It's always fascinating which little ripple ends up making the big wave. Well, at least to weirdoes like me who are into organizational strategy.
At any rate, Susan G. Komen for the Cure is offering a front row seat to PR disaster this week. You see, they have the perfect niche. They make hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and there is very little probing of what exactly they do with all this money. Now some people who had no idea that the head of Komen is associated with the Bush Administration* will know that, will think of the organization in a political light. Now, some people who had no idea that an organization with 'for the Cure' in its very name doesn't actually do that much to find a cure will run across discussions of the budget and finances of the organization. Now, the bland, corporatey, nonpartisan branding niche Komen has so carefully crafted for itself over the years has been shattered. Now, a wide variety of people will be exposed to the difference between the talk of groups like Komen and the action of groups like Planned Parenthood. Now, corporate partners of Komen will hear negative feedback as well as positive regarding their financial involvement.
Personally, I'm on the Barbara Ehrenreich end of the pink spectrum, so, I don't particularly care what happens to the national fundraising ability of Komen. And there is some good commentary out there about the marketing angle in particular. I would highlight Dan York and Kivi Levroux Miller for Internet Posterity on this one. Perhaps the best illustration of how the story is out of Komen's control is when I googled Komen. The organization's website didn't even show up in the first page of the search results!
The particular perspective I would add to this commentary is to place this in the context of our collapsing paradigm of vanishing trust in all types of institutions. Know whether you're a big fish or a small fish. The Really Big Frauds are Too Big To Fail. They steal billions and no one says a peep because the government itself is guaranteeing their business model. But if you're a smaller niche, an organization that depends at some level on legitimacy among the general public, don't push your luck. Komen had it all - liberal women and corporate women (maybe corporate personhood debates can shed new light on gender identity?) Donating in Harmony. Did they really think adding a third party - rightwing prolifers - wouldn't upset the apple cart?
Who planned that strategy? Or perhaps more damaging, who didn't plan a strategy to deal with this?
*P.S. Wow, I didn't know Brinker (Komen's CEO) was actually a Pioneer for Bush. Check it out, she even has a profile page with Texans for Public Justice.
P.P.S. Is Komen really inflicting a double booboo on itself, in strict business jargon? Everybody knows coverups tend to cause worse problems than the underlying issue. If Jeffrey Goldberg is remotely close to any semblance of truth in his Atlantic article, then Komen is directly and plainly lying to people about its decision-making process. That can't end well; that's what makes these things drag on far longer.
2/02/2012
1/24/2012
shorter sotu 2012
War is Bipartisan. Yippeee! Look, I used an exclamation point, so it's optimistic!
I was looking at a USA Today questionnaire about the presidential race, and it does a great job of (unwittingly) capturing the impending irrelevance of the presidential election. My first-place match gave my answer in 3 out of 11 categories.
Oh, and my number 2 guy has already quit the race. I know virtually nothing about him. My number 3, well, she also is a quitter, and perhaps personally responsible for the great northern migration south. Obama didn't even rank in the top three.
This is like the opposite of 2000. It's shaping up to be the least important election of our time*. But the match game is fun, go check it out.
*Not that it's worth anything, but I remain unchanged in my opinion that this is still Obama's election to lose. Have you seen the GOP clowns? It's a bizarre world when Ron Paul can have so much fun annoying the establishments of both political parties. How is it that he, not the Democratic candidates, is the one inspiring productions like this?
By the way, check out the screen shot. OFA has money to buy airtime on obscure Ron Paul You Tube videos. That says about everything you need to know about our electoral system.
P.S. - Check out the You Tube video now. It's been taken down for copyright infringement!
I was looking at a USA Today questionnaire about the presidential race, and it does a great job of (unwittingly) capturing the impending irrelevance of the presidential election. My first-place match gave my answer in 3 out of 11 categories.
Oh, and my number 2 guy has already quit the race. I know virtually nothing about him. My number 3, well, she also is a quitter, and perhaps personally responsible for the great northern migration south. Obama didn't even rank in the top three.
This is like the opposite of 2000. It's shaping up to be the least important election of our time*. But the match game is fun, go check it out.
*Not that it's worth anything, but I remain unchanged in my opinion that this is still Obama's election to lose. Have you seen the GOP clowns? It's a bizarre world when Ron Paul can have so much fun annoying the establishments of both political parties. How is it that he, not the Democratic candidates, is the one inspiring productions like this?
By the way, check out the screen shot. OFA has money to buy airtime on obscure Ron Paul You Tube videos. That says about everything you need to know about our electoral system.
P.S. - Check out the You Tube video now. It's been taken down for copyright infringement!
11/12/2011
caught with his pants down
I've been thinking about the right idiomatic expression to capture the weekend, and this one keeps coming to mind.
The sane advice is to let things lay low, to be patient, to let stuff fizzle out. At least, that's the strategy I'd advise.
But you just can't help going for one more fix, one more rendezvous, even if it requires escalatingly hilarious, in retrospect, actions to hide what's happening. At some moment you're caught, your bluff is called, and the exposure itself is what is damaging; you still retain the technical authority to do what you want, but you find that people don't really want to do what they're told simply because they're told to do it.
The Mayor's Office, by its own gambit of escalation, got owned by a couple dozen nobodies* nobody is paying attention to. What strategist is mapping this out? The city abandoned any notion of urgency or danger to the public by its inability to carry out the threat at 3:00pm, with the cameras rolling. The absence of action at that time is the deafening silence of walking in on somebody with their pants down. All the noise thereafter is just that, noise.
And for what? A one night stand?
*okay, might be exaggerating slightly for effect here. It's called hyperbole. Or is it adynaton? Does anybody care?
Anybody?
The sane advice is to let things lay low, to be patient, to let stuff fizzle out. At least, that's the strategy I'd advise.
But you just can't help going for one more fix, one more rendezvous, even if it requires escalatingly hilarious, in retrospect, actions to hide what's happening. At some moment you're caught, your bluff is called, and the exposure itself is what is damaging; you still retain the technical authority to do what you want, but you find that people don't really want to do what they're told simply because they're told to do it.
The Mayor's Office, by its own gambit of escalation, got owned by a couple dozen nobodies* nobody is paying attention to. What strategist is mapping this out? The city abandoned any notion of urgency or danger to the public by its inability to carry out the threat at 3:00pm, with the cameras rolling. The absence of action at that time is the deafening silence of walking in on somebody with their pants down. All the noise thereafter is just that, noise.
And for what? A one night stand?
*okay, might be exaggerating slightly for effect here. It's called hyperbole. Or is it adynaton? Does anybody care?
Anybody?
11/11/2011
nothing happened
So for the first time I swung by the OccupySTL. Actually hadn't been down to Kiener Plaza in quite some time, perhaps not in over a year.
The city released an ultimatum to the group that has three fascinating legal angles for me, perhaps most fascinating now that nothing happened. First, the notion that the city would start strict enforcement of ordinances is a plain as day admission of how our two tiered justice system works - selective prosecution is so engrained in the system that it is not even hidden. The city document leads to the obvious conclusion that most city laws are enforced lackadaisically. They exist not so much as rule of law as tool of power. Second, saying effective immediately at 3:00pm sets up a binary choice of confrontation; there is no way for cooler heads to prevail without completely blinking. Third, what does the Constitution's protection of the right to assemble actually mean? Every big city government in the country takes money and other support from laws passed by Congress, and Congress quite explicitly is forbidden from passing any laws respecting the right of the people to peaceably assemble.
At this stage there is a lot of hunger for answers (answers that conveniently fit in an existing, authorized, enclosed box). One of the most subversive acts of the occupy movement, I think, is its focus first on trying to create space for the questions. The right questions then reframe the whole debate.
Which is of course what's so dangerous about letting the rabble gather in public. It destroyed the British empire.
The city released an ultimatum to the group that has three fascinating legal angles for me, perhaps most fascinating now that nothing happened. First, the notion that the city would start strict enforcement of ordinances is a plain as day admission of how our two tiered justice system works - selective prosecution is so engrained in the system that it is not even hidden. The city document leads to the obvious conclusion that most city laws are enforced lackadaisically. They exist not so much as rule of law as tool of power. Second, saying effective immediately at 3:00pm sets up a binary choice of confrontation; there is no way for cooler heads to prevail without completely blinking. Third, what does the Constitution's protection of the right to assemble actually mean? Every big city government in the country takes money and other support from laws passed by Congress, and Congress quite explicitly is forbidden from passing any laws respecting the right of the people to peaceably assemble.
At this stage there is a lot of hunger for answers (answers that conveniently fit in an existing, authorized, enclosed box). One of the most subversive acts of the occupy movement, I think, is its focus first on trying to create space for the questions. The right questions then reframe the whole debate.
Which is of course what's so dangerous about letting the rabble gather in public. It destroyed the British empire.
10/28/2011
historic
What a week. Oakland police shoot a veteran in the head. Brilliant strategy for mayors and police chiefs everywhere to emulate in showing which side they're on.
European leaders double down on bank bailouts at the expense of reforming the financial system. I'm sure European voters will love that. Plus, the economics of more leverage solving a problem of excess leverage makes obvious sense, and China, one of the poorest countries in the world, clearly should be investing in such a scheme. The classic win-win-win. Maybe the EU's banker-lackeys can hit up Turkmenistan and Algeria next. Or maybe the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Libya's gold has to be sitting around somewhere.
President Obama's approval ratings have fallen below 50% among Millennials, and a top Democratic fundraiser has openly protested a fundraising event. Representative Cantor is going around cancelling speeches that might be attended by actual Americans. The canon chancellor of St. Paul's cathedral in London has resigned because of pressure by the church and the financial district to use force against protestors. The son of the Vice President, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, has now launched a lawsuit directly against MERS.
But then, of course, there's the St. Louis Cardinals, with one of the most epic finishes in all of sports during one of the most epic finishes in all of sports. Makes the 0-2 Chiefs playing for the division lead on Monday Night Football on Halloween seem downright pedestrian. And what's up with the Big 12? Does it want to be a a major conference or not?
Eh, that can wait til next week.
European leaders double down on bank bailouts at the expense of reforming the financial system. I'm sure European voters will love that. Plus, the economics of more leverage solving a problem of excess leverage makes obvious sense, and China, one of the poorest countries in the world, clearly should be investing in such a scheme. The classic win-win-win. Maybe the EU's banker-lackeys can hit up Turkmenistan and Algeria next. Or maybe the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Libya's gold has to be sitting around somewhere.
President Obama's approval ratings have fallen below 50% among Millennials, and a top Democratic fundraiser has openly protested a fundraising event. Representative Cantor is going around cancelling speeches that might be attended by actual Americans. The canon chancellor of St. Paul's cathedral in London has resigned because of pressure by the church and the financial district to use force against protestors. The son of the Vice President, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, has now launched a lawsuit directly against MERS.
But then, of course, there's the St. Louis Cardinals, with one of the most epic finishes in all of sports during one of the most epic finishes in all of sports. Makes the 0-2 Chiefs playing for the division lead on Monday Night Football on Halloween seem downright pedestrian. And what's up with the Big 12? Does it want to be a a major conference or not?
Eh, that can wait til next week.
10/21/2011
only banksters get tarps
Wow, I wish I had thought of that. Classic.
The absurdities of our system are absolutely gut-bustingly hilarious. The world is changing, or perhaps more accurately, has already changed. It really is as simple as David Graeber lays out.
Qu'est-ce que le tiers-état?
The absurdities of our system are absolutely gut-bustingly hilarious. The world is changing, or perhaps more accurately, has already changed. It really is as simple as David Graeber lays out.
“We are watching,” I wrote, “the beginnings of the defiant self-assertion of a new generation of Americans...
Qu'est-ce que le tiers-état?
10/11/2011
baseball and wall street
I think the Occupy Wall Street crowd picked impeccable timing. The Yankees and Red Sox are both out of the playoffs. Detroit's the only team left even in the Eastern time zone.
With flyover country carrying the baseball battalion this year, might as well do something else. I'm sure this was an integral part of the planning.
Maybe a Cardinal will do some PR for Veterans for Peace. We could call it learning geography by protest. The corporate media in places like NY and LA might be shocked to learn we Midwesterners despise fraud and inequality and warmongering, too. Red and blue are for sports teams, not the Constitution.
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
With flyover country carrying the baseball battalion this year, might as well do something else. I'm sure this was an integral part of the planning.
Maybe a Cardinal will do some PR for Veterans for Peace. We could call it learning geography by protest. The corporate media in places like NY and LA might be shocked to learn we Midwesterners despise fraud and inequality and warmongering, too. Red and blue are for sports teams, not the Constitution.
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
8/30/2011
the idiocy of copy protection
When people wonder why there is such hostility to the intellectual property framework in the United States and how companies are allowed to inflict intentional damage into their products in the name of 'copyright protection', Blizzard is a poster child for some of the worst behavior. When you buy a software package from them, you don't actually buy the right to use that software on your computer. You buy the right to maybe sometimes use that software under certain circumstances solely under Blizzard's discretion.
Oh, but I forgot, hampered functionality is what customers are demanding. After all, as senior producer Alex Mayberry helpfully explained to MTV, "with our games as a whole we're tying everything into Battle.net these days...We can provide a much a much more stable, connected, safer experience than we could if we let people play off-line."
Ah, maybe it's just a rogue software developer. Oh, nope, senior executive Robert Bridenbecker shows it's a management decision, stating, "When you look at everything you get by having that persistent connection on the servers, you cannot ignore the power and the draw of that." Let's assume the guy hasn't made it to senior management by being a total idiot himself. Which leaves the only conclusion that DRM crap is, well, crap. Or in Blizzard's words:
How do you like them stable and connected and persistent apples? Apparently Blizzard customer service likes 'em so much they don't even respond to support requests. But the exclamation points make it all okay!
Update: Contrasting the corporate spin with the actual legal agreement is downright hilarious.
13. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES.
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS FOR YOUR USE, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND THOSE ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. BLIZZARD DOES NOT WARRANT THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICE AT THE TIMES OR LOCATIONS OF YOUR CHOOSING; THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE; THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED; OR THAT THE GAME CLIENT OR THE SERVICE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.
Oh, but I forgot, hampered functionality is what customers are demanding. After all, as senior producer Alex Mayberry helpfully explained to MTV, "with our games as a whole we're tying everything into Battle.net these days...We can provide a much a much more stable, connected, safer experience than we could if we let people play off-line."
Ah, maybe it's just a rogue software developer. Oh, nope, senior executive Robert Bridenbecker shows it's a management decision, stating, "When you look at everything you get by having that persistent connection on the servers, you cannot ignore the power and the draw of that." Let's assume the guy hasn't made it to senior management by being a total idiot himself. Which leaves the only conclusion that DRM crap is, well, crap. Or in Blizzard's words:
How do you like them stable and connected and persistent apples? Apparently Blizzard customer service likes 'em so much they don't even respond to support requests. But the exclamation points make it all okay!
Update: Contrasting the corporate spin with the actual legal agreement is downright hilarious.
13. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES.
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS FOR YOUR USE, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND THOSE ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. BLIZZARD DOES NOT WARRANT THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICE AT THE TIMES OR LOCATIONS OF YOUR CHOOSING; THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE; THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED; OR THAT THE GAME CLIENT OR THE SERVICE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.
8/24/2011
just a phone
Steve Jobs is so confident that the mobile computing space has been filled out that he's stepping down as CEO. What a run.
Guess my new old iPhone will be my last Jobs smartphone (just in the nick of time, to boot!).
Apple has so defined mobile computing that the 'post' era can simply leave off the smart. From crackberries to droids, they're just phones. We simply expect that our email, contacts, websites, maps, games, alarm clock, weather, sports scores, calendar, stocks, music, photos, and more are available at the touch of a screen. How long we've come since the time when my Nokia phone was stolen and it took me hours to key in phone numbers in that Motorola Razr.
Wanna bet he goes out with a bang this fall?
It will be fun to see what my first Cook phone will be. If the 3GS lasts nearly as long as my original iPhone, I may have to wait a few years!
Guess my new old iPhone will be my last Jobs smartphone (just in the nick of time, to boot!).
Apple has so defined mobile computing that the 'post' era can simply leave off the smart. From crackberries to droids, they're just phones. We simply expect that our email, contacts, websites, maps, games, alarm clock, weather, sports scores, calendar, stocks, music, photos, and more are available at the touch of a screen. How long we've come since the time when my Nokia phone was stolen and it took me hours to key in phone numbers in that Motorola Razr.
Wanna bet he goes out with a bang this fall?
It will be fun to see what my first Cook phone will be. If the 3GS lasts nearly as long as my original iPhone, I may have to wait a few years!
8/04/2011
government by dow 2011
So at work we were discussing some investment things, and it was mentioned that the stock market was down over 4 percent today. That's in one day.
I checked Yahoo Finance just now and yep, it's pretty bad.
'Government by Dow' has been a fun turn of phrase over the past few years, capturing government's capture of the common good by a much narrower set of interests on Wall Street. But when even Wall Street hates your policies, maybe it's time to rethink. Or at least ask, what is going on?
The day the 'grand bargain' a/k/a debt deal a/k/a CYA for cutting popular programs passed the House, the Dow fell from 12144 to 12132. Then on Tuesday, when it passed the Senate and Obama signed it into law, the Dow closed at 11867. Today, the Dow closed at 11384.
In chart form, the past five days look like this:
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Enjoy the ride.
But, I know, whocouldanode that idiotic public policy is bad? Or maybe the efficient markets theory is wrong, and The Market isn't right that the debt deal is awful.
Wait, what's that about unstoppable force hitting immovable object again?
I checked Yahoo Finance just now and yep, it's pretty bad.
'Government by Dow' has been a fun turn of phrase over the past few years, capturing government's capture of the common good by a much narrower set of interests on Wall Street. But when even Wall Street hates your policies, maybe it's time to rethink. Or at least ask, what is going on?
The day the 'grand bargain' a/k/a debt deal a/k/a CYA for cutting popular programs passed the House, the Dow fell from 12144 to 12132. Then on Tuesday, when it passed the Senate and Obama signed it into law, the Dow closed at 11867. Today, the Dow closed at 11384.
In chart form, the past five days look like this:
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Enjoy the ride.
But, I know, whocouldanode that idiotic public policy is bad? Or maybe the efficient markets theory is wrong, and The Market isn't right that the debt deal is awful.
Wait, what's that about unstoppable force hitting immovable object again?
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