The following Google ad was running on the Writernia home page as I was looking over your posts: 

...They're All Scams These websites are absolute scams I will show you the ones that work

It turns my stomach. 

What about the rest of you?

Earlier today, I was conned by a Writernia Google ad soliciting writers for a local city- life site. While appearing to be backed by city government, it was not. It's hidden agenda was to raise money for the mayor's re-election, - anything but a class act. I declined immediately. and forwarded the info to a S.F. reporter I know.

When I logged in just now to tell the story, another header box advertised to expose a large number of bogus scams, while showing the respondent which scams actually WORK.

I wanted to wash off my computer screen, but the scum was on the inside.

Point being that we have no control over what is being attached to our writing, and should not trust even Google to exercise my own integrity.

I love this site, but don't want my dangerous mind to get in the way of other writers' income.

Any ideas?

-Arye Michael Bender

Okay, I have a problem and I admit it. It's a problem that sets me at odds with the current mindset of America, as well as my own financial well being.

It's advertising. Yep, that ubiquitous, inescapable, lying heartbeat of capitalism, advertising.

If advertising only did what it was originally designed for, to present a product of service of value, I’d have less trouble with it.

But the fact is, almost all advertising is targeted at our subconscious minds, our emotional brains. And those programs that make us all ache to fill a false void by consuming, are what is making our society insane.

We are constantly bombarded with words, images, and sounds directed at overriding our free will. Most contemporary ads grab hold of our emotions, and manipulate them mercilessly to achieve a not-so-hidden agenda. You know, to feed somebody's greed.

My Google AdSense account has been activated.

That means advertising now appears on my blog. I could make some money. That's a good thing.

But the first very ad is selling 'War Ringtones'. I kid you not.

So it is.

Opening minds and hearts to peace, is the very core of my calling. It has been so most of my life. I'm now making money by selling war.

I've become a Capitalist!

Arye Michael Bender

This is America, land of print so tiny and so confusing that you need to hire a lawyer to understand. This is America, a land where radio announcers speak so fast at the end of a spot, nobody can comprehend whatever it was they said. This is America, where television commercials place a disclaimer on the screen for a third of a second with print so dense that by time you see it, it's gone.

This is America, land of the free... Oh wait... Just a minute. Seems like while we were trying to make sense of that contract, our freedoms were sold to the highest bidder.

Never mind.

- Arye Michael Bender -

Free Will is power.

How do we give it away?

Simple.

Choose not to choose. Then put your will in the hands others.

Yes, choosing not to choose is a choice. Problem is, when we make that choice we tend to forget we were responsible. And when we do, there are all kinds of mechanisms in place waiting to take over. That is what the whole advertising industry is set up to do.

It's not just corporations, leaders of every stripe salivate to take the reins. Television, radio, all media, drugs, alcohol, our teachers, ministers, rabbis, etc., all have a myriad of program to sell us.

'Buy this', 'buy that', 'believe this', 'vote for', 'fight against', etc. And fear is the greatest motivator of all. We assign control to others for protection.

All forms of government and most religions are ready, willing, and hyper ready to do our thinking for us. Giving away our power makes 'them' a whole lot of money.

Fred Thompson looks to recently have had a face-lift, apparently done with a power sander. No matter what it cost, it wasn't enough to banish the meanness.

That face-sanded picture was released the day he announced he was a non-candidate. Could be just a coincidence, but I don't think so.

Someone once said, "At twenty-five, we all have the face we were born with. At fifty, we have the face we earned." I prefer my politicians without orange hair and lifted puss. That way it's a bit easier to see what we're getting.

Arye Michael Bender

We are a culture that greedily gobbles down as many unhealthy foods as we can get our hands on. Why? Because we are constantly bombarded by advertising from every direction. The messages are aimed at the subconscious mind, and we must give in. Then we whine about growing so fat. That too is in the program.

The very same system that sells us on eating more, also sells us thousands of unworkable ways to lose the extra poundage. Our culture is poisoned with greed and guilt. And the shareholders and CEO's keep getting fatter -- on us.

Imagine a family in, let's say Iraq. They have access to satellite TV and watch Americans gorging themselves and complaining, while outside bombs drop and foreign invaders patrol what's left of their neighborhood with automatic weapons.

Any wonder why we are perceived as the devil?

- Arye Michael Bender -

We are in a wonderful time because so many sane ways for sustainable living abound.

Germany and Japan may have lost a war, but they are leading the globe in energy solutions. We can learn so much more once we drop our prejudices and see the advances other people are making.

We Americans see ourselves as 'consumers' and not human beings. A consumer is one who consumes. And we consume greedily what the capitalists want to sell, all for increasing their wealth, not our well-being.

We are incessantly being fed images of consumption:
bigger is better
supersize
show your neighbors who is better
might is right
status is important
money equals power
vote for me, the other guy is a liar
the more you use the more you help the economy
our product really works
take off those ugly pounds, etc.

Author and blogger Karen Shanley has a great post called Five Ways to Set Up Your Blog To Chase Readers Away. It's well worth reading, and has given me some ideas to think about on my various blogs.

I'm a recent convert to using an RSS reader rather than just regularly hitting my favorite blogs and sites. Part of what tipped the balance for me is the increasing use of feeds by non-blog sites. When I had a semi-regular schedule of sites I was checking for updates, it didn't make a lot of sense to me to handle blogs differently. Now most of my favorite regularly updated sites have feeds and I'm much happier using a reader.