How Supermarket discounts have conditioned people to accept the lockdowns and even the vaccine mandates.
I know, this might sound a little bit far fetched, even ridiculous.. However, please bare with me while I attempt to give this purely intuitive, non-scientific affirmation some context.
I hope we can agree that feeling "free" only happens in our imagination, for being satisfied with your level of freedom (like with many other abstract feelings) is relative to your capacity to endure their opposite.
"Freedom" meant something completely different a few centuries ago for instance.. It means something completely different today, for all the contemporaries of this planet, depending on the region and political system that you live under, e.g. North Korea vs. Norway. And within those countries it means something completely different for people who want more or less of it.
Another thing to keep in mind is that throughout the course of human history, freedoms had to be won, they were never granted! Once we became the "rulers" of all the beasts of this planet, our will to dominate did not subside and the only thing that was left to subjugate were other humans.
If people could really achieve freedom on this planet, they would probably feel trapped anyway. If they could achieve freedom both on Earth and on Mars, they would feel confined to this stupid Solar system and so on. Some would argue that Freedom in its purest form will remain impossible to achieve.
But enough about this elusive freedom! I could have said a platitude like "Freedom is relative" and carry the hell on, right?
We're trying to connect Discounts to Lockdowns. Here's my attempt:
Do you know those Supermarkets where some products are always 40% off and the "real" price is always crossed out? This is an obvious strategy to make you buy more things, including some that you don't need, do you agree? But most people will end up buying it, especially if they've seen it advertised!
The government, irrespective of the country you live in, manages their own chain of Supermarkets and it's really difficult to find the Exit. But the legislators and politicians are merely the Supermarket managers, i.e. the marketing department. And you don't get to vote for the many owners of the Supermarkets you live in. They have inherited this business from their forefathers who have claimed it by force (mostly by murdering the competition).
The guys that you are allowed to vote for, are nominated by these owners and they don't go into politics because they envision a better world or crave an attractive state salary. Time and time again, it has been revealed that the big prizes are the bonuses that they score when they promote a new product for their owners.
With this pandemic, they had an initial offer for the product of Safety in exchange for Freedom and so we bought it quickly. Especially if you saw the commercial for Safety! And how can you not see it? The marketing strategy was so efficient that the product was omnipresent. The Supermarket had a really good offer for our Safety. The discounted price was 2-3 Weeks of Freedom
The next Product, which will enable you to live "freely" inside of this Supermarket had to be sold quickly, i.e. mandated, because it has an expiry term.
But this will not be enough! From Youtubers, Podcasters and Vloggers to shoe shiners ,mechanics or prostitutes, they all want you to buy subscriptions.
We're all in the same Supermarket! Respect the decisions of the ones who don't buy the same product as you. What is good for you, might not be good for the others. We should be kind, understanding and compassionate with our fellow shoppers.
