A Good Thought From Founding Questions

[Founding Questions is one of my favorite reads. I hope he doesn’t mind me pondering one of his more pithy observations from today. Also, Scott Adams has from time to time pissed me off but he’s no dope either. Adams said some shit that fits with today’s cogitation so he gets dragged into my thoughts.]

Scott Adams mentioned years ago that “propaganda works on you even if you know it’s propaganda”. This is observably true and it pisses me off! Some politician blows smoke out his ass, the press puts it in a turbo vortex right up yours, and suddenly your chill is gone. You might be smart enough to recognize it’s bullshit but still you can get hooked. It’s hard to avoid getting agitated about either the thing you’re told (which you know to be false) or the fact that you’re forced to waste bandwidth on irrelevancies.

Irrelevancies are almost worse than outright lies! I’ve almost never heard a true statement about the kerfuffle in Ukraine after two full years but I’m used to it by now. What’s worse is that I shouldn’t have to be aware of the existence of either Taylor Swift or Colin Kaepernick. Neither seems to do much on their own. Why do I have to know about them? Yet I’m constantly told what people are doing in reaction to their antics. I don’t watch sportsball so there’s nothing Kaepernick can do to impress me except I do acknowledge he has a righteous afro. I’m not sure Taylor Swift can even read sheet music. If she jams out a blues riff that touches my soul or blasts out vocals like Grace Slick I’ll revisit my point of view. Until that time, Taylor is just a chick in a bikini singing forgettable pop with roughly the skill of any other forgettable chick in a bikini.

I don’t care what anyone says about them. I shouldn’t have to form an opinion about anything those two twits have ever done. Yet propaganda never sleeps and here we are. (Actually I don’t know if the whiny NFL guy is still around. Maybe he’s flushed?)

Propaganda is painful. I hate being fed falsehoods (or irrelevancies). I hate even more that the falsehoods work their way into my “default” thinking. But I am human; endowed with the same leftover simian software package that hampers us all. The best I can do is to be aware of the limitations of the mind and try to keep reason on speed dial.

Mining a different but related vein, Founding Questions cogitated about the difference between propaganda and advertising (which is small and decreasing). Then he went on to talk about the difference between informational and aspirational advertising.

An informational ad might tell me how many clock cycles an Apple computer can use to curbstomp a Dell in speed tests. I’d be fine with that. I might even be interested. But that never happens.

Mostly ads are aspirational. “Look how good it will feel to be recognized as the superior life form because your computer has a cool logo. You don’t want people to consider you a plebian trash-person because of your no-name laptop do you?”

Aspirational concepts are legion, obvious, and silly. We’ve all seen ads that imply a Caribbean cruise or a DeBeers diamond will make your wife/girlfriend put out big time. Especially amusing are diamond ads that show the lucky lady parading her ring in front of other women. It’s not that she basks in the gleam of the gem all on her own. The payoff is that her friends will be jealous.

Informational tells you the diamond is pretty. I could live with that. There ain’t nothing wrong with just enjoying beauty! Maybe she and her beau with the big checkbook could gaze happily at the ring.

But no… it’s all about the aspiration.

Aspirational is the opposite of valuing a thing for what it is. It’s straight up soul cancer. The ad tells a lady that the jealousy of other women is a super awesome thing to desire. Here’s a hint from me; if your potential bride is primarily motivated by making other women jealous, get a better potential bride.

EV Vehicle ads make it look like a plug in car will turn you into an urban legend of sophistication; which it won’t. Sinatra would be cool if he was on a moped. You’ll be you even if you’re in a Bentley.

Harley ads display how everyone else will think you’re awesome if your bike is loud and chrome enough. Which is why my cruiser is a Honda.

Until Bud Light shot it’s own foot they pushed how macho and fun all your friends would think you are if you drink their product. It was never about how cheap the beer is, or how… ugh can I use “delicious” in a sentence with light beer? Well you get the point.

Anyway, aspirational ads never seemed to resonate with me. I’ve always thought that was weird. If propaganda moves the needle… at least sometimes… why not aspirational ads?

I figured it was an eccentricity in Curmudgeon’s internal wiring. Aspiration seems to work on everyone else. I should be able to emote with the dumb ads too. Ads about how someone else will react to whatever I’m doing aren’t rocket science. I see what they’re saying. It’s just not getting traction. I never could figure out why.

Then Founding Questions slaps a 2″x4″ of obvious upside my head.

“Aspirational ads don’t work on Zen monks, who really ARE trying to better themselves — in isolation, as that’s the only venue in which self-betterment can take place. Indeed, we all know that’s the key to self-improvement, the one thing you must have for it to work: You can’t care what anyone else thinks.”

Huh! It’s that simple. I can’t believe I never really thought of that before.

When you concern yourself with doing, you don’t waste time caring about external validation. My last post was (at least tangentially) about my little sailboat. I daydream of fun times I’ll have in the future. I recollect fun time in the past. None of that joy was purchased. Nor could it be. The only thing I purchased was plywood, epoxy, and tools.

I’ll admit I initially assumed my silly looking boat would bring me a small measure of mockery (which it didn’t) but I was never too worried. The most important part was that it sailed well. Interestingly, nobody seems to mock a boat when they see it in motion. In fact, people are stoked when I say “it’s not that hard, you should try it.”

When I bring it to the boat ramp, it’s the smallest squarest thing in the vicinity. But I never wanted to impress anyone so everyone seems to get that right from the start. I built it to serve my purposes; which it does beautifully. (I originally built it as “a canoe that paddles itself”.) The only thing people do that annoys me is ask is if a square front boat can actually move. I assure them that it can. As soon as I float free of the dock they can see it themselves. (The style is often called “scow”.) Charitably I think a lot of people have never seen a craft like mine and are therefore wondering if they’ll have to fish me out of the lake if I drown out there.

A home built craft ruins everything for aspirational marketing. A 250 HP Mercury outboard seems pretty badass until some dork with a beard rows away from the dock with oars; like a fuckin’ caveman. He doesn’t have less horsepower, he has none! Then he hoists this stupid trapezoidal sail and drifts away at 3 MPH like he doesn’t give a shit. Because I don’t. (However, I’m deadly worried to get the hell away from a busy dock before I get in some bass boat’s way!)

I’d like to be a lot better at sailing. But I don’t “aspire” to own a more impressive boat. This one is teaching me plenty. Don’t get me wrong, if someone handed me a serviceable 25′ sloop I’d happily sail it. But I wouldn’t be impressed with myself for owning such a thing. I’d just focus on learning how to operate it.

Done honestly, self-motivation is almost like armor. You become largely unaware of what other people think of an action because that’s not the point of the action. I don’t give a shit if everyone at the University has an Apple. (What’s the opposite of “diversity”? University!) I have an iPad and it has the logo but it can’t do much and I’m convinced a monkey can use a tablet. I also have a MinisForum mini computer that I use for real work. I have no idea who makes MinisForum or why; it was adequate tech for my needs and I like that it’s silent. Now that I glance at it, it has a logo and the logo is ugly. I never really thought about it. I’d use a fuckin’ Raspberry Pi running on AAA batteries if it was up to the task.

I prefer bourbon to light beer and I’d only care about an ad that informationally tells me a certain bourbon is better/cheaper than another. Then I’d do a taste test and decide myself. I don’t need Clydesdales to pick out my liquor. Now that I think of it, what the hell do horses have to do with beer?

So that’s today’s thought. Not particularly deep but it took a while to sort it out in my head. I don’t “get” most advertising because I don’t care what people think. So simple it took someone else’s blog to light the bulb over my head.

One last thought. Not giving a shit probably saves me tons of money!!!