“Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business. You cannot be honest without admitting that its constructive contribution to humanity is exactly minus zero.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
I've mentioned this quote before. It is evergreen, even though it grows in a fetid bog.
“The men leaned back on their heels, put their hands in their trouser-pockets, and proclaimed their views with the booming profundity of a prosperous male repeated a thoroughly hackneyed statement about a matter of which he knows nothing whatever.” — Sinclair Lewis
Since now, i have no regular readers, i may be free to make wilder statements. I dislike commercial promotion, it is the bullshit of greed.
I am not bothering to even look up the exact details, it is not worth it to me. Whether the stink flower has one petal or five is immaterial to me. Local media is an avenue of boosterism, shilling Babbitts, and P.T. Barnums of bilge water, ballast, and bullshit. 'Postively Cleveland', Chamber of Commerce, Cleveland Tourist Bureau, ad nauseum.
They are all pitching for Cleveland to host the Republic Presidential Convention of 2016. A field of eight candidates, has been whittled to six. Columbus is out, Cincinnati and Cleveland are "in". Come on, really. It's Las Vegas. Only a few locations will have easy access to the assets of entertainment and decadence that Vegas has.
Now, the availability of exercising certain particular activities with a diverse workforce of entertainment companions is difficult in competing with Las Vegas. And hypocrisy being what is entrenched in the Republican Party, Cleveland hosting the "Gay Games" will not have the selection committee cast votes at Cleveland.
And another thing: the "sin tax" for the benefit of billionaire major league owners of sports teams is being forced upon the public by blackmail, threats, and of course — advertising. If the electorate shows the temerity to vote against it, there will be another election (and another) and another coaxing campaign. The rich do not accept "No" as an answer. Look at the proposed McDonald's for Ohio City. How many casino votes "failed" before the casinos came to Ohio? How many times has the House passed bills to eliminate "Obamacare"?
“The public be damned!” — William Henry Vanderbilt I
________________
Postscriptum 4. 30 pm 22 May 2014: I was wrong about Vegas. Still doubt Cleveland, we have to wait if i am wrong on that too.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/may/22/las-vegas-out-running-2016-republican-national-con/
Postscriptum 7. 50 pm 25 June 2014: The story to-day is Cleveland and Dallas are still in it, although an earlier story said Cleveland was out. I was wrong about Vegas. I did not say, that Dallas would have been number two (Tejas Republican $$). This is really yanking Cleveland's chain. And Cleveland is on the Democratic list, bad move to have gambled on the Repukes.
Postscriptum 7. 30 pm 8 July 2014: I was wrong, they picked Cleveland. Perhaps, we will find out why.
I've mentioned this quote before. It is evergreen, even though it grows in a fetid bog.
“The men leaned back on their heels, put their hands in their trouser-pockets, and proclaimed their views with the booming profundity of a prosperous male repeated a thoroughly hackneyed statement about a matter of which he knows nothing whatever.” — Sinclair Lewis
Since now, i have no regular readers, i may be free to make wilder statements. I dislike commercial promotion, it is the bullshit of greed.
I am not bothering to even look up the exact details, it is not worth it to me. Whether the stink flower has one petal or five is immaterial to me. Local media is an avenue of boosterism, shilling Babbitts, and P.T. Barnums of bilge water, ballast, and bullshit. 'Postively Cleveland', Chamber of Commerce, Cleveland Tourist Bureau, ad nauseum.
They are all pitching for Cleveland to host the Republic Presidential Convention of 2016. A field of eight candidates, has been whittled to six. Columbus is out, Cincinnati and Cleveland are "in". Come on, really. It's Las Vegas. Only a few locations will have easy access to the assets of entertainment and decadence that Vegas has.
Now, the availability of exercising certain particular activities with a diverse workforce of entertainment companions is difficult in competing with Las Vegas. And hypocrisy being what is entrenched in the Republican Party, Cleveland hosting the "Gay Games" will not have the selection committee cast votes at Cleveland.
And another thing: the "sin tax" for the benefit of billionaire major league owners of sports teams is being forced upon the public by blackmail, threats, and of course — advertising. If the electorate shows the temerity to vote against it, there will be another election (and another) and another coaxing campaign. The rich do not accept "No" as an answer. Look at the proposed McDonald's for Ohio City. How many casino votes "failed" before the casinos came to Ohio? How many times has the House passed bills to eliminate "Obamacare"?
“The public be damned!” — William Henry Vanderbilt I
________________
Postscriptum 4. 30 pm 22 May 2014: I was wrong about Vegas. Still doubt Cleveland, we have to wait if i am wrong on that too.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/may/22/las-vegas-out-running-2016-republican-national-con/
Postscriptum 7. 50 pm 25 June 2014: The story to-day is Cleveland and Dallas are still in it, although an earlier story said Cleveland was out. I was wrong about Vegas. I did not say, that Dallas would have been number two (Tejas Republican $$). This is really yanking Cleveland's chain. And Cleveland is on the Democratic list, bad move to have gambled on the Repukes.
Postscriptum 7. 30 pm 8 July 2014: I was wrong, they picked Cleveland. Perhaps, we will find out why.
This issue is the absurdity of absurdities. Let me get this straight: the purpose of the Sin Tax is to gouge those who purchase alcohol and cigarettes not because anyone is trying to discourage consumption but rather so the County can use that money to pay for sports stadiums that do not produce anything but a fleeting moment witnessing the passing of a football, the dribbling of a basketball and the throwing of a baseball so that such a minute tidbit of diversion can be enjoyed by all. The stupidity of this proposition is enough to make your head spin even though the spin doctors advocating passage of this nonsense are already doing a pretty good job of hypnotizing the voters to actually consider supporting it. At least the Robber Barons of the previous centuries provided something tangible such as oil, steel, railroads etcetera. These team owners do not even provide one tangible thing that could ever be considered with the term “value added.” Almost everyone discusses this “enterprise” as though it is the same thing as industry {which it is not}. The price of admission is essentially a voluntary tax paid by those who can afford it to pay those who don’t need it. If this isn’t a transfer of wealth I don’t know what is.
ReplyDeleteThe real outrage here is the fact that taxes on alcohol and cigarettes will not be used to aid in the reduction of addiction {hence the reference to “sin”} but rather to stuff the pockets of all three teams who could easily afford to pay for the repairs themselves. The vote was rammed through the last time {under somewhat suspicious circumstances} and hear we go again. But this time...not so fast!!! We the voters of Cuyahoga County are going to fight the proponents on this one and we don't care if the teams up and go somewhere else {please see my views on entertainment below} because quite frankly there are simply more important things than sports and the unearned money that comes with it. Those in public office who are too stupid and lazy to find other ways to grow a major American city need to resign and leave their self-seeking political ambitions on the scrapheap of history. Don’t ever let it be said that this was time when the tide ran out on Cuyahoga County but rather was the time when the voters rose up to welcome the rising tide of change and rebuked this pathetic paradigm our previous elected leaders embraced. Let the battle be joined.
And now to the real underlying issue at hand:
One of the most disturbing facts about our capitalist nation is the misappropriation of funds directed to the salaries of entertainers. Everyone should agree that the value an athlete, movie star, talk-show host, team-owner, etcetera brings to the average citizen is very small. Granted, they do offer a minuscule of diversion from our daily trials and tribulations as did the jesters in the king's court during the middle ages. But to allow these entertainers to horde such great amounts of wealth at the expense of more benevolent societal programs is unacceptable. They do not provide a product or a service so why are they rewarded as such?
Our society is also subjected to the "profound wisdom" of these people because it equates wealth with influence. Perhaps a solution to this problem and a alternative to defeated school levies, crumbling infrastructures, as well as all the programs established to help feed, clothe and shelter those who cannot help themselves would be to tax this undeserved wealth. Entertainers could keep 1% of the gross earnings reaped from their endeavor and 99% could be deposited into the public coffers.
The old ideas of the redistribution of wealth have failed, and it is time to adapt to modern-day preferences. People put their money into entertainment above everything else; isn't it time to tap that wealth? Does anyone think this will reduce the quality of entertainment? It seems to me that when entertainers received less income, the quality was much higher.