Something Orwell Said

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims... but accomplices.”  

-George Orwell

It's a great quote, and Jimmy Dore put it out there to remember.

The problem in this modern society.....we accomplish very analysis over people who we elect.  We allow some pretender journalists to hype some individual and pretend that they know something....when they don't.

And when we 'fail', with some fairly corrupted guy standing there.....there's not much we can do in terms of recovering.  Orwell has a point, but we never seem to learn it. 

Hertz Bankrupt?

If you open up the business news this morning....Hertz Car Rental is about to declare bankruptcy.

The Covid business did a fairly big number on them, and brought this down to a great extent.

But here's the thing....once the internet came along in late 1990s, and you could compare prices (which I tended to do a good bit)....Hertz was the more expensive of car rental companies. 

Over the past twenty-five years....with probably sixty to seenty occasions that I rented a car, there's not a single episode that I engaged with Hertz.  When it came down to it.....they were always twenty to thirty percent more than most of the other rental companies.

In some ways....the internet brought their pricing 'game' to public attention and probably hurt them in various ways. 

Have You Had Enough of 'Panic Porn'?

Around six weeks ago....I probably started to hit my limit on 'panic porn' via the newspapers, web sites, comedians, governors, fake journalists, and CNN/MSNBC crowd.

In the past ten days, I'm mostly laughing in the middle of what is designed to be serious and grim news.  Two days ago.....some California doctors came out and said that more people are committing suicide now, than dying of Covid-19.  The truth is.....for a lot of people....their lives and likely recovery (financially) are fairly screwed up.

It reminds me of the Steinbeck introduction to 'Grapes of Wrath'.  In the introduction....you are given a landscape of fairly harsh economic conditions given to the Oklahoma crowd, with the only alternate route being to pick up and move to California....where you will enter the new booming agricultural industry.  In the background, you kinda discover that banks are marginally surviving but walking into the lives of people to start foreclosures on farms and homes. 

Steinbeck hands you an unfinished story in one simple paragraph.....telling you about the main character....Tom Joad, who has just wrapped up some prison years for a homicide.  You know little to nothing about the homicide, the victim, or if the dead guy 'needed-killing'. 

This whole period of American history.....the depression years, became what I'd call 'epic porn', where classic stories, human interest stories, and memorable photos were made to weave this fantastic epic porn situation.  People actually got literally awards, journalism notices, and photo winnings....for their epic porn items.

Tom Joad, as a character, was some porn player in this saga, where you wanted to pull for the little guy, but knowing in your heart.....his prison time was for something pretty harsh, and you just kinda kept wondering about the bigger story left out of the novel.

The problem with today's panic porn.....you just keep looking at the characters, the degree of fantasy, the lack of some truths, and the marginal crowd telling the stories....wondering just how far this will go. 

The last question here....once you've had enough of panic porn....then what?  Will you go and just mow the grass, not caring about Covid-19?  Will you go and order up a double-grease burger and chat about Baptist revival stuff with the burger guy?  Will you sit and sip a ice tea (with a bit of gin over the top) and discuss the local storm chatter with your cousin?