2 posts tagged “book”

1st edition. Still in the editing stages...

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The Image

"NOW the language of images is everywhere. Everywhere it has displaced the language of ideals. If the right "image" will elect a President or sell an automobile, a religion, a cigarette, or a suit of clothes, why can it not make America herself--or the American Way of Life--a salable commodity all over the earth?"
from the chapter, The Search for Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
The Image, Daniel Boorstin, 1961

We have made The American Way of Life a salable commodity ... hasn't it always been? Hasn't that been the premise of our great expansionist nation since we ran out of land to manifest our destiny?  Come one come all, Lady Liberty's torch is the great lighthouse of the globe beckoning to the hungry, the starved, and the glutinous, you can pursue happiness as long as you're willing to pay for it. You can buy the American Dream, especially with the euro.

Commercial Oligarchy. The dispersement of democratic rights is controlled by a small group of our most highly respected citizens, The Corporation. America's about that paper and so long as the people who are chosen to protect the masses continue to get paid by Corporations, the ideal of the Dollar has become as cheap as the items that a single dollar can buy. Corporations maintain a high public standing above the humans who create and work for them because Corporations do not have real concrete personalities. They're basically boring people ... that's what happened to the ideals of America ... they've become less appealing than language and the ideals Corporations have created for our consumption.

We don't have to get rid of corporations, but we must take control of the language that defines the ideals of our communities and our nation. The debate should not be between candidates, it should be a conversation among citizens. Don't attack the cigarette companies, if you're that angry about people who smoke cigarettes you should go to war with the smokers ... or leave it alone. Then we can talk about WHY we desire a certain President, drive an automobile, prefer a specific religion, smoke or choose not to smoke cigarettes, or purchase clothing AND not allow it to define our nation or its people.