Creative Marketing

Imagine a dystopian future where the lives of your fellow human beings are distilled to entries in a soulless profit and loss sheet. The hopes, dreams and aspirations of mankind are completely superseded by the totalitarian goals of the state and the unbridled avarice of multinational corporations. Mind control and mass media become a single unified facet of this parasitoid philosophy. The conventional values taught in education are marginalised by the moral terpitude enshrined by public school syndrome. The concept of the family unit is degraded to such a point that it resembles a low rent poker game. Populations are unashamedly predated upon by corporate interest groups using insidious clandestine methods. Algorithm results replace ethical decisions and impartial judgement calls. Ponzi and pyramid schemes become the default human resource management mechanism. The worst traits of corrupt political systems are combined to create the ultimate oppression engine.

Sounds like something written by Philip K. Dick, Larry Niven or Ray Bradbury right?

Wrong. It's not the future, it's the status quo and furthermore it's actually been going on for a very, very long time.

The fringes of the exopolitical community have occasionally delved into the subject of the population as a corporate resource. For the most part, consumers of this outfield content remain cynical of such brazen tinfoil hattery. The idea that a person becomes a resource of the state corporation as soon as their name is registered, sounds too ridiculous to be considered. Nonetheless all those social media scaremongers are totally on the money. The citizen really is no more than a money making opportunity to be exploited by the unaccountable vassals of the state and it's corporate partners. Said vassals are just as much victims of the ethically bankrupt philosophy as the newly registered. The only difference being the level of exposure to the doctrine of corruption. Totalitarian regimes have always used a similar methodology, from enforced mask wearing in antiquity to the recruitment of child soldiers by Boko Haram. Eventually slaves who were forced to wear masks became advocates of the practise. Likewise children raised to kill indiscriminately progress to 'recruiting' the next generation of victims.

Those who reject such grotesque debasement of the human condition are considered to be 'working against the common interest'. Once again we see that traditional values such as honesty, transparency, empathy and compassion are simply inconveniences when weighed against the acquisition of wealth, power and influence. Savage capitalism has permeated society to the point where it has completely eclipsed any innate principles of benevolence. Furthermore this despicable fall from grace has been commented on by numerous leaders in clear and concise terminology. The farewell address of former president of the USA Dwight D Eisenhower is now considered a de facto portent in this regard:

[while] we recognize the imperative need for this development...We must not fail to comprehend its grave implications we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence…The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

Watching the archive footage from the televised reading by Eisenhower, the viewer can almost see the last glimpses of altruistic leadership being extinguished. Unfortunately Eisenhower's epiphany didn't wake the world population from their lethargic torpor. Instead what we see in terms of morality in society today undoubtedly represents a systemic and catastrophic failure. The model citizen of the democratic civilisation is now considered to be inline with the subjects of dictatorships such as Morocco or North Korea. Oppressed populations and dual economies were once considered synonymous with fascism and the feudal state. Now it's considered by the state and private corporations as business as usual. 

As has been trumpeted by activists and whistle blowers for decades

absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely

So what happens when those with power have over monetised the principle of unaccountability? Simply put, the unaccountable lackey becomes the vanguard of profit. Given the nature of savage capitalism, quick wins and low hanging fruit become the mainstay of the profession. Building is replaced by hacking, transparent persuasion degrades into covert coercion, inalienable rights are dismissed out of hand and the law becomes little more than a blunt tool to leverage yet more profit from an egregiously over monetised society.

On the face of things it would appear that good old fashioned greed is the predominant motivating factor. However this obvious deduction tends to obscure a more revealing motivator. Hierarchical totalitarianism relies on the regular deployment of threat. Savage capitalism influences in society rely heavily on the currency of fear. The vanguards of profitability have all been subjected to (or have voluntarily subjected themselves to) overbearing leverage in order to limit their options and control their decision making processes. This is euphemistically labelled as 'trust' by their controllers but is more appropriately described as controller indemnity or insurance. Those who made an informed choice to pursue a life of servitude and overt worship of Mammon, are required to make substantial efforts in regards to self delusion. Among others, Mark Twain rehashed the words of Spanish Jesuit and baroque philosopher Baltasar Gracián -

It's easier to lie to someone than convince them that they have been lied to.

Today we see that in fact it has become easier to lie to oneself than it is to face the harsh realities of the societal environment. That is, until the gruesome nature of societal control mechanisms are blatantly thrust into view. The family of the pregnant teenager referenced in the Target Analytics scandal would appear to be fairly standard examples of the population. Turn the clock back to a time prior to big data massively impacting their lives and their opinions on commercialised surveillance would have been unlikely to constitute anything particularly subversive. Since then they have experienced some substantial trauma to the family unit and would undoubtedly have quite a disparaging viewpoint.

The average consumer still believes that the privacy invading terms and conditions (which have come to define the majority of digital license agreements) do not represent a threat to the sovereignty of their intellectual and physical existence. Nothing could actually be further from the sickening reality of current times. Meanwhile the hastily rolled out digital platforms for the often espoused 'build back better' trope are blatantly not fit for purpose. Layers of commercial unaccountability and malfeasance prohibit reliable video conferencing and voice over IP. Regardless, municipal bodies still push their 'customers' to rely on smartphone communication and internet support. RFID dependant systems are still subject to 'teething issues' despite having been in place for nearly two decades. Hospital digital systems are subjected to ransomware attacks as a direct result of legacy financial malfeasance and insufficient consideration to best practise management.

Behind it all there lies an inelegant truth that can be summed up in a 1770 Edmund Burke quote:

When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.