It's an odd thing. When I've read about stories of the Greatest Generation there were so many successful people that would be celebrities that put their careers on pause and risked everything to fight for a common cause. The defense of America, Freedom, Liberty, and a world free from tyranny.
A world free of nazism, imperialism, and eventually communism (but that one still lingers which I'll get to in a minute.)
There was a common cause for everyone to rally behind as I said. They were patriots, highly paid, lead very wealthy lives, were cheered for their artistry and dropped it all when Uncle Sam needed another hand. Today's celebrities that would do that are few and far between. In fact I'd argue that most of them don't really like the country but love the fruits it has given them. Most consider them elites and have earned more money than everyone in the town I live in have earned in their lifetimes, combined.
I see very vocal celebrities that are uneducated yet very emotional creatures. Hyperbole is their opium and accusations their wine. The elites, and yes I believe they consider themselves elites, are happy to talk from fortresses about how you should live. When reason has no value anymore and they have a microphone in front of them, odd things are said.
Let me give you an example, Jim Carrey has recently advocated for a socialist society. He's not the first to grab a Che' shirt and hop on board the socialism fad. What he lacks in knowledge about such a system would make me guffaw if he were forced to live under such conditions.
His wealth would be frozen and confiscated to give to the state (in this case the dictator) his property would be given to the state. Now with no survival skills available to him he'd be forced to fight for food which he would no longer find in the finest markets.
Let me break it down for you in a couple of ways, socialism is only for the elites and guess what? No one is the elites except for the dictator in power. At that point everyone is subject to the state's whims and cruel machinations. Their closest lieutenants are expendable if the state demands it. The socialist state is god, the population its sacrifice. Elites are always the first to call for some way of living they are always unwilling live for themselves.
When the elites start to tell the common how to live, lead movements against the will of the people, and place themselves above law and order then their place as "celebrity" is hanging by a thread. I see an America where the common become the stars, the watched, the celebrated, the well known. I'm not deluded enough to believe there will never be someone to find as a celebrity, that's not who we are as people.
However I can see an America where the movie stars are shunned, when pop stars are unheard, and when elites have no voice and hold over the hard working people that have paid to see their work for decades.
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Again and Again and Again Again!
One more time in my career as a student my personal blog will serve as a delivery tool for an assignment. I've explained before that someday this blog will allow my daughters to go back and see what I was thinking and why. I wished the Internet was around for my grandparents so I could get a deeper level of understanding about them and how they lived when they were young and in their prime.
In this assignment I'm to pick a brand and explain how they succeeded or failed to position themselves at any point in the brand's cycle (development, growth, maturity, decline, or reinvention) and examine the brand's mission and vision. Look at the logo and slogan and see what could be different or better if the logo and slogan fail or if they are successful why it connects with consumers.
My brand shall be the NFL. I never shy away from controversial topics on my blog and while I can't guarantee every reader will not be offended I can guarantee you'll get little "t" truth as I see it since truth is a relative thing to the individual.
The NFL shield is an iconic logo but the NFL is failing for me. The main reason is not the kneeling protests (however that is a contributor) but the way the sport is being ran now. The commissioner Roger Goodell and the competition commission have convoluted the rules of basic play so much that the spirit of the sport is missing now. Legendary hard playing players would have no place in today's game and the likes of Ronnie Lott, Steve Atwater, and Jack Lambert would be tossed out of each game for some non-nonsensical hitting rules. The catch/no-catch rules are so crazy that instead of simplifying them they made what constitutes a catch harder by defining what control is even further.
"“I am just as lost as any fan or any player,” says Andrew Hawkins, the Browns’ 5-7 everyman wideout, who has played five NFL seasons. “There is no real definition. It just doesn’t make sense. You can’t quantify it.”"
In all honesty it's hard to feel sorry for a couple of thousand millionaires that play a game for a living. They know they are gladiators when they hope and wish to be signed or drafted into the NFL. The players know they won't have twenty year careers and the sport will take its toll on their bodies. The players also know that they will earn more money in a season than the average blue collar family in ten years and get praised and adored all the way to the bank.
The sport is becoming too modernized and the hard hitting roots are gradually fading away which is a contributor to the lower than average ratings slump. While one of the main contributors is how pay TV has evolved to more of an on demand format through subscription services. "This larger decline has been going on for over a decade now; is rooted in a fundamental shift to anytime, anywhere viewing on broadband devices; and affects all legacy TV programming to one degree or another. In short, contrary to the hopes (or delusions) of some in the TV industry, the NFL is not immune to these larger societal and viewing dynamics (Espeline, 2017).
How the NFL is still a ratings force, don't be mistaken but that force is eroding now and isn't as invincible as it was a decade ago. The chinks in the armor are more pronounced, the game less accessible for fans and more frustrating for players. The price the NFL will demand of their new agreement will probably be record breaking but there will come a day when the networks that purchase the NFL packages won't see the value anymore and start to make demands of the league for a better product.
Simply put, the best strategies the NFL could utilize would be to simplify the rules and the sport. Let hard hits happen again. Structure contracts in a way where the players know how privileged they are and there's tens of thousands of average people that would trade lives with them if possible. Guaranteeing the contracts would help this happen but pay the players less average money. What they sign for is what they'll get and they'd better invest it wisely because a career doesn't last long.
Kaplan, E., Benoit, A., & King, P. (n.d.). Deconstructing the NFL's Convoluted Catch Rule. Retrieved from https://www.si.com/mmqb/2016/03/17/themmqb-catch-nfl-rulebook-dez-bryant-no-catch-larry-fitzgerald-golden-tate-tyler-eifert-odell
In this assignment I'm to pick a brand and explain how they succeeded or failed to position themselves at any point in the brand's cycle (development, growth, maturity, decline, or reinvention) and examine the brand's mission and vision. Look at the logo and slogan and see what could be different or better if the logo and slogan fail or if they are successful why it connects with consumers.
My brand shall be the NFL. I never shy away from controversial topics on my blog and while I can't guarantee every reader will not be offended I can guarantee you'll get little "t" truth as I see it since truth is a relative thing to the individual.
The NFL shield is an iconic logo but the NFL is failing for me. The main reason is not the kneeling protests (however that is a contributor) but the way the sport is being ran now. The commissioner Roger Goodell and the competition commission have convoluted the rules of basic play so much that the spirit of the sport is missing now. Legendary hard playing players would have no place in today's game and the likes of Ronnie Lott, Steve Atwater, and Jack Lambert would be tossed out of each game for some non-nonsensical hitting rules. The catch/no-catch rules are so crazy that instead of simplifying them they made what constitutes a catch harder by defining what control is even further.
"“I am just as lost as any fan or any player,” says Andrew Hawkins, the Browns’ 5-7 everyman wideout, who has played five NFL seasons. “There is no real definition. It just doesn’t make sense. You can’t quantify it.”"
In all honesty it's hard to feel sorry for a couple of thousand millionaires that play a game for a living. They know they are gladiators when they hope and wish to be signed or drafted into the NFL. The players know they won't have twenty year careers and the sport will take its toll on their bodies. The players also know that they will earn more money in a season than the average blue collar family in ten years and get praised and adored all the way to the bank.
The sport is becoming too modernized and the hard hitting roots are gradually fading away which is a contributor to the lower than average ratings slump. While one of the main contributors is how pay TV has evolved to more of an on demand format through subscription services. "This larger decline has been going on for over a decade now; is rooted in a fundamental shift to anytime, anywhere viewing on broadband devices; and affects all legacy TV programming to one degree or another. In short, contrary to the hopes (or delusions) of some in the TV industry, the NFL is not immune to these larger societal and viewing dynamics (Espeline, 2017).
How the NFL is still a ratings force, don't be mistaken but that force is eroding now and isn't as invincible as it was a decade ago. The chinks in the armor are more pronounced, the game less accessible for fans and more frustrating for players. The price the NFL will demand of their new agreement will probably be record breaking but there will come a day when the networks that purchase the NFL packages won't see the value anymore and start to make demands of the league for a better product.
Simply put, the best strategies the NFL could utilize would be to simplify the rules and the sport. Let hard hits happen again. Structure contracts in a way where the players know how privileged they are and there's tens of thousands of average people that would trade lives with them if possible. Guaranteeing the contracts would help this happen but pay the players less average money. What they sign for is what they'll get and they'd better invest it wisely because a career doesn't last long.
Kaplan, E., Benoit, A., & King, P. (n.d.). Deconstructing the NFL's Convoluted Catch Rule. Retrieved from https://www.si.com/mmqb/2016/03/17/themmqb-catch-nfl-rulebook-dez-bryant-no-catch-larry-fitzgerald-golden-tate-tyler-eifert-odell
The
NFL Can't Keep TV Afloat Anymore. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://fortune.com/2017/09/20/nfl-monday-night-football-tv-ratings-decline/
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