How Businesses Undermine Markets

Noam Chomsky was born on December 7, 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Chomsky has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, international affairs and U.S. foreign policy.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• anarchism
• business
• economics
• free
• market
• advertising

[GoingGoingGalt]

@TommyLongstockings I like how you have to include that random piece of ad hominem at the beginning, as if it is somehow relevant.

And no, I don't care what you think, just like how you probably don't care what I think- all that matters is what you and I can prove. Your opinion means nothing to me, especially when you declare something to be "useless", but backpedal when asked for specificities. Very telling

[TommyLongstockings]

@GoingGoingGalt I like how you refer to "us" as if you and your fellow free-marketeers are by default the embodiment of human reason and the rest of us do not know what we are talking about. I am done here. The fact that you don't care what I think not only makes discussion futile; it also gives witness to your view of the world as consisting of nothing but self - a point on which we so thoroughly disagree that I see no point in continuing this "discussion". Good night.

[GoingGoingGalt]

@TommyLongstockings Go ahead, but none of us really care what you consider to be useless or not, or at least not when it comes to deciding policy, and especially so when it comes to listening to you tell us that commercials get people to buy "useless junk". In fact, what would be the point of this then?

[TommyLongstockings]

@GoingGoingGalt "Sickening" is kinda strong; no need to get personal. Of course people have different opinions on what is useful and what is not, but I will reserve the right to disagree with what people find useful. A yacht, for example, I would argue, is not useful at all, but an extreme luxury that everyone can do without. That being said, there is not a "who", that decides these things. It seems to me that for YOU, morality is either state controlled or completely relative...

[GoingGoingGalt]

@TommyLongstockings I did indeed ask you a question before you ever asked a question. Your hypocrisy is sickening. So, let me play your incredibly immature game and answer your question- Since people choose to buy that stuff voluntarily, it means they believe they would be better off with it. So no, they never buy stuff they don't need. But I'm asking you who defines whether a product is useless or not if not the consumer?

[TommyLongstockings]

@GoingGoingGalt If you wanna split hairs instead of answering questions then I don't want to answer yours. Simple.

[GoingGoingGalt]

@TommyLongstockings You just asked me if I was saying that no commercial ever got people to buy useless junk.

And no, that wasn't the question you were asking, but I was indeed asking you who decides what is considered useless, what someone needs, and what is junk. Care to answer?

[TommyLongstockings]

@GoingGoingGalt I never said that you said that people buy useless junk. I am asking you a question: Do commercials make people buy stuff they do not need? If they do, then whether or not people believe in commercials is irrelevant.

[GoingGoingGalt]

@TommyLongstockings Tell me, where did I make the claim that people never buy "useless junk"? In fact, why dont you save us the trouble and define us those two terms. Who determines what is useless and what is junk?

[TommyLongstockings]

@GoingGoingGalt Certainly not everything. But are you saying that no commercial ever got people to buy useless junk? This happens all the time, so really, whether or not people BELIEVE in commercials is irrelevant (I'd suspect that most don't believe in 99% of them) to the actual EFFECT that commercials have on consumers. And if commercials did not have the desired effect, then why on earth do so many companies spend so much money producing them?