Gary 9/19

I'm posting on Saturday morning, which I am aware is past the deadline....but my mind was blank when I attempted to post on Thursday and Friday. Benjamin made some excellent points regarding the reproduction of art, and the differences between stage and film works. Right on Walter....I got it, I agree. I even understand your political diatribe at the end was unavoidable. It just comes with the burden of having a brain three times the size of us "normal" humans.

The McDonald's praxis was different. Everyone seemed to dive into this picture and dissect it down to the smallest detail. I know that McDonald's executives spend hours deciding their marketing strategies to lure us into their restaurant, but are we saying that they have engulfed our freedom of choice? If you don't want to go there...drive on. "Run for the Border" at Taco Bell, or "Have it your way" at Burger King, or "Sonic Size" it at the Sonic drive-in. These marketing campaigns seem to be working well. How many shuttered fast food restaurants have you seen recently. The cigarette marketing must be working well to. Even with the health issues and price per pack of cigarettes, the smoking habit has once again begun to rise among teenagers and young adults. The tobacco companies are acting responsibly though....they give you a warning on the package. That's as good as the back of the Budweiser truck I saw the other day as he was off-loading 25 cases of beer, "Drink Responsibly" LOL....

We can take any picture from any media source and pick it to pieces, and develop a multitude of theories, but why? Our society is McDonald's hamburgers and french fries (along with high cholesterol and heart disease). We are lured to the products that are advertised. Many of us sit and criticize these companies without realizing that many of the items we have fit the same mold. I ate McDonald's the day we had class and I never even looked at the "Billions and Billions" sign. I ate there because the drive through is quick, I had only $5, and the burgers are so dry that you can drive and eat while nothing drips on your clothing. This picture is America today...and I'm part of it. Sad but true.