JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Now, for something completely different...

Many years ago I read that photographic evidence would no longer be guaranteed acceptance in legal cases before a court. Controversial characters were shown to have been removed from photographs with those who wished to stand apart from the scandal.

Seeing "Avatar" I thought the female lead deserved an Academy Award for the range of emotion she portrayed. The actress would accept, in character, on the big screen, and be honored accordingly.

I recently saw "Alita: Battle Angel" where the lead character is a big-eyed girl, perfectly credible as a reality. The other characters, 'bad guys' and 'gals', are very elaborate constructions of Computer Graphic Interface.

The phenomenon of how 'real' it all plays is worthy of observation.

There is current controversy over someone perpetrating a hoax depicting the Democrat Speaker of the House of Representatives as slurring her words, as if she is sick or drunk. There is a petition to demand Facebook take the video down. Recent actual video of the President of the United States seeming to have trouble pronouncing 'origins', sounding repeatedly like he's saying 'oranges', was not similarly disputed, so I take it as 'real' while the other video demonstrates the depths to which those who desire to Deceive (capital D) will sink, and the lengths to which they will go when enabled with such tools to fool.

I remember a political candidate for the Vice Presidency whose handlers wheedled their way into a closed soup kitchen in Cleveland, had their boy don an apron and pretend to wash a pan, a photo-opportunity to paint him as the kind of man who cares about, and does something about, people desperate enough for food to use a soup kitchen.

Politics is one area where the Threat (capital T) of Deception can mislead 'consumers' into places and conditions they will not want to be in. Consumer products, substances sold as 'food' or 'candy' portray themselves as desirable and, since government has deregulated or approved them, succeed in the Deception quite profitably.
Twizzlers advertises, "You can't be serious with Twizzlers!"
But Red Dye Lake 40, a known carcinogen, was removed from The American 'food' supply by Leadership Decision-Makers in government regulatory authority, representing the best interests of The American People, Citizens, consumers. Cancer is very 'serious'.
Then, apparently, money bought 'deregulation' by Leadership Decision-Makers in government regulatory authority, and the little red M'nM was back in the bag. And prances about in comedy skit commercial ads cavorting with Santa Claus as a cute little cartoon character, like Joe Camel.
Years ago I came to the convenience racks at the K-Mart checkout to see small, nearly square packages covering the rack facing the main aisle and the side on my left as I entered the checkout line. No words were visible on the package. There was a large-nosed cartoon animal, wearing sunglasses, surrounded by primary colors, rich red, deep blue, bright yellow. I had to pick the package up, have it in my hand, to turn it over to see the Camel brand cigarette label. If a child were so induced to see what the package was, they would suddenly realize they had the forbidden fruit in their hands. How would it influence their future consumption decision about carcinogenic, addictive nicotine delivery devices?
A small grocer had cigarettes against the front wall of his store, behind the customers where they came to check out. He perceived that children, stopping by en route to and from school, were stealing the cigarettes. He told the delivery man he was thinking of moving them behind the counter. The tobacco man vigorously objecting, saying, "No! No! We want to hook them young!"
Tobacco has a government license to kill 435,000 American Citizens, consumers, people, a year. It always bags its limit, and often exceeds it.
In a book, "Subliminal Seduction", published years ago, the authors tell of the theater that flashed single frames of "Eat Popcorn" and "Drink Coca-Cola" during movies. They found consumption/sales increased 57%. They visited the theater and asked about it.
"Yes," the man said, "That's the facts. But we don't use that machine any more. Now, we can project messages 100% of the time you're watching."
The question is, if you could do it, would you? Of course. You might not. But those whose Deceptive practices, whose desire or demand to Deceive you to empower themselves, to put their candidate in office, to get your money even if their product kills you, would, do, and will.
In 2019, empowered with devices that get past your 'guardian' mind to your subliminal sub-conscious, have become more sophisticated, and more available to the Deceivers, and less apparent to Citizens, consumers, The People. It is what I've come to call Predatory Capitalism, a perverse turn to use regular Capitalism as a mode to get your money, by people willing to kill you to get it.