I've long been bemused by the trust placed in corporations. It's a baked-in lesson, learned in childhood, that impunity has a bad effect on the behaviour of people who are already pressured or inclined to a ruthless pursuit of e.g. wealth extraction.
Yep. When we look for culprits, corporate propaganda deflects our attention onto individual politicians. People I know would resort to violence when it comes to defending Democrats or Republicans. But they never give a second thought to, say, Pfizer, Exxon, Bayer/Monsanto, Apple, etc. (never mind BlackRock, Vanguard, or the Fed).
I used to attempt to find ways to implement meaningful corporate reforms. It's do-able in the abstract. In the real world, unfortunately, the needed steps require a wholesale restructuring of the political economy.
I probably have already quoted my wonderful minister on this, but here it is again: As long as people IDENTIFY with corporations, there will be no meaningful change. Human beings are so empty! and rather than exploring who they are, they fill up the emptiness with utter trash whether it's identifying with Coke v Pepsi, shopping 'til they drop, hurrahing their team, whatever.
Poison all around. Who knew the fake snow was asbestos! I remember the UN building in Belgium having to be remodeled because they had used asbestos (although at the time of its erection asbestos was already forbidden). Pay up taxpayers. First spice up the pocket of the builders and then the pockets of the un-builders. I also remember reading that at first people wanted to explore radiation, and they thought it harmless. And cigarettes. ONe starts to wonder if there are more things we are using without realizing the danger !
it is hard to believe isn't it? people just don't think for themselves anymore. I saw the first part of Never Again and this Dutch Jewish woman, I think her name is Martine, told what she did, and I did, is look at the web site of Pfizer. Right from the start it said the jab did not prevent illness nor transmission, and could at best offer a bit of protection for hospitalization and death. I told this to several jab happy people but they did not even check and kept on saying I was selfish and irresponsible. In fact, they were. With the asbestos, unfortunately, people knew that from firefighters. It is a flame reatardant. There is another product in lots of fabrics, carpets, even clothing, that has the same function and no one talks about that either, even though fabrics say "not to be used in children's sleepwear'. The fabric has baby designs on it and is sold as children's sleepwear fabric... no one reads the warning!
Yep, PFAS, which has now contaminated a lot of farmland in Maine and elsewhere due to it being in municipal sludge which was spread on farms. Interestingly, a local farmer told my partner that if you grow beets in such soil, the beets themselves are fine but the greens are contaminated. We have some excellent organic vegetable farmers in Waldo County, Maine, who are very involved in testing and remediation.
I did not know they used it as fake snow. I knew they knew it was toxic, that it killed but still used it in all manner of applications, I did not know quite the depth of their depravity.
I've long wondered at the assumption that all past governments and corporations did awful things, but today's governments and corporations are good and pure. When I am like, they have only made the evil more efficient.
Fact is, most people are pretty much entirely dependent on corporations and governments, they would perish without them, and they are not going to bite the hand that feeds them.
So true. That ties in with successful repression of the popular will. Oligarchs dread a crisis of rising expectations more than they fear crises of misery. Hence their opposition to even tepid reforms. It wouldn't do to let the people get their hopes up.
It is one thing to be dependent and another thing to defend them to the death (thinking of the young men and women who join the military to protect the oligarchy). I may be dependent on my local grocery stores but I have no illusions that they are good guys (though my partner is horrified that the huge grocery chain he works for is actually less creepy than our local Woke Co-op).
I'm not an expert on this - just from what I know about the horrible mining conditions of cobalt and looking similar to asbestos mining. I don't know if cobalt has any adverse health risks or not, but like asbestos, we will probably find out years from now after we've all been exposed.
I refuse to buy corporate junk. I buy from small businesses as much as possible. Sometimes the small businesses sell out to a corporation and I stop buying that product and call them out on it. The corporations are buying up small organic food companies and supplement companies so I am always checking on those. I trust corporations even less than I trust government. Corporations are murder for profit organizations and government has been bought off for decades to look the other way or legalize it.
I've been telling my friends for a long time now that it's better to spend extra to get good quality rather than spend a little to get crap and have to replace it every few months. 10 years ago I switched to USA made clothing only because I was tired of replacing items every few months. I still have the first pair of USA made jeans I bought. They have to be patched every so often but they are still wearable. I bought a t-shirt about 7 years ago that has NOT MADE IN CHINA printed on itt and I always get comments on it. From what I've been reading the junk food is starting to cost more than real food. I never cared much for the junk so for me that's not a big deal. I much prefer real food. No factory farm garbage.
My grandmother went to work at age 12 and raised my mother to know that buying quality was very important. Better to have two pairs of shoes if you can so they will last longer (they get a chance to air out between wearings). But now? People care nothing for good quality, my nephew doesn't even want family heirlooms that have been around at least 200 years. I kept hearing about "fast fashion" and didn't even know what it was until I saw a piece on CBS about the mountains of it in Ghana.
Just a little asbestos tidbit. The Roman upper classes used asbestos napkins, threw them in the fire after they were done stuffing themselves, and when the napkins were retrieved from the fire they were absolutely white again.
Just like Lead in Paint! What a great idea!! Or, Safe and Effective, for the latest new meds. Or , “I miss the good old days”. Really? Our government and corporations have been compromised since the beginning.
If you can, buy local. Refuse to participate in the systems that are given to us. Try finding option 3 or 4, instead of jumping for option 1 or 2. “Help me see the possibilities I’ve been told don’t exist!”
Oh and I totally forgot Fluoride. Let’s get rid of some waste product by adding it to water and feeding it to our citizens! Oh....oh.....and it totally prevents cavities! Just don’t tell anyone how it calcifies the pineal glad....they don’t need that.
The things that companies foist on their workers and the public! Years ago, saw a documentary called "Radium City", about a town in Illinois where the Radium Clock Company was located. You can find it on the internet. Mostly women employees who would paint the numbers on the clocks by constantly straightening the tip of the brush in their mouths and dipping again into the radium paint! Died like flies from cancer and the company just hired more girls. Then years later after the company closed and was demolished, not properly with a tent over the place, you could practically go anywhere in town and a Geiger counter would read off the scale! Worth watching.
I've long been bemused by the trust placed in corporations. It's a baked-in lesson, learned in childhood, that impunity has a bad effect on the behaviour of people who are already pressured or inclined to a ruthless pursuit of e.g. wealth extraction.
Yep. When we look for culprits, corporate propaganda deflects our attention onto individual politicians. People I know would resort to violence when it comes to defending Democrats or Republicans. But they never give a second thought to, say, Pfizer, Exxon, Bayer/Monsanto, Apple, etc. (never mind BlackRock, Vanguard, or the Fed).
I used to attempt to find ways to implement meaningful corporate reforms. It's do-able in the abstract. In the real world, unfortunately, the needed steps require a wholesale restructuring of the political economy.
I concur.
I probably have already quoted my wonderful minister on this, but here it is again: As long as people IDENTIFY with corporations, there will be no meaningful change. Human beings are so empty! and rather than exploring who they are, they fill up the emptiness with utter trash whether it's identifying with Coke v Pepsi, shopping 'til they drop, hurrahing their team, whatever.
Yep...cradle to grave conditioning.
Lions and tigers and... asbestos! oh my.
I didn't know this. Not surprised of course. Thanks - even though I will never watch those movies in with the same 'innocence'. Danka
Kudos for that opening line!
You're welcome, Kathleen. 🙂
Poison all around. Who knew the fake snow was asbestos! I remember the UN building in Belgium having to be remodeled because they had used asbestos (although at the time of its erection asbestos was already forbidden). Pay up taxpayers. First spice up the pocket of the builders and then the pockets of the un-builders. I also remember reading that at first people wanted to explore radiation, and they thought it harmless. And cigarettes. ONe starts to wonder if there are more things we are using without realizing the danger !
Yes, indeed. But, for at least 2/3 of the population, all they need to hear is "safe and effective" and they line up for more.
it is hard to believe isn't it? people just don't think for themselves anymore. I saw the first part of Never Again and this Dutch Jewish woman, I think her name is Martine, told what she did, and I did, is look at the web site of Pfizer. Right from the start it said the jab did not prevent illness nor transmission, and could at best offer a bit of protection for hospitalization and death. I told this to several jab happy people but they did not even check and kept on saying I was selfish and irresponsible. In fact, they were. With the asbestos, unfortunately, people knew that from firefighters. It is a flame reatardant. There is another product in lots of fabrics, carpets, even clothing, that has the same function and no one talks about that either, even though fabrics say "not to be used in children's sleepwear'. The fabric has baby designs on it and is sold as children's sleepwear fabric... no one reads the warning!
Bromine?
Yep, PFAS, which has now contaminated a lot of farmland in Maine and elsewhere due to it being in municipal sludge which was spread on farms. Interestingly, a local farmer told my partner that if you grow beets in such soil, the beets themselves are fine but the greens are contaminated. We have some excellent organic vegetable farmers in Waldo County, Maine, who are very involved in testing and remediation.
I did not know they used it as fake snow. I knew they knew it was toxic, that it killed but still used it in all manner of applications, I did not know quite the depth of their depravity.
I've long wondered at the assumption that all past governments and corporations did awful things, but today's governments and corporations are good and pure. When I am like, they have only made the evil more efficient.
Fact is, most people are pretty much entirely dependent on corporations and governments, they would perish without them, and they are not going to bite the hand that feeds them.
I so wish I had a valid counterpoint for your closing sentence.
It is the story of every failed revolution. If you aren't prepared to feed them ie give them a better life than they have, you have already lost.
So true. That ties in with successful repression of the popular will. Oligarchs dread a crisis of rising expectations more than they fear crises of misery. Hence their opposition to even tepid reforms. It wouldn't do to let the people get their hopes up.
A people starving and confused are easily controlled, an empowered people are unruleable.
It is one thing to be dependent and another thing to defend them to the death (thinking of the young men and women who join the military to protect the oligarchy). I may be dependent on my local grocery stores but I have no illusions that they are good guys (though my partner is horrified that the huge grocery chain he works for is actually less creepy than our local Woke Co-op).
Curious if exposure in the film industry ever resulted in documented (or explicitly pinpointed) harms to workers.
Great question and I just found this: https://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/hollywood-and-mesothelioma-the-history-of-asbestos-use
Wow. Steve McQueen and, presumably, many others.
WOW! Bastards!
I think cobalt is the new asbestos.
Can you eloaborate?
I'm not an expert on this - just from what I know about the horrible mining conditions of cobalt and looking similar to asbestos mining. I don't know if cobalt has any adverse health risks or not, but like asbestos, we will probably find out years from now after we've all been exposed.
I fear you are correct.
Corruption on repeat. Over and over again. In perpetuity.
Only if more of us accept your first two sentences can we challenge that third sentence.
I refuse to buy corporate junk. I buy from small businesses as much as possible. Sometimes the small businesses sell out to a corporation and I stop buying that product and call them out on it. The corporations are buying up small organic food companies and supplement companies so I am always checking on those. I trust corporations even less than I trust government. Corporations are murder for profit organizations and government has been bought off for decades to look the other way or legalize it.
Thank you for sharing ways to resist. And I wish everyone had this mindset: "I trust corporations even less than I trust government."
I've been telling my friends for a long time now that it's better to spend extra to get good quality rather than spend a little to get crap and have to replace it every few months. 10 years ago I switched to USA made clothing only because I was tired of replacing items every few months. I still have the first pair of USA made jeans I bought. They have to be patched every so often but they are still wearable. I bought a t-shirt about 7 years ago that has NOT MADE IN CHINA printed on itt and I always get comments on it. From what I've been reading the junk food is starting to cost more than real food. I never cared much for the junk so for me that's not a big deal. I much prefer real food. No factory farm garbage.
My grandmother went to work at age 12 and raised my mother to know that buying quality was very important. Better to have two pairs of shoes if you can so they will last longer (they get a chance to air out between wearings). But now? People care nothing for good quality, my nephew doesn't even want family heirlooms that have been around at least 200 years. I kept hearing about "fast fashion" and didn't even know what it was until I saw a piece on CBS about the mountains of it in Ghana.
Just a little asbestos tidbit. The Roman upper classes used asbestos napkins, threw them in the fire after they were done stuffing themselves, and when the napkins were retrieved from the fire they were absolutely white again.
Just like Lead in Paint! What a great idea!! Or, Safe and Effective, for the latest new meds. Or , “I miss the good old days”. Really? Our government and corporations have been compromised since the beginning.
If you can, buy local. Refuse to participate in the systems that are given to us. Try finding option 3 or 4, instead of jumping for option 1 or 2. “Help me see the possibilities I’ve been told don’t exist!”
Oh and I totally forgot Fluoride. Let’s get rid of some waste product by adding it to water and feeding it to our citizens! Oh....oh.....and it totally prevents cavities! Just don’t tell anyone how it calcifies the pineal glad....they don’t need that.
The things that companies foist on their workers and the public! Years ago, saw a documentary called "Radium City", about a town in Illinois where the Radium Clock Company was located. You can find it on the internet. Mostly women employees who would paint the numbers on the clocks by constantly straightening the tip of the brush in their mouths and dipping again into the radium paint! Died like flies from cancer and the company just hired more girls. Then years later after the company closed and was demolished, not properly with a tent over the place, you could practically go anywhere in town and a Geiger counter would read off the scale! Worth watching.
Thanks, David...I'll track down that documentary.
Every time we watch wonderful life my husband reminds me sometimes about asbestos 🤦♀️ crazy stuff. Thanks!! Not a lot of people knows about this.
Thanks for reading and for sharing!