The Capitalism Papers

What Hacker News says

1. dredmorbiusJul 2015
   Very much this.

   If you're not familiar with Adam Curtis's BBC documentary, The Century of the Self, on Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud (whom Bernays effectively made), and Anna Freud, as well as the influence of advertising, "public relations" (a term coined by Bernays), and propaganda (the term he coined PR to avoid) on the public, corporations, and govenrment.

   Also Jerry Mander's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, which is an ad-man's perspective on what is fatally flawed with his own industry. See also his later book, The Capitalism Papers.

   And of course, Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death and Technopoly.

   There've been a number of recent HN posts on how bloated websites are becoming, and how content is being watered down on the Web. Pretty much all of this can be traced to the current funding mechanism: advertising. Which is increasingly becoming the problem, not the solution. E.g., TJ VanToll's "The Web's Cruft Problem".

   Thomas Wells hits on what I see as the two most likely alternative funding mechanisms: a content tax, and philanthropy or patronage. Combining these with some form of decentralised content syndication compensation system seems like a possible path forward. The total value of the US arts and entertainment industry is $528 billion, of which publishing is $152 billion. If 20% of that is online content, it amounts to roughly $100 per person per year.

   Phil Hunt of Pirate Party UK's broadband tax proposal is an earlier and similar concept.

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Arguments_for_the_Elimina...

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Mander

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Postman

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technopoly

   "A Modest Proposal: Universal Online Media Payment Syndication" https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/1uotb3/a_modes...

   http://cabalamat.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/a-broadband-tax-fo...

   http://developer.telerik.com/featured/the-webs-cruft-problem...

   https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9897306

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2. dredmorbiusSep 2014
   First, the history of the practice of psychology, and the ills it's transacted against humanity, is exceptionally telling.

   The nugget though is buried in the tail of the piece:

   Craig Chalquist, PhD is a member of Psychologists for Social Responsibility.

   That is: there is an alternate organization.

   More on PsySR here: http://psysr.org/

   That said, the more the public knows about the list of terribles here, and Edward Bernays in particular, the better.

   I also very strongly recommend reading the works of Jerry Mander, an economics-trained advertising executive who paired up with Sierra Club organizer (and president) David Brower to create some of the first environmental advertising and outreach campaigns, co-founded Friends of the Earth (backed by ARCO CEO Robert O Anderson, ponder that), and has written a couple of highly worthwhile books, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television and The Capitalism Papers.

   http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-9780688082741-13

   http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9781619021587-0

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3. raintreesJul 2012
   And yet my first take-away from the article is that this seems to be another example of profits being more important than anything or anyone else.

   To me, it seems to be similar to decisions like the profits from the installation and operation of a dam in certain localities is more important than the heritage/sustainability/subsistence of the local indigenous population that had been living in the now flooded valleys for many (in some cases thousands?) of years.

   Or getting some return on stockpiles of chemicals that are illegal in one country by selling them to a country where they are not yet illegal. The reason they were made illegal usually being damage to ecosystems/humans/animals/whatever not as important than the almighty unit of currency.

   I kind of knew I was going to be depressed by reading Jerry Mander's The Capitalism Papers... Gotta pay more attention to my instincts. Sigh.

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