iconoclasts or have a nice day

One of the oldest registered trademarks, aside from the canting found on coats-of-arms and municipal and national regalia, is the simple red triangle of Bass Ale.  While a geometric shape does not corner any exclusivity and does not exactly evoke a refreshing beer by association, I rather like the accessible logos that enforce a name or functionality, like the Shell of Royal Dutch Shell or the diamond shape on Collins Gem publishers.  There is apparently a premium to having an iconic symbol or even sensible name anymore, considering the names of showboat medications and finance and telecommunication companies that play on false Latin and superlative words. 

Over-reliance on symbols and metonymy also has its drawbacks and can easily slide into the non-sensical.  The German government, for instance, is currently debating a proposal to augment its religiously executed hygenic checks of commercial kitchens with a smiley face based rating system.  The details have not been entirely worked out, but like a Michelin Guide, restaurant doors will display a scoring of smiley faces based on their cleanliness and rather subjectively on the quality of their cuisine.  The schedule and content of health inspections will not be changed, but finding are distilled and projected for potential guests, in smiley form.  It's this extra level and potential for obfuscation that is crazy-making.  Documentation from inspections could be made public, in their undigested form, for the perusal of the morbidly curious.  Unsafe restaurants are not allowed to stay in operation, and the smileys do not make the inspectors' visits more rigourous.  Probably no diners want to peek in the kitchens of the favourite restaurants and would rather remain blissfully ignorant and not be made to guess at what criteria distinguishes 4 smileys from 3.5 smileys.

grecian formula

Earlier this month, coinciding with the announcement by the Greek government that there will be no further austerity measures, which lead to riotous protests, to recalibrate the country's economy--I hope that Greece is right and reforms are on pace with recovery, and they are forced to sell any islands or mortgage their cultural heritage to corporate sponsorship, the Hephaisteion all covered with advertizing like a race car--Vanity Fair reporter Michael Lewis embarked on an odyssey from the business centers of Athens to the remote and autonomous, monastic state of Mount Athos to try to gain some insight into the culture that yielded the Greek financial crisis. This article is really intelligent and an interesting read, and while the monks are not precisely sibilants or oracles themselves, their financial acumen is to be respected and their squabble over a swap of formerly mediatised church lands may have brought unwelcome and glaring transparency to the entire Greek market.  Mr. Lewis was able to exercise his journalistic instincts, despite and perhaps because of, as a guest in a place couched with history and tradition.  Maybe the crucial lesson is in his introductory paragraph, when he speaks of Greeks stopped being Greek and Icelanders wanted to forego fishing to become investment bankers during the financial collapse: there is a very Greek term ἐνέργεια, that is being-at-work-staying-the-same.

west world

The Tea Party movement could have been a legitimate protest against US government intrusion in what should otherwise be private affairs, but this new coalition of libertarians have transformed into something quite different--like a band of cowboys lead by Yosemite Sam and Miss Kitty, and this sort of sage brush, gun smoke justice is one that removes all the trappings of civil society. J. J. Rousseau (Dy-no-mite) argued that a functional republic is held together by a social contract, whose government is lent power through the consent of the governed.

The Tea Partiers would elevate themselves above all obligations, civic duties, altogether, and try to realize this sort of cowboys and indians fantasy. It is not unadulterated democratic goals, however, that they are striving noisily for, rather, it is just to unseat whatever new meddlesome, benevolent, or indifferent force that has their old unseated meddlesome, benevolent, or indifferent corporate interests. The Tea Party is not offering reform or a real alternate in their jumbled vitriol, only an uncomfortable choice between two masters, which tries to vacillate among the better qualities of both.

Sophitry can be a dangerous thing, especially if other societies interpret this model as sustainable or honest.  If the sheriff is a socially responsible government, then the public activities are guided and within the framework of general will and overall welfare, and if the sheriff is some corporate entity, there are no inconvenient laws and regulations and greed becomes a means, a measure and an end.  The military-industrial complex can afford security, but its charges, untempered by rights and government leveling, can quickly fall from favour.  Companies may be able to do things more nimbly without bureaucracy and checks and balances, but it is government regulations that give a company motivation to improve its products and services.  Skirting regulations or moving to abandon them altogether accomplishes nothing.  Life gets rather nasty, brutish and short.

middle earth or hope 2.0

Time Magazine has an interesting interview session with Arianne Huffington on her latest bleak and honest take of America's rapid decline into Third World nation status.  I distinctly remember watching talk shows when I was younger, especially late night ones like Joan Rivers on the UHF Fox channel, and the moment of coming to the realization that my celebrity friends were doing the talk show circuit not just to pay a cordial visit to the hosts and not just for the audience's entertainment but rather to promote their latest book or movie or political campaign.

That felt kind of hollow, that their agents were coordinating these charm offensives, but I think the venues and outlets available today have changed the message, and in many cases it is an occasion for dialogue and not just publicity.  Like her aggregator and forum, the Huffington Post, I am sure her book is a dire and desperate clarion, but for those with the stamina to read further than the groping headlines, like Time's reporter echoed, the book's second part, after the morbid assessment, has some brighter prescriptions on what to do and what could be America's reprieve.  It makes me want to compare Obama to Don Quixote, but not just for dare-devil hopes and certainly not for mistaken delusions, but for the author, Miguel Cervantes, having to deal with libel in his own time, ghost-written adventures and unauthorized biographies on his main characters.  There was a difficult choice to face between indulging bewitchment and moving towards disenchantment.  The photograph is from the seaward facing wall of the ruins of the resort at Prora during our trip to the Baltic coast over the summer.  There was a mural with "Yes, we hope."  I am not sure how recently the art work was added or the original message, but the world should certainly never leave off wanting to remain informed and hopeful.