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Tales from a small town

Short stories about life in a small town. Non-fiction. Great reading.

Friday, December 30, 2005

WTF???!!

There’s this guy I work with who grew up in Kentucky. His politics are probably a little left of mine, but he does have some sayings he constantly bombards whoever he works with, that’ve grown on me. Here’s a sample:

“A government ‘of the people, by the people and for the people,’ is the kind of government corporate America hates. Corporate America has to take the little guy seriously with this type of government, and they hate the little guy; that’s why they hate our government.”
“Corporate America will always try to brainwash people into thinking your government is stupid, inept and incompetent. People fall for it.”
“I grew up in the hollar, and I’ve seen an environment where rich people take advantage of the unsuspecting, because the rich people can – because they own everything in Kentucky.”
“The civil war wasn’t fought only because of slavery. The civil war was fought because the English Gentry who ran the South, wanted to recreate England in the South, where the nobility has it all - so they could treat everyone else (including poor whites) like serfs.”
“Sixteen ton and what-a’ya get? Another day older and deeper in debt.” According to this guy from Kentucky, that was the South before and after the Civil War, and it wasn’t until unions came into their prime, that things started to change.
He says now that unions are being broken down, the South is going back to it’s pre Civil War days, where the English Gentry in conjunction with Corporate America, are taking everything over and forcing everyone into poverty.

I have some sayings philosophies of my own that coincide with the above:

Isn’t it odd that we live in a society that makes not having car insurance a crime, but from the standpoint of increasing shareholder value (regardless of how minute the increase may be) providing health insurance to employees is also a crime?
‘Sixteen ton and what-a’ya get? Another day older and deeper in debt.’ That was in the old days when the factory or mining company you worked for, owned your house and the store you shopped at. As a result, these companies were the Jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none because they exploited the value of your work, and where you shopped, etc.

Now, the company you work for specializes only in exploiting the value of your work. As a result, new companies who specialize in other forms of exploitation have popped up. This enables everyone who’s in the business of exploitation, to focus exclusively on their particular exploitation specialty. Example: could people get by if it wasn’t for our “Mega-Mart” stores? Or were the Mega-Mart stores created as a diversion, to prevent people from noticing just how far in poverty they’ve fallen?

So it could be said that an insidious new form of “stealth exploitation” has emerged, making the Mega-Mart stores seem like a good thing, by pointing to their low prices and how they contribute to a low unemployment rate in the communities they’re in, when all they really are, is a Trojan Horse in our society. They’re creating their own market niche by making the rock-bottom low prices they offer a necessity for more and more Americans. People don’t notice it, because we all get caught up in just trying to get by, when everything goes up except our pay and all we can think is, “Thank God for the low prices of the Mega-Mart stores,” without stopping to realize that the Mega-Mart stores are either directly, or indirectly responsible for us having to take pay cuts, or losing our jobs altogether.

Realize also, that when everything goes up except your pay, you're taking a pay cut. Don't think that you're not taking a pay cut when your pay stays the same. If everything's going up and your pay's staying the same, you're going backward! That's where the Mega-Mart stores come in, acting like they're doing you a favor. They're not; they're either directly responsible, or indirectly responsible for you going backwards.

And speaking of monopolies, your government holds a near-monopoly on your housing needs. They own your mortgage (FREDDY-MAC/FANNIE-MAE, VA) and the people who don’t live in houses, probably live in government-subsidized apartment projects.

So if the company you work for, and the Mega-Marts, and the government, all collude to exploit you on an organized basis, our country will become nothing more than a serfdom. Don’t think there aren’t people who work for each sector, who haven’t thought of this already.

It doesn’t matter what New Year’s resolutions you have, just as long as you resolve to become more aware of the situation we’re in, and try (no matter how small of an effort you make) to act locally by raising awareness for others, even if it’s as simple as e-mailing a link to this blog to 3 of your friends. Shameless plug, but what-the-hay? It’s my blog, and it is providing a necessary service.

Happy New Year everyone! Now get out there and do something to maintain your high quality of life before this country becomes a complete serfdom!!!!!!

Boris

3 Comments:

  • At 3:48 PM, January 03, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    "Corporate America will always try to brainwash people into thinking your government is stupid, inept and incompetent. People fall for it."

    couldn't agree more with that. it's very sad how easily people fall for things....WITHOUT QUESTION! no research on their own. either "the news says so" or their boss "says so" or someone/some other entity "says so"...so it must be. WHAT?!!!! craziness. it's awful. uneducated opinions are about all i hear half the time and it drives me nuts.

    "just as long as you resolve to become more aware of the situation we’re in, and try (no matter how small of an effort you make) to act locally by raising awareness for others"

    yes! i don't care what someone's thoughts/beliefs are on an issue as long as they are not just whining.

    i'll link to this post eventually here...it's hard because i so rarely write about political things. i'm terrible at debate, so i just avoid those topics. but i have been quite upset by some things recently...mostly it's just people's uninformed opinions. so once i get my thoughts together...then i can link it!

    actually...maybe i'll just write that itself. probably the less words i use, the better ;)

     
  • At 8:18 PM, January 03, 2006, Blogger Maya said…

    I think everyone in America should read your blog. You expose a lot of stuff that I'm sure many people don't even think about, and it's always a pleasure to read when I get my ass over here! I plan to start reading more regularly again, because I don't think I can catch up with everything you've posted--although I'm glad you're posting a lot again.

     
  • At 6:18 AM, January 05, 2006, Blogger Mahndisa S. Rigmaiden said…

    01 04 06

    Hey there Boris and Happy New Year! Good post. It shows the human side to the capitalists (like me). The current post on my blog deals with another aspect of this broad topic (in a way). Have a good day:)

     

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