WyzWmn's World©

you know those commercials you see
for gamblers anonymous?

think of how we all feel
such a tug at our heart strings
when we hear stories
about people
who are addicted to
“the thrill” of the win
so much so
that they
leave their kids
in the car
for hours on end?
or they spend
their whole pay check
on gambling

now think of how business in general
manipulates us

now think of business
as it relates to
having made a practice
of planned obsolescence.

lets start with the example
of cable tv

say you can only afford
basic cable
and you subscribe to same
you are subject to the whims
of the corporation
over time
they change the channels
and what used to be
a fun evening at home
is now populated
by re-runs of shows
you watched 10 yrs ago
movies on the local channels
that are more than 20 years old
cos the cable co
has moved the good stuff
the new and hip stuff
to HD or Digital

that’s fair from the standpoint
of the corporation…
because they can entice you
to greater expenditure
should you want to watch
any kind of tv
that requires
more than one
active brain cell.

so when you leave home
as a young adult
you start out with a small tv
in your first apartment
all to soon
it’s not big enough
so you upgrade to a larger one
then you upgrade to an even larger one
then a flat screen
then digital
after all
you have to have digital tv
if you want to properly see
the digital cable channels you now
pay for monthly
and you end up having to move home
cos you can’t cover your debts

but…what happens to the old ones?

now think of movies
first it was theater only
then beta
then VHS
then dvd
then blue-ray

what happens to the old ones?

now think of
AM/FM radio
then the turntable
soon your vinyl albums
are passe
so you upgrade to cassette
then to DVD
then to MP3

now think of pictures
first it was 110
then Polaroid
then 35mm
then digital
then 2MP’s
3MP’s, 5MP’s, 10, 12, 18MPs
then zoom, then SLR

what happens to the old ones?

now think communication devices
household phones with a dial
household phones with a keypad
household phones with caller ID
cell phone in a bag
big blocky heavy cell phones
flip phones
slim phones
phones with camera’s
phones you can get online with
smart phones

what happens to the old ones?

and then the almighty computer

starting with the abacus
the astrolabe
the slide rule
teleprinters
keypunch machines
then typewriters
and calculators
moving on to word processors
and pocket calculators
to programmable devices
and on to the current
version of windows or mac

each type of sound or picture or tool
requires a new device

what happens to the old ones?

back to tv
think of the caliber of tv we watch regularly
what happened in society
to allow us
to be dictated to
by business in general?

big business decides that
reality tv
is better than tv that tells stories
big business decides that
informative, useful, intelligent
shows come off the air
in lieu of re-runs and pap

big business comes up with
quick foods that make us fat
tv has reality shows
to embarrass us into losing weight

big business comes up with
concepts for good tv
but you can only watch them
if you pay more money
and subscribe to a dish
or a better cable package

big business
designs all the tools
to watch better tv
to listen to better music
to see better pictures

now think of houses
in the 40’s a family home
consisted of approx 938 sq ft
had no tv
had no garage
had no car
had little or no lawn

now the average home
consists of 3429 sq feet (2004 consensus)
has a tv/phone/stereo/computer
in every room
has several bathrooms
and a couple of acres to mow

there is no original thought
big business has made it all about the benjamins
and they’ve made it a culture
of walking poor
of people that don’t have all of the above
feeling like losers
and less than
cos they can’t compete

so big business is creating a culture
of people
that like the gamblers
I spoke of earlier
are addicted
to their crack of choice…
to “keeping up with the Jone’s”
to not feeling less than
cos they are have not’s…

big business has made a practice
of tugging at our heart strings
to make us involve our wallets
or in most cases
our credit cards
and debt load…

big business is destroying the planet
and the people that live on it
have become sheep

now….don’t get me started
on the subject
of the royal screwing
that the farmer is getting
by big business.

here’s the thing
about the world wide web

I continually run into things
that make me happy
or
make me think…

today it’s a quote
that is relevant to me

“Sometimes you put walls up
not to keep people out,
but to see who cares enough
to break them down. – anonymous”

I think this
used to be a
really relevant
concept to me

but I also think
that it’s way past
it’s time
for me

I think that my days
of hoping that people
cared enough
to break
down the walls
stopped..

stopped when I found
that the people
I’d hoped
would break them down
were
untrustworthy.

so I moved on

it’s been a long
sometimes
painful process
but I think
that moving on
was the best thing for me

part of moving on
was facing reality

part of moving on
was understanding
that my believing
that people were
worthy of my friendship
or my love..

was just that….my belief

somehow
in all the racket
and drama that ensued
I discovered
one or two
cherished people
that seem to have
figured me out

people that don’t
lie to me for my own good
people that understand
I’d rather hear the truth
from them and be a little miffed/hurt
than find out in retrospect
that they lied
thereby being hurt more
and unable to trust

I’ve also found out
that there are people
worthy of confrontation
and people
who are so sure that they are
continually, miraculously
above reproach
that they ain’t worth
(as the VOD says)
the powder to blow em
to hell…
they ain’t worth
the breath it takes
to call them names.

so much so that
on my recent holiday
I noticed
that something
was lacking

I wondered
if it was all the discussions
and histrionics
that used to happen
around the planning
of any holiday
in the past?
the to-ing and fro-ing
of who was doing what?
bringing what?
taking what?
travelling with whom?

turns out
what was missing
was the drama

there is a void
where the drama
perpetrated by others
used to live in my life

it doesn’t really change me
it just makes me
the tiniest bit wiser
and
ever
so
damn
happy!