GOOD BLACK CINEMA VS BAD BLACK CINEMA?

GOOD BLACK CINEMA VS BAD BLACK CINEMA?

As a black male intellectual I have been disquieted by the proliferation of culturally retrogressive black cinema and have chosen to boycott them as an act of solidarity with those who desire to see a better quality of film.  The burning question, "Who decides what stories get made into film", and the burning reality of what ultimately gets made into film are the drivers behind this long running conflict.  In truth, there is such a richness of material from which to choose that no excuse can be made for the lack of more substantive films other than apathy and even perhaps ill-intent.  After all, nearly anything can be marketed for success but in a country where sex, violence and institutionalized racism are best sellers one must be far more analytic when attempting to determine the difference between good black cinema and bad black cinema...

There are two schools of thought circulating in the mix of contemporary cinematic consciousness.  The first school says patronize the retrogressive films in hope that eventually someone will be inspired to do better.  The second school says no patronage for media of every kind that fails to portray black men in positive and non-stereotypical roles.  Clearly I am a student of the latter school! 

The first school of thought is one of blind hope and faith, but not one of action.  It is a school that has waited languorously, lugubriously on the conscience of a world that has never and will never see them!  It is a school that waits patiently, earnestly, hungrily for castings of bread crusts from the o’erflowing, cornicopic table of the big house.  It survives as it can and because its expectation level is maintained always at a point of critical subsistence this school of thought always appears to be the most realistic in its grasp of the real and of the possibility of what might become reality.

The second school is no less blind in its quotient of hope and faith, but it is one of action, and that is what makes it fundamentally different!  It is a school that is impatient with what the world will offer and serves as an agitant to those who have accepted the narcotic of providence over preemptive action.  Not that it ever unwisely refuses crusts of bread when sustenance is an issue for the body but it is ultimately what it does to transform those crusts much in the line of its idealistic insistence in effect to use those crusts for the production of their own bread.  Unrealistic as the means might be, a product, if only intellected has been manufactured from the merest wisps of imagination and desire! 

In the primordial battle of human survival, desire has always been a far better broth than despair.  Strange, that the struggle to establish something as superficial as “Image” would cook down to a soup of such elementary truths.  The black man has fought during his entire existence in America against the corruption of his image.  His power to paint and frame it removed, he has had to define himself within himself whilst defending against the external slander and perversion of his image by those seeking to justify the evil behind the denial of his beauty.  And what would this black man accomplish if he were to refashion himself as a handsome and wise, industrious and essential salt of this precipitous world?  T’would be vainglorious if not for the mere task of balance!  Then what would happen after these scales were balanced, how much would enlightenment weigh? With men it is never only about image, image is always a difference quantified within a hierarchy between the un-celebrated and the very Gods themselves.  So through the medium of film would the black man reclaim his image as a man or paint himself as a God?  The point having been made for the variable of human vanity let us say only that there is much reconstruction that is needed for the image of the black man and for him there can be no greater tool outside of his own ethical fortitude and deeds than to aptly personify himself within the iconic cloud of global virtuality and not in the ephemeral streaming of music videos but within the classic permanence of film!

Digression is often a comforting mirage effective at introducing the richness of other points of view.  But there are some very straightforward, one might say sobering realities to why we see the types of films we do and why the images and in particular the representation of black men continues to fall so far from where many feel it ought to be and that reality is often linked not only to prejudice but also to money.  There is one magnanimous control variable which looms in the omnipresent horizon of every film either conceptual or real... Capitalism!  We are all witnesses to the fact that capitalism does not work in reverse! In order for something as costly as a film to be produced and distributed there has to be a demand for it.  Film financing will claim that it wants to make culturally progressive media but that ultimately the good stuff doesn't sell at the box office.  In the film industries defense, it can be argued that after decades of conditioning the consumer public into expecting, paying for and being entertained by bad cinema they are justified by financing only those films which fall in line with the usual lucrative garbage.  The first argument puts black actors to work but in degrading films so it might be opined, by followers of the latter school, that such actors are putting nails into their own creative coffins.  But the first school would contend that being paid to play negative roles is better than not being paid for any role.  Does this argument support the perpetuation of negative stereotypes for black men simply because it is lucrative?  You bet your bottom dollar it does!  So there is a great deal of profit in the perpetuation of racist stereotypes whether they reflect real life or not.  Nobody held a gun to any black American’s head during The classic Blacksploitation Film Era of the 1970’s, indeed it was not necessary because Black Americans were so eager simply to see faces that looked like them on the silver screen they would have paid many times over to see what are now looked down upon as culturally dysfunctional films.  That is the legacy of the first school, its students so desperate for image they never challenged it’s context because seeing black faces in films filled a void that everyone thought could be tweaked later down the line… The problem is that later down the line never happened; we are still hoping to tweak the problem fifty years later. 

The first school is a hand that cannot touch its own nose; it merely exists at the behest of those who find it convenient to get rich off of the talent of actors and the ignorance of consumers. The second is a hand that can touch its nose but only when nobody is looking.  The second schools' argument would require black people to raise the bar by creating their own bar; owning and producing their own quality films and gradually cultivating an audience.  There is a real financial gamble involved in the assumption that black patrons will pay to see the "Better" films as opposed to the "Garbage" films they are used to, as assessed through the eyes of the second school of thought. 

So in conclusion, it might be a more idealistic philosophical argument to say that cinema with more substantive and intellectually progressive material is a better way to upgrade the consciousness of black filmgoing audiences but a more financially sound and therefore realistic argument to say that filmgoing audiences might not patronize "Better" films if they considered them too deep or high-brow or simply because they just don't like the subject matter.  This is not to say black people are not intellectual but rather that their history of patronage shows greater interest in other genres. 

Right now what is commonly viewed as the black community is largely massed on the demand side of the economic curve rather than the supply side!  Simply put, black owned film production and marketing businesses are not yet plentiful or powerful enough to offer a home to what would certainly be an entirely new world of black actors, screenwriters, technical and marketing staff who would operate the machine of a global black cinematic empire.  If ever it gets to a point where this untapped market becomes robust enough to support the production of higher quality films with more intellectual subject matter matched with an audience that will pay to see these films we might be surprised at the kinds of magnificent black cinema that can be made. If that time ever comes, and it will, the argument over what constitutes good black cinema vs bad black cinema can be made within a far more robust, ethnically and economically well-grounded climate.  The idealist and the realist must combine forces in order to create conditions where this argument is even plausible and that must serve to become the catalyst for realizing this dream!

Written by David Vollin

Administrator: FOR THE BROTHAS INTELLECTUAL SALON

AMERICA ON ICE

THE WHITE HOUSE DURING THE WAR OF 1812

AMERICA ON ICE…

Picture if you will a lovely Saturday afternoon, a typical Urban Arena and thousands of families emptying from automobiles to see the long awaited extravaganza, “AMERICA ON ICE”!  the parking lot spreads out like an ocean of color in all directions and eventually everyone passes into the arena grabs bulging bags of popcorn, nachos, French fries and chicken tenders, candy floss and just about every imaginable food and beverage that can be had in an all American event such as this. 

THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER THE WAR OF 1812

No sooner is the audience seated then the entertainment begins, the sound is mesmerizing the colors are brilliant, cannon fire sparking streamers of red, white and blue into the heights of the arena, a big band of over 100 musicians begins to play a medley of familiar Americana and then the main stars begin to come in.  Why if it isn’t every member of congress on ice skates! Their state is printed in big golden letters in an antique style upon their red, white and blue top hats.  In their hands they carry large tokens representing their state’s most important contribution to the American economy.  The crowd cheers as they begin to throw free products, cell phones, notebooks, t-shirts, gift cards into the crowd as the cannon begin to hurl them into the crowd as well with a huge plume of red, white and blue smoke!  The building shakes as if there had been and earthquake with the cheers and excitement of the audience. Then the congressmen go back to the fringe of the ice rink and pull desks away which are replicas of the desks in the house of congress… they come together in a great ring as if they are going to vote on the  most important bill that has ever been voted on in the history of America.  The crowd is insatiable they cheer and roar and the cannon roar and the congressmen roar on their ice skates and then the congress men freeze!  Everything comes to a grinding halt, the music the fanfare and the audience becomes so quiet that one can hear his own heart beating eagerly in expectation of some new marvel!  But nothing happens!  The performers remain fixed in their positions and eventually the crowd begins to leave, the ocean of automobiles recedes like low-tide and the parking lot is a deserted vastitude of asphalt once again…

BRITISH SOLDIERS BURN WASHINGTON, D.C. WAR OF 1812

There was never any reliable excuse for bizarre mishap.  Patrons who tried to get refunded were simply told that there was no refund available.  The arena was closed down, boarded up and for many, many years until it was finally demolished it lay vacant and derelict.  There was and has never been any reasonable explanation for what happened there but years later when the real congress in Washington, D.C. threatened to shut down the United States government, to bring the slowly recovering economy to a grinding halt endangering the National security and the economy by precipitating condition’s that would surely spell its imminent demise the people of this region stood by and watched again.  They did nothing, just as they had done nothing before… They watched and waited while congress put on its grandiose show as if they had something amazing to reveal to the American people, something worth the creation of a National pause but instead of enlightenment all congress did was make a hopeful situation hopeless.  They killed America. Not since the criminal rebellion of 1861 which ignited the American Civil War had such a dangerous attack upon the sanctity of freedom and the American Nation itself been waged.  And they simply watched, like the totality of the American peoples, they all watched and did nothing! 

Decades later when America had failed as a nation, Washington, D.C. lay in ruins sacked and ground into the swamp by successive conquerors.  No flag sailed in that one time city because it was still being fought over by several competing nations.  When the Government was shut down its national security lay wide open and certain opportunistic interests pried open the gates of what was once a strong nation.  The twisted heaps of what once was the very gates of freedom lay buried beneath the swamps that gradually took over what was once the capitol city of The United States of America…

A CULINARY ICE FOLLY FEATURING AN ORNAMENT OF THE US CAPITOL BUILDING

Written by David Vollin

For The Brothas Intellectual Salon

GALLERY OF RELATED IMAGES

US FLAG RELIC OF THE WAR OF 1812

SCIENCE FICTION DRAMATISATION

HOW “BISEXUALITY” AND “DL CULTURE” MIGHT PLAY OUT IN THE BIG-PICTURE OF HUMAN SEXUAL EVOLUTION?

HOW “BISEXUALITY” AND “DL CULTURE” MIGHT PLAY OUT

IN THE BIG-PICTURE

OF HUMAN SEXUAL EVOLUTION?

There is a difference between being “DL” and “Bisexual”, actually there are many, many differences between these two types of men.  All DL men are not bisexual and all bisexual men are not DL. 

It is my opinion that each category must be examined separately which is itself a very broad topic.  It is not the purpose of this article to go into that level of detail to fully explicate the phenomenon of either bisexuality or the Down Low Lifestyle.  the purpose of this article is to draw some conclusions about the cultural relevance of each both individually and in relation to each other and to predict how, given the current trend of social awareness at this phase of the sexual revolution, whether they represent long or short-term trends in human sexual development.  At the first quarter of the Twentieth Century this lifestyle has come to a point where it poses a dangerous threat to potentially endanger the mental and physical health in the lives of those men and women who become emotionally and sexually entangled with them unaware of their hidden lifestyle.  Socially and culturally the Down-Low lifestyle has virtually outlived its usefulness in the community of humanity, it has become obsolete.   But due to its cryptic nature, hiding out deep in the hidden subconscious of human sexuality, it has become a difficult target for social reform and cultural evolution. 

 We are at the middle of a very long road toward what has been termed “The Sexual Revolution” and the closer we peer into the realm of human sexuality we find there are more questions than answers…  I have opined that what has been coined the “DL” lifestyle is not itself inherently evil being representative of the free choice we all enjoy to choose the nature of our own sexuality.  However, within this Down-Low culture I find clearly characterized specific perverse social and psychological deficiencies with respect to the ethical standards of mainstream culture.   Compounded by the health issues of the late 20
Likened to homosexuality before it became mainstream Down-Low culture is constantly in hiding and on the run it lives a desperate and fearful life always on the brink of utter disaster.  Ironically, this is all the more reason why mainstream culture, which has come to accept homosexuality, is so perplexed by its tenacity. But there are even murkier issues continuing to drive the need for homosexual men to hide in fear and shame in a climate of openness and acceptance. One thing is certain, as homosexuality becomes increasingly mainstream DL culture will no longer have a reason for existence.  Where it leaks over into bisexuality it will merely be considered another form of cheating.  Bisexuality on the other hand is just coming into its own as a viable alternative to established heterosexual and homosexual notions of sexuality and including notions on what constitutes a human relationship.  Bisexuality will become an ever growing phenomenon as taboos of sexual orientation disappear succumbing to mainstream concepts of universal sexuality.  Before the tale is told bisexuality will bring monogamy to its knees revising the very foundations of how human beings think about love and relationships, marriage sexuality…

DL men, whether they are strictly homosexual or bisexual share in common the fact that they are not open about their homosexuality.  Some, not all, DL men often feign a heterosexual persona as a cover for their more dominant homosexual orientation so it can be further argued that some DL-Bisexual men are not truly bisexual, rather they are what might be called, “DL/Faux-heterosexual” or even “Quasi-heterosexual”, Faux-heterosexual, etc., etc., etc.  The main point is that a man who only pretends to be heterosexual but is actually homosexual is actually homosexual! 

We must always leave some room for those men who are actually bisexual but choose to suppress their homosexuality publicly for some personal reason known only to them.  This category may include men who are actually openly bisexual to their female partners but not publicly.  Notwithstanding, these men easily fall into the same category as DL men but perhaps not with the full cache of psychoses that typify the DL psyche in general. 

There are some bisexual men who are genuinely DL because they have unresolved issues with their homosexuality ranging from a host of reasons such as having already established a heterosexual relationship, adult peer pressure from church, work or other social realms, etc.  Once, again, there is no issue with their freedom of sexual expression but it is the perverse social, emotional and health dynamics they set into motion through their actions which bring their sexual practices under examination as potentially pathological.  It is the not the homosexuality that I have issue with it is the artificial realm of deception required to screen and support their homosexuality that is ultimately the problem.

To clarify my argument, I have opined that men who choose to hide their homosexuality in a social climate that is open to it are operating outside of mainstream culture.  Such men have chosen to create a condition that does not exist anymore transforming DL behavior into a type of modern phobia not dissimilar and actually a manifestation of homophobia. These men may need psychological assistance to manage their fear and to at least establish a strategy to manage their lifestyle in a manner that is responsible on an ethical level.

Indeed, in this current social climate where homosexuality is mainstream we must closely analyze the behavioral patterns of men who operate as homosexuals but suppress self-actualization of their homosexuality.   We must attempt to understand what drives their tendency to exponentially exacerbate this dysfunction through the conscious physical and psychological falsification/manipulation of reality purposed to suppress a firmly established practice of same sex encounters.   Why do these men desire to substitute their homosexual lifestyle with a patently manufactured heterosexual lifestyle? This behavioral pattern must be considered to be aberrant not because these men do not have the right to freely choose the nature of their sexuality without being judged but because the way they have chosen to express their sexuality has placed those who are sexually and emotionally involved with them in physical and mental peril!

By David Vollin

FOR THE BROTHAS: www.forthebrothas.blogspot.com  

"PAY ATTENTION TO TERMINALS" ANOTHER LESSON IN HUMAN NATURE...

A Holocaust Memorial at Minsk

THE DEATH OF HITLER’S BODYGUARD LEAVES A HAUNTING MEMOIR IN CONTRAST WITH THE SOULFUL TESTAMENT OF INNOCENT JEWS WHO NARROWLY ESCAPED HITLERS MURDEROUS GRASP!

I won’t take time to read articles about Hitler anymore; I figure that by now any intelligent person fully understands the blemish on human rights he represents. As a Black American man I feel an intimate kinship with the struggle of the Jewish people and I have no problem saying that I consider then to be my brothers in struggle…

Millions of Jews were buried in mass graves after being murdered at Nazi concentration camps.

U.S. and Allied forces uncovered mass graves after the war.

 

Yet I was deeply troubled, yes… and alarmed when I happened upon this article as it popped up on my browser, the very first internet experience of my day. The article documented what they referred to as, “The death of Hitler’s devoted bodyguard” and I paused to imagine how this man, who died today at age 94, had come to peace with himself.



As I read further the article mentioned the man named Misch had published his memoirs in 2008. I shuddered to imagine what those pages might contain but resolved that perhaps they might hold, if nothing else, some historical value if they were not the twisted invention of a disillusioned, Nazi aesthete inventing reality in the absence of credible witnesses. My heart wept as it pondered the question or circumstance allowing such a man to live to a ripe old age whilst innocent infants, children, mothers and fathers were cruelly executed no doubt in the presence of this man…



Recovering I read on to this point which I shall quote, not paraphrase so that whoever reads this article will get the full dose as I did:


“In a 2005 interview with The AP, Misch recalled Hitler as "a very normal man" and gave a riveting account of the German dictator's last days before he and his wife Eva Braun killed themselves as the Soviet Red Army closed in around their bunker in Berlin.

"He was no brute. He was no monster. He was no superman," Misch said.”



I could not read any further than this, this was all my spirit could take. I recalled a room in The National Holocaust Museum I visited with a Jewish friend. That room contained photographs of an entire village of Jews who were murdered in a German Concentration Camp located in Poland, (this correction was made to clarify that the Polish people were not administering the concentration camp). I wept while standing in that room and when I walked further to a room containing one of the actual railroad cars used to transport Jewish families to their doom I froze in absolute horror and despair!



So then I had got my answer. I knew how a man of 94 could have found peacefulness with himself by forcing himself to believe Hitler was not a brute, a monster or a superman… I concurred with the latter, Hitler was certainly no superman but as far as being a brute and a monster I decided it was best to let history determine and preserve those verdicts for all humanity. I knew now that deceased man now affectionately known by history as Hitler’s “devoted” bodyguard certainly shared his master’s zeal for murder justified by racist notions used to dehumanize the Jews. His memoirs will stand as a singular feather weighed against the bones of millions of Jews cast into mass graves. The thousands of videotaped accounts of surviving Jews will outnumber his, the choir of them will drown his printed words and in the fields of the dead their torches will outshine his. Their collective stories will be preserved by history many thousands of years from now and his shall have been forgotten… I asked myself if I could mourn this man’s death in a different way that I mourned his life. Looking to his memoirs I mourned that he may have died without comprehending the great evil of which he was a part that he might have perished not being able to separate men from their deeds and put them together again. I mourned that he might have died fighting truth, clinging to pride, failing to acknowledge the unifying, expiating grace of humility…



As a lesson in human nature, I learned that very moment how important the truth is as measured against the brevity of a single life. It is inevitable that we will die so it is of utmost importance how we die. Our truth, our final truth and our final peace are the keystones of both our life in this world and our death to it. There is no road more personal, more exclusive than that of life leading to death. And as one of the greatest architects of all time, Frank Lloyd Wright said, “Pay attention to the terminals”!




Written by David Vollin

Administrator: FOR THE BROTHAS: VIRTUAL, INTELLECTUAL SALON



WWW.FORTHEBROTHAS.BLOGSPOT.COM

GALLERY OF RELATED IMAGES:

Bodies recovered from concentration camps.

Nazis burned Jewish copses in these crematoriums and many Jews were reported to have been cremated alive.

Jewish men in Nazi Concentration Camps.

Imagine the indignity of women old and young being forced to stand nude with strangers before being executed.

Add caption

A mass grave

NOTES ON CONFLICTS WITH THE “PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE” TRAIT IN INTIMATE HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

**These notes were expanded upon from my original response to an online post and discussion of passive-aggression in The Male Mind Media.

Gentlemen, it appears we need to define the term, "Passive-Aggressive". I always like to begin a discussion with a clear explanation of just what I am talking about so that the reader does not confuse my opinions with their own or with other preconceived notions. In my opinion the passive-aggressive behavioral trait is expressed when a person refuses to provide any tangible input at all, remaining silent, insensitive or "Passive" as a reaction to very intense and specific stimuli. To do so, that is, to remain antiseptically cool in the face of a social occurrence which seems to elicit the opposite reaction, a reaction that is hot, delivers a powerful nonverbal response which may or may not be interpreted as aggressive depending on the situation. For example: someone calls me an MF and expresses other audible and physical language that they are angry. It becomes clear that the person is indeed angry and even perhaps violently so and having made the first heated attempt at communication it is now quite clear that the ball in my court to provide a human response. At that point I could intervene and attempt to calm them down or remain emotionless leaving them to consider whether I am afraid, indifferent or silently and deceptively prepared for a positive strike. In order to qualify as passive-aggressive I would have to convey with nonverbal language that I was tolerating them with a hidden intent to strike at any moment; Right? The correct answer is "Wrong"? Passive aggression can utilize meekness and even cowardice or indifference to deliver a substantially powerful punch in the nose! The key is to understand if a person is truly employing classic passive-aggressive tactics or if they are genuinely intimidated or indifferent! Depending on whether a person is passive-aggressive themselves and depending upon their skill in detecting and analyzing patterns in human behavior they might completely overlook the obvious because it is simply not obvious to them.  A person who is passive-aggressive typically knows they are such and they are constantly at work perfecting their craft but there are always exceptions to every rule…

Allow me then to add to my definition of the term, "Passive-Aggressive” a hypothetical spin on the dynamics involved when the application of that communications management technique/characteristic is applied within the context of a relationship. Let me simulate, if you will a "Worse Case Scenario" for that behavioral phenomenon I call passive-aggression syndrome.








Example-#1: One partner, (the passive-aggressive case), has been accused of being selfish when it comes to deciding what activities the couple will participate in. The accused agrees to accompany their partner on an excursion chosen by the other partner and on said excursion the first major activity decision arises. The accused remains cool allowing the other partner to make the choice and the accused remains cool showing little interest or enthusiasm, allowing themselves to become noticeably distracted by trivial phenomena within the immediate environment but not expressed as an outright protest, rather veiled as a mist of undefined discontent. Since the excursion is intended to be a mutually enjoyed event intended to bring them together the other partner, noticing the accused is not focused or engaged succumbs and Segway’s into an activity which they already know will be enjoyable to the accused. The accused has utilized a nonverbal, passive-aggressive technique to control the flow of activities playing upon the sympathies of their partner. If the partner were to continue on s if there were no issues whilst the accused was noticeably disengaged the accused would continue to employ their guilt-trip and mindfuck on their partner intending to cause them to feel guilty for being assertive and demanding that they share activities that did not respond exclusively to the likes of the accused.


The passive-aggressive tool is a very effective and powerful one if executed successfully and it is often a choking device that when unraveled may result in intense resentment and breakup. In this case, every time a decision must be made, small or large, it becomes a tryst, a debacle, a fight for dominion. It is easy to see, given the variables, why two people estranged because of a passive-aggressive conflict might determine themselves to be incompatible...


By David Vollin

** For more information on The Male Mind Media go see the site at: www.themailemindmedia.com  

THE SPIRIT OF AMERICANISM AS IT CELEBRATES AND CONTEMPLATES LABOR DAY…

THE SPIRIT OF AMERICANISM AS IT CELEBRATES AND CONTEMPLATES LABOR DAY…

Since the great American labor force has been betrayed by Corporate America leaving thousands of American workers jobless perhaps this American tradition we call “Labor Day” is more appropriately celebrated overseas in Canada, Mexico, China or Japan from which over $514 billion worth of goods and services are annually imported. 

Back in the early 1970’s we witnessed the beginning of the mass exodus of labor from America as American corporations discovered cheaper sources of labor abroad.  Nationalism meant nothing to these companies; their interest was solely in profit.  These American companies established their name and reputation on the diligent skills of American men and women and upon the loyalty of the generations of proud American families who also worked for them and who lived within the shadows of their factories.   Nearly every American could boast that someone in their family had worked for some American manufacturing company, but no more…

The Sherman Antitrust and other pro-labor legislation that galvanized Labor Unions around the turn of the century from the 1890’s into the twentieth century forged a powerful but unstable respect from American companies who bided their time until they could find a way to escape labor laws which they felt depleted their profit.  The 1980’s saw the birth of a new concept called “Globalism” a philosophy American corporations whose history could be traced over 100 years used to finally remove what they felt was the shroud of American identity.  American corporations no longer wanted to be seen as American, they owed no loyalty to Americans.  But these corporations that grew to preeminence from the hard labor of American workers and the wages of American peoples still expected the American people to have loyalty to their products, products which began to increase in price as never before even though they were being made in sweatshops and with cheap foreign labor. 

Something else had changed; American products no longer manufactured in America became less desirable at home and abroad.  In the true spirit of globalism the American people no longer felt any loyalty to the products manufactured abroad by American based companies as if in a tit-for tat!  Besides, many foreign manufactured products were now superior to American ones.  With the loyalty of American consumers now exhausted, the 1980’s 1990’s and the first quarter of the Twenty-First Century saw the crash and burn of  American corporations who had enjoyed over a century and a half of American patronage.  The endless mélange of buy-outs, mergers and etc., etc., etc. of these American companies has been a testament to the loss of loyalty by American consumers.  By the close of the first quarter of the Twenty-First Century there will be few corporations that dare to call themselves, “American”! 

Well the American labor force is comprised of more than factory workers; it consists of all manner of white collar workers as well including civil servants.  The meditation that Americans should devote themselves to on this Labor Day Celebration of 2013 would want to be a rethinking of how to consume.  Americans have the power to spend their dollars with companies who are still proud to call themselves American and evince this claim in practice by manufacturing primarily on U.S. soil employing American citizens.  Americans can organise to change government policy heavily taxing imports and creating a greater incentive for Americans to buy American made products and services.  The burning question is will this form of economic isolationism serve to hurt or help us in the long run.  Bottom line, American companies need to produce a better product, one that, by virtue of its quality will attract domestic and foreign monies.  If one thing holds true it is that whilst most people will purchase the bottom line when necessity requires, they will also always go for the premium version whenever economically possible.  The company who makes that premium will always get the dollar whether American or otherwise.  America must strive to be that country and the corporations which have deep roots in America but which have betrayed it’s people must strive to be that company holding quality and humanity before profit!  Such companies must make a choice between making great profit with a mediocre product and making greater profit with a superior one… Just a thought on the nature of Americanism as it relates to the celebration of Labor Day…

By David Vollin