Real Patriots Don't DO 'Black Fridays'!

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its only safe depositories. AND TO RENDER THEM SAFE, THEIR MINDS MUST BE IMPROVED."

 - Thomas Jefferson, 'Notes on Virginia'.


I am certain that in the last two days  I've tossed (into the recycle dumpster) at least two -thirds of all the newspapers received. Why? ALL 'Black Friday' (i.e. Shopaholic) adverts! Kohl's announces 100 items on special! Walmart has special opening day Thanksgiving!  and so on and so forth! How about the workers? Don't they count?

Case in point was one of the Walmart "associates" planning to strike today, Mr. Greg Fletcher (featured on the ending segment of 'UP With Chris Hayes' on MSNBC last Sunday) who aknowledged to Chris Hayes and his panel that he along with his wife (also an associate) would be unable to spend Thanksgiving together with their kids. He was confirmed to work the 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. shift and she had to work from 3 p.m. to midnight. This is not right, and no one ....no worker... should be hostage to the capitalist-driven consumerist frenzy so well documented by Benjamin Barber, author of : 'CONSUMED: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults and Swallow Citizens Whole'- which ought to be required reading for everyone.

Of course, another book that needs to be read by all those citizens who wish to remain citizens (as opposed to mere grubby "consumers" ....i.e. out to "consume") is Douglas Rushkoff's COERCION, that details the psycho-dynamic basis for how most of us become puppets at the end of the strings manipulated by the Overclass marketeers and their associated Puppeteers. The latter are often ensconced in Washington think tanks and their pundit blabber often fills the air waves - or newspaper columns- warning Americans that they have an obligation to hold up their end of the economy by spending! (Since 70% of GDP is claimed to be traced to consumer activity- purchasing).  Never mind "consumers" are emulating herds of cattle, running each other down in the aisles of most big box stores today! )

But to me, real patriots will not allow themselves to be driven into such frenetic consumption, like zombies or brainless puppets. If they are real patriots , and citizens, they will sit home today - and pick up a good book from their library shelves - OR, look for one of the thousands of available FREE online and immerse their brain cells in something enlightening and constructive, improving their minds as Thomas Jefferson once beckoned us in his  “Notes on Virginia”  .

Jefferson's basis for making his comment was a recurring worry that at some future time citizens might become lax, and sluggish of mind, thereby losing the mental acuity and awareness that assures REAL freedom of their nation, as opposed to that embraced by the red, white and blue paper patriots who espouse endless war and a gargantuan military. If he could have peered 200 or so years into the future, however, he'd have seen that this sluggishness of mind has become an attribute of most of us. Our thinking, our judgments, or capacity for intense thoughts have become diluted by too much mental 'candy' and eye candy, as well as the endless desire to consume (which is why the Overclass now dismisses us as "consumers").

And what, pray tell,  is the "consumer"? He or she is basically a sheep, a mindless sheep. Erik Larson ("The Naked Consumer”  , p. 167) first highlighted the mutation, noting how consumer monitors in stores regularly referred to consumers as "grazing like cattle"(ibid.). Meanwhile, a September, 2011 article about brand names in The Wall Street Journal casually ruminated about "branding" consumers from the earliest ages. That is, insinuating deep product preferences into their brains, preferably from age two or earlier.(Why does little 3-year old Johnny Joe prefer a Big Mac to your own burgers? Easy! He's been branded! Especially if 'toys' are part of the eating deal!)

Are most people aware they are being relentlessly tracked and studied like prey- or better- "grazing cattle"? Hardly. Should we be aware? Probably. Why? Because by having awareness - and displaying it - we become more than the passive, stupid 'consuming cattle' they want us to be. Larson again (p. 181):

"No one ever notices. Ever. Consumers shop like in a trancelike state like 'idly grazing animals"


How can this happen? Central to Rushkoff's thesis is a process called "the Gruen Transfer". Without its initiation and consolidation within a fertile brain, arguably no American would become a marketer's zombie puppet. Alas, most of our citizenry, unread as they are (and with too short attention spans induced by over obsession with social ties on Facebook, etc.) aren't aware of how the Gruen Transfer takes over their mind in any situation. To read Rushkoff's book, therefore, is at once like reading the most horrific of Dennis Wheatley's "Devil" novels, while being brutally exposed to how our society really runs.


I never believed in the power of the Gruen Transfer until once having had occasion to ask an acquaintance in marketing if it could be conceivable an American could be so market-tethered and brainwashed that he or she would need to consult an advert before even taking a dump. Her response? "Of course! Hell, they would definitely wish to know whether the cool thing is to use Charmin or remain a poor douche and putz using some generic 2-ply brand of rough toilet paper! If you have to do your business at least you need to end it special!"


Incredible!

 Still, I had a difficult time swallowing this until coming across an article in The Economist ('Hidden Persauders II', Sept. 24, 2011, p.80), which of course cops its title based on the much earlier work 'The Hidden Persuaders', by Vance Packard. A book I believe every member of Generation X, Y and Z ought to read very carefully, if you can get it on your Kindles! That book, from over fifty years ago, showed the power of the marketing empire even then.

The Economist also references how assorted "market guerillas" prowl the social networks, in order to generate "buzz" that ropes in the needy eyes, and claims gullible brains. One company referenced (ibid.) is "the Girls Intelligence Agency" which employs some 40,000 girls to act as 'guerilla marketers', sowing buzz for assorted products - in return for which services they get free products and "everything they need to organize a slumber party". Of course, the slumber party then delivers the perfect captive audience which features an assortment of all the buzzed products which each guest is invited to try out. Refuse to buy after getting such an invite? That would be uncool!


Back to Rushkoff and the Gruen Transfer. As Rushkoff notes (p. 212):

"(The key) is the moment of confusion. In that moment of confusion- the buyer is subjected to a dissociative hypnotic trance (by the focus of the advert)- the consumer absorbs the image within the image."

Case in point, as cited by The Economist (ibid.).

 "In 1995, only 53% of American men admitted to shopping for themselves. That figure has now risen to 75% with many now buying traditional female products. The marketers created a $27 billion male grooming industry from nothing by bombarding men with images once meant for women .."

Thus, incredibly the new items on the new males' shelves evidently include depilatories, eye liner (!?), special moisturizers for body, face and hands, and "novel fragrances". Items they'd never have remotely purchased in the days the Gruen Transfer was still a primitive marketing ideation, but has since been developed to a state of the art mind-washing tactic so the males "absorb the image within the image", i.e. of them using female products! (Let's hope to hell the marketing monkeys never succeed in getting American males to do pedicures!) Rushkoff goes on:

"That's all coercion really is, after all: convincing a person to lie to himself by any means necessary. The stance of ironic detachment, while great for protecting ourselves for straightforward linear stories and associations, nonetheless makes us vulnerable to more sophisticated forms of influence.."

For sure, the incessant bombardment of ads via 'Black Friday' specials has played no small role in feeding this consumerist frenzy, that's now reached the point that even Thanksgiving is no longer sacred for families. Many millions must now conceive of having to work. (Btw, of course we know medical people, RNs, docs etc,. are on call...this stands to reason! But Walmart associates? Come on!)

Meanwhile, today's Black Friday walkout is being organized by the Organization United for Respect at Wal-Mart (OUR Walmart), a group of Wal-Mart employees formed last year that works closely with the United Food and Commercial Workers union, or UFCW. OUR Walmart, which organized walkouts in October, is pushing for better working conditions, benefits, and an end to alleged retaliation by management.

Today's strike would add yet another chapter to a wave of worker protests across Wal-Mart’s supply chain. It all began in June when a group of immigrant guest workers at a Wal-Mart seafood supplier in Louisiana walked off their jobs. In September, workers at company warehouses in California and Illinois went on strike. The workers in Illinois eventually won back pay. California workers weren’t so lucky—they started striking again last Wednesday. Shortly after those warehouse strikes began, retail workers backed by OUR Walmart started walking out of stores in 12 states.

Wal-Mart is painting the striking employees as a minority that’s unrepresentative of its workforce.  But don't believe it! Even those not directly participating (on account of a real fear of losing a low payscale job they still need) will be sympathizing with their fellows.

Yes, there will be those right wing goons who portray these striking workers as "communists" or even "terrorists" - but consider the sources! Most plausibly either the likes of Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh or certain unnamed FLA "pastors" who also believe prostate cancer is a "spiritual disease" for millions and oh yeah, that Jonah really got gulped by a whale and lived in its belly 3 days.

Bottom line? REAL patriots and true citizens will not be doing a thing consumer-wise, today, other than perhaps to pick up a few needed groceries. But no 'toys', including for adults - such as HDTVs, DVDs, or other 'stuff'. Save your money! Besides - the "fiscal cliff" is approaching and you may need that $$$$ if tax rates go up across the board ....as they really should!

Hey, Poor White Folks! Learn Morals From Your Wealthy Betters!

Two Overclass females, after having enjoyed chocolate scrubs and rose wine wraps. Are white, working class Americans prepared to take lessons in morality from the likes of them?

In an earlier blog:

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2012/02/coming-apart-charles-murrays-arguments.html

I basically lacerated a book by Charles Murrary, 'Coming Apart: The State of White America: 1960- 2010' with its premise that at least one-fifth of Caucasian Americans is suffering from an ongoing regression in mental capacity (owing to become more dependent on "entitlements"), decaying morals and lost wealth. However, I pointed out in that earlier blog that rather than blame poor, working class Caucasians for their predicament, people-commentators would be wiser to blame a corrupt economic system predicated on who, or which subset, can emulate the most voracious jackals. (Recall Vilfredo Pareto in his original parable concerning his Pareto distribution, referred to a "commonality composed of a wolf and a sheep", with the maximum efficiency achieved after the wolf ate the sheep.)

In a number of preceding blogs, I had detailed the evil basis of this rogue economic system, and how it propped up the scurrilious, parasitical elites. See. e.g.:

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2011/06/modern-economics-its-evil-basis-pareto.html

and

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2011/06/modern-economics-its-evil-basis-pareto_13.html

Even a cursory examination of the content of those two blogs will disclose that contrary to Murray's mythology, it is the economic system that creates immoral people, not the converse! It is also the most immoral people (e.g. the elites) who are able to profit and advance from within this corrupt system because they are privvy to all its loopholes, and networks that enable them to take advantage of ordinary Joe Schmoes.

Worse, in order to sustain this vile system, the Elites are forced to confect lies for those they perceive as beneath them. They also rig advantages so that their offspring can gain admission to the most elite universities, while working class families have to suck salt and beg for outrageous-interest laden loans from private usurers.. err... purveyors.

Ultimately, the crassest lie of all is tied into the fundamental attribution error which the elites fob upon the workers and strugglers to make them believe it is THEIR fault for not getting to the top, rather than the rich pigs for rigging the system to keep them in their place.

Understandably then, one becomes enraged when he beholds people who ought to know better even implicitly defending this horrific evil economic zeitgeist and its third columnists, apologists and criminals. And so, one has to look askance at the Brit columnist for The Economist who goes by the monicker, "Lexington". Because I could barely finish one of his recent pieces (Feb. 4, p. 36) without running to grab a barf bag.

While Lexington's paean to Charles Murray seems to ring alternately warm and cold almost paragraph by paragraph(i.e. "the most successful are not only rich but exceptionally clever, because they've become expert at sending their brightest to the same elite universities" vs. "This new elite is not just a breed apart but seems to live in bubbles, such as Manhattan south of 96th Street".)

Then there are the over the top references that ding the lower classes (or any class or people who don't follow the example of the upper crust) by noting:

"A cultural gap separates the Elite from other Americans. They seldom watch 'Oprah' or Judge Judy', in fact they do not watch much television at all. They eat in restaurants but not at Applebee's, Denny's or Waffle House...chains that cater to the common taste. They read The Economist and the New York Times, or Wall Street Journal, and they drink wine and boutique beers.....but only in moderation and never smoke cigarettes."

Well, no surprise about the tv-watching. I mean, shit, all the Elites have to do all day is keep tabs of the stock market crawl on CNBC or occasionally make the odd trade online! Meanwhile, Working Joe, having finished 10 hours - including unpaid overtimes- butchering chickens at the local supermarket, has little energy left for anything other than watching 'Alcatraz' or 'House'! After parading all the things the Elites DO, and by the exclusion principle calling attention to what ordinary Joes and Janes don't - which in effect makes them culturally "inferior" to their elite betters - Lexington has the absolute chutzpah to write:

"A lot of American commentary about the elite is suffused with a creepy resentment...."

Oh yeah, Mr. Lexington! Righto, mate! You bloviate about all the niceties these elites do and the experiences they share together - including their rose wine wraps, then talk about commentary concerning these people "suffused with a creepy resentment". Ah no, what's "creepy" is toadying up to these jackals in any way as if one would wish to suck the soot from the soles of their wingtips. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, sir!

You ought to be asking instead, how many lives - of ordinary working class Americans- each of these vile swine wrecked or stole or rent asunder to be able to afford: 18 holes on a special course at St. Kitts-Nevis, or 10-15 kt diamond jewellry (often necklaces) from Tiffany', and nightly candle-light dining in special luxury Villlas (see graphic) where they can feast on endless foie Gras, fresh salmon, lobster thermidor, and as many Magnums of the best champagne as they desire.

Oh......as opposed to having to dirty their dainty, elitist paws holding a big burger at Dennys' or while eating a humble sirloin at Applebee's! But note this: those working or lower middle class white folk who do go to Denny's or Appelbee's at least earned their meals as opposed to stealing their lobster thermidors and magnums of champagne blind from workers via expropriation of their labor.

Next comes the moral opprobrium as if Lex is channeling Murray:

"Most in need of instruction is a new lower class, perhaps a fifth of the white population whose plight forms the next part of his book. This class is in the throes of disintegration. Too many of its men will not work, too many of its women raise children out of wedlock, religious worship is in decline... In lower class neighborhoods the togetherness of communities has vanished...."

Okay, let's back up there, Lex. This needs an objective examination as opposed to semi-adorational slobbering. Let's begin with the last, that "lower class neighborhoods have lost togetherness". This very malady in fact, was addressed as long ago as 1995 by Charles Reich in his book, Opposing the System. As Reich noted therein, p. 103:

"When society itself comes to be modeled on economic and organizational principles, all of the forces that bind people together are torn apart in the struggle for survival. Community is destroyed because we are no longer 'in this together' because everyone is a threat to everyone else."

Note especially the highlighted part. We are no longer in this "together". Again, the crime or sin or whatever you wish to call it that Lex and Murray appear to want to hang on the lower classes is in actuality a direct effect of the Pareto-optimality based economic system which destroys equality and cooperation. It enables banks to foreclose homes at will (robo-closings) and thereby fractures neighbors one from the other. It rewards those who are prepared to game the system, but not those are aren't.

In such a capitalist-driven, consumerist, Pareto-organizational economic model, wherein the resource “pie” for the non-wealthy grows ever smaller, the young are threats to us oldsters, as we are threats to them, as neighbor is to neighbor. It can't be otherwise. For example, as threats to our Social Security are ramped up on account of the odious austerity-debt hawks - led by billionaire pricks such as Peter G. Peterson, we oldsters tend to pull back in self-interest and vote ardently against any increase in property taxes to support schools.While we would dearly love to support local schools via higher taxes, we are wary so long as threats exist to cut our benefits and standards of living to the point we need to turn our furnaces off to save money, or split our meds.

And at the forlorn bottom of it all each manjack believes the "other" - his neighbor, to be his enemy as opposed to the savage debased system that spawned such inequities. And each time we latch onto their PR spiel, that WE are to blame - whether on talk radio, or 'Morning Joe' or from any blow dried bimbo, we worsen the situation. We then play into the original hands of Edward Bernays and his PR factory. Recall Bernays' infamous words:

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government, which is the true ruling power of our country.”

So pardon me while I retch as Lex recounts - from Murray's book- that the über-Rich sally forth from their "Super zips" to "talk the less fortunate into marrying, worker harder, and becoming better neighbors"

Well ...uh. yeah, if these overclass twerps who smile out of one corner of their mouth and frown on the other want their butts kicked. Because make no mistake, the response they'd get by seeking to lecture the 'have nots' on American mores would not be very welcoming. The recipients would begin by telling these wine and brie eaters that if they want them to marry then fucking provide a LIVING wage, not a mere minimum wage, to enable that to happen. They'd tell them to also provide - parting with some of their ill gotten millions or billions - some free child care services such as exist in Denmark and Norway.

As for "working harder" - they'd be told 'Yeah, if you fucking stop sending our jobs off to Bangalore or wherever, and give us decent pay and benefits for the jobs we do have.

Becoming better neighbors? No problem! Simply revise the debased existing economic system which places a priority on screwing your neighbor to get ahead, and replacing it with one that emphasized cooperation. Not that hard.

Even Lexington, by the end of his toffy-nosed bloviation gets it when he writes:

"Those in the upper class who heed his call might want to leave their Mercedes Benzes at home when they set out for Denny's on their voyage of persuasion."

Maybe tell them to leave their PR pamphlets at home too, because we all know how that works by now!

More on Marketing Mind Control: Are we all Zombots Yet?

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its only safe depositories. AND TO RENDER THEM SAFE, THEIR MINDS MUST BE IMPROVED." - Thomas Jefferson, 'Notes on Virginia'.


In an earlier blog I discussed the insidious nature of PR and sowing false consciousness,

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2011/09/class-consciousness-or-false.html

And the ways the Overclass of government, business and its offshoot PR-men and hack marketeers use this subtle mind manipulation to sow a classless mentality that inveighs against one's own economic and socio-political self interest. In addition, I referred to Edward Bernays famous quotation that this "unseen mechanism of society constitutes an invisible government, which is the true ruling power of our country.”

I also briefly cited Douglas Rushkoff's book, COERCION, that details the psycho-dynamic basis for how most of us become puppets at the end of the strings manipulated by the Overclass and their associated marionettes. Central to Rushkoff's thesis is a process called "the Gruen Transfer". Without its initiation and consolidation within a fertile brain, arguably no American would become a marketer's zombie puppet. Alas, most of our citizenry, unread as they are (and with too short attention spans induced by over obsession with social ties on Facebook, etc.) aren't aware of how the Gruen Transfer takes over their mind in any situation. To read Rushkoff's book, therefore, is at once like reading the most horrific of Dennis Wheatley's "Devil" novels, while being brutally exposed to how our society really runs.

I never believed the power of the Gruen Transfer until I once asked a marketing acquaintance if it could actually be conceivable an American could be so market-tethered that he or she would need to consult an advert before even taking a dump. Her response? "Of course! Hell, they would definitely wish to know whether the cool thing is to use Charmin or remain a poor douche and putz using some generic brand of toilet paper! If you have to do your business at least you need to end it special!"

Incredible!

I had a hard time swallowing this until coming across a recent article in The Economist ('Hidden Persauders II', Sept. 24, p.80), which of course cops its title based on the much earlier work 'The Hidden Persuaders', by Vance Packard. A book I believe every member of Generation X, Y and Z ought to read very carefully, if you can get it on your Kindles! That book, from over fifty years ago, showed the power of the marketing empire even then. But if Packard was alive now, he'd have his fifities' era mind blown to smithereens at what he'd behold.

Of course, I can still recall some of the ads Packard noted from that era, and I agree with The Economist's take that most of the templates (for a guy looking at say, a Brylcreem advert) could be reduced to "Buy it and get laid". The basic operation was to quickly detach the conscious mind and interject the lizard brain long enough to make the purchase based on the lizard's needs. Never mind one's rational centers knew the mere application of Brylcreem wouldn't get one "laid"!

But before our current populace howls with derision at such naivete maybe it needs to back up and take stock, and note it's nowhere near as detached from puppet-strings as it believes. For example, how many are aware that the use of the new links capability for Facebook actually delivers your name, info to many more greedy marketeers? You think Facebook is just 'free' and you can roam, and put up stuff on your 'wall' and friend to your heart's content without a marketing hawk looking over your shoulder? If so, you're more naive than we were with the old Brylcreem ads.

The Economist also references how assorted "market guerillas" prowl the social networks, in order to generate "buzz" that ropes in the needy eyes, and claims gullible brains. One company referenced (ibid.) is "the Girls Intelligence Agency" which employs some 40,000 girls to act as 'guerilla marketers', sowing buzz for assorted products - in return for which services they get free products and "everything they need to organize a slumber party". Of course, the slumber party then delivers the perfect captive audience which features an assortment of all the buzzed products which each guest is invited to try out. Refuse to buy after getting such an invite? That would be uncool!

The most bizarre marketers' conquest - according to The Economist - is evidently the American male. Once proud of his rugged self, and no dandy - he's evidently now been convinced to purchase "female products" for his own use! This is a result of "marketers devoting much more effort to marketing to men to ...get them to shop like women".. Are you f-ing kidding me? Yet The Economist goes on:

"In 1995, only 53% of American men admitted to shopping for themselves. That figure has now risen to 75% with many now buying traditional female products. The marketers created a $27 billion male grooming industry from nothing by bombarding men with images once meant for women .." The new items on the new male's shelves evidently include depilatories, eye liner, special moisturizers for body, face and hands, and "novel fragrances". Cheez whiz! Back in the 60s the most adventurous you ever got as a young male was maybe using Jade East!

At this point one is justified in asking how these marketing types can get guys - presumably red blooded Americans- to emulate females by buying female products? Again, it's the Gruen Transfer. I will only touch on it here since the extensive process in different mental milieus is better left for Rushkoff's great book. Basically, however, it means a passive and docile mental state wherein the person is most susceptible to the force of advertising persuasion. In this state, higher cognitive centers remain inactive, and the person acts totally on the suggestion that buying product X, Y or Z will somehow make one's life better.

As Rushkoff notes (p. 212):

"(The key) is the moment of confusion. In that moment of confusion- the buyer is subjected to a dissociative hypnotic trance (by the focus of the advert)- the consumer absorbs the image within the image."

In this case, what the marketers of the female products to men had to accomplish is to get males, as the putative consumers, to absorb the image of themselves using female products within the glitzy images the marketers presented.

Rushkoff goes on:

"That's all coercion really is, after all: convincing a person to lie to himself by any means necessary. The stance of ironic detachment, while great for protecting ourselves for straightforward linear stories and associations, nonetheless makes us vulnerable to more sophisticated forms of influence.."

The Economist also notes the real bottom of the barrel scraping is the marketers' decision to recruit children. They do this because they understand that "the little monsters have the remarkable ability to nag their parents (whom they call 'wallet carriers') into buying what they want" Another good reason to choose not to have any kids? Maybe! Why introduce a fifth columnist marketeer into your home to try to drumbeat you into incessant purchases?

We know also that people online are tracked incessantly using cookies, but citizens are also tracked when they do ordinary mortar and walls shopping, say in Malls. Thus, marketers "routinely track shoppers as they make their way around supermarkets and listen in on their conversations at the counter". (Ibid.)

According to author Erik Larson (The Naked Consumer, p. 167):

"It isn't enough for companies to know precisely what we buy, what we watch, and how many advertisements we encounter. They want to know how we consume. How do we comport ourselves in the aisles of our grocery stores?"

Larson himself also notes how consumer monitors in stores regularly refer to consumers as "grazing like cattle"(ibid.). A recent article about brand names in The Wall Street Journal casually ruminated about "branding" consumers from the earliest ages. That is, insinuating deep product preferences into their brains, preferably from age two or earlier.

Are most people aware they are being relentlessly tracked and studied like prey- or better- "grazing cattle"? Hardly. Should we be aware? Probably. Why? Because by having awareness - and displaying it - we become more than the passive, stupid 'consuming cattle' they want us to be. Don't think so? Then consider this remark made to author Larson, by one of these 'tracker handlers' (op. cit., p. 181):

'No one ever notices. Ever. Consumers shop like in a trancelike state like 'idly grazing animals"

Perhaps the grossest atrocity is when marketers and their corporate purveyors disgustingly contaminate street protests designed to be motivationally pure (e.g. beyond the grasp of advertising) and in the interests of advancing the welfare of the society. Such has been the case with the recent Wall St. protests by hundreds of young people. But did the protestors' own branding and predispositions put them at risk of being mocked in the corporo-media and their objectives diminished? The Wall Street Journal headline on p. A6 (Sept. 28) tells it all:

'Down With Wall Street, But Keep the Pizza Coming!"

Thus, the protest purity is itself hostage to the need for food, and what food is more convenient than Pizza? Trouble is, if it comes from a large franchise (say Herman Cain's Godfather Pizza, or Domino's) then the protestors become more known for their dependence on corporate fast food than the nobility of their protests.

Maybe it's past time I teach these guys to harvest their own granola and nibbles before launching out on street protests near the heart of capitalist piracy.

In the end, the job of all of us - street protestors or not- is to police our own minds and do it continuosly and rigorously to ensure we aren't taken hostage by the Gruen Transfer, especially in the field of American politics.