Violence against women

TED Talk by Dr Jackson Katz: Violence against women (from men's perspective)

Those in my closest circles know that recently a lot has been going on around me. I didn't want to address it in a blogpost, because I found it too personal. However Dr Jackson Katz has inspired me to speak up. It is about violence against women. And how once you start noticing it, it is everywhere. This begs the question, why is this behaviour acceptable? When the things listed below are brought up amongst my girlfriends, they can all relate. Every single one of them. This is a part of our reality. The message we normally receive is: get on with it. The message is not to men: you sir, are violent. 

There are the big crimes that go to court and the media circus ones. But it is also on a much more everyday level. It is truly remarkable, how everyday it is. I wonder, if men would experience this on a everyday basis if the problem would be so widespread. If they would live a single day experiencing what normal women don't even register anymore if things would be different. 

This subject is so big, I don't quite know where to begin. Let's break it down, one by one and start with the big ones. 


Rape:
The best example of this, is the widely recognised Stuebenville High School Rape Trial. If you have been living under a rock: two football players sexually assaulted a girl and were convicted of rape. It is obviously good that they were convicted, but what bothered me was the buzz about "the footballers' lives being ruined - you know they were on a scholarship, right?". Let's just drop a cliché on this one: If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. 

    I have recently been personally involved with a similar case. There it was the same story. Had the man been convicted, "you know, he'd be going to prison for five years, I mean, he is doing quite well for himself and that would just completely ruin his career". WTF?? Honestly? If you are not prepared to go to prison for this crime, maybe control yourself. Maybe. Try. Also, in preparation for this personal experience I started asking around, seeing if I could prepare myself from girls that had gone through a similar experience. 

    Every single case or scenario I found, same story. Man was not convicted; and a certain outrage towards the victim for accusing these 'good men' of such an heinous crime. I mean, look at them? These outstanding men would never do something like that? Oh, so you are a child or a young vulnerable adult, clearly at a disadvantage and going through the most HORRIBLE experience I have witnessed and can imagine. I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemy. Yes, little child that has been a victim of a horrible crime going through court. You are clearly LYING. 
(I realise that such situations can arise, and the core of our justice system is innocent until proven guilty but in my opinion general mentality towards this subject is skewed, oh so skewed). 

Prejudice agains abortion: 
I only have one sentence to say about this: If it's not you, you can't judge. I have friends (yes, more than one) that have gone through this awful experience. This is the biggest taboo subject I can think of. Slight mention of the topic gets people more worked up than any religious or race issues. This again, is one of these things - once you hear about one, you start hearing stories from more and more women. 

   I am not going to say anything about this, other then: if it's not you, you can't judge. No one I have ever heard of, takes this lightly. This is a very serious act that involves people's deepest beliefs and involves a forever responsibility of other people's lives. Either way, lives have been changed permanently. So if it's not you, you can't judge. 

    And by all means, don't pass judgements based on someone that has or hasn't had an abortion. Hostility or prejudice on this matter is abuse, and it is abuse against women. Have you heard anyone judge a man who impregnated someone who had an abortion. Seriously? Was the hostility towards the man? Well, I haven't. So this qualifies (too) easily as violence against women. 

Relationship Abuse: 
The way I have seen this, is very one-way (I know it exists both ways though). A man that treats the woman he supposedly loves more than anything else, badly. I purposely didn't make the title of this domestic violence. Mainly because most of my friends are not married or live in shared households - and also (and luckily so), I don't know any real examples. I hope that means is because it's not there (although that's statistically unlikely). 

    However, I see too much emotional relationship abuse. I am not talking about casual dating here where it's like 'oh, he didn't text me back' or even a genuine heartbreak. I mean when the purpose is abuse. The man gains control over the women by any means possible - this includes the women being humiliated, emotionally blackmailed, manipulated, ignored and essentially broken down. I really hate this one, because it is invisible. It also takes strong, independent women and leaves them doubting themselves; without any cause at all. That truly breaks my heart. 

Groping: 
This one is too common as well. This happens on trains, at work, in bars, basically in all walks of life. This instituts a sexual harassement. It is not acceptable. Any touching without permission is just not on. No. No. 

Office chatter: 
This one is a sneaky one as well. This is when you are in a group of men and they speak about women like they are objects or conquests. You hear this one all the time. It's when men refer to women as 'birds' or other more degrading terms. This talk is taken to the bar scene where women are seen as targets, to prove the men's social status amongst his peers: as if they are a valuable (and in most cases, extremely disposable) possessions. 

    I know a lot of men, so I witness this one all the time. Sometimes men even seem to kind of forget that if I wasn't sitting with them, they'd probably be talking about me just as nicely. Even every now and then I get the 'oh c'mon, don't be such a prude' look. I have even seen men show pictures of their former partners to their friends, as if to prove how much of a man they are. 

Strangers in a bar: 
This one is a tricky one. Even as I am writing this I feel like, 'oh c'mon - if you are going to a bar, honestly, what do you expect?'. However, this bothers me. Why should I expect this? Why should I expect, if I share a drink with my girl(s) at a bar, there to be a line of sleazebags approaching us with questionable motives - and each comment a little more degrading than the last. And if the reaction is negative, it's the girl's fault? Word. 

    I know for a fact men would find this unacceptable if this was their everyday reality as I frequently hear (straight) men being uncomfortable going to gay-bars and feeling objectified and constantly targeted (sure, it's flattering for a little while; but it gets real old, real fast). At the same time, many women enjoy going to gay-bars to let their hair down in peace. 

Shouts on the streets: 
This behaviour is even reflected in the shouts from the people we pass by everyday. Common ones are: 'hey beautiful', 'hey babe', 'can I see your (insert slang words for breasts here)', 'why you in such a hurry babe', 'come, talk to me'... Oh god, I could go on forever. Specially in a city like London, this is so frequent you don't even register it anymore. 

    This one actually always kind of makes me wonder what their objective is. Are they seriously expecting the woman to suddenly turn around and engage with what they just said. If that is not the objective, then this is simply pure harassement that serves no purpose. Great. 


Alright, there is a number of other ones but I think you get the picture. Any communication that could constitute a healthy relationship between consenting adults is not the subject here. I am talking violence against women. As Dr Katz describes, this is a matter concerning everybody. 

The worst thing is, I am guilty of blaming my girlfriends (or even myself) for encouraging this behaviour: why would you wear that/go there if that's not the attention you're after; why do you enable this behaviour in your man; why don't you stand up to this, etc. Dr Katz calls this victim-blaming which is a thoroughly unproductive activity. Blaming the victim for a crime that is committed against them is pretty idiotic once you think about it like that. 

Dr Jackson Katz calls out to men to speak up and he thanks the women that already do. This is a problem in our society. He really touched a nerve with me, as recently I have been witnessing these things first hand. And I am quite outspoken, and I didn't even want to say anything. Dr Katz is right, if we don't speak up about it: we are the enablers. 

This post is by no means saying that this is true for all men, that I hate men or that all men deserve to be crucified. No. That is not the purpose of this post. I am not saying that women and men shouldn't meet in bars, or that every man is a creep. The purpose is to not stay quiet on what I witness. It is to publicly announce that this behaviour is unacceptable. Also to women, I see it. And I experience it too. And I hate it. And this is not acceptable. 

This is extremely easy to discuss and agree with. Once you are in the situation it isn't anymore. Each of these above is worse than the other, even not including the criminal ones. Can you really stand up to a group of men you work with? Or the man you love? It is a problem in the society that everyone needs to get onboard with to change. This should not be tolerated. Not by anyone. Women should stand up to this, but probably even more so - men should stand up to this.  

Men that care about me, tend to get protective towards me where this behaviour is common. I believe that it is because they are fully aware of what is socially acceptable and don't want me to be the subject of that. To those, I say thank you. I really appreciate that, as I need all the support available. 

I know Dr Jonathan Katz is particularly addressing powerful men to spread the word: but I felt I couldn't keep this to myself any longer. If you are a man, I hope you are fighting the good fight with us. If you are a women, same thing. Also, if you find yourself being a victim of any of these crimes: please speak up. We can't afford for it to be silenced.

All my love,

PEST Analysis of Social Media

I want to begin by saying THANK YOU for the incredible feedback from the last post. It is what happens when I cannot fall asleep + a whole day of editing. It received over 500 views in the first few hours (for my very inactive blog is a lot), I had people calling me and talking to me about it in person. The personal messages I received, thanking me for bringing up the subject brought me to tears. Thank you all!

Something entirely different: 

I've been reading and writing a lot about social media, and its value in marketing. I just find it super interesting, and can't wait to start putting it to use professionally. I'm writing an essay now, where I decided to explain its value in a PEST analysis (google it). I don't even know if it's appropriate for a phenomenon as apposed to a business or an organisation. Well, too late now I suppose. 

I came up with this bad boy. What do you think? Am I missing something, completely in the wrong or getting there? As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, opinions, suggestions, comments or recommendations.*

Political factors: - Marketing is changing from assuming attention from the consumer to a ‘bottom-up’ marketing, leveraging the communication already taking place on online platforms (Hanna, Rohm and Crittenden, 2011) - Social media creates engagement while traditional marketing strategies provide reach. The importance of each complimenting the other cannot be stretched enough. One cannot replace the other (Hanna, Rohm and Crittenden, 2011) - Not a means of increasing sales directly, its value is enhances brand’s equity (CRM Management Editors, 2010)

Economical factors: - Does not require elaborate budget (Hanna, Rohm and Crittenden, 2011) - Social media provides both the platform for regular content (free of charge) and ‘featured’ content, where businesses pay for their message to appear on networks of a chosen audience, generally based on demographic or location (Hanna, Rohm and Crittenden, 2011) - Strong presence on social network sites does not translate directly to sales of goods or services. The value of social media is not direct profit (CRM Management Editors, 2010)

Sociological factors: - The importance for corporations to be active on social media is widely recognised (Hannah, Rohm and Crittenden, 2011) - Social media has revolutionised marketing: consumers are no longer passive but engaged and even influential  (Hannah, Rohm and Crittenden, 2011) - Facebook is the most visited website in the world. Other social networks, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogger, Flickr and WordPress follow suit (Alexa - the web information website, 2013)

Technological factors: - Social media technology and the platforms it provides for potential marketing influence is radically increasing. They include all social media, text messages, videos, blogs, wikis, forums and more.   (Hanna, Rohm and Crittenden, 2011) - The importance of mobile devices and tablets cannot be overlooked, as the increased means of reaching the aforementioned platforms. This particularly applies in a location based communication between the consumer and businesses  (Hanna, Rohm and Crittenden, 2011)

A point I find interesting: it has to be specially noted that social media presence does not equal sales. Marketing has never equalled sales (closely related and sometimes overlapping, yes, but not interchangeable). That's why there is marketing AND sales. Right? 

For those interested, the references I used are listed below. I highly recommend the bottom one, it is really good.

Best, 

Habbi

PS. If this is of value to anyone feel free to use it, referencing back to me would be appreciated. 

*My twitter handle is in the top left corner, comment section below and if we know each other personally you can PM me on facebook. 

Alexa - The Web Information Company [online]. (2013). Available from: <http://www.alexa.com/topsites>.

CRM Management Editors (2010). Strong social media presence does not translate to sales. Survey by ECHOVME [online]. Available from: <http://enterpriseinnovation.net/article/strong-social-media-presence-does-not-translate-sales>.

Hanna, R., Rohm, A. and Crittenden, V.L. (2011). We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem.Business Horizon [online]. 54, p.265–273. Available from: <http://www.connectsmm.ca/Newsroom_files/Were all connected The power of the social media ecosystem.pdf>. 

Where are all the lesbians?

Okay, guys. I am on a mission. For a long time now, I have been looking for all the lesbians. A certain percentage of people are gay, and it simply must spread fairly between men and women (man, I love writing none uni-stuff, where I can just throw statements like this out there without having to back it up with some obscure reference). However, you mainly see gay men. Even if you say gay, you automatically assume you are talking about a guy. So where are all the girls? Lately, I have become obsessed. You can probably tell by the length of this post. I am obsessed. 

Many people know, I am a massive fag-hag (don't know what that is? You should. Google it). In the three and a half years I have now spent in London (man, time flies), I have probably been to more gay (men) bars than straight bars. And I love the gays. The gay guys. They are fun, fabulous and FRIGGING EVERYWHERE. I know the entire spectrum as well: from the little shy-boy that feels like a sex object whenever he goes to a gay bar, to completely coked out drag queens, to just the most average Joe you can imagine. 

The objective of this post is not to minimise all the bravery and courage gay men have shown fighting prejudices and stereotypes society has against gay men. It is the exact opposite. It is to celebrate it. And I think we are ready for the gay girls now. Where are you? We want to see you. Not just macho ones or the lipstick ones or any other stereotype ones, but ALL the ones. We want ALL the lesbians. Some might argue that gay men are just easier to spot or whatever. I don't care. I can count on my fingers how many lesbians I know. 

Do you get that? Do you get what I just said? I can COUNT all the lesbians I know. If someone doesn't know me that well, this is crazy. I know A LOT OF people. And a lot of gay people. Back home, people used to not like going out with me, because I would know every other person we ran into. I have also lived in London for a long time now, working in very social settings and had an extremely active social life. And common, I hang out at gay bars. I don't mean to come across all like oh-look-how-awesome-and-popular-I-am (even though, let's face it, it's just the way it is. loljk, don't take it the wrong way. It was a joke, to build up to a point. A joke with a purpose if you will), but I know a lot of people. And yet somehow, I can COUNT the lesbians I know. Thatshitcray. 

What bothers me even more, if that's possible, is every time a lesbian surfaces, it is like this big topic of discussion. Not that I mind the discussion, but ok. Let me demonstrate. I am from Iceland. When ever I meet a new person (which happens all the time) I have to have the same basic conversation about Iceland. Yes, it's cold, yes, Bjork is from there, yes haha, all the small-talk jokes I have heard five thousand times. I am so bored of the topic, I have become the queen of dodging the question of where I am from or changing the subject at the speed of light. Not because I am not proud of my origin or I don't like talking about where I am from, but I am so over having the same discussion over and over again. The thing is, people mean well. It comes from a good place, consisting of curiosity of unfamiliar territory. I get it. 

And this is about where I am from. Can you imagine having to have this type of discussion about your SEX LIFE, when ever it comes up that you are gay. I cannot think of a single topic that is more personal. Yet, it comes up over and over again, with people who you have just met. Which brings me back to the point, whenever a lesbian pops up, the discussion revolves around their SEX LIFE. Oh my god. That is so personal. The question: 'How do you guys have sex?' is one of the most common ones. OH MY GOD. If you have ever said that to someone, please take a moment to think about what the question actually is. 

To a certain extend, I understand that people are curious. It's new and a little foreign to them. It comes from a good place (hopefully). But MAN, stop for a second and think about what that question is. Also, the (way to few) lesbians that I know, anticipate the questions and the discussion. And if they don’t come, they are actually kind of like, oh, so, you don’t want Lesbian 101? 

In my time (because you know, I am like 400 years old), I have had my shares of rumours, gossip, slander and all the rest of it. Whenever I was going out with someone, it was like everyone got the memo, it was like I was on frigging Gossip girl. People (random people) would come up to me and ask me super personal questions about something that did or did not happen ages ago. However, I have NEVER EVER EVER, not by anyone, from my closest friends to the meanest, ballsiest gossip been asked HOW I had sex. Never. Never, ever happened. Never. As in never. 

And thank god. How is that anyones business? I fail to understand this. Straight people can definitely have some crazy, twisted sex shit going on and gay people can be perfectly 'boring' sexually. Or vice versa. Or you know, a combination of the two. Or you know, there was a boiled egg involved. You know what. I don't care. Because, IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. Have you ever asked a couple, HOW they have sex? I still can not believe people ask that question, ALL-THE-TIME. Honestly. What the fuck. 

Anyway, lesbians. I want them to come out. They don't have to be covered in glitter singing musical numbers. They don't have to be macho. They don't have to worry about me thinking they have a crush on me because I am female. They don't have to worry about me asking them how they have sex. And it won't be all about you being a lesbian. I won't make your sexuality the main characteristic of you as a person. It won't be about your sex life. I want you to feel like you don't have to hide who you are or what you are feeling. 

You can probably tell, I am obsessed. I have been watching interviews with Ellen and Portia about when they came out. Lord, did they have some abuse to take. I know they are the go-to-cliché for lesbians but honestly, it's not like we are suffocated with role models here. I have also been watching some girls on YouTube share their stories, and it breaks my heart seeing their OWN prejudices they had to fight. My all time favorite is Hannah Hart, but that is purely based on the fact she is a comedy genius. However, it is so inspiring seeing how much she clearly struggled with being gay, and how she is overcoming it. When I see all of this, I am like wooow. This is some serious shit. 

What bothers me the most though, is because of lack of role models, the ones that are out there become known for their sexuality. How is that the most interesting thing about anyone? I hear this in conversations all the time as well: "Yesterday, I was out with my friend XX, who you know, is gay...". Is that relevant to the story? Is that why you are friends? Is that literally the biggest characteristic about XX? In the scenario, where you have your eyes set on a certain someone, I am with you. It matters. A lot. However, for a public figure, or someone you may or may not know super well, why do you care so much?

The beauty is, the strength of the gay community. Even if you don't live in a metropolitan, the online community is amazing. What is my favorite things about fighting for gay rights, is it is genuinely a fight for love. The battle is not about power, race domination or politics. It is in every sense of the word, fighting to be allowed to be in love. Still, it is so twisted to me that this battle isn't over yet. How can we be like, oh, you people love each other? No, we can't have that. You must be some kinky, sex person and I don't want to get infected. WTF? 

Final point. I think coming out is such a beautiful thing. It is so honest, people have to stare themselves into the soul and accept who they are. Have you ever been so honest with yourself? Honestly? Have you ever had to fight for being that person? Have you ever been worried about getting rejected by everyone you have ever known? No matter how liberal your background is, you still don't know what reaction you'll get. That makes it a pretty big deal to most people. So those that have come out, tend to have some serious balls. Which makes them admirable and worth not prejudicing the shit out of. 

Sorry, you are doing it wrong

Hello everyone.

I decided to write for you because it is Thursday, so you are probably more eager to get to the pub than do what ever you do to make rent. So I decided to provide you with a distraction until then. You are welcome.  

To all of you people that read my last blogpost, thank you. As you know, I am extremely interested in viral videos and viral marketing. A vital aspect is providing content online which has the possibility of going viral. I know. What a no brainer. Yet, not everyone seems to recognise this. I just read this super interesting article which talks about the big brands participating in this new way of reaching people. 

I have to say, from a personal experience - interesting and tailored marketing is the only way to reach me (well, I would like to think so at least). I may be a bit more internet savvy than other people, but I don't really think so. I spend my time on the internet doing three things. Social media, watching videos (mostly on YouTube) and researching what ever I am interested in at the time (can be university related, product related, learning how to braid my hair, what ever).

As I have a bit of an obsession with marketing, I notice what is trying to be aimed at me. And do you know what. I HATE when it works. I would like to think of myself as an individual who makes informed decisions. Which I know is bull****, as I am very impulsive and make decisions on the go (hey, at least I know).

A YouTuber I recently discovered is Grace Helbig. I do not know why I like her so much, because she does nothing or talks rubbish most of the time. Anyway, I am completely hooked. One of her videos she does a (ironic) make up tutorial where she goes: I don't know, I'm using this what ever drugstore foundation, I think it's called FitMe (from Maybelline).

     And guess what. Suddenly, the brand started to follow me. I have seen countless of the modest adverts on the side on my browser (not the annoying ones that take up your whole screen) and it is the promoted product in Boots (where I regularly go). Suddenly all I want is that stupid foundation. I went to Boots the other day to try it. It is exactly the same as all the other ones I use. The same. But I really want that one.

     This is the perfect example of successful product placement and targeting the right audience. And now I am giving you perfectly free advertisement. Well done Maybelline. You get a gold star. 

The opposite to this is known as interruption marketing. The examples are everywhere. Television adverts, the ads before YouTube videos, people stopping you on the streets and my personal favorite: the flight attendant at the exact moment you almost fall asleep telling you about some 2 for 1 on a luxurious cosmetic product. I don't know if this is just me living in London for too long, my generation or a personal thing, but I (do my best to) COMPLETELY ignore all of this. I know these techniques work to a certain extent (which is why they are used) but they are also really irritating. I have developed a system where I always mute the YouTube adverts, ignore everything the flight attendant ever says and I never, ever take flyers. I keep joking about they could hand out checks for £1000 and I would never know.

And by the way, I am extremely easy to trick into spending money I should not. Marketing people, if you are not succeeding - you are doing it wrong. Also, I am interested in marketing so I actually watch advertisements from time to time. If you have pi**ed me off so much I absolutely refuse to, again, you are doing it wrong.

I wrote a post earlier this year asking commercial organisations to stop lying to me. I think this specifically applies here in the UK, where the market is so dense, every single thing has been exploited in every way possible. If you show people interest, they expect you are lying to them in order to get money out of you. I know this, because I have worked in sales. The majority of people could not get out of talking to me faster. And I am super charming.

PS. I'm rushing to this meeting where more people like me talk about how awesome the internet is and how it is the only way to do stuff now, so I have to rush. I have almost finished the spell check but I know it is not quite there yet, I'll finish it tonight. Dear internet, please don't murder me.

Viral Madness & Bieber (because I love him)

Hey guys.

I'm back. You can celebrate now. Anyway, I have been thinking about making a comeback for quite some time now, but I have been thinking about my 'blogosphere' voice. Than I decided, f*** it, I'll just write about what ever I want to write about. Yes. That is what I decided. This one will even be a surprise, because I'm not complaining about anything. Yay. This is new.

Without further ado, the topic of this blog post: my dissertation. Please don't be discouraged, everyone finds it really interesting, I promise.

So, I am writing about how videos go viral on the internet machine and how/if/should the music industry integrate the phenomenon into its marketing strategies. This topic combines everything I am interested in: marketing, production, film, music, viral videos, YouTube, the internet, social media, etc. My proposal got approved (yay me!) and my supervisor recommended me to find some videos to use as a case study.

So this is the hard part! I know, I know - my life is soooo difficult, watching YouTube videos all day in my lovely Shoreditch flat. It actually really is. I have been struggling with this, so I would love if you guys could comment any suggestions or ideas in the comments (even if you don't know me, that's cool).

My inner struggle is whether I should take the big hitters we all cringe just thinking about, like Call Me Maybe, Rebecca Black's Friday or Gangnam Style (even Justin Bieber, he got discovered online and then he did the whole Girlfriend video competition thing, resulting in the spin-of internet celebrity 'Overly Attached Girlfriend'). However, I am already kind of cringing over this now, and this is before researching them a lot (I have a little bit). Also, the success of those particular ones is not quite determined yet. I know they are internationally all over the place right now, but is it lasting? In contrast to this, I could look at someone who had an international hit, like Cee Lo Green's Fuck You, and analyse what has happened once the peek has past.

Other suggestions, could be taking bands that may have not had as wide of a spread, but have made name of themselves due to their videos going viral. The best examples would be Walk of the Earth and OK Go (with only 140m and 40m views). The angle here is to take bands who are not as involved with the industry directly (not everyone can get Bieber to tweet about them) so to speak (I know it is not as simple as that, but I hope you follow) and see how they are using videos to promote the music.

I would even like to look into how the 'mainstream' is becoming more interested in what-ever-it-is catching the internet's attention, e.g. Ellen DeGeneres regularly invites the latest internet hit to her show.  

You may realise, I haven't decided anything. I would love anyone's input or ideas, I have read the internet back and forth and the ones I have mentioned seem to be the typical examples. Please don't judge me if I'm overlooking something extremely obvious (but tell me if I am!), because I'm just letting you into the very first steps of the project.

I am super interested in this project and love talking about it. Anyone who has interest, input or just something to say, please don't be afraid to contact me. I would love to hear from you here, on twitter, facebook, email, etc.

Oh by the way, I'm not embedding the videos, because it makes the site really slow. Plus, you people all know what I'm referring to. If you are really interested the titles link to the original content.

*Sidenote: I know how Of Monsters and Men's Little Talk has got 35m views and MTV Music Award Nomination for their video(ish), but I think that has got more to do with them being really famous, rather than the video making them famous, if that makes sense.

Entertainment for Grammer Nazis.

1) Has anyone ever wondered why:

Continues  - Continuously

Is this perhaps a rule I was supposed to learn at some stage? It is isn't it? It is definitely a rule I am supposed to know. Is it?

2) If you can spell simultaneously without looking it up, respect. I respect you now. A lot. 

English is maybe not grammatically the most complex one, but it sure has funny spelling. If you can come up with more, drop me a line. I am weirdly into this sort of thing. Probably why I haven't got any friends....

(btw, I am bound to do a spelling error in a post like this. If you can find it, I'll give you a prize). 

Can you please stop lying to me?

I am so tired of being treated like an idiot by advertisers, magazines and the media in general. There is about a hundred different types, how ever there are two that really stand out for me. 

Diets 

'Get a flat tummy in 5 weeks', 'Lose a stone in 2 weeks by using this weird trick' and the five hundred gzillion articles along those lines. No. No, no, no. This is not true. 

There is one way to get fit, losing weight or what ever it is that you are after, and it is eating less than you work out. That is it. That is the secret. Cake has a lot of calories and carrots have not so many calories. Try to eat fruit & veg. Go for a run. Replace sodas for water.

That is it. So if you are somewhere writing all of these articles, or advertising this. Please stop. 

There are two possible responses here. Some poor soul that actually believes you, that you are lying to. Which is mean and you should stop it. Or people that have more than half a braincell and do not want to be talked to like they are idiots.

Cash loans & lawyer services

This is a way bigger issue, that is extremely boring and requires a detailed interest in contract law. Basically anyone who advertises on TV how much they want to help you is lying to you. Cash loans or pay day loans or what ever they are called are potentially the worst thing you could possibly do. Ever. Those lawyers that want to help you get PPI or what ever, do so because you have to pay them a lot of money to do that for you. Speak to your bank and they will help you directly. Giving you back the money, they mis-sold to you, which is another example of people lying to you. (I am very much on purpose avoiding the whole IceSave and the bank crash and all of that, very much on purpose)

Here is a rule of thumb. If someone is talking to you, about your money, and it sounds pretty good, you are probably being lied to. 

The thing that really frightens me, is as annoying I find being talked to like a dummy, there must be not just this one, stupid someone that believes all of this, but an army of people who are buying in to this bu**shit. An army of people.

To be fair I am a big believer in the 'stupid tax'. That is if you are stupid, you will end up paying more on stupid stuff, because you are not thinking straight. I am guilty of paying the stupid tax on numerous occasions. Like buying into what ever some sales people try to sell me. I think to myself once I've spent a fortune on things I don't need, I did not need that. Now I have to pay for not thinking straight. I have paid the stupid tax, and you know what? I deserved to. 

Regardless of the stupid tax, which I think is very important. I do not think anyone should make their living, by relying on stupid people believing the LIES they tell. LIES that are told not only to the army of stupid people, but to society as a whole, every single day. That's the trick. The every, single day bit. Because if you hear or see something often enough, you will start believing it. True story. 

NO, IT IS NOT. No one wants to give you 50% interest on your £300 savings. They want you to pay £3 pounds a month for two years for providing you with 'this amazing web of lies they have created'. And if you are a big person, there is no trick or anything you can do to make you slim down while sitting in front of the TV all day, eating. Stop eating like a pig and go work out, if you want to lose weight. If you don't, then keep doing what you are doing.

Ok. I just needed it out there. More angry blog posts. That's what I do. Amen. Thank you for listening. If you want more angry blogposts, this guy hit the nail on the head about piracy. He was so spot on, I see no point in making any further comments about it.


****FIXED****
I can't believe I forgot this one. Because this one makes my blood boil.
Airlines
Don't tell me the flight is going to cost £20, when you and I both know I will end up paying £200. Just do not do that. That is incredibly dishonest.
Ticket = £200
£20 ticket + £20 pick your seat + £20 luggage + £20 using the airport + £20 breathing + ... = £200
See, I would much rather just pay upfront £200. Because it is HONEST.

It is a little bit annoying how restaurants have picked up on this too. You buy a main at the same price as anywhere else, but oh, what is this? It comes on its own. Now you have to buy sauce, chips, veggies and doubling the price.

You big important business people out there. I know I am asking a lot, but can you please stop lying to me?