Economist's Journey to Life: manipulation

Showing posts with label manipulation. Show all posts

Tuesday, 15 January 2013

Day 174: Loyalty to Life in Equal Money Capitalism

Within the current capitalistic system, customers are rewarded for their loyalty. Everyone knows the mechanism of loyalty points - where, one can receive a card at a particular shop, and with every purchase of a particular amount, loyalty points are 'won', which accumulate on one's shop card. These points can then later be used to, for instance, make purchases within a particular range of products.

What is the problem with loyalty points distributed in this way?

The problem with such systems is that this type of loyalty is loyalty that is bought and it is a form of loyalty that does not follow from or uphold any kind of honorable principle. It is in fact a misuse of the word 'loyalty' - because customers are not really loyal to the shop, or the brand, or the products, but they are loyal to their own self-interest in trying to get the 'best deals'. From the shop's perspective, the 'loyalty' does not stand as a reflection of the quality of their services and products, but is a manipulation technique in order to get customers to 'keep coming back for more', as a means of increasing their profit in the name of their self-interest.

What is the solution to this problem?

Within Equal Money Capitalism, such 'loyalty points' systems will no longer exist. Therefore, instead of manipulating individuals through the misuse of the word 'loyalty', the real meaning of loyalty will step forth - where loyalty means: loyalty to life. For instance, individuals who are consistent, disciplined, dedicated and engaged within acting in a way that supports life - are individuals who show their loyalty to life through their actions. This can be in several ways - for instance, in their application in the workplace or in how they treat their fellow members in their community.

What will the reward be of this solution?

Through removing the manipulation and abuse of the word 'loyalty', we allow true loyalty to develop and be recognized. Within this, one will find that when one's loyalty to life is being recognized by others, it will in turn encourage them to follow in one's footsteps and start developing their own loyalty to life and living this loyalty through their actions and behaviors as well. And thus, one will find there is a real reward within being loyal to life, as one will become someone who leads by example and one will be able to see how others will change thanks to you leading the way. And of course, as more individuals start developing loyalty to Life in acting in a way that supports Life - Life will be supported more and more effectively, which constitutes a reward for everyone - as everyone is Life.

Monday, 19 November 2012

Day 138: USA - Land of Liberty and Democracy?

Although the USA is often seen as the land of liberty and democracy, its federal election procedure is completely incompetent:

"The United States is an exceptional nation, but it is not always exceptional for good. The American voting system too is an exception: It is the most error-prone, the most susceptible to fraud, the most vulnerable to unfairness and one of the least technologically sophisticated on earth."

An ideal democratic election procedure looks as follows:
- You know the results as soon as the polls close
- Votes are counted electronically
- Every district and state has the same rules and the same organised procedure for voting
- The voting procedure is managed by an independent electoral agency

How does the USA perform on these parameters?

State and local laws cause big distinctions in terms of how elections are held in each region, making national standards impossible. In some states you don't even have to present your ID when you vote. Other nations use completely outdated technology and equipment. An example here were the 200 elections in St. Louis, Missouri. Because no investment was done to improve outdated equipment, creating long delays on voting day. At poll-closing time, people were still cuing to cast their vote all over the city. Because many inhabitants of St. Louis are democratic, Al Gore asked a judge to extend voting time with three hours in St. Louis. The judge granted this request. The Republicans however, appealed and the decision was revoked.

Yes - that's right -there is no independent election body that supervises the elections and politicians are able to interfere by asking possibly partisan local judges to make exceptions on their behalf. But parties' interference does not stop there. Politicians often schedule voting in a way that is in their advantage and in the disadvantage of the opponent. Voting places are moved around for the same reason. Elections themselves are just an extension of parties' campaigns.

So - the US scores badly on all four of the above-mentioned parameters. Now add to this that voting day always falls on a Tuesday, a working day, making it hard for many to actually cast their vote - and: international election observers present to make sure that the elections are conducted in a democratic way - were banned from nine nations - of which some threatened with arrest.

Democracy means that the country is run by the people and for the people. Considering the ridiculousness of the facts that people only get to cast their vote once every four years, that election campaigns are all about who's got the most money to run the best campaign and who has the best poker-face in making promises they never intend to keep and then the scandalously inadequate voting procedures - just how are the American population governing themselves?

Sources:
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/14/americas-election-process-an-international-embarrassment/?iref=allsearch
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/05/opinion/frum-election-chaos/index.html

Sunday, 8 July 2012

Day 37: Can’t Hide from Economics - Part 1

When I was younger, I did not want to know anything about economics. I had the belief that it was hard, complex and that I was just not in a position to understand it. I stayed away from the subject, ignored it and focused on “my life”.

Yet, it is the current economic system within this world which ‘defines’ my life and which provides the framework and rules within which I live out my life, and to an absolute extent decides what I can and cannot do with my life. Thus, to ignore and shy away from economics, is really a stupid decision, as economics within this world is what gives and defines the shape, form and direction of your life. Even if you decide to ignore economics and how it operates, you are still controlled by it – and within not wanting to look at economics you are merely placing yourself in a position of disempowerment, as you are deliberately denying yourself the tools with which you can change your life, your world. If you do not know and understand economics, you are excluded from the economic debate. You won’t know what anyone is talking about and thus you are unable to give your input, and thus excluded from the conversation by you own doing, within not wanting to educate yourself about economics.

I was very aware that I had a resistance towards money and economics throughout my life, as something that was apparently too much ‘out there’, and thinking that “But I’m not able to understand this, it’s too complex! Let me just not even bother trying” – so when the Equal Money point opened up and we’d start to have conversations and meetings about the point – I felt left out. I had absolutely no idea of how any of it worked and thus I saw myself as unable of being part of the solution as the Equal Money System. And so I realised: this is where I have to go, this is what I have to take on – this is how I can prove to myself that I can indeed change and expand myself, as this was one of THE points that I could never see myself being able to grasp and work with: “Me? Talk about Money and Economics? Noo… that’s not me! I don’t do / know that stuff! There’s other people out there who are designed to do this type of thing and who like it – let them be concerned with it, I’ll just go and continue with ‘my life’ ”

What’s interesting to be observed from this thinking pattern I just laid out, is that obviously those people who are inclined towards economics are then the ones who end up with all the knowledge and power in terms of how this world works and then they can thus manipulate the world so that they can be at the receiving end within the money game, while everyone else is at a loss because they decided that they “don’t like economics” and within that gave their power away to those that do know economics to rule the world on their behalf and with their permission – within that moment of “not wanting to know how the world works” which is really just another way of saying “I don’t care, leave me alone to do what I want” and thus we all within this gave our “okay” to those in power to do as they please and thus create the mess that has been created – and within that acceptance and allowance: we are equal creators of this mess, and within the realisation that we are all creators either actively by being those with the power and knowledge, or passively through simply not caring – we see and realise our point of responsibility and move our asses in gear so we can no longer accept this ‘laissez-faire’ attitude. Which is fascinating, because the free-market system is often referred to as ‘laissez-faire’ (= “let it do its thing”), which is exactly the attitude so many of us have towards economics, where we just ‘let it do its thing’ without bothering to find out what it’s about, without ever seeing and realising the real impact economics has on our lives and the lives of others and thus within that very acceptance of ‘let it do its thing’ created an economic system which ‘does its thing’ and doesn’t care about anything or anyone – just as we didn’t care about economics, which is really about the distribution of Life. I mean, wouldn’t you like to have a say in how Life is distributed within this world? It’s your Life too!

So, there you go, it’s quite a fuck up – but now we can see and realise the part we have to play and see and realise that we have to educate ourselves on this matter so we can have a say about HOW LIFE IS DISTRIBUTED WITHIN THIS WORLD – and stop this stupid game of some having more than others because we couldn’t get over our egos as our likes and dislikes. I guess that’s why it sounds like 'egonomics’.

And here I am today, studying, reading and writing economics – while this was something I had deemed impossible for myself and something I did not want to do -- yet this has been one of the greatest journeys I took for myself, as I have empowered myself to see beyond “my life” (which I actually didn’t really see anyway, as I did not see and realise that “my life” was subject to economics) and now see how the Life of Earth as Earth and the interaction of all its inhabitants plays out, with money as the driving force, the blood pumping through the veins which decides all outcomes about Life on Earth.

So I invite you to join me in the Journey of Learning about Economics – so you can empower yourself to have a say in the distribution of Life -- as from now on within this Blog we’ll be walking the Economic System from beginning to end, explaining how it operates, applying Self Forgiveness and Scripting the Correction as the Equal Money System – so we can remind ourselves to never ever make this same stupid mistake again, and be responsible human beings, responsible creators – and thus once and for all establish a World which is in Fact Best for All, so we can actually live for the first time.

Enjoy!