Showing Out

WAL MART IS UP TO ITS OLD TRICKS. The game plan is always the same; engage in some minor, token act of apparent generosity, publicize it out of all proportion to its actual significance, and use the publicity to remake the company in the image of a noble benefactor of mankind, rather than a system of exploitation of the many and enrichment of the few. This time the scheme involves "on the spot promotions". Some jet setting top executives drop in in some run of the mill wal mart store, and, amid much ado, ceremoniously bestow titular promotions and wage increases on a select, fortunate, loyal few, who in turn are so grateful that they willingly become witnesses to the grand corporate magnanimity. The dirty little secret is that this represents absolutely no change, no departure from daily routine, no improvement in the corporate system; with millions of employees, some of them are destined to move up; why not spotlight the process to make it appear that advancement is the norm? Pyramids can be of many varieties, but all have the same basic shape; they are broad at the bottom and narrow at the top. Early twenty first century corporations are pyramids, and, as they say; do the geometry. Very few seekers, percentage wise, can ever make it to the top, nor even get very close. American society is a pyramid, in every which way, and we will all never be able or allowed to squeeze in upstairs. A society Of the few, By the few, For the few. Most of the millions who work for Wal mart never advance, never get paid enough to live on, and end up leaving in frustration. But those lucky few; what a wonderful world they live in, suddenly, because of the nobility of their superiors! The same scam works in politics. The image enhancing token show of humble helpfulness. Obama in the kitchen during the 2008 reelection campaign, flipping burgers. Bobby Kennedy in Appalachia in the nineteen sixties, asking barefooted kids if they have had lunch yet. The power of television, and targeted marketing! Makes you want to go right out, shop at wal mart, vote for every imcumbant politician, and keep the powers that be the powers that always will be.