Our Great Feudal Society

[Ferret]

Some people think we live in a Democracy - they're wrong.
Some people think we live in a Republic - they're wrong.
Some people think we live in a Dectatorship - thankfully, they're wrong - at least, at the moment.

We live in a feudal society. Only a few people run this country and a majority of them do not hold any kind of elected office. They are people that have entirely too much money and use this money to control those below them.

Let's look at a few examples:


Record Company/Motion Picture Company CEO's:
They throw big names in your face that you must pay lots and lots of money for the privilidge of seeing - yet, they're not role models. They're just like you and me.

Professional Sporting Teams
People are paid the GNP of many small Third World countries to play a game that we can all play w/ friends each weekend in our back yards. Even if you don't watch, you pay the high prices of items advertised durring their televised events. This money goes into the advertising budgets of the networks which is needed to pay the insanely high prices for showing these events.

Software Manufaturers - Microsoft, et al.
They price their product too much. They all demand that you register the product. They demand that you upgrade your hardware so that you can use them. And, just when you think you have the program figured out, there's a new version that demands you start over again - I miss DOS...

Hardware Manufacturers
See Software Manufacturers...

Tobacco and Alcohol producers
They make the items to look "glamourous" and "cool" and then you have to pay large ammounts for the product

Credit Card Companies
My personal favourite. They give you the impression that having a credit rating is more important than spending your life in debt. Every time you think you have your debt under control, they raise your credit limits and the second you have a payment that is one day late, they hit you with massive fees and an increased interest rate. More people are enslaved by credit card companies than people seem to realise.

Television Networks - broadcast and cable
They produce "Must-See" crap that everyone gathers around and pay actors seven figures a year. Where does this money come from? Advertising. Where do the products that are advertised get their money from? You and me, buying the products.

Automobile companies
They throw a new model at you each year that is somehow better than last year's model and insist that you have to get it. The worst part is that they don't want you to buy them. Oh no, they want you to lease them. This way you never truly own the car. Again, you are enslaved by the company for life.

This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that no one can actually make enough money to pay these "Lords of Industry" so we have to work harder for more hours and very little job satisfaction or security.

Of course, there are more examples that people can think of - like Collectible Card Game manufactureres

-Ferret

"...we must resist..."

 

[Spiderman]

I can't tell if you're serious or not since you threw in the smilie at the end... but in case you are...

Record Companies: No one's forcing anyone to buy the music; you don't need it to live. And they really aren't doing that well anyway.

Sports Teams: I could see it in a way but you attacked it all wrong. Again, no one's forcing anyone to see the games, which is basically paying for the players' astronomical salaries. If people would stop going and watching, I guarantee it would collapse. Unfortunately, that'll never happen as you are always going to have your fanatics... what I see wrong is cities paying for teams relocation and stadiums... that's wrong.

Software/Hardware: Eh, I could see this too, except that the gov't is cracking down on Microsoft, the "big one". Thus I can't see them in collusion and thus "running the country".

Tobacco/Alcohol: Same with records and sports.

Credit Card: I can see this too, but a lot of the blame has to go with people who cannot live within their means. Let's take some personal responsibility! No one's forcing anyone to use the credit card and buy stuff and so they get into debt. I do agree about credit scores becoming the standard of what you can do though (I wonder what Chaos Turtle's credit score is since he said he doesn't use one )

TV: Only a couple shows out of several hundred are paying their actors seven digits. And though it is about the ratings, again, no one's forcing anyone to watch the shows. Advertisers do pay for the chance to be in that time slot, but again, no one's saying you have to buy the products.

Autos: I don't know where you're getting this, this sounds like computers instead of autos. And who says you have to lease?

So I can kinda see what you're saying, but it would hold a lot more strength if people were FORCED into buying from these companies. As it is, a lot has to do with choice and how the people have basically made the companies.

And if you're just tongue in cheek, well, glad you can vent

 

[Ferret]

Well, the problem is that many people think that you actually have to buy/watch/listen to these things. You have to remember that over 90% of the American population are sheep. They don't have the ability to think for themselves and honestly beleive that they have to listen to what these Corporate Masters tell them...

-Ferret

"...think of them as Cardinals of the Religion of Money..."

 

[Spiderman]

I don't think a lot of people are forced to buy music or attend sports games or buy tobacco/alcohol or get a new car every year (especially since they're $10,000+). Software/Hardware I can see, but the problem is that everything costs money and alot of this stuff is "extraneous" to living. There are usually a bit more important things to spend your money on and by the time you may have enough to get a new computer, it's probably time (3-4 years).