The Corporate Advantage of Psudo Patriotic Displays

[Savannahmann]

With the various revelations of NSA/DOJ/FBI/Does anyone know where the list really ends/DHS spying, there are plenty of apologists who suggest, some vaguely, some outright, that loyalty to party, and especially Obama, is the only Patriotic thing to do. They state in no uncertain terms that the final word in their opinion, should be that President Obama said nothing wrong was going on, and any efforts to suggest otherwise is disloyal.

But what are we defending? It is not a matter of debate that Booz Allen is but one of more than a thousand Companies that are granted contracts to perform various undefined Security Consulting jobs for the Government. So if we are disloyal to this, are we also unpatriotic?

Corporations always wrap themselves in the banner of patriotism in order to further sales. Ford will never let us forget that they set up the Detroit Arsenal that manufactured the Sherman Tanks that we used in the Second World War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Arsenal_Tank_Plant

We're told that it is a good thing that Boeing got a $4 Billion contract for more Chinook Helicopters for the Army. Not only does it give us jobs, but it also gives our troops one heck of a Helicopter right? What unpatriotic SOB would oppose this? http://defense-update.com/20130625_boeing-receives-us-army-contract-for-up-to-215-chinook-helicopters.html

I've mentioned before that I love History, and I'm always reading books on history. So let me tell you about another Patriotic Display from a company. Lucky Strikes, the cigarette brand that everyone knows. The package is white, with red and black on the pack of cigarettes. There was a time when the packs were green, but just before World War II, the company found that the green package was unattractive to women, and that was why women didn't buy the brand of cigarettes. Now the problem is, how do you change the package to get more people buying your product, without losing the customers you already have? The answer was simple. You wrap the change you want to make anyway in patriotism to make buying your product the patriotic duty of all smokers.

Lucky Strikes Green has gone to war. http://www.jimsburntofferings.com/adsluckystrikegreen.html

The claim was that the metals used in the pigments for the inks were needed for war production. So this allowed the President of the Corporation to not only make a change he wanted to make anyway, but by wrapping it in the patriotic fervor of the time, made it the patriotic duty of people to smoke Lucky Strikes over the other brands that selfishly used excessive ink in their package denying it from our brave soldiers who were fighting for us all overseas.

According to the link, sales increase by 38% after the change and the ad campaign came out. http://www.snopes.com/business/market/luckystrike.asp

So the question is this. How many of you would have rushed to Lucky Strike Cigarettes because they were aiding the war effort? Remember, smoking was not only all right, it was socially acceptable, even expected.

Those of us who are supporting the NSA/CIA/DOJ/Do I really have to list them all again/DHS spying programs are supporting the psudo patriotic outsourcing of this stuff to these contracting companies, that are getting rich on our fear, the same way that Lucky Strike got rich off of our desire to sacrifice for the troops in the 1940's.

When we suggest that society and civilization would be better served by questioning everything, we literally mean everything.

[Populist_Prole]

1. It was one of the first things to go in my change from conservative to progressive a decade ago

One of many though. Ironically, it was all the post 9-11 exhortations for us to be patriotic and rally around the flag, while they let corporations take full advantage of using force majeure provisions to screw over their employees ( and profit from it ) that backfired. Though not personally affected, it enraged me and caused me to go from a Tom Clancy reading, flag waving idiot, to a regard the whole USA! USA! capitalist fan boy-ism with a indignant sneer. Seeing all the stupid displays of faux patriotism really began to burn my ass.

[Savannahmann]

2. I was taught early on to question the claims of everyone.

As my Father taught me, the claims of the Government are some of the most questionable. Corporations come in a close second, and finally the claims of individuals.

That's why I keep asking about the stories we're told are true, because they are at very best, highly unlikely. At worst, insulting. But many of those fellow Democrats on the left are apparently morphing into Statists, which was what we all argued against in the 1980's. Interesting evolution, from a purely sociology point of view. How a political movement went from challenging the status quo, to defending it, to denouncing those who fail to support it with full throated vigor.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. "Patriotism is the most foolish of passions, and the passion of fools." Schopenhauer