable anyway, so it's a pretty fair deal.
Until you look at the Premium channels. HBO, Showtime, the channels that let you say 'fuck' are still extra costs. That's fine, even as it should be, that's why they are premium channels. Now, these are the ONLY channels that you can pick channel by channel (Seriously Time Warner, it's not like it would be hard to let us pick and choose, $1 a channel, more for the cooler ones, I'd sign up in a heartbeat and I bet you'd make more money). But anyway! So, also included in 'premium' channels are the international channels.
Online, you can't find these prices and since I didn't ask for them specifically, I might be slightly off. But here's my gripe:
$=probably equivalent to standard packages. Spanish Stations: you can get pretty much any station in Spanish, this is because of the large immigration of Mexicans into America and is largely unavoidable. I do NOT have a gripe with this.
$8 An additional Tier of 50+ channels, the obvious example is sports
$15 a premium channel like HBO. ALSO about the cost to have an international package such as Korean or SE Asian. In both of those cases, the fee gets you 3 or 4 stations in the given language/global setting.
$25 the Japanese channel.
Let me say that again
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$25 for TV Japan
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, you're paying about twice the cost of any OTHER Asian bundle ($12.95 was what the guy quoted me for Korean) AND you are getting a single channel instead of several. That's right, if by some fluke of logic and interest you might want to watch Japanese news or talk shows or trivia games, you have to pay $10 MORE than if you wanted HB-fucking-O. Or how about a channel that has just as strong a tradition of being subscription only but has a much different target audience. Subscription Disney channel is $4. But foreign news? Bend over!! Oh, you paid through the nose for that, but it's showing Godzilla vs. Mothra instead of Ninja Warrior like you want to watch? Oh, no problem, just flip to one of the other stations for that language that $25 a month gets you access to....oh, wait....no, fuck you....you don't GET another option.
Yeah, fuck you too Time Warner. And fuck you, capitalism, fuck you.
See, the problem is that no one gives a fuck. If people gave the slightest consideration to their fellow man then this wouldn't be an issue. But no, we're too blinded by the shiny, golden, all-mighty dollar. We'd rather see a war veteran lying in the gutter bleeding and dying of a preventable disease than see him offered the job we want. We would rather stab a single mother and then throw her in front of a train than give up the new pair of sketchers we've been eying. Cause it's capitalism baby! Grab an expensive wine and use the whole bottle to light a Malotav, we didn't need that money for anything important like fighting disease or curing hunger. Better hurl that bomb right at the protestors, god knows they're trying to make the world a dark and terrible place for everyone.
This is me turning my back.
This is me lighting the match.
And this is me laughing while the world behind me burns.
Well, pissed off isn't really the correct term, I'm not pissed so much as annoyed and ... oh god, vocabulary fail.......But anyway, OH! Disillusioned. I'm annoyed and disillusioned with the world. Since Futurama and similar shows are so much a part of the American collective consciousness, I don't feel bad for using Farnsworth to illustrate my feelings. In the episode where he's arguing evolution, and the stupid monkey guy is arguing against him? Yeah, I feel a LOT like Farnsworth right now: "I don't want to live on this planet anymore"
So, society is in piss poor shape. All societies really, but American consumerism in particular. I know I haven't posted in forever and a half, and I'm not going to get into the reasons for that here. But a little background on my life at current: Still in school (god, that's like twelve rants right there) and just finished with the midterm in my 'hard' class (400 level and therefore actually difficult to BS through, I have to do real studying, omigod!) In my downtime between essays of BORING I've been watching online critics (escapist magazine and MovieBob in particular) and reading Transmetropolitan. No, I'm not gonna explain. It's an American comic, go find it, it's good. But all in all, and combined with my shit-tacular life in general, it's put me into a SUPER ... well, we've been over this, the word is disillusioned ^_^ And since I'm listening to a critic and reading about a newspaper editorialist, well, it's also put me in the mood to RANT LIKE A FUCKING BITCH!!!
Hmm, maybe pissed off was the right word after all, I don't curse like this when I'm just annoyed. Or maybe it's MovieBob rubbing off on me! LOL
So, my particular gripe for this rant is Capitalism. OH GOD GET HER, SHE'S A COMMUNIST!!!!!
Yeah, so, let's get one thing straight RIGHT off the bat. I am NOT an "-ist" It is possible to live in and support a concept while at the same time bashing it for all of the flaws and hypocrisies it has inherent to the system. What's more, just because you disapprove of a given system does NOT mean you are automatically a sleeper agent for the alternate system, ready to bring down the reigning authority at the slightest opportunity.
If someone pointed a gun to my head and demanded I pick a social system that I believe in and support? Well, I probably still wouldn't say and I'd have a chance to try for better in the next life. However, I understand that my mind works differently than most and it is next to impossible for some to discuss something without being able to label it. In this case, the something is me, so here you go: I am a Libertarian Anarchist who promotes Capitalism and Socialism simultaneously.
That being said, I fucking hate capitalism. Cue: "But you just said-!"
Yes, I promote capitalism. This is for several reasons! Capitalism encourages individual productivity because (in theory) it rewards effort and ingenuity, usually in the form of monetary gain, but also in promotions, trips, benefits and recognition. Capitalism also promotes advances in any given field because (again in theory) the company or individual with the best or newest product will invariably get more business and therefore more money. What's more, Capitalism encourages freedom of information because in order to improve you must first know the history and then the current situation of whatever product you're making. Capitalism ALSO encourages frivolous forms of production such as books and movies solely for entertainment as opposed to communism or fascism where all efforts even sports and art are produced in some way for the state and if unuseful, they aren't produced at all. And, just to finish beating this horse, capitalism also encourages peace because, while War my be big business, Peace means big TRADE and that is far more profitable.
So, wow, that's 5? Yeah, five reasons capitalism is a great idea and a good 'system' to have as the overarching theme of a country. Look at Japan, who are forbidden to raise a military. They follow capitalism and they're doing great! (okay, this is partly my rose-colored glasses and the fact that I don't live there. I'm sure Japanese capitalism has its own problems and indeed, probably some of the same that we Americans have.)
Here in America, capitalism has degenerated into a putrid sludge that saps all strength, individuality, skill and essence from the poor, hapless American consumer. Let's look at why! Well, to start off with, there's the monopolies: it's against the law for a reason. All that garbage about encouraging innovation and rewarding creativity goes out the fucking window unless there is competition in the marketplace. Competition, on the other hand, is designed specifically to drive your competitors away and ensure that you become that monopoly. Look at Bill Gates. It's a flaw inherent to capitalism, and one that I'll come back to when I get around to the actual example. Capitalism actually does an extremely good job at shooting itself in the foot, one flaw automatically canceling out another. For instance, the creativity that should be fostered in this environment is instead snuffed out before it even has a chance. The big new ideas are routinely passed over in favor of a simple reworking of some previous already-successful product - now with racing stripes! Whatever.
Another reason Capitalism sucks? It encourages crime, and I mean real crime: theft, embezzlement, business espionage, worker's rights violations, the list goes on. Oh, wait, what's that? Those all seem kinda lame compared to rape and murder? Well how 'bout this then: capitalism also encourages animal cruelty, environmental destruction on a global scale, smuggling, sweat shops and other human rights violations, arms trading, slavery and human FUCKING trafficking and, oh yeah, RAPE AND MURDER!! This one isn't directly the fault of capitalism, it is the result of greed. Greedy, bad, dishonest men and women enter the world of capitalism and will literally do anything to improve their profits. Just for a second, imagine that you needed to kill someone (this is a hypothetical, work with me here). Let's say you are a fairly decent individual and don't want to do the deed yourself. So you go find someone who will do it for you, most commonly known as a hit man. You know who that man is? He's an entrepreneur...you know...A CAPITALIST!
I just can't believe that people so blindly support this system that has proven itself a blight on humanity in its current incarnation. Yeah, it's good in theory, but so is communism and we've seen how spectacularly that has failed when set into the real world. Has anyone thought of what this is doing to us on the skill level? I place the blame of this one squarely at the feet of the fast food industry in general, and McDonalds in particular (no not because it's fashionable to bash Mickey D's - because if you look at the history, they really were the first to do this.) Raising unskilled labor. In the drive-thru business, everything is automated. I sold my soul for a year and a half to work in this third circle of hell because no one else would hire me at the time. But here's the problem: back when Ford first popularized automated assembly, people still had to know what the final product was supposed to be like, they still needed the skills to fix it if something was wrong. Today, McDonalds would rather hire a brand new employee than give a raise to a good worker. It costs them less to hire high schoolers who require work permits than to hire a 20 something college kid. I'm not joking! These fuckheads would actually prefer an unskilled and uninterested pisswad who literally wants the job for two months until school starts over a professional who is working towards a chef's liscense and wants real kitchen experience while finishing classes and before applying to some four star restaurant.
Okay, yeah, some of this bitterness is from other issues bleeding over into this one, but that doesn't change the truth. McDonalds, other fast food and chain restaurants, at least half of all retail stores and Target and Walmart in particular would ALL prefer an unskilled high school drop out to a college educated individual. And it's NOT because the one with the degree would leave sooner, the unskilled labor isn't planning to stick around either. But back on topic, these are the companies that are RUNNING THE COUNTRY, and that means that this preference for unskilled labor is growing. These places don't train you either, beyond knowing how to read the lit displays. So in another twenty years when my generation is in charge of more than just you lunch order? Prepare for America to fall and fall faster than it has been as it is taken over by the Unskilled Masses.
So, here we are at the end, and I'm finally getting to the complaint that sparked this entire mini-essay. I want cable. And (returning to the monopolies point) I only have one option because Time Warner is the only cable provider for my location. There is an option (namely AT&T) for internet and phone service, but not for TV. I've been without broadcast television for 7 months now, relying exclusively on internet, DVDs, and the wondrous invention of Netflix on my Wii. However, because I have no options, I am stuck with the piss-poor service that Time Warner will provide. And since they have no competition, they have ABSOLUTELY NO incentive to treat me as anything other than a number. They don't care about me or my wants, they don't care about anything other than my bank account. And if for some reason I don't give them money for TV, "oh well, tough shit. We'll see you soon since this is something you want that we carry EXCLUSIVELY". I do hope you see the issue here, because it's a flaming neon sign of everything that is wrong with this fucking system and indeed, this whole fucking country.
So here's the breakdown. I (and by I, now I'm talking about me and my roommates) already have internet, pretty decent internet even. The microwave sometimes kills the wi-fi, but you know what? It's actually MORE reliable than the internet at my school...where roughly half the classwork in a modern class requires the internet...but back on point! I pay $45 a month. To add cable TV would add about $60, which is not that unreasonable. Now here's the breakdown:
$45 for internet, already paying this.
$10 fee for that idiotic box. That's right, it has its own monthly fee.
$50 for broadcast channels (70 or so stations, mostly news and that sort of thing), basic cable (around 100 stations including History, Fox, ABC, Cartoon Network and the like), a couple dozen music stations (when did people start listening to radio on TV?), and my choice of another tier. This tier would probably be the Variety tier which has BBC, Animal channel, Logo and the like.
So the $50 gives me somewhere from 300 to 400 channels. Granted, I'm only ever going to watch 50 of those TOPS, but those 50 cover nearly everything I could possibly want from cable anyway, so it's a pretty fair deal.
Until you look at the Premium channels. HBO, Showtime, the channels that let you say 'fuck' are still extra costs. That's fine, even as it should be, that's why they are premium channels. Now, these are the ONLY channels that you can pick channel by channel (Seriously Time Warner, it's not like it would be hard to let us pick and choose, $1 a channel, more for the cooler ones, I'd sign up in a heartbeat and I bet you'd make more money). But anyway! So, also included in 'premium' channels are the international channels.
Online, you can't find these prices and since I didn't ask for them specifically, I might be slightly off. But here's my gripe:
$=probably equivalent to standard packages. Spanish Stations: you can get pretty much any station in Spanish, this is because of the large immigration of Mexicans into America and is largely unavoidable. I do NOT have a gripe with this.
$8 An additional Tier of 50+ channels, the obvious example is sports
$15 a premium channel like HBO. ALSO about the cost to have an international package such as Korean or SE Asian. In both of those cases, the fee gets you 3 or 4 stations in the given language/global setting.
$25 the Japanese channel.
Let me say that again
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$25 for TV Japan
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, you're paying about twice the cost of any OTHER Asian bundle ($12.95 was what the guy quoted me for Korean) AND you are getting a single channel instead of several. That's right, if by some fluke of logic and interest you might want to watch Japanese news or talk shows or trivia games, you have to pay $10 MORE than if you wanted HB-fucking-O. Or how about a channel that has just as strong a tradition of being subscription only but has a much different target audience. Subscription Disney channel is $4. But foreign news? Bend over!! Oh, you paid through the nose for that, but it's showing Godzilla vs. Mothra instead of Ninja Warrior like you want to watch? Oh, no problem, just flip to one of the other stations for that language that $25 a month gets you access to....oh, wait....no, fuck you....you don't GET another option.
Yeah, fuck you too Time Warner. And fuck you, capitalism, fuck you.
See, the problem is that no one gives a fuck. If people gave the slightest consideration to their fellow man then this wouldn't be an issue. But no, we're too blinded by the shiny, golden, all-mighty dollar. We'd rather see a war veteran lying in the gutter bleeding and dying of a preventable disease than see him offered the job we want. We would rather stab a single mother and then throw her in front of a train than give up the new pair of sketchers we've been eying. Cause it's capitalism baby! Grab an expensive wine and use the whole bottle to light a Malotav, we didn't need that money for anything important like fighting disease or curing hunger. Better hurl that bomb right at the protestors, god knows they're trying to make the world a dark and terrible place for everyone.
This is me turning my back.
This is me lighting the match.
And this is me laughing while the world behind me burns.