Coming at us from all angles??
In the Blogosphere, well on our little corner of it anyway, we focus our attention on the government and attack them for every step they take against us. We shout from the roof tops to anyone that will listen, and quite rightly so. We all know that they are a worthy target of our contempt.
Perhaps we are devoting to much of our attention against the one, very obvious, target. Now, don't misunderstand me, they are a totally deserving of our collective derision and long may we continue. But is it the full picture?
An example of the point I am meandering towards is the growing domination of big corporate business in our lives.
Take Tesco. A hugely successful business, no doubt about that. Largest retailer in the UK and third largest in the world (after Wal-Mart and Carrefour). They know how to run a business and they do it well. Say 'Tesco' and everyone thinks of groceries. But there is more, much more, to them than that.
It was this story that got me thinking. They clearly think they can do as they please. But, that's business I suppose. It's a cut throat world and that's just the way it is, regardless of ethics. Money makes the world go round.
Now, here is the scary part.
How many people have, pretty much, handed over control of their lives to Tesco? Think about it. It's not just tins of beans and laundry powder I'm talking about. They have the ability to influence nearly everything to do with your existence. Pretty soon, they will call the shots, just like they are doing with their unfortunate suppliers.
Nationwide, they currently have 31% of the UK market. In some areas they are totally dominant and entire towns are nearly reliant on the mighty T. Campaigns have sprung up throughout the country to fight against the all conquering monster.
And that's just the shops. A quick look at the scope of their business and it's obvious that they can easily provide you with everything you need to live your life, (but on their terms), from health insurance to internet services.
Add this together with the clubcard they conveniently 'offer' us, which records every detail of what we buy and when. Tesco sell this data to others and I wouldn't be surprised if the government and other agencies buy this data too. It all adds up to 'scary shit' if you ask me.
Every little helps, indeed.
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29 comments:
My co op have started trying to get me to fill in a loyalty card but I don't bother. For a few bob in savings they can follow you through life. Tell your social status, religion, marital status, holidays, new child, divorce, partners menstral cycle, health, political views ( Daily Rangers or Telegraph ) , age, employment status, work shifts, smoker , treehugger, credit status, alcoholic, culinary skills etc....
And then of course tell everyone else for money.
Tesco - and I suppose the others - are really crafty cunts.
We already have a large Tesco in
our town here. They wanted to double the sales area but had planning permission turned down.
During the consultation period and carrying on to the present date - well over a year in all so far - they're constantly out of stock of certain items.
I'm assured it's a deliberate ploy to make the proles object to Tesco who can then turn round and say that they need more sales area.
Cunts.
And cunts again.
'partners menstral cycle'
What if she only drives a car?
'partners menstral cycle'
What if she only drives a car?
They'll know that aswell because she
won't be buying meeny pads.
“My co op have started trying to get me to fill in a loyalty card but I don't bother.”
That's the point right there. The government will lock you up if you refuse to comply. The Co will still sell you beans.
There's only one thing anyone can say, that can justify an immediate slug to the head:
"Why don't you have a clubcard? You're losing money and missing out on offers if you don't. You're a mug."
Fuck off. BOOOOOOMMMMMM.
Fin.
p.s. because I know what their IT systems can do, I always pay cash.
Because even if you don't present a clubcard, they can track your patterns across stores according to your switch/visa card number.
Feel free to leave a basket full of their most expensive perishable goods in a discrete corner, if they annoy you :-)
Rab sorry about this but I am going to focus on the start of your article and not the latter....infact just one line....I may repeat what I am about to say in almost every comment I make on every blog for the foreseeable future.....
"It's a cut throat world and that's just the way it is, regardless of ethics. Money makes the world go round."
I would firstly like to say that as many of you are aware I am a Christian but tonight after watching an old film "Murder in the first" I came away very very angry with God...more angry than a non Christian could ever be (Don't worry there is a reason for my rant here)
How can God let all this shit happen to us? Well my only solace is that I believe this is the work of man and NOT God who for some reason has tied his own hands in human affairs.
So spuriously dragging this back to the the point of ethics in the business world....MOST of our values today here in western civilization are inherited values from Christianity if you want to test that then ask yourself how many of the 10 commandments you agree with. Many could argue that our values are based on our emotional needs but I find that quite academic considering we have had 2009 years of moral intrusion in our collective belief system by Christianity to be able to say anything different.
So take away our moral perspective inherited from Christianity and what have we got.....well we have the pagan/celtic belief systems and religions that were far more brutal....I am aware of the brutal crusades and Spanish inquisition etc.... but they were born out of control and misuse of religion and a twisting of it to serve the objectives of those who would wish to control.
Now then.....we are getting closer to the plot here....
If there is no God and we wipe clean the slate of Christian ideology then we must then accept that some of the most hideous crimes against us are now morally acceptable and is fair game....infact it really does get dog eat dogy....and as for humanity as a moral grounding I believe that no such thing exists.
I have seen what man can do against man and it leaves me with little faith in humanity. The only times we see glimmers of earnest and sincere selflessness it is with some self serving underlying current i.e. I feel better about myself for helping that old lady across the road because somewhere in my brain I have a memory that it was the right thing to do...and that value probably came from an inherited value from Christianity.
So in a world with no morals It would seem that we are all the bottom of the food chain because we are no exercising the only right we have and that is self satisfaction regardless of its impact on others....i.e. I want to be rich so I will do anything I can to be rich and screw anyone over to get there so my existence can be 100% hedonistic with maximum pleasure exhumed before I close my eyes for the last time and the lights go off for ever because is no atonement for all human actions after death just nothing.
OK I have arrived at the point at last so I shall re quote you Rab
"It's a cut throat world and that's just the way it is, regardless of ethics. Money makes the world go round.".......Correct HA HA H AH AHA HA AH AHA HA
Now I need to try and sort my faith out because the alternative is to abandon all inherited Christian values and that means that the 10 commandments don't mean shit so I could theoretically do anything I wanted. So selling heroin and crack and becoming a pimp seems like a good way to get rich quick...maybe mug old people for their savings and the proceeds of which I will OPEN A SUPERMARKET AND FUCK THE LOT OF YOU OVER!!!!.....MWahhha h ah aha ha
I love Glenmorangie!!!! Bottle and comment finished at the same time.
Dude, you're lucky. We're not allowed Tesco's because all the boroughs for yards around are labour controlled and that means Sainsbury's for miles and miles. I have to put up with their stale bread and meat that's going green even whilst it's on their shelves.
what i would give to go to Tesco's. merciless capitalists i prefer any time to food rations.
Yet they still provide you with cheap goods.
All they can do is buy and sell things, which I don't really find sinister at all.
I'll give tecopoly a read, but if there are any woes, I'm quite certain it'll be down to local councils selling the land, and silly people going there despite 'objecting' to it.
Never shopped in a Tesco they are shit they can fuck off they ain't getting a penny of my hard earned fucking giro. Cunts
The Economic Voice
Your argument that unless we believe in Sky fairies then we're all doomed is bollox.
How can you respect a God that will make you burn in hell unless you follow his path ? Atheists have gotten along fine for millions of years and don't need goatherder beliefs to point them in the right direction. Societies who have never heard of these sky Gods have brains which tell them that unless they co operate with each other with respect then their survival is in doubt. Your god will send them to hell even though they've never heard of Jesus. They've not been saved so they will burn. We evolved over millions of years by trial and error. Christianity is a recent arrival and undermines our survival chances. People like Bush, Bliar, Cyclops, Obama etc use it as a justification for dropping thousand pound bombs onto countries that it doesn't like.
We live, we die. Enjoy your short magnificent chance of life but don't spend it worrying about trying to please some sky fairy.
Paranoid man...
Firstly I was pissed and looking back at the comment it is a true masterpiece.
Secondly
"Your argument that unless we believe in Sky fairies then we're all doomed is bollox.".....prove its bollox.
"We evolved over millions of years by trial and error"....did we? I didn't it was quite a quick procedure for me.
"People like Bush, Bliar, Cyclops, Obama etc use it as a justification for dropping thousand pound bombs onto countries that it doesn't like."....correct they are not Christians....no matter what they say.
"We live, we die. Enjoy your short magnificent chance of life but don't spend it worrying about trying to please some sky fairy."....I used to debate at length at how Christianity is a load of bolloxs and I could come up with an argument against it now that would rival Marx.....it makes no sense to my logical mind what so ever and I can rip it apart logically.....but for some annoying reason I know it to be the truth...tin hat on
The Economic Voice
Your comment was well presented. I too find alcohol an excellent means of opening up parts of my thought processes that are usually blocked by reason.
Before Christianity became the vogue people coped and progressed. The human race evolved over millions of years to a point where they were self aware and able to ponder their existence and wonder why they were here. Previously the only concern was for food and shelter and procreation. This self awareness made them think that there must be some greater being running the show. People worshiped the sun, the moon, cattle, statues, mountains, rivers etc...
Then 2000 years ago someone decided that Jesus was from the Sky and he was the son of God who made the world in 6 days. A book was written about it all.
It only affected a small proportion of the world and people in other parts of the world continued to worship their own Gods. Christians said that anyone who wasn't saved would go to hell. In one fell swoop millions of people who had never even heard of Jesus were destined to burn for eternity. Missionaries couldn't get to see everyone in the world and tell them about Jesus so couldn't save them. How can this be a compassionate God ? Sending people to burn for eternity for something they weren't even aware of ?
It's nonsense of course because muslims etc believe in their God and that non muslims etc will suffer the fate of hell or whatever is the equivalent.
So basically your religion depends on where you were born or which adult got to the young childs brain first. Children believe in Santa so have no problem accepting that there is a God if an adult tells them there is. I see it as a form of child abuse. Filling young minds with this nonsense before the child has matured enough to decide for itself.
At least adults like yourself are free to pick and choose your favourite religion. Unless you were born in Saudi etc where you will be a muslim by law and if you change we will kill you.
For you to say that for some annoying reason you know Christianity to be the truth isn't good enough I'm afraid.
Remind me what your article was about Rab? I've just lost the will to live.
Paranoid man...
I enjoyed that I may disagree.
I suppose it comes down to myself being more paranoid than yourself....
I believe the bible to be absolute truth (Even though I don't like a lot of what it says and it conflicts massively with my rational mind)...therefore any ideology outside of that which tries to categorize Christianity as a religion and one of many possible truths to me is wrong. I know how pig headed that sounds and I can't give you a logical reason to believe me. I don't believe in evolution and I think science is a way of perceiving the universe and dissects and justifies it in terms of itself.
I also believe that all doctrine and history that suggests that the Bible is not the truth is influenced by Satan....how mad am I? lol....I know how bonkers it all sounds I am a reasonable and quite logical man...trouble is I know in my innermost being or whatever I am that the Bible is the truth...
I have been every denomination of every religion and ideology....I used to go the pub in Saffron robes singing Hare Krishna pissed into oblivion trying to convert people to my way of thinking....I was a Reiki master, witch and complete science obsessed freak and highly unconvincing at all of them...so i walked away and just waited for the sun to come up in the morning and get on with the immediate problems of basic existence without involving aesthetics to complicate the situation....then 8 years ago something changed..it all fell into place and i didn't like it....The Bible was the truth.
To this day I battle with the highest level of criticism that could be levied against it....
So
"For you to say that for some annoying reason you know Christianity to be the truth isn't good enough I'm afraid."....it will have to do lol
What I am trying to say is it makes no sense to me so I suppose I am buggered if I can make it make any sense to anyone else.....
Bugger me, talk about a tangent!!
Rab its all connected mate....sort of......ish.
The Economic Voice
At the end of the day if you're happy with Christianity then that's all that matters I suppose. I'm just glad we live in a country that allows freedom of religion and hope we never lose that freedom.
And of course the freedom to be an atheist like myself.
Oh and sorry Rab. We took your rant slightly away from the subject !
"At the end of the day if you're happy with Christianity"...no im not that's the problem...it just sounds like a load of shit...aggghhh
I will have you converted by the end of the week ;)
Much respect Paranoid man.....
And thanks Rab for putting up with this slight detour...however there is the danger that this could be a reoccurring problem with me.... seeing as my spiritual and intellectual well being permeates every fiber of my being all things are possible and probable.
Hey, you guys carry on! I'm glad my posts are more thought provoking than I intended.
...anyone fancy a pint?
Insofar as we need a Prime Minister, or indeed a government, it should be Sir Terry Leahy.
Tesco is in the business of profitably selling things to mostly poor people who would like to buy them. This is an innately noble and good thing to do, unlike about 100% - to a first approximation - of what governments and Soviets (sorry, I actually meant "councils") like to do.
Tesco gets you blueberries and strawberries from Peru in the dead of the Northern Hemisphere winter, unlike what the GreenGramscoFabiaNazis would like you to have when you are cold and miserable. For example.
Their strong lager is cheaper than either the "corner shop", or the pub in which you may not now smoke or gather to conspire against New Labour without the Police videoing you going in.
In Tesco, you can do a week's shopping for a poor family of four, for under £100 including State-prohibited foods like beef, bacon, sausages, lager and wine. More importantly, you can do it in about 40 minutes.
In Tesco, when there are people waiting at checkouts more than three deep, there is a PA call from the office for staff to come off break, and they open more checkouts. Does the government get more "NHS beds" when more people are ill?
Poor people with families to run cannot go by bus to traipse and queue all day, shop by shop, with brown bags which burst (remember the 50s and think hard) to buy one thing at a time in queues from "little shops". "Little shops" will grow and survive if people can park outside them: blame the Soviets who are anti-car.
To hell with everybody who criticizes Tesco. May they live forever in a socialist paradise like the USSR at any time at all, or Czechoslovakia until about 1992.
David
Yes but they've made every town centre look the same. Charity shops and estate agents. All the greengrocers, butchers, fishmongers etc have long since left the stage. Undercut until they shut.
Religion - primitive man's attempts to communicate with the weather.
@Pogo
"Religion - primitive man's attempts to communicate with the weather."
Noah - a man who managed to successfully communicate with the weather
rather have tesco than a mosque?
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