Internet and Social Control

[Paul Mackin]

On Fri, 2003-06-27 at 12:24, pynchonoid wrote:
> A good way to learn how to counter, oppose,
> neutralize, or otherwise deal with an oppressive
> institution is to understand, in detail, how it works,
> and make that information widely available.
> 
> The princples and tactics discussed in _Firebrands_
> not only help brand managers induce customers to
> remain loyal to their brands, forsaking all others --
> they can also be used by people who'd like to counter
> the efforts of corporations to colonize and control.


Damage control.

P.
> 
> It may not be as exciting a project as, say,
> interpreting Pynchon in a way that lends support to
> the Bush Administration's foreign and domestic
> policies, but it wasn't a bad day's work either. 
> 
> Mackin:
> > > Doug is talking about a book called Firebrands
> > that he mentioned in an
> > > earlier post. I was curious about this and found
> > there actually was such
> > > a book with Doug's name on the cover as co-author.
> >  See
> > >
> > >
> >
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0072124490/ref=lib_rd_ss_TFCV/002-6863494-7817659?v=glance&s=books&vi=reader&img=1#reader-link
> > >
> >
> <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0072124490/ref=lib_rd_ss_TFCV/002-6863494-7817659?v=glance&s=books&vi=reader&img=1#reader-link>
> > >
> > > However this discovery raised more questions than
> > it answered.  Looking
> > > only as far as the preface,  including "why I
> > wrote this  book," and the
> > > back cover, the book is obviously aimed at
> > corporate marketing types and
> > > is concerned primarily if not totally with better
> > and more efficient
> > > ways of leading consumers into buying increasing
> > numbers of products
> > > whether they need them or not. In other words its
> > aim is to make rich
> > > capitalists even richer.  What's wrong with that
> > you may ask. Well,
> > > nothing is particularly wrong with it. But the
> > question crying out for
> > > an answer is how could our Doug. after his
> > association with Michael
> > > Moon, who is some kind of marketing guru (with an
> > overlay of religion
> > > and Max Weber) and  the obvious driving force
> > behind the book and its
> > > philosophy, turn so rabidly anti-capitalist?  Was
> > it guilt or just
> > > somethimg Michael said?
> > >
> > > Of course the book has nothing to do with
> > government control.
> > >
> > > P.
> 
> 
> It's not about the P-list either, nor does
> _Firebrands_ address an infinitely long list of things
> you might mention.  But what it does cover -- how
> brand managers can use the Internet to win customer
> loyalty -- it treats very well. 
> 
> What has steadily, insidiously improved since then, of
> course, making humanist arguments almost irrelevant,
> is the technology. We must not be too distracted by
> the clunkiness of the means of surveillance current in
> Winston Smith's era. In "our" 1984, after all, the
> integrated circuit chip was less than a decade old,
> and almost embarrassingly primitive next to the
> wonders of computer technology circa 2003, most
> notably the internet, a development that promises
> social control on a scale those quaint old
> 20th-century tyrants with their goofy moustaches could
> only dream about. 
> --Thomas Pynchon, Foreword to _1984_
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> =====
> <http://www.pynchonoid.org/>
> 
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