The Powers that Were

 Well everyone, this is not really a whole blog post but just a sketch for a post. It has to do with powers that be.  And just that I remember as a kid sometimes my dad or someone would point out something interesting about a product, or a store, or the way things were done, and say an explanation like “they do that because of such and such.” They have the label on the side so you won’t get mixed up with whatever.” The railing is like this because such and such.  And a lot of times it would be something logical and protective.  Like plastic bags being labeled for safety. Then, in the late nineties, someone said something like, “at Bilo they pump a bread smell into the air so people will buy more.” And this was different than some kind of strategy to help people. It was about the cash.  And I guess a lot of stuff was always about the cash, but I think that things have gotten even worse now, where it’s not even about the cash. It is about power, also because of cash, but also just for the power.  Products being unsafe, ingredients not being labeled, power plays, cash register lines with not enough cashiers, music that is too loud, music that is inappropriate, credit card devices that threaten refusal to serve, etc.  Honestly I don’t have great examples for any of it.  That is why I say it is not even a whole blog post, much less an article.  But I know I am right.  And a lot of the people who won’t acknowledge this decline (get it, declined, like your credit card when you don’t match a profile) anyway, I am saying a lot of people who are in denial think they are the ones who are going to be at an advantage as people set up these bad systems, but I think everyone is going to suffer.  Even the ones getting the profit will not have the joy of living in a fair society.  It won’t benefit them either in the long run.  It’s just something I noticed, something that almost seems the same and is probably used to criticize some people who suggest that there has been loss as well as gain in recent decades.  But it is a sign for the logical reasons for things to not be in our favor anymore, in this evil “our.”