Friday 7 March 2014

Contrived, Corporate and Controlled – By Design


It took me several days to figure out what was bothering me and it was the same nagging feeling that arose 50 years ago in New York about an economy based on SPEND, BUY, WASTE, WANT, and BORROW.  I called it the cycle of the new economic imperatives and my conflict came about because of my early training in values that were based on SAVE, USE, KEEP, HAVE and GIVE.  For me, it is still more about what can you give rather than what can you get.  We are still in the process of downsizing and that may continue for awhile longer.

A week in Dizzyworld would not have been my first choice but due to a national conference being held at the Swan and Dolphin hotels, that’s where we were from February 23 through March 1.  We wouldn’t have had to be there that long but being mobile, we stayed in Ft. Wilderness, a far better choice for us than one of the hotels and a bit more reasonable as well.  As campgrounds go, it was more than adequate and fairly convenient too.

My observations of Disney however, took a slightly different turn.  After a couple of days, I concluded that their motive is not creativity and entertaining the masses but rather the same motive as Mc Donald’s, Starbucks, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and the Banks of America.  The bottom line is the bottom line and profit is the name of the game.  I am not against capitalism.  I am more concerned about people depending on external and somewhat artificial sources for internal satisfaction. Never mind the creation of Princesses and Pirates and all the crap that goes along with merchandising.

My wife made a comment that also left me a little disturbed and relieved when we drove away from Orlando.  She said that the Park, that is, the not so magic kingdom, reminded her of a military base!  Yep, it had everything except guns at the gates.  It really would be an easy conversion of the 23,000 acres and 6500 employees.  Now my question is, who would they keep there?  Oh, I get it.  They already have them, the thousands of American families who are captive in the contrived, corporate and controlled environment that is so much like one big movie set.  Fantasyland for sure!

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