Japanese Sweep Consumer Reports, Autoweek

This is depressing and so frustrating. The Japanese have swept all automotive and truck categories in Consumer Reports and Autoweek. Forbes also agrees that US cars suck.

I disagree with that blanketing – There’s a few good cars that meet the metrics of excellence, but to no avail, Japanese relentless consistency has met the most important metric of all, that of perception.

They never abandoned quality, as did US companies after their brief flirtation with it in the eighties. At the end of the day, it’s the cheapest way to do business, but that day is way too long of a day for the dynamic ‘do’ American character that may always be shackled to a tactical business culture that must necessarily be overwhelmed by strategic cultures.

Been there, done that, with a company that spent $1.5B on quality consulting, but then threw more billions at another magic bullet, because quality wasn’t working from the bottom up, because its steps processed as waste to a ‘do’ culture.

(Sigh). Oh well.

Ed

99 Beetle. 03?/04? Volvo. No pickup – I do stuff, but don’t care bout wearin the identity – When I need a truck, I just rent, same w/landyachts – I don’t like to pay through the nose for crap that just lays around 99% of the time just suckin money and uglyin up the grounds. Plan to chop an airboxer VW camper, synergy drive, nothing fancy, just chopped, camping outfitted, iPod-Sat-DVD.

Need Guy w/Pickup. Contact Democratic Party

The Democratic Party desperately needs a guy with a pickup truck to run for the presidency.

Americans only process strong identities, and a guy with a pickup truck would shout to America, “I DO things – I fish, I take my kids RTVing, I load up with cases of Cab for the cellar – I’m a simple guy but I’m not dumb. Au contraire, keeping it simple is how I built a multi-billion-dollar empire – I DO things. I can fix this.”

Unfortunately, Democrats just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, to an America that processes ‘do’ and not ‘think.’ Kerry talked about his war hero history to an America that doesn’t process history either. Luckily for GW, that was a bigger faux pas than Bush’s regular SNAFUs. But GW stays on track with what Americans want to hear. He might be vague and confused and a screwup, but he always promises to DO something, his way, no matter what. What exactly, doesn’t matter – He singlemindedly plugs away at “DOIN” this thang, and that processes. ‘His way or the highway’ certainly is offensive to many, but it’s very American and mythologic, especially in a contrived state of war.

Of course, there’s cracks, and stuff’s wearing thin (to the tune of historical debt and deficit by the “cut spending” blow smoke up your ass administration, Wiretapping/BigBrother will set you free, $284B in Iraq [as opposed to $150B estimate] and counting, lots of dead, burnt bodies, “nation building”, Halliburton, oil, WMD, etc), but it will be interesting.

If it’s not “tax and spend” Democrats, it’s “cut and spend” Republicans like crazed teenagers on a buying spree with Mommy and Daddy’s credit cards.

Ouch,

Ed

Just Do It

Those Portland, OR Nike guys were brilliant. They came up with that on their own, and didn’t need some fancy “headcase” guy to push an obvious hot button.

Americans “Do” things. We “do.” It’s our DNA, our history, our mythology. It’s what we “do.” We’re vital. We do things. We don’t screw around with impotent thinking. We don’t need to look before we leap – That’s for jack-offs that don’t get anything done. That’s what effete Europeans do, think, think, think, and all the while genocide happens in Serbville, and nothing happens, etc, etc. We get stuff done. We won world wars. We built the greatest industrial nation the world has known. We built Hollywood!!! We help our neighbors. We’re the good guys. We’re the great guys. You can do anything, be anything – Just do it.

“Just Do It” and live the mojo. Be the mojo.

Yeah, it’s just really a terrific fit, too, with the AMERICAN SENSE OF IDENTITY.

American Identity

Well, the thing is that Americans have a strong sense of identity. Everyone has one. Everyone is a Somebody. Any other way just doesn’t process. Bums, billionaires – Doesn’t matter. Everyone’s a unique Somebody, one way or another. We raise our children that way . . . our children’s children . . .

Well, there’s the great American mythology, too: The rugged individual (though the nation was built on rugged cooperation), the trailblazer, the Great American Everyman immigrant bootstrapped himself up as far as the vision of his Great American Dream. Nice stories. There’s a ton of them in the character DNA of Americans.

Well, anyway, Americans just don’t process weak identities. It’s not enough to just be a human being. In America, there are the phantoms, the vast unrecognized, and there are the real people, the people with identities, the Somebodies.

If you don’t have an identity in America, you can buy one. If you can’t afford it, you can get it with plastic.

And you’ll spend more of your plastic with companies with strong identities. They speak to you. They speak your language.

JUST DO IT,

Ed

Image-Narcissism

OK, this is just McLuhan, but bears repeating.

Close attention to the ancient tale notes that the Greek youth, Narcissus, was hopelessly infatuated with his image. This was not an unhealthy self-love as is erroneously believed today. His toxic love narcosis was with his image.

Today, many (often self-loathing) souls are relentlessly driven on, at any cost, in their chaotic pursuit of the images of their life.

It’s ironic, too, that a lot of the attempts with self-esteem are very bungled and only exacerbate the condition (and also, too, only exacerbate the hyperizing of the uniquely AMERICAN SENSE OF IDENTITY, but that’s the grist of another post

Ed