18 Comments

My sentiments exactly. Good article Bill and will be linking it today @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/

Seems to me almost 75% of the ads on tel-lie-vision and radio are drug commercials any more. They also have a drug for every possible ill and ailment form toe fungus to bent penises. They have drugs to take with the drugs you are already taking to help if thet aren't working good enough. Figure that one out. If they aren't working good enough why is someone taking it and how did it get approved if it doesn't work?

And finally abour evey 6 months a new drug comes out to replace another one for the same condition. What the previous one doesn't work anymore? The whole pharma thing is a racket and no one does a thing about it. Trump was going to cut Medicare drug costs, Biden was going to cut Medicare drug costs. Funny, I have seen nothing but prices go up over the past few years!!!

Expand full comment
May 23, 2023Liked by Bill Astore

Couldn't agree with you more, Bill. Russophobia, along with Sinophobia, is deeply and thoroughly entrenched in the DNA in US culture and consciousness. Perhaps the best example of this was the fact that the only way to successfully discredit and undermine Trump was to smear him with the allegation that he is a puppet of Putin and that Russia was responsible for his election. Trump's racism, misogyny, sexism, lying, corruption, etc.---none of it was enough to bring him down. The only epithet that stuck was "Trump is a puppet of Putin." Soon, given the now off-the-charts Russophobia due to the proxy war underway in Ukraine, we may all soon have to attend 2-minute hate sessions (thank you, George Orwell) where we can vent our existential anguish and personal hatreds against Putin. Step-by-step, our world more closely resembles the dystopia of Orwell's 1984.

Expand full comment
May 23, 2023Liked by Bill Astore

I find it pathetic that these drug ads are even legal. Sure, we all get to be so well informed about our options when it comes to treating our chronic illnesses--always with a pill and never treating the root cause, of course. And as rightly noted, the same marketing lunacy spills over into every aspect of the war machine and our happiness as measured in new cars, perfumes, beer, etc.

Expand full comment
May 23, 2023Liked by Bill Astore

Perhaps it's not such a strange coincidence, but just a few hours ago I was trying to persuade someone to read Hans Rosling's Factfulness, which I sincerely believe EVERYONE should read. What reminded me of Factfulness was her tearful hatred of Putin. I reread Chapter Nine, The Blame Instinct ("the instinct to find a clear, simple reason for why something bad has happened"). Rosling always tells good stories and that chapter and the entire book are full of pearls of wisdom and good quotes. I had highlighted several: "We have an instinct to find someone to blame, but we rarely look in the mirror." Pertinent to Putin-bashing is the phrase "when we identify the bad guy, we are done thinking. And it's almost always more complicated than that. It's almost always about multiple interacting causes — a system." "If you really want to change the world you have to understand it."

I'm sure that Rosling, were he still alive, would agree that America's drug culture, like its militarism and reckless involvement in the Ukraine crisis, is undoubtedly caused by poorly understood systems, not by individuals.

Expand full comment

Anybody who has any doubts whatsoever as to how screwed up ~ and screwed ~ this nation is [and only getting worse], needs to read the following:

STATE LAWMAKERS WANT CHILDREN TO FILL LABOR SHORTAGES, EVEN IN BARS AND ON SCHOOL NIGHTS at https://apnews.com/article/child-labor-laws-alabama-ohio-c1123a80970518676be44088619c6205 .

Expand full comment
May 24, 2023·edited May 24, 2023

Bill, when I was living in the States, I attended the world Model Airplane Championships in Muncie, Indiana. The best competition aeromodelers from every country in the world were there.

The Russians were the star of the event. With superb models - highly technically advanced, beautifully built and expertly flown. And superb Ukrainian model engines. They blew everybody into the weeds!

At their hotel at the end of the event there were long lines of eager modellers from all countries lining up to purchase example of the latest technology to take home. For lots of American greenbacks.

When I was living and working in Italy, I went to the World Aerobatic Championships (fullsize) in Foligno, Italy. The Russians in their state-of-the-art Sukhoi SU-26M3's dominated the events. Putting the Americans to shame and their graciousness left a great impression on all competitors.

Both events left a lasting impression on many people of the Russians as a people.

I get so tired of reading in the Western Media, that the Russian's are backward, 10-years behind the Yank technology, with rubbish airplanes, and WW2 rusty tanks. And soldiers and pilots who are ill-equipped, untrained, undisciplined drunks drinking Vodkas all the time. Its bullshit and propaganda.

What people fail to realize is that Putin is taking it easy on the Ukrainians. He does not what to end up with an obliterated failed state on his border. His Special Military Operation is aimed at ridding the Ukraine of its anti-Russian fascist militarism, and to end up with a neutral and prosperous Crimea and Ukraine, without NATO, that does not pose a threat to Russia.

The meme that the Russian military can't even defeat a small army from a rogue state is also bullshit. Putin is said to be using one eight of his military capability. Also, the paranoia that Putin wants to revive the USSR and overrun Europe is crazy talk. Putin is not Hitler. He wants a multi-polar world of equals. If only the US had a leader like him.

https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/fade-to-black-in-ukraine/

Expand full comment

Pretty low hanging fruit criticizing drug advertisements. But please don't assume we're children hanging onto and believing every word these adds shove down out (minds). So condescending of you.

Cheers

Expand full comment

Great analogy, Bill.

Crack cocaine for warmongering neoliberals and their hopelessly addicted supporters.

Expand full comment

great article of course and I just couldn't resist sharing this commercial in waiting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4MTHivAcyo ....

Expand full comment

Amen Brother

Expand full comment