Slow, deliberate destruction
I just saw on the CNN, as they call it around here, that some casino recently made an advertising deal with some lady that either volunteered or won a chance to do such. I don't know if you'd call it win as she agreed to tattoo the name of the casino on the back of her shaved head. Her prize: $18,000, for to go to college she says. I planned to specify the casino, but after a short internet research stint, it appears that this new method of advertising is not all uncommon. For example, check out this CBS article. I don't think I'm the only one who finds this disturbing. I guess for those of you who have already taken part in this, you're probably laughing at me with several thousands of dollars in hand... with a sign on your forehead. Did somebody just whisper, "...souls for sale." Talk about the end-times. Shit. Secondly, what does it mean to have all the consumers of products supported by the products parent corporation? Each and every one of us can finally be responsible for our favorite corporations rise to the top! This blog is becoming more and more of a Marxist ant-corporate platform that anything else, but I've recently viewed "The Corporation" and "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room." Both of which give us a real lesson in terrorism. I could go on, but you can watch for yourself.
So, in reference to the lady with the casino tattoo that produced the capital to go to school, we have to ask: is this the new way of getting an education, to replace the armed forces? The armed forces by the way, although using at times questionable techniques, is far more honorable in most ways. In any case, to show you that I'm not just another rambling whiner, here's the newest piece of activism I hope to get more involved in, it's called the Democratizing Education Network. This is the description written up by yours truly for mass email. We have a big conference here in Madison in October and many schools and organizations are already on board. Show some support if you have the guts suckers.
DEN Background
Both state and federal governments have made it clear in recent years that goal of higher education is no longer to provide an affordable means for the public to pursue their academic interests and further their growth as human beings and citizens. Rather, they are adopting a market-driven business model that is making the education system increasingly more difficult for the ever-growing lower classes to access and is forcing its supporting employees onto the streets or to accept less in terms of wages and benefits.
The implications are far-reaching and ultimately destructive to our society as a whole. No longer will the “pursuit of truth” be the motto of public education, instead it will become the motto of corporate America: to increase its potential as a profitable entity at all costs. This trend is already noticeably evident as universities nationwide contract work out to private entities, push more of the economic burden onto students, and receive the majority of grants and research dollars only for those pursuits that promise an economic return.
Education, being one of the core elements of a free democratic society, will soon cease to exist as we have known it. In turn, our society and culture will be permanently and negatively altered. A largely uneducated poverty-level class will provide little more than service to the upper echelons of society, and by manipulation, restricted greatly as to how much power they hold to force change. For these reasons, undergraduate students, graduate students, academic staff, faculty, and community members at two dozen campuses have formed the Democratizing Education Network. The central purpose of this network is to promote the practice of higher education unionism - organizing each campus wall-to-wall, and uniting diverse constituencies in a common campaign to democratize higher education. These tasks are both monumental and challenging, but they can be accomplished with the courage, persistence and solidarity of the people.
So, in reference to the lady with the casino tattoo that produced the capital to go to school, we have to ask: is this the new way of getting an education, to replace the armed forces? The armed forces by the way, although using at times questionable techniques, is far more honorable in most ways. In any case, to show you that I'm not just another rambling whiner, here's the newest piece of activism I hope to get more involved in, it's called the Democratizing Education Network. This is the description written up by yours truly for mass email. We have a big conference here in Madison in October and many schools and organizations are already on board. Show some support if you have the guts suckers.
DEN Background
Both state and federal governments have made it clear in recent years that goal of higher education is no longer to provide an affordable means for the public to pursue their academic interests and further their growth as human beings and citizens. Rather, they are adopting a market-driven business model that is making the education system increasingly more difficult for the ever-growing lower classes to access and is forcing its supporting employees onto the streets or to accept less in terms of wages and benefits.
The implications are far-reaching and ultimately destructive to our society as a whole. No longer will the “pursuit of truth” be the motto of public education, instead it will become the motto of corporate America: to increase its potential as a profitable entity at all costs. This trend is already noticeably evident as universities nationwide contract work out to private entities, push more of the economic burden onto students, and receive the majority of grants and research dollars only for those pursuits that promise an economic return.
Education, being one of the core elements of a free democratic society, will soon cease to exist as we have known it. In turn, our society and culture will be permanently and negatively altered. A largely uneducated poverty-level class will provide little more than service to the upper echelons of society, and by manipulation, restricted greatly as to how much power they hold to force change. For these reasons, undergraduate students, graduate students, academic staff, faculty, and community members at two dozen campuses have formed the Democratizing Education Network. The central purpose of this network is to promote the practice of higher education unionism - organizing each campus wall-to-wall, and uniting diverse constituencies in a common campaign to democratize higher education. These tasks are both monumental and challenging, but they can be accomplished with the courage, persistence and solidarity of the people.
posted by fiestawizard at 8:47 PM
3 Comments:
Yeah; as the Loved One and I found out last year, when we researching how to fund the Big Day (apart from, y'know, the easy way), we found out that many young couples are now selling ad space at the wedding. This is cool, especially for people who've "saved" themselves for marriage: "Lloyd's Cherries -- Each One is a Once in a Lifetime Experience!" In the end, we opted to take on only one corporate sponsor: Ms. Flannigans Salted Toastcaps. Watch for the banner (hint: it's hung from the place that Jesus died!)
DEN: I was wondering about this, when I was permissively raping your inbox. I'm sorry, but I still don't get it, because I'm an idiot who only really "gets" cats and certain limited aspects of biology. Nevertheless, it SOUNDS admirable enough. I'm just not clear on how unionizing the entire campus will contribute to more people getting better, less corporate, edumacations. Oh, hold on. I'm about to climax from the super blow job I'm getting from this CONCERTA(tm) rep.
Ahhh.
Much better.
Everything's better with stimulants!
Sorry. I don't mean to be silly. Overall, of course, I agree with you wholeheartedly on all counts, and then some! Keep up the fight, and don't let em get you down.
Geek Blogging is in Decline
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The anonymous posts have inflicted damage upon us again. Treadmills and the like, geeks. Anyway, the idea behind organizing everyone at a university is the same as the idea of organizing all workers nationwide and worldwide: to obtain power through mass action. For example, one of the main objectives is to bring down tuition. General strikes and sit-ins would accomplish this... IF everyone followed the rules of such action, i.e. no picket line crossing, etc. The power comes from the solidarity. Everyone, including the faculty, stops working. Of course, that's just one example of one specific action in an ideal setting. In general, I think different campuses are seeing this as an opportunity to gain support from other universities. Not everyone has to be organized at each campus, but each campus will support one another in action. In any case, what I wrote previously, was what I think the purpose is. I haven't been involved that long, but have known about it. It is gaining momentum. I'm interested to see what happens.
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