Saturday 4 April 2015

The Card Game

Generally, if you work for the media or any gimmick society....you got a "card".

You can play the "racist" card....when you need sympathy for blacks or attack anyone who needs to be brought down a step.

You can play the "sexist" card....when you need to go after guys in general.

You can play the "ableism" card....when you need to go after people who have a problem with issues of physical or mental handicaps.

You can play the "classism" card....when you need to spank some folks over their rich nature or economic advantages.

You can play the "anti-seminism" card....when you need to go after Jews.

You can play the "gay" card....when you need to go against people who have issues with gays.

There are literally hundreds of 'cards' that you can play when the mass movement needs some creative inertia out of thin air.  The key?  Hatred and resentment.  That's the end product to the "card" game.  You can use dozens and hundreds of formulas to play the card, as long as the final product equals hatred and resentment.

Turning a pizza business into a "card" game?  It was tough, but fairly creative.  Next week?  A barber shop?  A tattoo parlor?  A muffler shop?  A women's gown shop?  A sports team from Seattle?  A marijuana shop in Pueblo, Colorado?

The "card" game revolves around you being able to identify yourself as part of a bigger group, a tribe, or a mystical creation.  As long as you feel isolated....the "card" game thrives.  The minute that you start to ask questions....to develop some process of reasoning over the problem or issue...the "card" game starts to end.  It can't sustain itself in that type of open discussion.

It's like the gimmick of tolerance and intolerance.  The distance between the two can be measured in 1/1,000th of an inch.  The fact that you can proclaim yourself absolutely tolerant in one brief statement.....then strangely state your intolerance to the opinions or ideals of others, makes your position in life questionable.  At that moment....your transparency of tolerance slips from a ten to a zero.

The redneck card?  The church card?  The government bureaucrat card?  The Tea Party card?  The anti-environmentalist card?  The climate change card?  The Latino card?  The anti-drug-thug card?  The anti-cop card?  The anti-bank card?  The anti-capitalist card?  The anti-Republican card?  The anti-Democrat card?

There is a perpetual game being played out in society....for change and power.  The cards are the tools to bring about both.  If you deny the cards....the game ends.  It's that simple.

Governor's Task Force?

From my homestate news (Alabama).....the word is out that the governor (Bentley) will do an executive order.  Yeah, it's shocking....even governors have executive order capability.  It's supposed to come out on Monday.

The deal?  Well....he thinks there is a health crisis in the state and he is forming a task force on health care improvement.

Generally, you can expect this task force (probably seven to ten folks) to meet a couple of times and discuss what you can do with limited or marginal funding.  It's a fairly limited debate.

You could tax the heck out of sugar products, alcohol, or fatty foods (even taxing Burger King and McDonalds in some whacked-up fashion).  You could do some kind of kid's educational program and mandate it for all Bama schools.  You could get the two major universities in the state (Auburn and Alabama) to use their media and health students to build video clips or advertising campaigns to help the state.

The thing is....folks tend to eat greasy foods, consume fat at an alarming rate, drink full-up sugary drinks by the six-pack, smoke a full pack of cigarettes per day, and enjoy a fair amount of alcohol when possible.  It's not easy to force some habit to change.

Not to cast doubt on the governor's task force, but other than paying for hotel expenses at some fancy resort in Orange Beach for them to meet up for a couple of weekends to discuss matters....I just don't see much coming out of the deal.

The best approach?  I'd give up on the bulk of folks in Alabama.  I'd take my ideas and match them up against six to twelve-year-old kids.  Forget regular heath classes in school....you need to 'turbo-ize' the health studies program within the state and actually give them the concept.  Toss in more physical activities for kids and younger adults.  Maybe twenty years down the road.....you might see more of a change.

That's my two cents on the subject.