Stop in the Name of Tripe.

The thing that pushed me over-the-edge, finally, was the apples you buy in the grocery store. 

It doesn't matter, Macintosh, Macoun, Northern Spy, golden delicious, red delicious, Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji or whatever. Each one has a small sticker attached to it so the cashier can type in the code of the apple, the system can keep track of inventory, and the store knows how much of what to buy.

This, like most things today is convenient for the seller and a pain in the ass for both the consumer and our planet which is already over-flowing with more garbage than you can shake a foam-peanut at.

Of course, you the consumer are left to deal with the disgusting idea of a sticker on each apple. A sticker made of plastic, stuck on with a chemical adhesive, that you can't peel off, you have to cut off.

Not to mention if you buy fruit or vegetables at the grocery store you stick them in plastic bags that take centuries to degrade in the environment. If you get a take out chicken, it's in more plastic. If you get a tube of toothpaste, there's enough packaging to package four or five more tubes.

And everything is packed in plastic.

Which is choking us.

Which is cheap, and therefore good for the seller, but impossible to clean up, which is bad for everyone.

Buying a box of raspberries should not lead to an environmental disaster.

But there's no escaping the control giant companies exert over us. 

They make a mess. 

We clean it up.

And pay for the privilege.

Last week I saw something on LinkedIn about some technocrat trillionaire (the non-tax-paying sort) suggesting applicants for jobs should have to pay $25 to have their application looked at.

I suppose that's like colleges charging you $100 to apply for the privilege of paying $90,000/year tuition. Or the giant companies who pay you through third parties and then seek to charge you if you want your money faster than their net 90.

As a friend said, "you have to pay them to get paid."

We are being killed by a thousand of these cuts everyday. Why do I have to turn off Microsoft's AI every time I open a word doc. I don't want it. I didn't ask for it. I want it gone. But you can't get rid of it. Even though I'm a subscriber. I'm a victim.

Same thing with Zoom. I don't need AI notes. I don't need AI to help me write an email. I don't need it when I try to order a hero at a local deli. In fact, I miss talking to someone and telling that person what kind of sandwich I want. AI will algorthmically tell me my sandwich will be ready in 15 minutes. The pimply kid might say (if he were ever trained) "it's crowded now, we'll have your sandwich in about 30 minutes."

Speaking of AI, will you just leave me the f alone, or show me one good thing it's done? Will you stop bludgeoning me with how great it is and actually show me something better--for me, not sam altman of elon murk. Why is my life being destroyed by people who look like shit trying to not look like shit? (I look like shit, but I don't care.)

Likewise, why am I subject to ads for credit cards and airline mileage programs before I'm shown the in-flight safety information on a flight. 

I think this all started with the giant soda companies, of whom I am no fan. (I haven't had a soda for over ten years.) They make the trash their trash is packaged in. They don't clean it up. They leave that to you. And pay you a nickel. 

Slave wages.

Meanwhile they tell us they're environmentally friendly. 

I'm tired of being used and mistreated by everyone bigger than I from a corporate hegemony point of view. I had to pay $85 to the IRS to get a form for a company in India to prove I pay taxes in the United States. The only ones who don't pay tax in amerika are those who can actually afford to.

I'm tired also of press-releases posing as news and no press--or no voices at all--calling out the lies. In ten years, WPP has gone from having 200,000 employees and $30B+ in market cap to having about 70,000 employees and $6B in market cap. Their "sticker on the apple" is:

"These leaders embody the strategic vision and creative excellence that define WPP. Their collective expertise will play a crucial part in helping me drive WPP to our next phase of growth and ensuring our clients continue to win in a rapidly evolving market.”

"___________, incoming chief operating officer at WPP, noted, 'I have been the luckiest person in the world, to have the best job in the world as ________CEO – and I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved together as a team."'

As Walter Brennan said in "Meet John Doe," written by Robert Riskin and directed by Frank Capra, "I know the world's been shaved by a drunken barber." 

Take a little off the crotch please, and remove the larynx all-together. 

It makes the excreta go down easier.