Dyson's Fear 3.0

And yet another thing...

I think I finally figured out why I'm so against 'healthy living' proponents, who preach exercise and diet, and that's that they're making money off of it. Of course, they're going to preach it, because the more you believe the more money you'll bring their way.

Now, that's not to say that I'm in anyway discouraging healthy living. I'd never do that, and despite my own issues with health and weight, it is the right way to go. What I do have issues with is the type of people who appear on CityTV/CP24 to sell healthy living.

Actually, it's more of a rant on CityTV/CP24, who should include a disclaimer at the beginning of each show to warn that the people being interviewed are selling you a service, and may not be acting in your best interest. They talk to a person from Edward Jones, they're selling Edward Jones. Talk to a person from a fitness centre, they're selling the fitness centre. Don't get me started on diminished value of HomePage.

We're talking about covert pseudo-infomercials, as I'd like to assume that they aren't being paid to talk to these guests, and they're selling it as news. Gone are the days of MediaTelevision, and it's lessons about 'the art of persuasion', that's for sure.

We're living in a dystopia (well, maybe anti-utopia, but that's more of a semantic argument), folks, and people are just blindly accepting it. For example, according to stats released today, SUV sales went up 25% and people are still complaining about the price of gas. You're letting this happen people, and you seem to be happy to do so.

Why? Because the media tells you to. If you're against it, you're just crazy, because it's just how things are and you have to accept it. If you point back to the media, they claim innocence, and then point their fingers at other parts of the media.

Which leads me back to CityTV/CP24.

Ever notice how they'll run a story on how hard it is for girls growing up today thanks to the media's portray of the 'perfect' body type, and how it's okay to be whatever shape you are, then they air a Perfect Fit segment saying that kids are fat and it's a bad thing? No wonder it's difficult, one mouth says it's okay if you're not thin, and the other says it's unhealthy. Sure, they never out-right say that it's okay to be fat, but it's implied. Also, look at the freaking Peferct Fit logo. It's a slim, perfect body.

It's dystopia. It's nowhere as obvious as Blade Runner, but Rick Deckard is in the shadows somewhere, and Philip K. Dick is probably smiling while he turns in his grave. It's why William Gibson doesn't write SF any more, because the world caught up with him, and did so very fast. He can write the same sort of story he would've written in the 80s, and set it in the here and now, with only a few tweaks to the technology.

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."

Indeed.

Labels: rant

posted by Jason @ 10:25 AM