America: Land of the Addicted Consumer

America: Land of the Addicted Consumer

Let’s face this simple fact about Americans: We are a nation addicts:

“Addiction is a chronic medical disease characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding behaviors or substance use despite harmful consequences. It involves complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, environmental factors, and individual life experiences, leading to changes in brain function and behavior control.” – National Institutes of Health

So here we are, addicted to smartphones, social media, sugar and fat, video games, and pornography — to name but a few. To understand the story of how we got here, we need to understand something of the story of organized crime in America. From the Prohibition era onward, Lucky Luciano and his childhood friend and “business associate,” Meyer Lansky, knew addiction very, very well. Luciano’s businesses were heroin and prostitution, and Lansky invented the modern casino. These men knew nothing of the languages of neuroscience or brain chemistry, but they knew how to manipulate both from their direct observation of addiction.

The original purposes of the casinos were three fold:
1. To generate a flow of untraceable cash
2. To launder money from the heroin trade
3. To create a venue for gangsters to mix and mingle with Hollywood stars Continue reading “America: Land of the Addicted Consumer” →

Workplace Freedom of Speech

I’m using this post to explain how you are losing your right to free speech in America, and I’m pretty sure it isn’t the reason you’re thinking. Also note that when I say “you” lost your free speech, I don’t mean the media lost their ability to spin tall tales. The corporate media can say anything they all agree on. They present “both sides” of whatever they decide the issue de jour is, and throw a pundit or two on your screen. Naturally, they withhold or minimize any information they don’t want you to know about. Let’s step back in time for a brief back-story, then return to the dilemma:

When personal computing was but a glimmer in a nerd’s eye, an early word processor, called WordPerfect, was a miracle. Forty years later, it is still a textbook example of a well-made application: The developers actually debugged the program before they sold it to you! WordPerfect? You probably only know about Microsoft Word. Word was released in 1983, and was crap by comparison. Very few people bought Word because it was so inferior to WordPerfect; however, you already know, that wasn’t the end of the Word story. While Word didn’t sell well and no one liked using it, that’s where the genius of sociopath and rumored pedophile Bill Gates came into play. Continue reading “Orwell Nailed This One!” →

The World’s Cop

At one time, in an earlier age called the “Space Age,” it was common to hear American Republicans complain that America was being used as the World’s Policeman. As usual, the Republicans were being disingenuous; we weren’t being used by other nations; rather, the rest of the world came to us. They came to us because they looked to America for leadership; but the question that needs to be answered is this: Do the nations of the world really need a policeman?

In a world that sprouts dictators from any tiny crack in a long sidewalk, the current crop of brutal dictators around the world is a Rogues Gallery of Bond villains. Do they bring enough mass murder, genocide, anguish and terror to the field to warrant a policeman?

Well yes, but just not us. But the next question is, “If not us, then who?”

Our relatively egalitarian, relatively idealistic society was once well thought of by many other nations — their citizens liked our liberal democracy concept and looked to us to provide a direction, a moral compass, and leadership. That’s how we became the “World’s Policeman,” and it worked fairly well …if not us, then who? A politically stable two-party America took the job seriously until Eisenhower’s “Military Industrial Complex” caught up with America’s tolerance for greedy, corrupt people. We started policing the wrong people, in the wrong places, and for self-serving reasons. We went from the “World’s Policeman” to the “World’s Hypocrite.” Now we just need to work our way back

Run!

I’ve always had a soft spot for those few individuals smart enough to recognize danger in a second and leap out of the headlights; however, a semi-educated wild-ass guess (SWAG) is that America is about to suddenly get nasty. I hope it isn’t so, but I am worried America is about to take a Game of Thrones turn into cruel insanity …only this time, it’ll just be you and Hodor …or maybe just you! The late St. Leonard Cohen unmasked this nastiness when he wrote “You Want It Darker.” Sadly, half of America wants to step back into darkness.

“There’s your headlight!”