November 2009
AMY GOODMAN: Naomi Klein, I wanted to talk specifically about the kind of branding that you begin your introduction with in No Logo at Ten, how branding has changed. Give us some specifics.
NAOMI KLEIN: Well, I mean, it's-it always-branding is expert at absorbing its opposition. So, I gave a couple of examples of companies that had gone "no logo," an example of Absolut vodka taking their label, their logo, off the bottle. And Starbucks opened, interestingly in Seattle, a store without their brand on it at all. They're trying to make their brand disappear. So, you have this evolution in corporate branding.
But, what I decided to focus on is not how corporate-the latest gimmicks and techniques of corporate branding, but, rather, how politicians were-and, indeed, how government has absorbed the techniques honed by the corporations in the '90s in creating and selling their super brands. And now they're being used by political parties, by politicians really, to sell themselves.
And I'm afraid, I think, that that's where Obama fits in, that he really is a super brand on line with many of the companies that I discuss in No Logo. And he has many of the same problems as the companies that I discuss in No Logo, like Nike and Apple and all of these-Starbucks-all of these, sort of 1990s, sort of, lifestyle brands that co-opted many of the, you know-the iconography of the transformative political movements like the civil rights movement, the women's movement. And that was really the hallmark of 1990s branding.
One of the things in this-you know, a large part what I write about in No Logo is the absorption of these political movements into the world of marketing. And, you know, the first time I saw the "Yes, We Can" video that was produced by Will.i.am, my first thought was, you know, "Wow. A politician has finally produced an ad as good as Nike that plays on our, sort of, faded memories of a more idealistic era, but, yet, doesn't quite say anything." We think we hear the message we want to hear, but if you really parse it, the promises aren't there, it's really the emotions.
And, you know, I think that that explains in some sense the paralysis in progressive movements in the United States where we think, Obama stands for something because we-our emotions were activated on these issues, but we don't really have much to hold him to because, in fact, if you look at what he said during the campaign, like any good super brand, like any good marketer, he made sure not to promise too much, so that he couldn't be held to it.
Afghanistan is a very strong example, Amy. I mean, it's hard to build the case that Obama is breaking a campaign promise when, in fact, this-he is doing what he said he would do during the campaign, even if he made us think that he was a pro-peace candidate, even if he used the iconography, the imagery of the peace movement, even if he, you know-it's the same thing with labor. "Sí se puede. Yes we can." This is the imagery of, this is the slogan of the farm workers. Even, you know, Obama's-you know, the famous poster, you know, this is like the poster of Ché, but this isn't a real social movement because it never made those transformative demands.
And that's what social movements have to do. We have to get back to basics, Amy. And we'll see it in Copenhagen.
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– American Youth in the 21st Century: Pathologized, Criminalized and Disposable | Rights and Liberties | AlterNet (via britreed) (via ihatethismess) (via letstalkequality)
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Here’s an extreme case of the mind/body dichotomy. Go practice Zen & stop chopping yourself in two. Who do you think you are?
The MOG All Access Guided Tour
mogdotcom:
Check out the videos below and then jump up high and click your heels. You can now give yourself a big hug. Downloadable versions here:
4:47 Version [161 MB, .mov/Quicktime] (right-click to download)
3:40 Version [121 MB, .mov/Quicktime](right-click to download)
Find embeddable versions on YouTube here (click through to get embed code):
4:47 Version
3:40 Version
MOG has...
Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan →
ledgergermane:
(via thedaytheytriedtokillme)
At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, “snatch and grabs” of high-value targets and other...
The ultimate crop rotation →
In recent months, the Ethiopian government began marketing abroad one of the hottest commodities in an increasingly crowded and hungry world: farmland.
“Over the past eight years the U.S. has helped turn my country into the drug...”
– Malalai Joya (via azspot)
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– Bill Moyers (via syntheticpubes)
WatchPaul Krugman - A clip from his The Return of Depression Economics
The Salvia Ban Wagon →
yourwonderingmind:
How does terrible drug policy get made? The mad rush to criminalize a psychedelic herb provides a textbook case.
“…the most worrying problem is the misconception that uranium is plentiful. The...”
– Paul Raven on ‘peak uranium’ (via chrbutler)
Oceans Are Full Of Carbon Already
ambivalence:
[via Seas Grow Less Effective at Absorbing Emissions - NYTimes.com]
The Earth’s oceans, which have absorbed carbon dioxide from fuel emissions since the dawn of the industrial era, have recently grown less efficient at sopping it up, new research suggests.
Emissions from the burning of fossil fuels began soaring in the 1950s, and oceans largely kept up, scientists say. But the...
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– Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne, who goes on to suggest Agricultural investment in sub-Saharan Africa as that ‘something big.’ (via chrbutler)
“Cannabis is not a health problem, the problem is that it promotes social values...”
– Terence McKenna
Raises Coffee Mug - Goooood Morning (via poortaste)
“People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a...”
– Banksy (via pantherhooves)(via missundead) (via redguard) (via brandileeeeee) (via thedeathoftruespirit) (via elengberg) (via bradicalmang) (via letstalkequality)
"Are You An Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise... →
jhnbrssndn:
anthropophagous:
At their very simplest, anarchist beliefs turn on to two elementary assumptions. The first is that human beings are, under ordinary circumstances, about as reasonable and decent as they are allowed to be, and can organize themselves and their communities without needing to be told how. The second is that power corrupts. Most of all, anarchism is just a matter of...
Afghanistan civilian casualties: what are the real... →
jhnbrssndn:
Spiralling military deaths in Afghanistan have obscured catastrophic civilian casualties. How many people have died? • British dead and wounded in Afghanistan, month by month • Get the Afghan civilian casualties data
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ledgergermane:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The number of Americans that have trouble putting food on the table shot up last year in an unprecedented spike to a record 17 million households, the government reported on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture report, which has been released annually since 1995, said the number of Americans that were hungry rose to 14.6%. In 2007, 13 million households...
