The more technologically advanced humankind becomes, the more despairing are our attempts to reconcile good sense.
A tiny proportion of the population are smart enough to invent cool new stuff and the other 99%, who have only recently evolved from jellyfish, get to play with it. We then falsely assume that everyone is getting smarter.
What the vast majority of people eat, play with, listen to and buy, is sub-standard. Human beings are essentially gullible apes and perfect fodder for those looking to exploit that vulnerability.
In general, what the masses want is the well packaged, inferior version of what ever is available. The pscycology of human desire revolves around the seed of expectation planted by those looking to profit from feeding that assumed need. The genuine product, service or performance is typically overlooked by the majority because the energy that goes into its creation is an honest attempt at quality and not just the glitzy packaging. The punter has to be interested, proactive and more than a touch cynical if they are to find anything of worth.
A classic example of this phenomena is TV advertising.
Two of the areas of sales that I have background knowledge of, the Pool & Spa Industry and the Health Food Industry, both advertise regularly on television.
Without fail, those who have a large, credible presence on TV have an inferior product or service. The better the product the more you will need to delve a little deeper to find it. If it’s in your face yelling ‘ buy me ‘ , then chances are it should be avoided. Except of course for the masses who will demand it – they saw it on TV, so it must be good.
Nowadays the Food Industry rivals the Tobacco Industry for its unscrupulous production and promotion of consumables that are mostly tantamount to poison. It’s a crime against humanity that Governments appear powerless to control.
The multi-billion dollar food industry is controlled by cartels who exploit our contrived addiction to sugar and salt. The masses are food junkies barely aware that their health is being compromised by these trusted brand Companies. Watching morbidly obese people pushing their shopping trolleys laden with biscuits, soft drink, chocolates, chips, frozen dinners and packaged food around a supermarket is actually heart breaking. Seeing a long line of cars queuing at a fast food outlet is just madness. We really have lost our way. Food should equal nutrition but we now eat to feed an addiction to poison. The food industry has led us down this dark path and anyone who sparks any kind of protest is howled down as a nutter. If you want to eat the kind of food that nature intended for human apes, then we need to separate ourselves from the masses.
The Music Industry promotes mediocrity. That’s what people want. Pretty people who don’t have much musical talent. An actor can become a pop star. The world’s best composers, singers, guitarists, pianists etc, are not in the Top 40 Charts. It’s only the discerning listener or genre-based fan who is able to uncover real musical talent. The masses are fed formulaic twaddle.
In Asia, if you set up a shop selling colourful, plastic objects that have no apparent use beyond catching your attention, then the shallow masses will ensure that you make a healthy profit.
A tai chi master with a huge on-line presence has tapped into the masses’ interest in healthy pursuits. Essentially it’s about filling that niche demand for self improvement without effort. With just 10 minutes exercise a day you can achieve supreme health with the ‘magic’ of tai chi. Of course it’s rubbish but people are tripping over themselves to sign up. Meanwhile a tai chi instructor promoting the real art and all the effort required to achieve genuine reward is teaching half a dozen committed souls in a back street studio. It’s a metaphor for why we should delve beyond what is popular if we are serious about adding quality to our lives.
In conclusion, we shouldn’t be so gratuitous as to not pay heed to circumstance. Any attempt to avoid popular choice by being disingenuous with regard to seeking quality will result in us becoming different, like everybody else. However, unless you are content with playing the victim; the mindless, gullible fool who feeds voraciously on spin, then be skeptical of everything with a big marketing budget.
The masses accept what it appears to be not what it really is.
Next time you want to complain about the Government, remember, it was the masses who voted them in.
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