Starbucks De-Branding
Starbucks is making a move to “de-brand” themselves, obviously sensing the heat they’ve generated in an increasingly anti-corporate society that is simultaneously beginning to realize its mistaken faith in unlimited growth (read: suburban lifestyle). Sorry, make that unlimited growth on imaginary bases.
I don’t necessarily have a problem with Starbucks any more than I have with any other large corporation. Actually they’re known to treat their employees well, and can be considered the prime builder of generation-Y’s coffee culture (which has offered some positive effects). They have since become something a bit different: bad coffee (though I don’t care for coffee snobbery) and anti-trust grumblings are nothing to be surprised about. Watered down quality and insistence on expansion are the standard marks of growth. And then more growth. And then more growth.
Most of the public disapproval against Starbucks’ “experiment” is that, as one protest sign I found stated, “you can’t fake local”. What I see in this slick move is no different than the greenwashing in marketing nor any other attempt to capitalize on trends in popular culture.
Despite the claimed attempt to “give the community what they want” with initiatives like donation of baked goods to shelters, inclusion of beer and wine on the menu, and the featuring of poetry readings and live music, 15th Ave. Coffee and Tea will still fall into the watered down version of what a corporate directors think the community wants. I suppose thats ok for some, however, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the experiment succeed and further spread to more cities and markets. Markets, after all, reflect the desires of the people (though not an entirely objective spirit). The people, often enough, in pursuit of the ideal will settle for something short, something simply labeled local. Starbucks, being the stealthy businessmen that they are, know this, and are willing to give the people what they want.
Worth Reading: 1
I’ve been finding more peace lately in listening rather than talking. Reading, rather than writing. On that account, I’d like to offer up as regularly as I can, the thises and thats that I’ve found worth reading, whether I would agree with them or not. I would hope in this interval of mine of having fewer words to voice that anyone out there who regularly follows this blog will find these to be worth reading, and worth conversing.
Also, I’m tired of posting links only on facebook. Perhaps this will be less of a new thing, and more of a reorganized attempt and (vocalized) desire to share.
So here’s the first:
Empire Rebranded – by Nonviolent Jesus
The Illusion of Change – by Nonviolent Jesus
The folks at Nonviolent Jesus have posted occasionally in the past on the illusion offered up by the politics, particularly when popular preference can be wrangled. “The gushing enthusiasm over Obama has been manufactured in order to evoke the illusion of change.”
This article is a continuation of that tone and continues on into the true essence of rebranding: same thing, new appearance. The folks at Nonviolent Jesus have an angle on the political atmosphere and an ability to express the angle in ways I’ve seen unmatched. “The role of the Democratic party in the U.S. has always been to act as a lightning rod for social discontent.” Furthermore, they accurately rein in the likely true nature of the new administration, reminding me of Chomsky’s words that there are not two political parties in this country, but two factions of the same: the Business Party.
Recognizing the fog is one thing, finding a way through it is another. Nonviolent Jesus has that, I hope you enjoy the article(s).
Its The Economy, Stupid
From the song, Its the Economy, Stupid, by John McCutcheon. (via) Please check out the music, there’s much more to it.
The economy now has no borders
Or horizons
Or faces
Or hands
The economy has only one rule:
More.And the economy lies.
The economy tells us it is about Freedom.
The economy is about Dependence.
Not on land
Or animals
Or weather
Or neighbors
But
On machinery
And fuel
And credit.
Most farmers
Have borrowed their way
Right out of farming.
And
No government loan
No government program
Will change
That cycle.
Because the government
Is powerless now, see…
It’s the economy, stupidAnd the government is the economy’s
Biggest cheerleader.
It plays by the same rules:
The quick fix
The stronger army
The bigger bomb
The dependence on machinery
To do work
That can only effectively be done
By humans.
It consolidates
When diversity is required.
There Exists Decadence
I prefer to stay on the humble and complicit side of judgement or macro-diagnosis of the human march of tragedy. This fellow, Douglas Knight, simply states it so plainly, however, that I would feel the disservice in not reposting his remarks.
When wealth becomes the end, … there exists economic decadence. … When power becomes the end, you have political decadence; When pleasure becomes the end, you have moral decadence; and when emotions become the end, you have psychological decadence.
Perhaps the leading cause of this sort of statement going misunderstood or not even considered is the magnitude of brokenness. It hides in every crack and corner, under every rock, and in every fold of our understanding. I described recently to a friend, Mr. Wendell Berry’s explanation of the sacrifice of fulfillment for the sake of indulgence. This quote, and Mr. Knight’s short post are a reiteration of the oblivious movements of a culture on its way down the pipes. Read the rest of his article.
Breaks my heart, but we participate in the foolery if we expect life to its fullest as we imagine it.
On Localism
Localism stands against globalism, which isn’t to say that it is not concerned over the plight of other peoples. Rather, localism makes the case that globalism is actually one of the great oppressive forces in the modern world.
Positively defined, localism prioritizes community rather than growth.
Localism is skeptical of the Babelesque goals of globalism.
Loved Davey Henreckson’s bullet-point-oriented rundown of the objective value of localism. That is, not the selfish and protectionist stereotyped projection of localism. I particularly noticed his final point, a reference to Babel. I’m a fan of the imagery (at its very least) and Parker can attest to my over-use of the analogy. Read the article here. Bravo, Davey.
The Art That Calls This “Progress”
The world is babbled to pieces after
the divorce of things from their names.
Ceaseless preparation for war
is not peace. Health is not procured
by sale of medication, or purity
by the addition of poison. Science
at the bidding of the corporations
is knowledge reduced to merchandise;
it is a whoredom of the mind,
and so is the art that calls this “progress.”
So is the cowardice that calls it “inevitable.”
»» Wendell Berry, Given
Mr. Berry oft serves my conscience with clarity.
Empire, Still.
From Inhabitatio Dei:
…the imperial pretension of the American national project are not in any way reducibile to partisan differences within the American political apparatus. The differences between republicans and democrats, between Bush and Obama, as real as they might be are ultimately only differences of degrees.
(referring to the book American Empire by Andrew Bacevich)
For far too many “progressive” Christians being anti-empire just means being anti-Bush.
What is needed now, in light of the (false) hope of the newly inaugurated Obama presidency is ongoing critique of the problems of American empire.
We lived in an empire yesterday. We live in an empire today.
Not only is it foolishness to remove ourselves from our nationwide/worldwide complicity in charges of imperialism, placing them instead on the heads of public scapegoats, but it is equal foolishness not to remember it is a reality whose weight is not lost with the coming of January 20, 2009.
Uncomfortably Linked
Just using the name Jesus these days implies for some weird reason that we are talking about politics. Last I remembered those were 2 separate issues. There’s politics and then there’s religion, and to some extent they have to live in each other’s backyards, but I think everyone agrees that the two are overly linked at this point. They’re uncomfortably linked.
- Ben Folds, interview with Relevant Magazine, January 2007
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