Monday, February 05, 2018

Superbowl Ad Hijacking Martin Luther King’s Message Of Selflessness

I don’t pay much attention to TV. I’ve noted on here it has been decades since I watched a TV news broadcast. I did watch the Superbowl this weekend. I watched it as much as a sociological experiment as I did for the game. Frankly, I haven’t watched a Superbowl in so long I can’t remember. But, it’s very interesting to gain perspective watching the halftime shows, the TV ads, etc.

One that blew my mind was the Dodge truck ad.  By the way, a very attractive new design. One I’d certainly drive off into the wilderness to forget about the madness of our society. (There are certainly good things about technological progress and good things capitalism has taught us as well. Most are how to actually not build a democratic or just society. But, how to work collectively to accomplish something. Yes, collectively. Ayn Rand’s exaltation of corporations is the exaltation of the collective hive mind of a corporation where forced conformity and subjugation is demanded in return for a paycheck. Hence, forced corporate work. Interestingly, she viewed collectivism as a virus. She just wasn’t the most emotionally or spiritually evolved person on the planet to recognize her own ignorance. To be human is to be ignorant.)

What I found most interesting about the Superbowl truck ad is that just a few weeks ago I posted about MLK’s birthday. In that post I wrote-

It’s amazing that the state, who ultimately destroyed King, whether it pulled the trigger or not, actually honors this artifically manufactured and cleansed image of him. But, anyone who has read his written words or listened to his speeches knows that there isn’t a corporation, politician or military leader in this nation who holds any of his values as truths. In fact, all class and hierarchy would truly fear his words. Not the cleansed or manufactured view of King.

I guess the meatheads who developed that ad actually honors the artificially manufactured and cleansed image of him. King railed against capitalism and it’s exaltation of profits over human life and its exaltation of attachment to worldly possessions over human dignity. (link to the ad) Yet, capitalism manipulates his words for their own dystopian lies.

King was quoting religious text when he stated in this speech that the greatest amongst you will be a servant. (From the truck ad) To serve is to be selfless. Or, to intuitively understand there is something greater than yourself. And, that true selflessness, unconditionally seeking nothing in return, is what makes us human. (amongst other things) And, to achieve greatness in your life that you need to be emotionally and spiritually aware enough to recognize that the self is the source of all of man’s foibles and worse.

Capitalism on the other hand relies on humanity’s most base, ignorant instincts (of the self) to survive.  Fear to force you into slave labor where class steals your surplus value.  Consumption of inanimate objects and attachment to money. You know, like buying a Dodge pickup truck and classifying it as service or selfless.  And, on and on.

I have noted on here many times that the socially-driven measures of intelligence are horseshit.  Most are based on reason. Nothing wrong with reason. But that’s not where science and art come from. Neither are based on reason or logic. As Einstein noted, they come from the mysterious.  Or, I’d say maybe more appropriately, from some place magical. They come from the creativity of the human mind; whatever that is. And, forgot the nonsense we are “taught”. We have absolutely no idea what the human mind is. Or, if our mind is contained in our brain or simply passed through the brain into this world or whatever. Lots of reasons to consider the mind exists outside of the brain. Lots. Including some scientific experiments.

But, acknowledging that would mean the state would have to acknowledge there is a higher power and a higher purpose than itself and its brutal control mechanisms of capitalism, communism, fascism, militarism and every other kind of ism it can dream up.  Then, if that cat is let out of the bag, that there is a greater purpose to life than grubbing for money, fighting the state’s wars, endlessly being conscripted into debt servitude and the like, the masses would never submit to the servitude of a class-based, hierarchical society that grants entitlement to a ruling aristocracy as ours does. Because all of those pathological elements and more are against the teachings of all of the world’s great religions that espouse equality, human dignity and all people being made in the image of a divine presence. If I’m made in the image of a divine presence the same as the Koch brothers, why can’t I feed my children or pay my bills while they bribe our government with so much money they have stolen from my labor and wit?

Oh, there is no doubt there is a war on religion or spirituality or whatnot. But that war hides behind the science meme that there is nothing beyond what we can see to mock religion and spirituality. That is always driven by the faux intellectuals in a ruling class that no one in this country trusts. Religion in the form of local congregations is considered one of the original forms of community (and equality and human dignity) by anthropoligists. It’s the vile hierarchical and class-based component that seeks to control religion and humanity for self-interested purposes. You know, like the Vatican or the organized control structures of most religions that try to tell the local congretation what to do and what to think.  That includes to war against people of other religions.  People that you have no grievance with.  It’s really no different than America’s prosperity preachers (a new phenomenon that started creeping into our society in the 1990s.) who rationalize a system of inequality and cruelty so those who have more than they need can turn their backs on humanity can feel good about themselves.  I’m getting off topic and rambling but I remember when a woman I was dating around 2000 got me a book for Christmas. I can’t remember the title but it’s premise was that God wanted you to be rich. I’ll never forget that. I remember thinking our society was headed for disaster and we were all brainwashed by a ruling pathology.

The highest form of intelligence is emotional and spiritual intelligence.  That is, your intelligence beyond the illusion of self. The part of you that intuitively understands not that I am my brother’s keeper but more aptly, I am my brother and he is me.  That the self is an illusion and all life is connected and spiritually one with the universe. 

That little old grandmother who’s 90 years old and goes to church or synagogue or temple or whatnot every week and dotes on her grandchildren, pays no attention to politics and is a seemingly endless well of love and joy…..  she’s way smarter than the buffoons running our corporations or our government. Way smarter.  They don’t even get it.

Of course, I’m sure Chrysler really wanted to run this ad so it could apologize for using slave labor in sweat shops to make many of the components for its cars and trucks. And to apologize for manipulating King’s speech in which he railed against corporate advertisers as well.

We continue down the dystopian rabbit hole.

posted by TimingLogic at 8:22 PM