“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
―Philip Freneau
.
And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again?
Archilochus
I've been instinctively aware since childhood that advertising is blatherskite, –– balderdash, –– buncombe, –– hokum, –– tosh and tarradiddle, –– stuff and nonsense, –– rot, –– hooey, –– charlatanism –– horse shit, –– and baloney.
I also developed a sneaking suspicion early on that Oscar Wilde was probably right when he said, "Whatever is popular is wrong," even though I'd yet to learn of Oscar's existence.
Consequently, I am virtually impervious to advertising.
On specific occasions when I have honestly needed or truly wanted something, I DELIBERATELY SOUGHT information about that product or service, but the impusle to purchase has always come from ME –– not some "Svengali" pulling my strings and pushing my buttons from afar.
I remember, before the NASDAQ collapse in '99, I had been warning friends of mine that the tech market had seriously bubbled, that there wasn't enough real, tangible value in the sector to explain the valuations (ironically, I wasn't paying attention to the unregulated shenanigans in the energy sector, where I was heavily vested at the time, so I wound up sinking on the boat right next to it), and sure enough it all came a-crashin' down. Eventually, people wise up.
3 comments:
Awards are due to goods,
_____ and who supplies them,
But the Wise despise the guys
_____ who advertise them.
~ FT - excerpted from a Labor Day Sonnet
I've been instinctively aware since childhood that advertising is blatherskite, –– balderdash, –– buncombe, –– hokum, –– tosh and tarradiddle, –– stuff and nonsense, –– rot, –– hooey, –– charlatanism –– horse shit, –– and baloney.
I also developed a sneaking suspicion early on that Oscar Wilde was probably right when he said, "Whatever is popular is wrong," even though I'd yet to learn of Oscar's existence.
Consequently, I am virtually impervious to advertising.
On specific occasions when I have honestly needed or truly wanted something, I DELIBERATELY SOUGHT information about that product or service, but the impusle to purchase has always come from ME –– not some "Svengali" pulling my strings and pushing my buttons from afar.
I like that excerpt, FT!
I remember, before the NASDAQ collapse in '99, I had been warning friends of mine that the tech market had seriously bubbled, that there wasn't enough real, tangible value in the sector to explain the valuations (ironically, I wasn't paying attention to the unregulated shenanigans in the energy sector, where I was heavily vested at the time, so I wound up sinking on the boat right next to it), and sure enough it all came a-crashin' down. Eventually, people wise up.
JMJ
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