Conditioning comes from many angles; “All unemployed are dole bludgers”, “All homeless are Druggo’s”, “The Australian dream is to own your own home”.
This is a powerful tool used by corporations and governments to push an agenda onto the public whether they are true or not so true and it begins from a very young age, our children.
You see, each human is born with a clean slate. A brain which mostly over time is developed with personal thoughts and experiences. Some good, some bad which varies depending on where and what is happening as we proceed through our individual lives. This is where scale is hugely important, you can drive 3 hours in any direction and be subject to different living conditions from what you are used to and living overseas can be even more variant. Growing up in a more troublesome household will enable you to be more resilient when you grow older. A period we are moving into today. Another heavily contributing factor is the parents or carers that have shaped certain values their children have evolved into. Teaching “right from wrong”, however is the messaging correct to begin with?
“Don’t talk to that homeless person, he is a stranger”. Many children are told this. Little do they know; the biggest driver of homelessness comes from what society creates in itself driven by one singular word, Greed.
The messaging related to the homeless is our basic thought when we are exposed to such a thing. “They must have a drug, alcohol or gambling problem”. Must? Perhaps this is right, but was this the contributing factor to the outcome of this particular living situation?
We, as humans, consumers attracted to an economic weapon like a native bee to a flower on many occasions criticize the misfortunate situation to take the easy way out. Instead of considering possible action such as assistance, we side with the stigma which is created and just like wolves circling their prey, humans have a tendency on occasions to “gang up” together developing a toxic environment against the people who are stigmatized. One of the main drivers of this today comes from social media where “Community” pages complaining about the homeless problem. The big question is; What if that pendulum tips?
I for one have worked around Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland in Australia for a very long time and have never noticed such an expanding issue where the homeless are not just within the inner-city suburbs, but also in regions and towns across the state and across the country.
Be very careful what you explain to our younger people regarding this.
We do not know what their future currently holds in the context of our society today.
“F__K it, let’s get takeaway….”
You have had a busy week, perhaps something is playing on you mind? Auntie Lynda recently had a minor heart attack and your 50+ hour work week is getting in the way of visiting her. A festive event is approaching fast, and you have not financially been able to go present shopping yet. When you do, it’s to a corporation where they can for example make skateboards for just $8… Yet in the back of your mind you know just the bearings can cost $40+.
BAM! Car rego due tomorrow. “F__k it, lets get takeaway, it’s cheaper”.
Rarely takeaway is cheaper. Then add the usage of things like online delivery services that accommodate for every takeaway food imaginable, but at a cost. It’s not income, which is saved, it’s time.
When you direct that time to shopping at a market which doubles up as a social event, purchase better quality local ingredients for a home cooked dinner, you plan for not just the night it falls on, but perhaps 2 or 3 frozen meals throughout the week, all of a sudden, the whole context of “cheaper” and “time saving” changes. You are healthier, happier and a lot less likely to say “F__K it”.
Congratulations! You have partly un-conditioned yourself.
It is very easy to feel under pressure, especially in 2023. We are all subject to slip ups, and have very busy lives. However, building in the future our children deserve you are probably keeping check of a few different topics. Learning new things and ways to have less dependance on the systems which are at play that attempt to rope you into a corporate trap. As society grips those with one simple concept being “Greed” it is best to un-condition yourself from this exact action, guide those of us who are younger more blank canvases into a more compassionate way of life. This way in particular many financial institutions will holt making record profits sometimes to the tune of $11b (which was what our most prominent bank made last financial year and yes, within an economic crisis). One in particular has just under 25% of the market share in Australia meaning they made a total of approx. $6 per customer per day when evened out across our country’s adult population. It’s fair to say perhaps they owe their members at least one free coffee… (Jokes) You don’t have to hold your income in a financial institution, that is something society has conditioned you to do!
Can you see the tricks of conditioning at play? Can you see the reason why they exist? I would love to hear more regarding what else you believe is conditioning. It’s a very large subject which covers a range of other things including education, law, gender, sport, history, religion, media, even weather just to name a few. Oh, and there is one which has not been mentioned of most recent that many are currently learning is very dangerous to our way of life; “All expressing their medical consent are Anti-vaxxers”. Propaganda is a very impactful weapon.
Please share any thoughts on this, it’s something I might re-visit in the future.
Luke Hart
Good read mate well done
Interesting article, and this next story is kinda related.
Today I wanted to make payment to someone in India for a service they performed via a third party. My previous bank (one of the big 4) I could do a Telegraphic Transfer (TT) online. My current bank, no facility to do this, so I ring the branch, I have to go to the branch, I take the time to ask why I can't use my internet banking like I could with my previous bank. The answer, it's probably a different group.
Off to the bank I go. Now I'm a little unhappy at this point, it's my money, it's my business and I don't want to deal with a tellar so I make this point upfront. After giving vague answers to questions I don't appreciate them asking (which they are handwriting on a paper form) like why am I sending the money, do I know the person personally, how did we meet, what method do we use to communicate etc. we hit a stalemate at the banks physical address. It's the one piece of info I don't have.
In the ensuing conversation I learn that they can add the Telegraphic Transfer option to all my accounts so I don't need to go back to the bank. Not sure why they couldn't have told me this earlier and if everything had gone through and I had the physical address of the bank in India would they have let me know?? Now I have business accounts and this was a business transfer and that seemed to make a difference??
So while I'm there I ask to increase my daily withdrawal limit as several times I've been frustrated because of a $1000 limit. Turns out I can make a request, but it can be refused, it's per card, so you have to make the request for every individual card and there's a limit of $5000/card.
PS They really didn't want to put in the request to increase my daily limit, as in the tellars words I can get as much as I want out at the branch. I usually use ATM's at the weekend and pay my bills in cash. That got me to the point where the request got made. Personally I'm going to visit different branches and make that same request for each card I have and in a few months I'm going to see if I can increase it. I don't think the reply "I'm concerned about a run on the banks and I want to be able to withdraw what I can" would have been acceptable. Plus I don't want to answer the stupid questions.
So I get home, I now have the physical address of the bank. I use the TT function that is now connected to my internet banking and it's so straightforward, no stupid questions, just who is the money going to, how much, what currency, yes it still wanted the banks address (but I understand that I want it to get to the right bank) and pending processing because of the time difference.
The moral of the story if you don't have a Telegraphic Transfer function on your accounts maybe enquire about having it added while you still can. And while you are at it, find out what the maximum daily withdrawal is and prehaps increase that too.