I don’t know how or when it happened, but we base many of our cultural definitions on what the TV tells us is true and correct. We see freedom as a function of owning the correct truck, we see beauty as a product of youth, and we see wealth as a function of owning the right car. Commercialism and advertising have become the definition for how we see each other and ourselves.
How advertising draws these connections is insidious. As we watch the pretty, young, blonde woman get into the fast car with a handsome and dark stranger, we become convinced that having that fast car will gain us the pretty blonde woman. The truth of the matter is that none of this is true. The connections between youth and happiness, between a fast car and sex are all fairy tales. I’m not sure I understand how our culture has allowed these false beliefs to run amuck within our society.
During the 80s nothing was more important than personal wealth, we watched shows like “Dallas” and knowing that the wealthy were evil didn’t stop us from admiring and emulating them. This national belief in wealth brought us to where we are today. We have an extremely wealthy 1% and each and everyone else struggles. More than 50% of our population here in America lives in poverty. Currently, many people believe that if someone is poor, it is their own fault. This belief system was perpetuated by the 80s mindset which said that anything you do to get wealthy is okay, as long as you get wealthy. We had a culture of the ends justify the means. What happened along the way, is that powerful and wealthy groups began to legislate their wealth.
Walmart is the perfect example of this legislation. A minimum wage, which is not enough to pay rent, in any state of this nation, has been in place for 30 years. The profit from Walmart is funneled into a few individuals’ pockets, while poverty stricken and therefore powerless people , who work for Walmart, struggle to eat. Walmart workers are forced to use Medicaid and get food stamps, because Walmart has found a way to keep their hours under 40, therein bypassing the requirement to provide health insurance and other benefits to workers.
Because our culture says you can do anything, it is your fault that you are not wealthy. This credo has become the middle and upper class mantra because it justifies withholding benefit and money from the poverty stricken. “We are justified in hanging onto our millions, because look, the lower class is lazy.” These are the kinds of false beliefs that come out of our entertainment and advertising businesses here in America.
This is a justification that has been perpetrated on all of America and you know what? We know better, we know that our system is riddled with inequality, inconsistency and economic deprivation of others for personal gain. We also know that it is not just criminals who are stealing from the American people, it is also big corporations, banks and Wall Street. Indeed, any one institution that can steal, has been caught stealing.
Early in the morning, while I am getting ready for work, I can hear the commercials playing in the background. McDonald’s has a way of luring people into believing that drinking their coffee is about love and about having a great day. The last time I was at McDonald’s there was nothing lovely or great about it and I certainly didn’t want to whistle, nor did I turn into bright colors. However, in spite of our very real experience, this association is believed by millions of my workmates, who cannot see themselves starting the day without McDonald’s or Starbucks.
How did this happen? At what point did we decide to give over our intellect in favor of entertainment?

The room was somber, exceptionally dull. Anyone who was sparkling and bright had long since abandoned this management team for a safer harbor. Some can work in an arbitrary universe, but compensation for such insecurity had to be steep. Steep compensation was not available here. Others had stayed, but only to manage a very short tenure to retirement.
And so they sat, mature managers and the barely experienced, waiting for the CEO’s condemnation of their work. She was not satisfied with anything that they accomplished. Accomplishments were few and far between, as the managers contemplated how to survive in this hostile universe.
The old managers wondered what had happened? They were part of the socially conscious revolution with a mission to help others. They had been incredibly successful in their work and had progressed far as the professionals in their world. Then something happened … No one could quite put their finger on when it “happened”. Gradually, concern for human discourse had lessened. Somehow the managers who blamed their staff for all that was wrong, won over the conversation and a general malaise towards the line staff began to take over all conversations. Nothing was the manager’s fault, staff just made mistakes…
There came an overwhelming belief that people are incompetent and the clients are a nightmare. Slowly this became the mantra of all remaining managers. Unfortunately those managers who are good honest and bright, couldn’t bear the relinquishment of responsibility for staff and programs and humans. The managers, who felt responsibility and accountability, questioned those who would not accept responsibility and very soon they found themselves hated and reviled as rebels and rabble rousers. Those who are good honest and bright, left this blighted organization. They left behind those who believed that they were victims of an incompetent universe and those who scrambled merely to survive. And they left behind all who called themselves “senior managers”. After a good thing has failed, what do you do?
The CEO sat at the front of the table. She could see the anxiety of the nearly done, those ready for retirement and she could see the resolve of the barely experienced. She didn’t care, as long as they kept on, she didn’t care how they made it. Like a frat boy with a drunken teenage girl, she knew how to manage her board of directors. Just because they knew nothing about the industry, they believed everything she said. They had allowed her and her compatriots to endlessly rape and pillage the company. They pocketed every spare dime that the company made and endlessly explained to staff that the company just could not afford a cost of living raise. If they gave staff a raise, the million dollar bonuses might deflate. So they kept on, lots of staff lived on or below poverty wages while the CEO and her friends pocketed million dollar bonuses. The board of directors took no interest in the details of finances, a million dollars for salary, yes, but they never asked who received the salary?
So once a month, the CEO and her managers sat in this very room while she lectured and condemned them for their efforts. She was completely correct in her thoughts because she is the one who held the checkbook and the board of directors simply nodded their heads at her power.
How sad, a microcosm of everything that is wrong with America played out in this very room. And yet, the reality is “third world” in its surreal depiction of the universe: A sad and angry despot with compatriots who must spend their lives convincing others that they deserve all of life’s riches while the “common” human deserves poverty. No one shall disagree, as if they do, they lose livelihood, and they will lose their job.
So the room, the poisoned room, is heavy and oppressive, while the managers wait, “let me get thru this day” they pray.