Friday, February 25, 2005

A President's Day sale on Liberty and Freedom

"Patriotic" sales week is here, and you know what that means........ The selling of Our icons and heroes for corporate profit!The Statue of Liberty shown here smiling and giving her image to the Norwegian Cruise Liner as it passes by. Former presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln reduced to cartoon car salesmen selling the latest Honda. Liberty has become an airport in Newark, NJ and a WNBA team, and freedom.... Freedom is just another Jeep Grand Cherokee. Freedom is a side order to a hamburger for those stuck in the ignorance of early 2003. Not to mention the countless advertisements using Our flag, a disrespect far greater than burning, in my opinion. How can we maintain respect for the institutions and ideals Our "fore-fathers" and the countrymen before and after them "brought forth", when their images and ideas are used by corporations to sell products and make profits with no respect for the historic significance of the words and images they use? Isn't it enough that our stadiums, events, and streets have the names of corporations plastered all over them? Do we really have to yield everything we believe in for the bottom line of some company, foreign or domestic?

"Disillusioned words like bullets bark, to flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark, that not much is really sacred. Advertising signs that con you. You suddenly find you got nothing to fear when a trembling distant voice, unclear, they really found you." -Bob Dylan from It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

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