Monday, May 17, 2004

Optimism [1] President Discusses Plan for Economic Growth in Ohio Remarks by the President to Timken Company Employees Canton, Ohio April 24, 2003 I'm honored to be here at the Timken Company. Tim was telling me that you all have been in business since 1899 -- turns out that's when William McKinley, of Canton, slept in the same room I'm sleeping in. (Laughter.) Tim told me that this is a company -- we are a "roll up your sleeves" company, a can -- it is a can-do environment. Which is one of the reasons I've got so much optimism about the future of our economy -- because of the "roll up your sleeves" attitude by thousands of our fellow Americans, because of the business sense of "we can do whatever it takes to overcome the obstacles in our way". I know you're optimistic about the future of this company. I'm optimistic about the future of our country. [snip] I appreciate the Timken family for their leadership, their concern about their fellow associates. They're working hard to make sure the future of this company is bright, and therefore, the future of employment is bright for the families that work here, that work to put food on the table for their children. [2] Timken To Eliminate 900 Jobs Cuts To Be Made Worldwide September 19, 2003 [3] Press Gaggle (via Ryan Lizza's TNR Campaign Journal) May 14, 2004 Q About a year ago, April 24th, last year, the President went to Canton, Ohio. He went to the Timken Company. I don't know if you remember the trip, I wasn't on it. He went to a bearings factory, part of the Timken Company, touted his economic plans and talked about jobs and growth. Timken announced today that they're shutting down that plant that the President visited a year ago. I just wonder if that's ironic, that the President touted his economic strategy, doesn't appear to be working? [4] Timken Layoffs Potentially Devastating For Canton 1,300 Jobs Predicted To Be Cut May 16, 2004 CANTON, Ohio -- Timken is slashing a quarter of its employees in Canton, and as workers facing layoffs consider their future, the ripple effect is already beginning. "How can I afford to get married, afford a house payment, maybe kids, if I don't have a job?" said Timken employee Shawn Higgins. Timken is Canton's biggest employer, and it is reported that 1,300 jobs are to be cut. Former Mayor Richard Watkins, who led the city for 12 years, knows how enormous the impact of such a downsizing can be. "It isn't just about Timken," said Watkins. "Other jobs are affected. If (people) can't spend money, the smaller entrepreneur won't be able to stay in business." [Thanks to Hesiod, who has more.] 11:58:40 PM    comment [] Welcome, Philip K. Dick Fans! WWDT would like to thank Jason Koornick, webmaster of the excellent Philip K. Dick Fan site, for the plug. I encourage Dick fans to explore the archives for past Dick-related stories. For starters, check out: It Takes a Potemkin Village White House Press Simulacrum Prayer Hits the Digital Age Swimming Through Blackwater Second Variety Citizen, Be Prepared! The Empire Never Ended I also welcome and appreciate comments, story suggestions, and links. Dick is well known for his science fiction, but he is not sufficiently acknowledged for his political insight. I consider him to be on a par with Orwell as a political writer and more sensitive to America's peculiarities. Our totalitarian future will be paved not by Big Brother's brutality, but by the savvy of the Two-Party-Religio-Corporate-Media-Entertainment state. Big Brother wouldn't have to torture dissidents if he just hired a good PR firm, appeared more "likable," made the "news" more entertaining, and had better sit-coms. 1:15:17 PM    comment [] Neurostrategies (TM) BrightHouse, an Atlanta marketing consultancy founded by "Thinker and CEO" Joey Reiman (bio), seems on first glance like just another marketing firm. Sure, the company plays up its uniqueness. For example, it calls itself the world's first Ideation Corporation (TM). It claims a special status among consultancies for being both strategic and creative (!). And it prides itself on its "4-I's methodology": Investigation, Incubation, Illumination and Illustration. All of this is directed towards getting their clients to focus on a "Master Idea": The Master Idea is the impelling force that moves a company into the great arena of possibility. Its inspirational and transformative thinking brings firepower, focus and clarity to a company, creating powerful internal and external messages for current and future customers, employees, shareholders and other constituencies. Most importantly, its spreading power can ignite the management team, the field, the market and even society. The Master Idea is intuitive, optimistic and meaningful in the current environment and provides a moral compass for the company's future direction. It is authentic to the brand, with a foundation in the company's ethos, culture and values. Now to my untrained eye, these claims look like the same gobbledygook you see from every PR firm, marketing consultancy, and business motivational guru. However, BrightHouse does seem genuinely unique for its trademarked Neurostrategies (TM) Group. The firm uses the latest neuroscientific research to help companies with their marketing strategies. Our team is uniquely positioned to integrate marketing expertise with the most advanced neuroscientific research capabilities and understanding of how the brain thinks, feels and motivates behavior. We offer our clients: More confidence and accuracy in marketing decisions through a better understanding of how the brain mediates consumer preference and purchase behavior A new, powerful analytical approach & tool for learning what drives consumer behavior at a conscious and subconscious level Strategic insights and implications that will help establish the foundation for loyal, long-lasting consumer relationships not easily superseded by the competition By studying the brain, BrightHouse believes it can overcome the inherent biases and limitations of using focus groups and surveys. These methods imprecisely and fallibly convey the behavioral tendencies of customers, which have a fundamentally neurological basis. The brain is the Holy Grail of marketing, and BrightHouse gives its clients the key. BrightHouse owes its privileged position to Emory University, which grants the company access to its hospital's MRI equipment for research on the brain patterns of its clients' potential customers -- clients like Coca-Cola (a principal fundraiser for Emory), K-mart, Home Depot and Pepperidge Farm. Ethical Concerns On its web site, BrightHouse does consider the potential ethical concerns people might have (although perhaps their research may eventually help to bypass that problem). The company reassures the public that such research does not violate privacy rights: Neuroimaging can provide useful insights as to the determinants of consumer behavior when such determinants are not amenable to articulation, are below the level of conscious awareness, or are intuitive, rather than rational, in nature. We are not capable of, nor do we desire, to "read" people's private thoughts and feelings or use study inferences to induce unwilled behavior. However, my principal concern doesn't have to do with privacy rights. After all, focus groups and surveys also take private information, yet they successfully maintain confidentiality. Rather, my concern is with the right to liberty and autonomy of thought. The last line alludes to the problem, although misleadingly. BrightHouse, of course, won't use their studies to "induce unwilled behavior" -- their clients will. And it's not simply a question of coerced behavior but coerced thought -- the ability of companies to make people think things that they wouldn't otherwise think without neuro-manipulative techniques -- and more broadly, the ability of corporate America to shape the very way we perceive and feel about reality. It is to these concerns that critic Douglas Rushkoff in a recent NY Press article directs us: So, yes, the thought of a once-respected university surrendering its MRI equipment, psychiatrists and addiction experts to an advertising agency in order for them to mine deep into our pre-conscious neural patterns and speak directly to our reptilian brains is disconcerting, to say the least. It represents both the decline of American academic integrity and the rather unlimited reach of marketing into the most private realms of human thought and emotion. If this stuff works, the bottom line of the corporate balance sheet could very well become the arbiter of reality -- or at least the way we perceive it. Fortunately, we may not have much to worry about ... for now. Rushkoff's conclusion that Neurostrategies (TM) will go the way of phrenology and leeches seems a sound one. But as to what the future holds, who knows ... except for Philip Dick, perhaps. Penfield Mood Organs, anyone? Postscript: If you are also concerned with issues of liberty and autonomy of thought, I recommend the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics web site. 12:02:57 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 David V. Johnson. Last update: 6/1/04; 12:53:11 AM. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.