Today’s post is from a blog named The Public Intellectual. A very clever post indeed which hits at a number of targets. Of course the primary target is the ethos of Corporate America, but in fact whatis said here could be expanded to the west writ large. The mainpoint– and it called McDonalisation is just how far our very lives are planned for us at the behest of the corporations. In essence, we are content our lives being packages and delivered to us, rather like aready meal.
A substantial portion of the piece refers to the ‘war on drugs’ and analyses the motives behind it. Much of what is said is worth reading, certainly to the Mcdonaldised citizen who, as the author points out is content to accept that McDonalds is right, but Marijuana is wrong.’ Consider the “War on Drugs,” funded by special interests, but waged mainly by armies of alarmists who put little thought into the passion behind their opinions.’
The author challenges a lot of the assumptions we make and the pressures that are being put on our governments to ecide what os goodfor us, but more importantly he really hits at the complacency which allows us not to care that we are being told what to do, that the citizen almost revels in his apathy.
And this is the point of the post– perhaps of the title of the blog itself. It IS intellectual, but it aimed at making the PUBLIC intellectual.
Most of it is the same logic that any defender of liberty knows ‘Even health experts like Dr. Andrew Weil acknowledge that the “problem“lies not with drugs themselves, but with the “bad relationships“misinformed users develop with them.‘or ‘Equipped with suitable sound bites, and confident we can recite them numbly without being called “dumb,” we pardon ourselves from making any sort of informed contribution to important debates.’
But it is the linking of these points that make this such an excellent post. It is a succinct demonstration of how the corporations dictate our very social attitudes– and the pictures accompanying the post are admirably chosen.
The post has a fine balance between intellectual logic and well-chosen language, and my view is that no one who reads it can fail to miss the points being made and click away a little bit more thoughtful, a little bit more informed and a little bit less trusting of the motives of the corporations and the states who seek to take over his/her decision making faculties.
A truly excellent post titled The McDonalization of Citizenship and its a throroughly deserved winner of The Rising Blogger’s Post of the Day.
Review written by CRUSHED BY INGSOC.
{ 3 comments }
Thank you for this honor. I look forward to hearing what your readers think.
This is a concept that’s in the zeitgeist of the moment. I’ve been seeing this sort of discussion popping up in many places. I have a book I’m about to start reading called the McDonalization of society.
CBI–
I really like your choices. Good job. Oh and M. Fred, great post!!
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