CORPORATE THINK IS TOXIC TO HUMANS

"Ghost Tree"

Copyright © 2020, Silver Parnell

All rights reserved.

Throughout my life, I have instinctively avoided interactions with large corporate structures, both at work and at home. Nearly all of my jobs, except for when I wrote for television, were in small businesses. Whenever I rented an apartment I tried to rent only from individuals who had a few properties. I did not want to become enmeshed in systems that I sensed weren't healthy.

The Hindus would say that my attraction to light and health was a natural orientation to the sattvic realms. Even though the salary and the benefits weren't quite as good as what the large businesses offered, I had a sense of dread when I contemplated working for big business.

In my youth, I could not have told you exactly why I was inclined in this direction, because it was an intuitive thing, but now that I've got a lot of years (and experiences) under my belt, I've realized just why.

The entire operating principles behind big business are calculated to maximize the most profits for the fewest people. These organizations rely upon being able to capitalize on the work of a large number of people in order to shove all the profit to the top handful of decision makers. Meanwhile, most of the wage earners barely make enough to put a roof over their heads and food on the table.

American corporations took their inspiration from a plantation mindset. It IS "the American way" to take advantage of people who lack resources by enslaving them in a system that capitalizes on their value and misappropriates it to the benefit of the tiny ruling class.

Even the customers or clients that these big organizations are supposed to be served are NOT served by them at all. Let me explain:

Because a corporation is an anonymous, faceless thing, it has no ethical restraints and no conscience. Employing tricks, such as 'bait and switch' and making clients 'buy a pig in a poke' because the business hasn't informed them of crucial facts surrounding their purchase of goods or services, is quite common. Because the dictum from on high is always to squeeze the most profits possible from the enterprise,the lengths to which these companies will go in meeting that guiding standard has no limits.

In small business, however, even if the paradigm is similar, the human being in charge of the place is usually visible, knowable, reachable, and can be reasoned with (theoretically.)

Unfortunately, corporation mind think has become so prevalent that it has become nearly impossible to operate in this culture without involving oneself in it. This week, I have had a number of run-ins with toxic corporate culture, and there is little to nothing that I can do about it.

I am an expert genealogist and have a family tree of more than 70,000 people in it. I have been working on it since 1978, and there are thousands of hard hours invested. There was no internet in 1978. In order to gather documents and photos, I had to pound the pavement, go to libraries, watch hours and hours of microfilm and microfiche, and physically get down into the work of digging out the facts behind ancestors lives.

Mistakenly, I believed that when the Mormon site "Family Search" said that by using their site, my tree would be "public," it meant the same thing that typically comes to mind, and the same thing that Ancestry.com means by the term. "Public," to me, meant that my tree would be viewed by the public. INSTEAD, this group of wackos has decided that "public" means that my tree belongs to them, that I can never remove it from their site, and that anyone and everyone who registers with them can make changes to the tree I spent YEARS creating.

"You AGREED that your tree was public," the woman intoned, in a smarmy, smug sort of monotone. I had clearly bought a pig in a poke. They had deliberately hidden the reality of the situation in a dense bit of legalese that even I, a person with years of experience in legal contracts, did not perceive. I tried to reason with the woman, but reason has no place in corporate mind control. The woman just kept repeating the same excuse. This is the way it is because we decided that this is the way it is.

I went to report them to the Better Business Bureau and discovered that the Mormon site "Family Search" ALREADY has an "F" rating because there have been at least three prior complaints about them, and the organization didn't even bother to ANSWER the complaints.

Corporations do not care about reputation. Corporations have no shame - even when that corporation is manned by people who claim to have an ethical life.

The Mormons used to have my respect. While I thought their theology was nutty, I appreciated that most of the Mormons I had met were very ethical and kind people. But even customarily good people are stripped of their ethical souls when they cooperate in the corporate mind.

I went ahead and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, but I don't expect to prevail because the Mormons will likely just ignore my complaint, as they have ignored all the others. This type of business isn't regulated, and if you have a dispute about a contract, you basically have to sue the company. Who has the money for that?

The only thing I can do is something that will help other people, which is to warn everyone away from using that site.  Doing something that will inhibit their ability to con other people is the only thing that might have any effect on the corporate mind. In other words, only a threat to the underlying principle of maximizing profits might work to get them from sitting on me and impinging on my copyright.

I had an experience with Amazon that wasn't as personally devastating, but was still annoying, to say the least. I purchased an item on which they offered payments "once a month," but it wasn't until AFTER they had already shipped the item that they sent me an email outlining a payment schedule that was once every 30 days, so that the payment date shifted every month, from the 3rd, to the 2nd, to the 1st! Obviously, most months have 31 days - not 30. I get paid on the 3rd, so there is at least one month where my one and only check has to take a "hit" for two payments, rather than one.

The Amazon people were no more helpful than the Mormons. "This is the way it is because this is the way it is," is what one is ALWAYS told, in essence. The arbitrariness of the corporate mind can't be argued with - because it is NOT HUMAN. After I discontinued the "chat" with the Amazon agent, she went in and cancelled one of my OTHER orders, then sent me an email about that other order. I don't know if she did it in retaliation for my having been upset or what. I had to RE-order that item, then call the company AGAIN and speak to yet another agent. He wasn't able to change the payment program, but he did promise to report the previous agent, which doesn't actually help me at all.

Yesterday, I received a generic email from Consumer Cellular, a terrible telephone company that drops nearly every call I get, sends me my voice mail messages a MONTH after someone leaves one and produces text messages DAYS after they are sent by friends. The email advised me that the 3G phone I JUST purchased from them will no longer be able to be used because they are changing their service. Only 4G and 5G will be accommodated. They obviously knew this for a long time before I bought that phone from them, but they didn't advise me. NO SHAME.

I was already planning to go to T-Mobile, as my research had indicated that theirs was the most reliable service at my location, as soon as I got paid, so I spent a good 40 minutes setting up a new phone service, including a credit check and all that entails. It wasn't until the END of that long experience that the woman told me she was charging me $20.00 to set up my account and another $10.00 to pay for the SIM card. I told her I wasn't going to be activating my account for a week or 10 days. She indicated that as along as I activated within 14 days, I would be fine.

What happened? I got an email this morning from T-Mobile telling me that my account has been activated! It included information on how to get the phone up and working. I don't even have the SIM card yet! I had to call the company AGAIN and complain.

The reason why they activate your phone service before you are even able to USE it is so they can charge you for time that you don't use. Again - NO ETHICS.

In this case, I was able to get them to DE-activate the account until I decide to activate it. The agent, as is the case with SO many agents in these corporations, barely spoke English. Likely, she was sitting at a phone bank in some other country where labor is even cheaper than America. Every time she asked me a question, I would try to answer and she would interrupt me and start talking, even when she was asking me for information to verify my identity. Then, of course, she didn't hear my answer because she was too busy talking. Even after I asked her to stop and just let me answer her, she continued to do it. I think it may have something to do with a cultural difference in the pace of conversation.

On the other hand, I've noticed that Americans often can''t be bothered to wait for me to finish a sentence before they're talking over me. This happened when I called JoAnn Fabrics a couple days ago. When I objected, she said that there were only two people in the shop, and of course I understand this. When the underlying dictum is to squeeze as much money out of the business as is possible, there are never enough workers. Corporate mind requires that there never be enough employees to actually do the job well. Quality is always sacrificed when the corporate decree is operational.

In addition, the corporate conglomerate has formed into an interconnected thing. It forces consumers to continue to "upgrade" their services and equipment because they make it mandatory in order for the customer to FUNCTION. For example, I purchased some Rit Dye from JoAnn Fabrics online web page for a clothing project a few months ago. The sale price was only good for a "pick up" order, so after I ordered and paid for the dye, I called the store to make sure it was ready for me before I trekked all the way out there [My disabilities make it extremely difficult for me to get out and about. Energy has to be conserved.]

In the course of the conversation, the JoAnn employee informed me that they would NOT release my purchases to me because, even though I have several forms of picture identification, including a current New Mexico Drivers License, as well as a PASSPORT, they would only let me have my purchases if I presented them with a copy of the email they sent me confirming my purchase. Since I had neither a cell phone nor a printer at that time, I could not show them the email on my phone, and I could not print it out either! Nor would they give me my money back! I had to wait 4 days until the temporary hold for the funds had dropped off my bank's radar, after which I could not find that color of dye ANYWHERE. Every once in a while, I check around to see if I can find it, with no luck.

Before the internet, I used to be able to call a store, find out if they had an item, have the proprietor hold the item for me, and go in and get it.

The corporate mind typically ignores what the client may want or need. Arbitrary changes to the Facebook platform and now Google Blogger have me tearing out my hair. BOTH of these companies have decided to fiddle with their platform, making changes that none of us really wants. It appears that they have changed it to be more like all the other sites that cater to people who bury their noses in their phones all day.

Before long, none but the most talented computer geek will be able to make sense out of the internet or use it for anything but the most basic search functions geared toward leading people to corporations that want to sell us stuff.

I would say that we should fight the corporate mind, but I don't know how one could do that, aside from maintaining mindfulness and taking proper care of our mental hygiene. I am just going to try not to use corporate services any more than I have to - but what can I do? I am disabled and mostly home bound. I need a phone. I need to order groceries and other necessaries to be delivered to me. Everywhere I turn, I am being forced into service to the corporate mind after a lifetime of avoiding it.

The changes to this platform - "Blogger" - will force me to use it less and less. The changes to Facebook will likewise repel me. While I have enjoyed making contact with a wider group of people throughout the world, I am afraid that it is becoming so klunky and difficult to navigate that it is no longer something I want to do, since I am not interested in being one of those people whose nose is always pressed against my telephone screen.

This reminds me of something that happened during my last surgery at University of New Mexico Hospital. I WOKE UP DURING SURGERY to find that the anesthesiologist was reading his email. I told him, "Hey! I'm awake! Get off your phone and put me back to sleep!" Without even looking at me or moving his face away from his phone, he extended his hand to a lever somewhere out of my sight, and I went under again.

Years from now, when history books recount about how the internet got broken, something about the corporate mind will be blamed.

I remember now how very happy I was when I joined the Vedanta Convent and only had 3 keys on my key ring. I didn't have to pay any bills. I didn't have to own a car. We had two of them in the garage. The downside of being independent is wrestling with the corporate mind and being enslaved to it, due to the necessities of disabilities. Every state of life has a price.

God bless us all.

Silver "Rose" Parnell
(Sannyasini Kaliprana)

Copyright © 2020, Silver Parnell
All rights reserved.

WHAT I AM WATCHING NOW (SPOILER ALERT!)

Florence  Foster Jenkins

(nee Narcissa Florence Foster)

1868-1944

I don't require what you might traditionally call "entertainment" these days, as I find certain types of WORK to be my happiest compulsions; things like genealogy research which leads so naturally into historical research, and the making of hats for the homeless...or the occasional cold mail delivery lady. Writing is terrible work, and I just hate it, but I can't seem to get away from it as it also entertains me, in a grim fashion.

Having been given a television during the last year...and quite a large one (to accommodate my failing vision), I DO watch several programs, but I can't seem to generate much interest in anything more than the news channels, and I watch them all, even Faux News Channel, which seems to give credibility to some incredible things and which gives me anxiety, so that channel gets short shrift from me. Everything else, though, as long as people aren't arguing loudly over one another, I will "watch." Actually, the television might as well be one huge radio because I can't bear to just SIT there and watch it. I must be doing something else besides.

Crochet, painting and house cleaning are good accompaniments, except when doing dishes. I have to keep turning off the water to catch the drift of what's being discussed, now and then.

It goes without saying that there are certain PBS programs that are sacrosanct, and I watch them as if I am in a movie theatre; enrapt in the story line and watching every movement in the actors' faces, as if I am one of those human lie detectors I've heard about, the ones who watch the micro movements beneath the skin of a person's face and can tell when they're lying. When Downton Abbey finished its final season, I felt as if a best friend had died. There was so much about that series that I appreciated!

The beauty of the surroundings, the stately movement of time that became less stately over the long haul and more herky jerky over the landscape of what I consider to be a bad bit of historical geography. Anything later than 1925 is on shaky ground with me. Everything became so coarse after that time, while at the same moment congratulating itself that everything was becoming modern.

The grand dowager, Lady Grantham, if you haven't guessed, was my favorite character, and she took something of me with her when she disppeared from my weekly ritual of Downton Abbey worship. She represented the old guard which, to me, seemed very beautiful and lovely in many of its habits.

Recently, however, I was given a discount coupon from my internet carrier so that I could watch a pay-on-demand movie for free. I could have watched one in "high definition" and used up the whole $6.00 THAT way, but instead I decided to watch two movies in "standard def" so that I could have a double feature on an especially painful evening when I didn't have the energy to crochet or write. I got the first movie for free and then paid only $5.00 for the second one, which means each one cost $2.50 (in my mind, anyway.)

As luck would have it, I had snacks in the house, which is a rare thing. I typically eschew anything that isn't real food; that is to say, bread, eggs, fruits, veggies, meat, beans, nuts, seeds, filtered water. This year, when a friend called me from the grocery store and asked me what I wanted, I asked for "goodies" to share with any of the other old lady neighbors who may drop by. It's usually just my friend Ruby, but you never know. Anyway, I had PIE. It wasn't a very good pie, as it turned out, because it had NONFAT MILK in it, which makes me dreadfully sick, but I didn't know about the nonfat milk until it was too late. Anyway, I got to have my movie night with pumpkin pie that would not blow up inside me until a few hours later.

The movie blew up immediately, however. Forever the anglophile, I chose BRIDGET JONES'S BABY as the first feature. Never mind that the starring actress is actually an American. She did a fair job of ACTING as a Brit in the first film, so I thought she'd be good in this sequel.

Mind you, I am not one of those people that hate sequels. I will give them a chance, especially since I always have trouble remembering the FIRST film of the series, so I don't usually catch the little bumbles. If I happen to be sharp enough to catch a flub in the sequel, I yell to no one in particular, "continuity!" as if I was still in the movie business, watching to make sure that a 1960's timepiece didn't show up in a scene that was supposedly from the 1940's! The dog reacts in amusement whenever I talk to myself like this. He thinks his little human has gone mad...or something.

So, Bridget Jones's Baby immediately slapped me in the face with the most vulgar language and innuendo I could possibly imagine, even to the not-so-vague references to the size of a man's genitals, while all her girlfriends kept telling her, in the most chipper way, that she needed to have sex. This is where I learned that, while the first movie ended on a happy note that led us all to believe that Bridget was, finally, ending up with the equally adorable Mr. Darcy, it had not actually worked out with them, and they'd called it quits after 10 years together.

In this second movie Bridget is the head of a similar department in which she had suffered while juggling her boss and Mr. Darcy in that first movie. She has a vulgar sidekick who is the on-screen interviewer for their news program. Said chipper sidekick  pulls Bridget away for a girls weekend at a spa, supposedly, but has actually booked them into a yurt at some muddy rock festival where extremely short blue jean cutoffs are the costume of choice, despite the grim and continual rain.

Now, mind you, Bridget is, by this time, 43 years old, we are told, and the bloom is definitely off that rose. She's lost that bungling sweetness we loved about her in the first film. The camera keeps zooming in on her tight and trim upper thighs where they meet her bum, perhaps to keep us from looking at her face that wears a pained and rigid expression through most of the film. Or perhaps the cameraman got distracted.

I would suspect botox, except that an entire field of terrified wrinkles moves across her cheek bones whenever she mistakenly makes an expression. You could see those micro-expressions from outer space. I'm not being mean. Wrinkles are lovely when one is SMILING, but I can't tell you what to call that expression that happens on her.

It goes from bad to worse. In an extremely awkward set of scenes, she has sex with a man at the rock festival and then sex with her ex, Mr. Darcy, and ends up preggers, having to string along the both of them until they can figure out who is the father. (She won't submit to an amniocentesis test, with that long needle, and I don't blame her a bit.)

The movie slams from one nauseating scene to another, something like a distressed boat on the high seas during a deep sea fishing trip that's gone bad, with the audience mourning dear little Bridget who has obviously died before the movie began, and everyone is vomiting from sea sicknesses and sorrow.

Actress Emma Thompson puts in a highly credible performance as Bridget's gynecologist and is wryly funny despite the lukewarm jokes they make her say. She's a trooper, that one, and it was a relief to see her every time she popped up.  In fact, she may have saved our lives.

The ONLY laugh I got out of the whole movie was when dear Mr. Darcy was trying to carry this balloon of a pregnant woman through the streets of London whilst in labor. His facial expressions were priceless. The second man meets up with them halfway to the hospital, at which point carrying Bridget becomes a two-man job. We could have used a few more good men to carry this film.

Eventually, while giving birth, Bridget realizes she's still in love with Darcy and holds his hand with both of hers, leaving the other guy to just deal with it on the periphery. It was a clunky, heavy scene, with closeups of the hands involved. 1940's, anyone?

So, finally, I have arrived at my POINT.  Our modern world continues to express surprise that women want love, devotion, and family ties, NOT free-wheeling sexual encounters in yurts at rock concerts. We don't want to wait until we're 43 to have babies and get married. Careers, while wonderful and captivating, simply do not replace what we really want. We are biologically programmed for partnership, love and family. God created us for one another, and we keep pretending that it isn't necessary or that we can put it off until our FORTIES, or, indeed, forever...just fornicating our lives away until we're too old to do otherwise.

The developed world keeps fighting biology. Our prime baby making years are between the ages of 15 and 25, which makes sense, given that we are born with every egg we shall ever have. The older we grow, the older the eggs, and the more chance for birth defects or infertility. Believe me, I have heard all the reasons why couples shouldn't marry young or have children young, but the proof is in the pudding. What we are doing now does not work and is just plain sad.

The bleak and sodden love story that is BRIDGET JONES'S BABY is, in my mind, a cautionary tale, at best. Mostly, it is a bad movie because it is inauthentic. It tries to push concepts that do not work in real life. There are no happy feelings at the end of this movie.

Modern ideas about sex, love, marriage, children and abortion are all engineered and fueled by our hyper-capitalistic society, the corporate obsession with money. In short, it all boils down to GREED, but those of us suffering under the consequences of this soul-killing way of looking at the most important aspects of life are not even the people that BENEFIT from the modern philosophies about family, sex, etc. CORPORATIONS are the beneficiaries of this sort of cultural expression. If the corporations can keep us slaving away underneath them, (making slave wages), then the corporations and the CEOs at the top of the heap can benefit. Oblivious to the way that we are being used, movies like BRIDGET JONES'S BABY act like the Nazi propaganda films, trying to get us all heated about our "right" to kill our children or to put off conceiving for so long that children don't enter into the picture or there are damn few of them.  Bridget Jones is a success!  She is the boss at the news studio, churning out entertainment news, making the guy at the top of the heap very wealthy...and she can STILL have a baby, even though her eggs are geriatric. See, people? We can have it all.

Frances Foster Jenkins is also a movie about love, based upon a true story about a socialite who adored classic music and wanted to sing, sing, sing, but she had a tin ear and the vocal chords of a drunken raptor. I loved that movie, and I don't want to ruin it for you because it gives the payoff that Bridget Jones's Baby never could. I hope you see both movies and you can make your own comparisons.

God bless us all.

Silver Rose