This will come as no surprise to anyone, but there are some really stupid people running around. The surprise to me is how these stupid people have gainful employment or even live the upper-class life.
Today is a typical example of one. He represents just one more person (a microcosm that represents the whole) of why the USA is collapsing as the ruling class fails to understand the working class or poor people (the rapidly expanding portion of the US population).
The guy is a writer named Ben Stein. This guy is so full of himself and living in such a sheltered world that it defies explanation. Wikipedia says:
Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American actor, writer, lawyer, and commentator on political and economic issues. He attained early success as a speechwriter for American presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Later he entered the entertainment field and became an actor, comedian, and Emmy Award-winning game show host.
Stein has frequently written commentaries on economic, political, and social issues, along with financial advice to individual investors.
Hmmm? He was born in 1944 and was a speechwriter for president Nixon? Then a game show host? What a tool! This guy is a real life joke.
Now he writes for the American Spectator? Well, we all know how wealthy magazine writers are by how their numbers of subscribers are rapidly expanding! Ha! Ha! Ha!
By the way, Nixon was president from 1969 to 1974... So, I think this "speechwriter" for Nixon is an exaggeration. They are saying that a 26 ~ 30 year old guy was a "speechwriter" for a US president? I find that hard to believe. I might believe that he wrote a speech, or a few speeches, but "speechwriter" suggests that he wrote many speeches and was on staff, no?...
Doesn't that stretch the imagination a bit?
Anyway... Besides exaggeration and the ability to bloviate his past record (why anyone would brag about writing stuff for that other slick talking president Ford), Stein has written a piece criticizing the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I am not pro or anti Wall Street Occupation. My personal opinion is that this occupation won't last (especially when it starts to get cold, or will just wind up as a bunch more homeless people in New York. There's lots of those so what's a few thousand more in a city of millions?) But, I am happy that people are waking up in the USA finally.
Anyhow, Stein criticizes these people. I have no problem with that, but I do have a problem with his holiness and his cultural superiority complex.
So... today rain came down in sheets here in Los Angeles. As I walked down Camden Drive in Beverly Hills after a righteous lunch at Mister Chow, the wind was forcing the rain at me horizontally. I got soaked. Earlier, my wife had slipped and fallen on the wet, slippery floor of a parking garage. No one in the garage made a move to help her. I, of course, picked her up and said to the parking attendant, "You're pretty stupid. That woman who fell is the only woman in Beverly Hills who wouldn't sue you for that slip. You might at least thank her and help her."
He shrugged and said something in Spanish.
Laughable. "Righteous lunch at Mister Chow"? Are you kidding me? Did you get a free lunch for this shameless plug?....
On top of that, he actually wrote this crap:
No one in the garage made a move to help her. I, of course, picked her up and said to the parking attendant, You’re pretty stupid. That woman who fell is the only woman in Beverly Hills who wouldn’t sue you for that slip. You might at least thank her and help her.
What's he want the guy to say? "Thank you, ma'am for falling. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Can I help you fall again?" What an idiot Ben Stein is. I can't believe that he writes such drivel. The attendant is "....pretty stupid. That woman who fell is the only woman in Beverly Hills who wouldn’t sue you for that slip."
Gee, if he wants car parking service, he should use the valet parking.
Riiiiiight! This rich woman from Beverly Hills and her husband is going to sue some Hispanic parking lot attendant because the wife slipped on the parking lot floor? Heavens!
Sue the parking lot attendant for what? The $80 a week he makes?
Ben Stein is the only "stupid" person in this picture, wouldn't you agree? (Maybe that's what the attendant replied in Spanish).
Ben Stein! Planet earth is calling you. Time to get back to the real world. If you don't like it, why don't you go crying to daddy? Or, perhaps, learn some Spanish, honky, like the more than 55% of the people in Southern California speak!
Stein is pretty much indicative of why the USA is so messed up and how white people (OK, he's Jewish, so what?) fail to - or don't even attempt to - understand the way the lower middle class and poor people live. That's why things in the USA keep getting worse.
Sue a parking lot attendant in court, indeed!
Stein! Conseguir una vida! (Get a life!)
*Mr. Stein, if you don't like this article by a nobody blogger... I'm sure you can seek a lawyer... I mean, after you win your court case of Stein vs. Parking Lot Attendant.
If you were to judge the amount of Tweets you get from people who claim to be Marketing, Internet, SEO and SEM experts or CEO's, you'd think the US economy was booming. Jobs galore. But it would all be just an illusion.
I often get Tweets from people who claim to be "Internet Marketing Experts" or "SEO Marketing Experts..." I wonder by what measure they use to give themselves this sort of classification?
JERRY LEE LEWIS - YOUR CHEATIN' HEART
The ones that immediately raise red flags for me are the ones who claim to be "CEO" of some company yet, judging by their photo, they don't look to be much older than 25 or 30.
I've never met any good CEO's who were under 35-years-old. I'm not saying they don't exist, but the big guns and real players are not 30-year-old CEO's of little companies with classification of LLP, LLC or family organizations.
Those are the sorts of titles I hate. Why even bother with the title of CEO? I mean, who are they trying to impress? Other clueless people? Clueless people usually haven't much money. Why impress them?
What's the point of being a CEO of a dinky company that has one or two employees? Bragging about it is even more embarrassing. If you do that, stop... It might be OK for picking up some witless boyfriend or girlfriend, but for picking up any investment, it is a detriment.
It certainly isn't any credit to your worth or credibility.
Would you buy a used car from this man? How
about letting him set up your company SEO?
Do these people use the CEO title because they think they can fool someone into investing into their little company or throwing a big contract at them? Maybe. But I don't think that will work.
"Fools and their money are soon parted"... Most rich people are not fools. That's why they are rich.
I haven't really noticed any serious CEO's using Facebook or Twitter too often. I suppose they do, but not too much. I do know that, and I won't say his name, the CEO of AirAsia X uses Facebook. We became friends that way... And I did arrange a few promotions for them in Japan because of it...
But I think he is the exception to the rule.
I don't think most CEO's have time to bother with this Social Media stuff. The CEO's I know avoid this, if they can, and I know from experience that they try to avoid even looking at their email if at all possible.... Spending time on Facebook and Twitter?! I don't think so.
I get these invitations for Twitter and such, and, if the photo looks like a young guy and his title says "CEO" or "SEO expert" I know it's BS.... But I'm a nice guy, I friend them anyway... It's just quicker that way and I don't have to think about it for more than a second. Friending them takes one click. Deleting them takes two clicks. Friending them is faster.
I check their photo and go to their Twitter page. If I don't see at least a blog or a company page, then I know they are bullsh*tters. That's OK. Everyone needs to start somewhere... Maybe they will learn some useful lessons along the way. I certainly have.
One of the big lessons I learned was not creating idiotic titles like CEO for myself when there are only one or two employees at my company in order to impress people I don't even know. Impressing people who haven't a clue is a waste of time... People who do have a clue will know it's BS, so it is actually self-defeating to do so.
Here's a good test for you. I never claim that I am an "SEO or "Internet expert" yet go to Google Search and search the words, "Japan China." You will get 1 billion 380 million results. On page one of search results you will also see two articles that I wrote. See here: http://bit.ly/rjaMbu
Even with that, I do not claim to be an SEO expert.
If you are a customer, and the guy is telling to you to give him him your business because he is an "SEO expert" then give him this test:
1) Do they blog? If so, check their blog and see when they started.
Blogging for six months is nothing to brag about. That's not even a rookie. Search some generic titles and see if you can find any results where they show up at the top of the list (and, no, I don't mean specific searches for the exact title of that particular blog post. I mean, if they write an article about, say, "Sicily pizza"... Search "pizza" or "Sicily" and see if you can find their article on the first few pages of results. If they are hot at SEO, you should be able to).
1a) If they do blog, check to see if they post everyday. Posting everyday for at least a year shows dedication and resolve (and that they are crazy). If they don't do that, or haven't, then they are poseurs and not players or, at best, students of the game.
2) Go look at their Facebook or Twitter account. Check the dates when they began. Is there a corporate page for this person's company? If not, forget it.
On the other hand, If you are one of the many who are guilty of making these wild claims on expertise or being a "pro", then I suggest you stop. There are far too many charlatans running around as it is. If you get the label "charlatan" it will be quite hard to shake.
Building trust and a good reputation takes a long time... It isn't made in an instant by creating a Twitter account and claiming, on the spot, that you are an expert. As former Soviet president Michale Gorbachev once said, "A lie told even ten thousands times never becomes the truth."
Stop claiming that you are "Internet savvy" if you are not. Just being able to do Internet searches or use G-mail does not make one internet savvy. Stop claiming you are a "CEO" unless you have a company that has at least, say, ten employees minimum...
And stop claiming that you are an "SEO expert" if you are not. It's easy to find out if it is all BS or not. You make the rest of us poseurs look bad....
You can become these "expert" things but just saying that you are or reading one book doesn't make you one. It will take a few years of effort and study.
The fastest and simplest way? Start a blog and start writing. Do that everyday, religiously. Use Twitter and Facebook to drive traffic to your posts. Write everyday religiously. Before, bowing to the east every morning, blog... Blog before that and after that...
And blog before and after that!
Study why some articles get many reads and why others don't. Practice and rearrange...
It will take you between one to two years to get a basic understanding of how it works and how to jolt your writing and titles to get high SEO results.
It's a close guarded secret by those who do know how to do it..
This stuff isn't written in a book. You only learn through sincere and dedicated effort.
A jawbone is never a replacement for a backbone. Get started.
This post definitely needs a demented soundtrack. Click on the video then start reading. Today is September 11 in Japan. It is the 10th in the USA. Tomorrow is 9/11 for the States. This just in from my friend Steve in the USA about the glorification of the state ritual that this day has come to represent:
Mike,
I made what turned out to be a very quick trip to the food store this morning. It’s a chore that I usually do on Sunday’s, but I really don’t even want to be out on 9/11 so went this morning (Saturday).
It’s too late. An orgy of nationalist displays is already everywhere.
I passed house after house with their American flags and ‘Remember 911’ signs proudly displayed. I drove past the public high school and it had a huge American flag surrounded by what must be thousands of small American flags displayed on the taxpayer paid for school grounds out front. REMEMBER 911 !!!
When I got to the food store they played nationalist songs one after the other over their public address system. God Bless America - America the Beautiful – The Star Spangled Banner – etc, etc, ad nauseam…
Thus my regular weekly visit to the food store was a very short one this week. Milk – bread – eggs and out.
I expect it’s going to be even worse tomorrow. It makes me thankful that I don’t have (or want) a TV. Just the short trip to the food store today made me ill. It was enough to turn the stomach of a goat – and they can eat anything…
Actually the whole trip was kind of bizarre. It was like traveling back in Mr. Peabody’s ‘Way-Back Machine’ to Germany in the 1930’s and 1940’s. It reminded me of those old news reels that you see of the endless fields of Nazi flags that were just as proudly displayed by the same cheering and state worshiping mindless masses of Germany. Their rabid patriotism (nationalism) was pretty much the same as America’s patriotism and the even worse ‘super patriotism’ today.
Completing the other half of the Nazi program – socialism – most Americans probably think that they are not socialists, but if you even suggest abolishing social security (one of the cornerstones of socialism) they will reveal their actual beliefs – even if they refuse to admit them to themselves. Ask again about Medicare and Medicaid and they will confirm their commitment to socialism.
And so history repeats itself. The new national socialists (Nazi’s) seem to be everywhere.
Instead of the anti flag burning amendment that those ‘Super Patriots’ are always whining and crying about perhaps we should pass an amendment to change the existing American flag to something that more accurately displays who we are as a people today. To this end I suggest that we simply replace the 50 white stars with 50 white swastikas. Although I agree that the very thought is disgusting, at least it would be an honest representation.
This whole nationalist – patriot – super patriot – fanatical worship of the state is beyond immature. It goes deep into an area that can only be described as ‘infantile.’
We so need Ron Paul and more like him or these new USA Nazi’s will destroy all that was once good about America.
We want our country, our freedoms, and our liberty back!
doG help us if Boobus-Americanus doesn’t awaken – and soon…
- Steve Candidus
The author, Steve Candidus, can be reached at: poots2@sbcglobal.net. Comments very welcomed.
NOTE: Let me take this opportunity to endorse and come out completely in favor of candidate Ron Paul for president of the United States (which shouldn't surprise anyone who has followed my writings since 2004, beginning at Lew Rockwell). I believe that Mr. Candidus is correct: the USA is doomed to failure if the current political paradigm is not changed soon. There is no difference between the Democrats and the Republicans in the USA today.
The last chance for the United States is Ron Paul. End the wars. End the US empire.
There's not a foreigner in this country who won't tell you that Japan is a very weird place. When I say that, I mean it in a good way. The other foreigners you talk to may not.
Japan is just, well... Japan. That's the best explanation I can come up with. Things happen in Japan that just would never happen in a million years in another country. That's just the way it is.
Here's an example of something weird that happened to me. Just one of a very many....
But, first, some background; in the late 70's and early 80's, I was in a one-hit wonder punk bank and then ran one of the first punk underground "zines" back in those days. Underground free papers were quite the rarity at that time. But we made one. It was called, "Sixty Miles North." I won't embarrass myself by telling you the name of my band.
June 27, 1984 Sixty Miles North. Yours truly on the cover.
Anyway, we used to distribute these magazines at record stores, etc. back in those days.
One particularly well-known record store chain was owned by a now multi-millionaire guy by the name of Jim Salzer. One day, when I went to his then tiny record store, I took magazines and asked him if he'd put them on the racks and give them away for me. He eagerly agreed and thought the magazine was extremely cool. I was happy. I think that one time was one of the few times I had ever met him in the USA and I had only ever met him when he was at his shop. Keep in mind that this was a suburban area and not a big city.
Fast forward several months. I moved out of the USA and left the magazine for my useless friends to run into bankruptcy, which they did. Soon. I was then living and working in Japan.
My very first job in Japan found me working in Shinjuku in Tokyo. One of the biggest cities and most crowded places in the world. On my very first day of work, my new friend Stephen asked me to go have dinner with him at a KFC near the station. Even though I generally hate KFC, I said "OK" as I didn't know any good places to eat; I had no friends (Stephen was my first) and I had only been in Japan for one week. I also didn't have a clue as to where I was (really) or where to go.
So we go to this KFC at the west exit of Shinjuku station and are standing on the street eating chicken. There's a million and a half people milling around us. A guy walks up to me and says,
"Mike! Mike! There you are!" At first, I didn't recognize him... It was Jim Salzer. Jim Salzer in Japan, no less, and he doesn't seem the least bit surprised to see me. My jaw drops. WTF!? I've never met him randomly on the street in my own hometown and I had lived there for over 15 years. Here I am in Japan for a week and he walks right up to me like it's no big deal.
Jim realized the shock on my face and said, "Mike! Mike! Don't you recognize me? It's me, Jim!"
I snapped out of it. "Oh? Er, sure! Jim? Jim Salzer! Hi. How are you?"
Jim said, "I'd been wondering where you went to..." He then slapped my back and said, "Say, Mike, I'd love to talk, but I'm late. Where the heck is the train station?" I didn't know either but my friend pointed him in the right direction and off he went as if there wasn't anything the least bit unusual like this sort of chance encounter.
Here I am in one of the most crowded places in the world and, by pure coincidence, I meet an aquaintance from back home that I had never met by chance on the street there (and even at that I had only met him three or four times!)... There's 60 million people in this town and he walks right up to me! And he acts like it's no big deal... Just like meeting a co-worker at the water cooler at the office!
I am still amazed about it. I wish I had a picture to prove it.
Like I said, the weirdest sh*t happens in Japan. My friend George Williams agrees with me, "You can meet people in Japan that you'd never ever meet in a hundred lifetimes in the west. Hell, in the west, you couldn't get within 5000 meters (yards) of these people. But in Japan, you can meet them walking along on the street!" It's true. I've met Eric Clapton twice walking along a street in Harajuku. At first I thought he was some scraggly-looking dumpy foreigner just hanging around looking for a job.... That's probably what everyone else thought too!
My friend George even has a cool photo of the time he met Jimmy Page when Jimmy came to Japan in the 1980's! George is standing there next to Jimmy looking like he's standing next to his mom or something. It's pretty cool... I mean, if you like Led Zeppelin...
Now, let me drop some names.
Since I've been in Japan, I've met many extremely famous people, multi-millionaires and world famous politicians... Just to name a few...
I've met Richard Branson, George H. W. Bush (Daddy Bush), Yoko Ono, Elvis Costello, Siouxsie Sioux (not well known by most, but I am a big fan), at least 7 Japanese Prime Ministers and a bunch of other countries prime ministers - so many - that I can't remember. Along with the some many others that I've met who I can't remember either.
Of course my job makes a big difference, but meeting guys like Richard Branson or these prime ministers and George Bush had nothing to do with my radio & TV work.
Menudo in 1984. I'm wearing the white shirt. See the kid in blue in front second from left? That's
Ricky Martin at about age 10. No kidding!
Some wankers in a crap band named Linkin Park.
Elvis Costello is a very nice guy.
Anyhow, I hope it doesn't seem like I am bragging (well, I am kind of... Now that I look at all these pictures)... The real point is that, in Japan, the weirdest things happen. I have hundreds more photos to prove it too! I have photos with lots of movie-types like Arnie Schwarneggar, but can't be bothered to find them...
