anti-corporation and my life

the giant 'marketing' scenario behind tv programs like 'american idol'does seem irritating and shameful. corporations have successfully infiltrated into our entertainment, be reality shows or sports events, and we as audience sort of became subjects of their aggressive marketing experiments unconsciously or even voluntarily.

one of our classmates, 'davida', talked about an event at 'brooklyn academy of music'. when 'chase' was introduced as the program's sponsor, people started booing.

people (not all, though) hate corporations, more precisely, their ruthless quest for profit-making and their profit-before-people attitude. people get furious when corporations try to beautify themselves by sponsoring or donating for cultural and social events: the wolf in a lamb's skin.

as one of the anti-corporates, i myself often feel frustrated and confused. i say I hate them, but i can't deny that they are all around my life. in reality i'm a so-called 'valued customer' of many of them; bank account, credit cards, phone, cable service, mp3 (I have three!), a nice lcd television, my collection of running clothes, frequent trips to national chain stores instead of locally owned ones, just to name a few.
last year, i ran my first half marathon, a physically and mentally challenging, awakening, and meditative experience, and also an event sponsored by a corporation criticized for its global sweatshop abuses.... this is where I am... between the anti-corporate spirit and my real-life contradiction.

when i see super corporate people on tv, i immediately criticize them and call them 'satan's little helpers' as if my life has nothing to do with who they are and what they do.
but it turns out that i have so many friends who work in multinational corporations who tried so hard to get those jobs and work so hard for the organiztions they belong to. i don't think they are evil. they are all nice and hard-working people. (corporate people are evil and my corporate friends aren't? subjectivity!)

regardless of my conviction and consciousness toward how bad corporations are or can be, i can't really deny my life without them, and more accurately i feel quite helpless and self-contradictory.

despite all the ironies...

as a responsible individual, i'll not surrender to corporations, and I'll do my best to stay conscious and on top of their tactics and strategies. coincidentally, these days i'm 'seriously' considering running in one of the biggest races (by recognition) this year, also (happended to be) sponsored by another corporation that is claimed to have violated workers rights around the world.

i hate the sponsor abused workers, but the race will mean so much to me personally.

the race will mean so much to me personally, but i hate the sponsor abused workers.