French Fries...and Action!

I was being dragged around a large department store the other day for the post-Christmas sales. I hate clothes shopping for two main reasons: the first is that I look good in practically anything I wear and apparently most of the enjoyment in shopping comes from walking through miles of shops in search of something that looks good. The second is that my retail "experience" is always pretty feeble. You know, people trying to sell you a $90 T-shirt with increadible features like "Calvin Klein" written on it in big letters. As I was walking throgh this shop I was startled by a shriek from a saleswoman: "Watch out! There are fries on the ground!"

She was right. I looked down and found that I was about to step in some french fries that someone had carelessly dropped on the floor of her section. I looked up to thank her for her warning, but she was on the phone. As I evesdropped shamelessly on her conversation, it became apparent that she was speaking with the stores' maintainence department to arrange for someone to come and clean up the spilt fries. I counted nine of the little bastards, and as I walked away I heard her crying out her warning to another passing shopper.

I asked someone at the stores front deask why the saleswoman didn't simply pick them up herself. Apparently it would "diminish her creadibility with respect to the [expensive] clothes" if she was seen doing manual chores. I didn't think so. I think it diminished her creadibility with respect to her intelligence.

As an Echo Boomer (born somewhere in the 80s or 90s) mine is a typical response: just pick up the damned fries. It seems that years of Nike advertising as worked: Echo Boomers Just Do It.

A few months back, Kazaa was found guilty of encouraging copyright infringments throught its "Join The Revolution!" advertising campaign. It just so happens we are in the middle of one, but Echo Boomers don't need to be told to "Join The Revolution". Although we are social animals, we just do our own thing and if it happens to coincide with a "revolution" then so be it. The idea that someone needs to be encouraged to "Join The Revolution" assumes that young people live in some kind of existential vacume when in fact, Echo Boomers do very little without consulting their friends.

Besides, there are only two reasons why anyone goes to the Kazaa website:

1) You already know what Kazaa is, what it does and want to download it.

2) You already know what Kazaa is, how badly it performs and enjoy laughing at their advertising copy.

Copyright holders should probably be thankful that tech-savvy Echo Boomers arn't as violent as other revolutionaries have been throughout the ages. Battles for power are increasinly being fought with computer networks: information, disinformation, hacked databases full of exposed secrets and compromised security systems. Corporations are the "nouveau bourgeois" and this revolution will be just like the French one of 1789, except with fewer decapitations. Power will be taken from those who have abused it and returned to the masses.

Unfortuntatly, Echo Boomers are so good at filtering advertising and ignoring stupid laws that there is a very real danger that this younger generation won't be able to enjoy these traits in the future. Unless we start playing by the old systems a bit, all the worst type of predictions of the future may come true. Things like your inability to write an email client without paying patent royalties, your right to hold a private conversation, the game mod you're allowed to play, the server you can use without going to jail, the format you can store your digital music on.

Imagine everything that can now be done with the internet. Now imagine that you can't do it any more. You have to stop that becoming a reality, because the alternative means missing out on the benefits brought by the most technologically advanced society to ever exist on our small planet.

Write a letter, send a fax or email, call someone up and let them know you're not happy - your elected representatives are a good start. Seen a bogus statement quoted as "fact" by the mainstream media outlets? Send 'em an email telling them they're wrong and CC your frineds in while your at it. Let them know that if you're going to be spending the rest of your life in this rapidly changing world, you're not going let it be shaped by some corporate lawyers to suit the interests of big business.

Make this your little mission for 2006 and get the message out before it's too late. Just Do It™