Obama's DOJ: Something wicked this way comes

Obama's DOJ: Something wicked this way comes

Scape goats of industry

While mindlessly poking around the Internet video sites, I came across an insider video taken by a PETA member working for Iams dog food makers. I didn’t actually watch the 10 minute video, however, for two reasons.
One, I don’t want to see an animal suffering, let alone dogs. There’s really nothing to be gained from watching something like that unless you really need to be sold on the idea that dogs are mistreated to test foods. I already buy that, so I stop the video right after the first set of suffering eyes look at the camera.
Two, I also already know what PETA was looking for, and they would not release a video where that thing – in this case, animal cruelty – was not abundantly clear. It’s well known what PETA stands for (literally and figuratively) so ten minutes of video is likely not nine minutes of mediocrity and one minute of camera monologuing where the insider throws her arms up and says: “Well, we tried.”
So all that I need to consider in this is do I believe that Iams treated animals inhumanely in order to test their foods? Well, yeah. Sure. Of course I do.
The issue is that I feel that every other dog food manufacturer is probably doing the same thing. Capitalism is based on getting the most money by spending the least money. Dogs are abundant, they can’t tell on you. They don’t enjoy the same rights as humans, so I’m not really surprised to find out that a company dedicated to the bottom line cut corners and took bottom-of-the-barrel measures to ensure the safety of their test animals.
They also pay as little as possible to their blue-collar workers, so it likewise would come as no surprise when they have employees apathetic to the health of the animals or even those with the capacity for sadistic behavior; they’re not hiring dog handlers here, they’re hiring backs, at a pretty crummy wage, I would bet.
What we’ve done, socially, is built up a heightened sense of morality and ethics in our lives, and then believe that we can apply that to whatever happens in the world. We’re appalled when we hear that they still club baby seals in Canada, and yet we eat meat without a second thought about clubbing cows (though most are shocked, not knocked, I realize). We shake our heads at the horrible working conditions overseas despite having no idea that those working without air conditioning also don’t have it at home, or in their cars, either (mostly because they also don’t have any cars).
The common end result of using this high brow set of values is two-fold. One, perhaps you’d watch the video, feel disgusted that such a thing could occur and on American soil no less, and you decide never to buy Iams dog food again, telling all of your friends and family the awful story – making linking them to the videos – and feel you’ve done your part by voting with your dollar.
Two, perhaps you find yourself saying how bad everything has gotten. How things never used to be this bad, and asking aloud “What’s happening in the world today?” Well, what’s happening is the same thing that’s always happened. Always. In fact, life in general – particularly in the G8 countries – is better than it’s ever been (measured, I believe, by low infant mortality rate, low murder rate, high GDP, etc). What’s changed is you and your values. We’ve set the bar so high that everyday life, especially in a society that has to feed, cloth, and entertain so many millions, that anything you come across, when the ugly side shows, will appall.
I don’t suggest lowering your expectations, only becoming astute enough – wise enough – to act and believe in a reasonable manner.

Guatemalan coffee and fair trade

At church this Sunday, we watched a PowerPoint on our church's recent mission trip to Guatemala, and a few demographic facts framed our understanding of the poverty enveloping the country. In brief, 98% of the population lives on 2% of the land and has no money. Two percent owns 98% of the land and has lots of money, and they use that land to grow coffee. It's the country's largest cash crop and most common means of income (the second most common income - ironically - comes from having relatives working in the US).
So, for what equates to about $1,000 - 2,000 USD a year, most people work the coffee farms so that we can drink the fine coffee at your local Starbucks. The thing is, Starbucks is proud to say that they are "fair trade," meaning that all of their coffees come from plantations that do not use slave labor to harvest the crop. While this is laudable, we're really taking a lot at face value here: I mean, Starbucks just happens to buy from the one plantation in Guatemala that hasn't created a slave-based economy?
It may be so, but we'd never know it; we just sip our coffee, maybe reminding ourselves to look up what the hell "fair trade" means on Wikipedia at work, while we're supposed to be working.
I think we fail to realize the power we have as consumers in a western culture. I'm as guilty as anyone: I probably spend more money on coffee annually than the average Guatemalan makes in a year. But just like the blood diamonds of Africa and the blood rubies of Burma, we have a unique opportunity to prevent such oppressive dynamics to take place.
I know what you're thinking: I'm some bleeding heart that forgets that - outside of those plantations - there are lines of Guatemalans clamoring for those shite jobs like they're the best careers on earth. I'm not saying no more coffee, I'm suggested that coffee-drinkers insist on more specific means of choosing the plantation whose beans they drink of.
Picture this: through a Starbucks' funded investigation, it's found that a plantation wanted to do business with them pays horrible wages, murders coffee thieves unjustly, and sexually exploits the sparse female workers (and this ain't out of line, by the way). So, Starbucks says: double the wages, clean up your act, and pour some of that money back into the local economy instead of being the typical absentee landlord, or you'll have none of our business. Do you think it would happen? Of course it would. That's the luxury of being the multi-billion dollar organization with the money to build an infrastructure - you make the rules.
Keep tuned in and we'll see what Starbucks thinks of the idea when I get in touch with one of their many PR peeps. Until then, maybe at least look up "fair trade" and make sure the local Starbucks lot knows what it means for their company to play fair.

An examination of noise

Whenever I think of time travel, I’m always thinking backwards. For one thing, I’d love to do that whole stock-market thing and make a few billion, but mostly it’s because I’m sure the future might hold more than I can comfortably handle. Unlike the characters of the film “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” I’m willing to bet that people from the past would have a hard time processing all of the input that we endure on any given day. (Much like we would likely have difficulty enduring their slower pace without being physically racked with boredom).

Whether you live in the country or in the middle of a bustling city, there are innumerable distractions and eye-catching stimuli – more so than any other time in history. This has much less to do with our taste (or brainpower, for that matter) and more to do with the technological advancements that allow it to happen.

Remember – the radio, telephone, television, computer, and Internet are all very new inventions, particularly when you consider the rapid degrees of change they’ve each seen in the last 15 years even – telephones going from immobile to the ubiquitous handheld accessories we know today; the Internet going from an esoteric, sparsely used communication technology to a high-speed network of nearly every human on Earth. The radio, from the sole source of news and entertainment to families in-home to the omnipresent background noise in the cars we drive, doctors’ offices, shopping malls, and even outdoor events. Television, which sported only single-digit channels in my early childhood, now well into the triple digits.

We have a number of interesting pioneers in this era of noise that I imagine did not exist heretofore: those that absolutely must have noise in their lives or else suffer from distinct feeling of discomfort, even paranoia and anxiety. Silence, for these people, is far more grading and piercing than any cacophony. Often it’s music that must be a background hum every waking (and even sleeping) hour of the day. Other times it’s the television, which remains on perpetually like a lamp or ceiling fan. You could look at this as the need for company: hearing voices – even if they don’t represent present people – are comforting to people.

I feel that it is something else, however. It is an inhibitor to introspection. This unending noise at every turn keeps people from thinking. While many people believe themselves to be deep thinkers and you hear people say that in order to solve a problem they need only “time to think,” there is a concerted effort to refrain from thinking, and the noise of contemporary life allows for that.

This doesn’t mean that noise makes people dumb, inhibits intelligence, or clouds people’s unhappiness. It simply is, and it’s your responsibility to see how it’s affecting your life – positively and negatively – and alter your exposure to it accordingly.

One reason you may want to change your noise is to stymie what the wrong kind of noise is feeding you. It is inevitable in this time to feel confused about your sources of information. The wrong path to take is one in which you cling steadfast to one source and simultaneously decry the rest (which may well be what that one source is consistently telling you to do). While there certainly are many sources so wrought with ulterior motives that they cannot be trusted to supply you with any knowledge worth having, there is not one source that should be exonerated above all others, either. As with so many things that you will learn, the ideal path is one of sampling. Take snippets from everything you see and hear and find the truth or beauty or entertainment in an assembly of these many pieces.

I will say more than once that a great step toward advancing your after-market education is minimizing the amount of time you spend in front of the television, engrossed in movies, or even listening to music. You’ve heard the virtues of taking all things in moderation, well this is not so much a boring, conservative view of life as it is productive. Anything in excess numbs you to other input – that goes for television, work, crack, or skydiving. It’s just human nature to focus only on a minimal amount of things at one time. If your focus is solely on escapism or entertainment, you are setting yourself up for failure.

After-Market Education Rule #1

Cut down the noise, and vary your input.

Welcome to After-Market Education

What is After-Market Education?

After-market education – as the name implies – is an education of the sort not found in secondary school nor in many colleges, but is the collection of interpreted wisdom from life, knowledge, experience…and a lengthy education.

It is not a truncated version of the college career that you may have missed having (or may have missed due to alcohol-induced slumber). Consider it more a collection of insights, granted, many of which were formed in college. This has some to do with the progression of age, but more to do with the environment (which taught me just as much of how not to be, act, and think as it did how do be, act, and think).

In other words, think of these blogs as a supplemental guide in trying to figure out contemporary world culture, particularly western culture. You’ll draw your own conclusions and make up your own mind as to which facets you’ll believe and which you’ll completely discredit for fear of shaking your belief system, perhaps, or because you simply aren’t buying what I’m selling. This is fine. If you believed everything I wrote, you probably wouldn’t be thinking for yourself very well.

Let this be your travel guide as you discover what life unfolds (or what you choose to have unfold). If you would rather consider what this book is than let us call it a tool for filtering out the noise of contemporary life so that more productive thoughts can occur and more fulfilling paths may be taken.

I'll be addressing a number of subjects, but none relegated to contemporary media stories or pop-trends (though these are certainly fair game). This will be more of an exercise in collective interpretation, not regurgitation.

I welcome feedback as the posts roll in, which should be weekly if all goes according to plan.