Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
anti-press ezine 1998 11 26
ANTI-PRESS EZINE #03
"We're Positive About The Negative"
A November E-dition (for you temporal meatspacers)
(C) Copyright 1998 Anti-Press
NOTE: This ezine may be shared with others as long as such sharing is
free of charge and full credit is given to Anti-Press with notice of
copyright.
WARNING: A student at Arizona U downloaded an Anti-Press article and
submitted it to his Journalism 101 class as his own work. After
receiving an "A" from his unsuspecting professor, he walked away
smirking, proud of his theft and deception. A runaway Good Humor truck
careened around the corner and flipped on top of him with bone-crushing
force. Keep this in mind, you potential intellectual property thieves.
Do you want to slowly die, pinned under twisted metal, your mouth pried
open as you drown in your own blood mixed with the melting goo of black
licorice ice cream?
AN ANTI-DOTE TO THOSE SMARMY THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY EDITORIALS
We're not like most others who have family and friends so share the
"good times" during the "happy" holidays. We usually end up trying to
mind our own business during a holiday, getting through it without any
stores, cafes, or libraries open. (Maybe all these "Closed For The
Holiday" establishments should add a note to their signs: "Sluff Off,
You Lonely Loser".) We don't want pity-- and we sure as hell don't
want your freakin' resentment because we are unable to appreciate your
experience.
That's the problem with holidays. EVERYONE is supposed to conform to
certain images projected by popular culture (TV, magazines and movies)
and by materialistic companies trying to pry money out of your wallet.
You are supposed to be HAPPY. If you're filled with seasonal joy, fine,
just don't inflict it upon the rest of us. At least save the crappy
Xmas music until AFTER Thanksgiving. Now we're hearing it played in the
stores right after Halloween! Hey, the pumpkins are still sheeny; let
'em shrivel up a bit.
And if you have your own problems with the Happy Syndrome, don't take it
out on us either. One Thanksgiving afternoon we went for a walk to
check out the deserted streets of downtown Plattsburgh, NY, the
freeze-breeze stirring around loose scraps of unwanted trash. We found
someone lying on the cold sidewalk, primed for frostbite, then death.
We tried to help him out but the bastard got up and tried to take a
punch at us. Someone else was walking by and he restrained this
pugnacious drunk before we could kick said bastard in his ungrateful
alcohol-sodden ass.
Good memories. That's what holidays are made of, eh?
"BUT AREN'T YOU THANKFUL ABOUT ANYTHING?"
Security, grab that Pollyandroid and kick their butt out the door. Damn
plastic humanoids, go on about how happy they are during the holidays
and that a frown uses more muscles than a smile-- but the fugging
assholes won't invite you over for a warm meal.
Where were we? Thankful. Sure. Morbus and http//:www.disobey.com.
Check out the Low Bandwidth section where previous issues of
_Anti-Press_ are archived. We're listed under the _Activist_ category
or you can take the more direct route:
http://www.disobey.com/low/listings/anti-press.htm. While you're at
www.disobey.com you can also check out _Viewer Discretion_ and the other
fine plain-text ezines offered in the Low Bandwidth section.
We're also thankful when we check our email and find more requests to
subscribe to _Anti-Press_. Puts off for another day the
tubful-of-warm- water-with-razor-blade option...
DIAMONDS: HOW TO CORNER THE BULLSHIT MARKET
Diamonds are as plentiful as pimples on Courtney Love's ass-- so why are
they so valuable?
Simple. Most of you believe everything you see advertised on TV and in
the local newspaper. You've fallen for the "scarcity illusion".
In front of me is a special section from the Local (news)Paper with a
light blue banner across its top announcing "For The Bride And Groom".
This section features articles-- actually the word "stories" is more
appropriate-- about planning for a wedding, especially selecting the
diamond engagement ring that "will win her heart". Hey, pal, if your
love by itself hasn't won her heart, then screw it.
This alleged "article" has no byline. There's a clue. How many
advertisements have bylines? Nowhere on the page, even in teeny-weeny
type, is the disclaimer "Advertisement". Anyway, according to this
"news" article on buying the right diamond, under the heading of
"Determining a budget": "The benchmark that many men use here is two
month's salary guideline. Spend less, and the relatives will probably
talk."
Pal, who are you getting married to-- your girlfriend or her
materialistic, status-sucking relatives? We've heard this "two months"
crap before on TV with those stylish ads promulgated by the De Beers
company. You've seen them, the violins, the man and woman as shadows on
the wall, the only solid image in the ad the glowing almighty diamond.
While your eyes are locked into the images, the pseudo-happiness of some
rich fugger with too much money to spend giving his fiancee (or
mistress) a hunk of transformed carbon, Oh The Joy!-- then the
brainwashing line is slipped in: "How else can two months salary last
forever?" Sure, it'll last forever when the bitch walks out on you and
pawns the diamond to support her new lover and his cocaine habit.
Who says you have to spend two months of your hard-earned money on
something that as plethoric as Ronald Reagan's inactive brain cells? A
while back there was a program on PBS on the great diamond $cam, how the
whole market is controlled by keeping most of the diamonds off the
market and releasing them bit by bit to keep the price inflated. Of
course, poor black Africans, including children, were exploited to dig
the raw material out of the ground to make "the ultimate symbol of
enduring love." (Hey, lady, we've got an ultimate symbol, right
here...) How many rich black Republicans buy gems and conveniently
ignore the history behind the market, a business that was built upon
economic slavery, the suffering and sweat of their have-not brothers and
sisters in Africa? Then again, a black Republican is like an Oreo
cookie...
But the issue of exploitation isn't simply "black or white"; there is a
grey area. _The Diamond People_, the book by Murray Schumach, mentions
how De Beers or "the Syndicate" fought for better conditions for blacks
in South Africa when the white-dominated government was in power. At
the same time critics dismissed the creation of better housing and other
benevolent acts towards blacks during that period. According to the
cynical POV the Syndicate was only trying to head off a black uprising
and also was currying favor with the future rulers of South Africa.
_The Diamond People_ also explained how the Syndicate dealt with the
Soviet Union when a shitload of raw diamonds were found in Siberia. The
Merchants of Empty Dreams made sure The Russians understood the
advantage of selling their rough diamonds through them. By not
"disturbing the market", as the head of De Beers inferred at that time,
the Russians found it more profitable to get behind the Syndicate's
program.
You've seen that spy thriller plot before, some criminal mastermind is
going to steal from the great diamond reserves and flood the market,
driving down the price, unless his blackmail demands are met. Such a
scenario points to the absurdity of the whole diamond business. Does
such a market reflect the "natural" law of supply and demand, a cartel
strictly holding back the supply and creating the demand through news
"stories" and slick TV ads?
Let's take a look at the history of the De Beers cartel and its
marketing arm, the Central Selling Organization (CSO). In the late
1920s there were too few buyers for a surplus of diamonds. De Beers
Chairman Sir Ernest Oppenheimer offered to buy all the diamonds
worldwide to keep the price up. By 1934 he had set up the monopolistic
practice of single-channel marketing, keeping surplus diamonds off the
market until the consumers (i.e. suckers) were ready to swallow it all,
hook, line, and gem sinker. Thus De Beers created "fundamental
stability" unlike the other markets in minerals.
But the times they are a'changing and there is more competition out
there from other companies. According to "Breaking News" at
www.diamondsinfo.com dated 2/16/98, De Beers is launching a "gem
defensive" against the lower tier of the diamond business, the cheaper
market that falls outside CSO's price control machinations. The main
feature of this defense is "branding", the same way Coca Cola sells you
overpriced sugared water in cans and bottles, beating out the sales of
the other sodas flooding the supermarket shelves.
There's a new perception being created. You're not supposed to be
concerned about buying a diamond, any diamond-- now it has to be a "De
Beers Diamond". Hey, you lame-brained lemmings out there who fell for
the "Intel Inside" scam, buying a computer based solely on the type of
microchip they popped inside the appliance. If you went for that,
you'll go for anything.
("Joe, why did you pay $300 for that two-pound bag of bullshit scraped
up from a dairy pasture?"
"It's not ordinary bullshit. See the classy logo on this bag? There's
'Manure Inside'!")
Since diamonds can all look the same, how can De Beers differentiate its
product from all the other pretty crystals out there? After all, you
can easily tell the difference between a Pepsi and a Coke from the label
on the can (even thought they taste equally crappy). How do you label a
gemstone? Invisible inscription. De Beers spent millions of dollars on
research to find the method where its name and a security number can be
inscribed on the upper half of a diamond while remaining invisible both
to the naked eye and a loupe. This method is clouded in secrecy as if
that will stop counterfeiters. (We won't be surprised when a high
school kid with his home computer and a toy laser kit find a way to
duplicate the process.)
The diamondsinfo.com article also explains the inscription itself is not
expensive but handling fees, shipping, administration, (add whatever you
want: sunspots, El Nino, Alan Greenspan's headcold, etc.) will drive up
the price. For 10-15 percent more than other diamonds you will get a
"real" diamond: a De Beers Diamond. It's that old scam, "Value added."
And we all know how intangible value can be, whether you've talking
about diamonds or old comic books or retired Beanie Babies.
So De Beers has decided to let the competition have the cheaper market
while it will control its own "better market". Two choices
(supposedly): De Beers Diamonds and "junky" diamonds. De Beers is using
this tactic because increased diamond mining has made it hard to
preserve the "scarcity illusion".
To quote from diamondsinfo.com: "In a competitive market, one of the
most significant ways in which firms gain an edge is by trying to make
their product unique relative to other products on the market. The
reason is that the more differentiated is one's product, the more one is
able to act like a monopolist... In a way, branding will allow De Beers
to become a 'monopolist' again." Monopoly: Friend of the Consumer.
So get ready for a new round of brainwashing ads in magazines and TV.
Now the woman will throw her engagement ring back at her beau because
(gasp) it's NOT a De Beers. (What will her relatives say?)
Why are we telling you this? Simple. As long as your local (news)paper
accepts out-of-house (outhouse) advertising sections disguised as news,
you're not going to hear the other side of the story about a lot of
consumer issues. And don't forget-- the jewelry shops in your area pay
for slick ads in the paper to promote the latest "heartship" ring or
"anniversary" necklace or "Kidney Stone of Jesus" or almost any shape
and event they're trying to push this month. They've got all sorts of
options with that great hoard of crystallized dinosaur dung (or whatever
constitutes a "real" diamond).
Ever see the old Superman TV show or the comic book where the Man of
Steel picks up a piece of coal and squeezes it into a diamond? He
hasn't been doing that lately. Apparently the Merchants of Empty Dreams
threatened to sue his invulnerable ass before he flooded the market and
drove down the price.
STOLEN: FAITH AND TRUST!
A while back we discussed how the Local (news)Paper handled an incident
about "one of their own". A deliveryman claimed in a TV news story that
he had been cheated out of overtime pay while employed by the Local
Paper. What was odd about this is that the TV station, not the Paper,
broke the story. You see the Official Policy of the Paper is to report
the news pertaining to anyone, good or bad, including all of its
employees, whether it be the lowly janitor or the highfalutin publisher.
Anyway, we've been waiting for a follow-up story on how this
embarrassing incident was resolved (if it ever was). Since then another
story about a Paper employee popped up and the Paper reported on "one of
their own"-- or did it?
Weasel wording. You expect a squirming politician, not the Paper, to
keep its distance from crap right in its own tent. According to the
article, a woman who had been employed in the telemarketing department
had been sentenced for embezzlement. It was stated the woman had
created false payrolls, forged signatures, and then collected the money.
But while reading the article one gets the impression that the woman
only worked for a company with no direct connection to the Paper or the
chain it belongs to. It is stated that she worked at a telemarketing
company "housed" at the Paper's building. Oh, the company is only
"housed" there, the Paper is just renting out space to the telemarketing
company and so the Embezzler is THAT company's employee, separate from
all the respectable employees of the Paper.
So why does the Paper's publisher comment on one of THOSE employees? Is
the telemarketing company only "housed" there or is it part of the
operation that the Publisher rides herd on?
The Publisher was quoted that the woman "had stolen more than money from
us". So who is US? Anyway, the Publisher went on to say that the
Embezzler had also stolen "faith and trust".
Yeah, faith and trust. Reminds us of another embezzlement story
published years ago in the Paper about another woman accused of stealing
from her employer and who was found dead in a parking lot, a suicide.
What was interesting was the placement of this article. If you had that
edition flat on the table, you would notice on one page the
embezzlement-suicide story and on the other page the obituary notice for
the same woman.
We wonder how much "faith and trust" the relatives of the unfortunate
woman had put in the Paper when they had submitted the info for the
obit. Then again, the maybe Local Paper has good taste "housed"
somewhere in its building. (It could be they have to keep the good
taste locked up; only the Publisher has the key...)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submitted works must be ready for publication (edited and proofread).
Word Limit: 1000 words. No sci-fi, poetry, sci-fi poetry, poetic sci-fi,
etc. Do some research and read a couple of issues to find what we want.
Submissions and readers' comments should be sent to Antipress1@aol.com.
Anti-Press Ezine and its sporadically published issues are available at:
http://www.disobey.com/text/
Copyright 1998-2000 Anti-Press
Publication by Disobey.
http://www.disobey.com/
TO SUBSCRIBE: majordomo@disobey.com BODY: Subscribe APE
TO UNSUBSCRIBE: majordomo@disobey.com BODY: Unsubscribe APE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
