In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney was asked, if we have so much oil here in Canada, why are we paying so much for gas because of the strife in the Middle East? The Prime Minister’s answer was basically because oil is a global commodity, so everyone pays the same. He added though, that his government is looking at ways to help Canadians out in some way regarding the high price of gas.
I pondered this response and asked myself this question: “Well, why is oil a “global commodity” anyway?” The answer is it does not have to be this way. Powerful people though, behind the scenes, have made it this way to control the supply and maximize profit. In effect, hold the world hostage and use this control as part of a much bigger agenda.
The world is not the wonderful place I was lead to believe it was as a kid. Everything is contrived and manipulated. There is a quiet master agenda we don’t even want to consider because it will push us out of our comfort zone, even though that comfort zone is pretty uncomfortable right now for many because of economics. But emotion provides powerful leverage that makes it possible to manipulate our perceptions. Ultimately, this is why oil prices are so high. This is the reality about oil…and much more.
Let’s say you’re a musician with compositions on the various platforms. In this case, let’s reference Spotify. Every artist gets treated equally, right? After all, they are just streamers (players) of music. Wrong. It should concern you that they literally sell preferential treatment if you can come up with the cash. In many ways, it’s like the payola scandals of the 1950s on radio (read about it online because it was transformative). If you’re willing to pay, you will get more access and play. But in reality, 99.999% of the time, when you pay for preference it doesn’t help your music career, it just puts money in their pockets. Note that when you’re streaming well over 100,000,000 songs like Spotify, the chances of big success is .001% at best, even when you pay for it. Don’t let star dust blind you. The story of music success is the same now as it always has been: being in the right place at the right time with the right song and having the right person hear it.
Think about this. On X, for example, if Elon and company don’t agree with your posts, they can send them out into the Digital Neververse and never be seen. Conversely, if they don’t like you, they can send you nothing but posts by people you will not agree with to instigate emotional negative reactions. It’s not at all about truth, it’s about killing truth and propagating the X agenda beyond just making money. You’ve been warned.
So you think you have some control over social media. Well, you don’t. You can’t even choose who you follow anymore in the sense that who you follow must now be suggested to you by the platform. You have absolutely no control over who sees your posts, the social media platforms totally decide that now. And, you have absolutely no control over what posts you see. The platforms decide that, too. You cannot trust them either. Their goal is to keep making big money by trying to addict you. They also are not honest arbiters. They have additional secret agendas. You need to know and understand this fact of digital life because you are being exploited. Beware.
You know, the powers behind cell phones, apps, AI, social media et al…everything digital tell you they make your life better and easier. I don’t believe the con much anymore. Saving time? It’s our culture, our society, our financial and organizational systems that keep us running in multiple directions at the same time. And everything has to be now they tell us!
Some things are truly urgent, like getting an ambulance to take you to the hospital. But many things are not although we’ve been constantly told otherwise. We’re always in a hurry it seems. That’s because there’s big money in urgency. The less time we have to think about something, the more likely we will make poor decisions including economic ones.
The people behind our digital world know this, so they make or create lots of junk and gadgets and tell us it will save us time and it’s easy. Sure, you will need to spend money to get it, often a lot, but it will be wonderful. Not necessarily. Digital companies always pitch their technology to other companies by saying it will save them time and money ergo staffing, and the conversion to our system is painless for you and your customers. From my experience, that’s just not true, regardless of the industry. Look how often air travel systems go down.
One other thing to consider: all of this is designed to reduce our capacity to think critically, so that the powers behind our digital world can do whatever they want while distracting us and eroding this vital ability. Making it easy for us, they say. No, making it easy for them. Let’s talk AI. The average person really has no big need for it in their day to day life. And what do we do with it? We use it to write scholastic term papers or business presentations. Sure, this is easier but, you are not having to think about it. It’s all done for you. Do you have any idea how much ChatGTP is used for these purposes. Hey, you can use AI to create things you really don’t create, a machine does. What a wonderful distraction animating old photos, but really, how many times can you keep doing it. Or make videos you don’t have to. Again, you’re really not making it either, but you think you have created something amazing, just like two billion other users. This is how the digital powers want you to think.
Finally, I am actually starting to resent and even rebelling against (oh yes…shhh) the big digital machine. I don’t know why I have to tell anyone everything about me to pay for downtown parking or tickets to a show or a myriad of other non-life threatening situations. But, to use any app, you have to tell them, and that means everyone. I really never had a problem having change in my car for a parking meter. It’s pretty simple and easy too with no special technological requirements. And I didn’t have to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for me to be able to do this.
By the way, I’ve never been against technology, only against the way humans try to abusively monetize it, especially to the extreme extent seen today.
It really is a con. Don’t buy into it totally. Leave some thinking capacity in your cranium. Lose this, and you lose your freedom and are at the mercy of the tech gods, which should leave you feeling squeamish and wary. You know, that ambulance ride, which is vital, does not require you to have an app. I think that’s reassuring.
Yesterday, the day before Good Friday, I was picking up some groceries. As I came up to the clerk, we mutually knew each other very casually, I asked, “How are you doing today?” She factually stated, without complaining and with a smile on her face, that she had been busy all day non-stop. I told her, yes, I could understand that given it’s the day before the Good Friday holiday. Without bitterness she quietly told me that unfortunately she had to work the holiday tomorrow. I responded by saying that was not good.
She quietly continued she would have rather not worked to commemorate this important Christian observance and besides, her late fifties body could have used the rest, as well. “We’re supposed to be a Christian country,” she added.
I responded to her that we’re a somewhat Godless Christian country now, like so many other Christian countries around the world. Sadly, it’s all about making money now no matter what, especially in the retail world, and many consumers view it as just another holiday.
I continued by telling her that in the Bible, it clearly and repeatedly states, in both the New and Old Testaments, that you not should profit when you lend money, yet here we are, a whole corrupt financial system built around the concept of making money, obscene amounts, by charging people interest on loans. I added that this system was transformed to prominence by so-called Christian countries.
Continuing to look at each other in the eyes, she nodded affirmatively. I then told her I had much empathy for her, will think of her, and say a prayer for her. By her reaction, I knew this lifted her, if only for a moment. I then said goodbye and left with my groceries.
You see, nothing should be open on Good Friday save for essential services. Retail and other sectors do not need to be open and people don’t have to shop on Good Friday. But in today’s world, money and convenience are the main characteristics of our society, not God, not Jesus. Money is overwhelmingly god now, along with no compassion, in a corrupt financial system designed by so-called Christians. For so many who shouldn’t have to work, it’s not so Good Friday.
A short while ago elsewhere, I wrote that audio podcasts are nothing more than talk show radio; a new high tech name for something that’s been around a long time. It has occurred to me that social media is much like the television broadcasting networks of yesterday. Today there are maybe 10 major social media platforms dominated by maybe 5 mega-sized owners. So, let’s say I have 10 “channels” to choose from.
Here’s the point. I only watched the offerings I liked on broadcast television and if there was nothing on I liked, I wouldn’t settle for the least objectionable show, I would simply turn the television off and find something else better to do. Well, I’ve come to the same conclusion regarding social media. If there are 2 social media “channels” of the 10 I like, that’s what I will “watch”. However, if none of them are offering anything I like, I will not settle anymore for the least objectionable social media platform, I will simply shut them off.
Facebook, for example, used to be about connecting with friends and sharing thoughts as the primary focus. Well, that’s long gone. To get a few, very few, posts by friends, I get an avalanche of unrequested and mostly unwanted posts from the manipulated digital abyss and endless advertising, often by lousy companies.
There is much more to all of this. All I am saying for now is, if you don’t like what you see, turn it off. Not forever, but until you get something you like. If enough people do it, the people controlling the “channels” with change the content on their platforms, just like broadcast networks a long time ago. Why? Because it hurts their almighty bottom line.
The inspiration to write this post came from another friend’s recent post. It doesn’t matter who it was, what matters is that they were trying to create something of interest for their friends to participate in because they were bloody tired of the endless tsunami of advertising.
The kids they work in factories fourteen hours a day Sure they get some sustenance, meals and a place to stay But they`re only twelve years old, just get peanuts for pay While the owners make big bucks many miles away
Set the children free It`s not 1903 Set the children free Set them free
Businesses, they don`t care, they will go anywhere Make an offer they can`t refuse, they will surely go there As for the kids, they will say, we make their lives much better Now go away, shareholders want pay, leave us alone unfettered
Set the children free It`s not 1903 Set the children free Set them free
It`s the story, same sad story for thousands of years We want the gold, sacrifice people, are we being clear
Set the children free Set the children free Set the children free
I would like to see a new law enacted that for annual subscription renewals, online companies must ask the consumer first if they wish to renew rather than allowing them to automatically renew the subscription by accessing a person’s credit card.
The World According to Glissando 