Is it possible the world is much more structured and organized than we would like to believe? We may like to think that things are such a mess and that it is just chaos. That there is no real pattern to it. What if the more we look, the more we would find that this may not be the case at all?
To introduce this idea, I will start by sharing some graphics of three topics in the world that have much more structure than I had previously thought.
News Media
Did you know that the majority of the mainstream news media in North America, Europe, and East Asia is all controlled by 3 main groups, the key members being made up of elites and higher ups?
Also, “90% of the media is now controlled by just six companies, down from 50 in 1983.”
Products
Did you know that the majority of what the typical person buys, from household products to pet food to jeans, is all owned by just 10 mega corporations?
Banks
Did you know that “the nation’s 10 largest financial institutions hold 54% of our total financial assets; in 1990, they held 20%”?
“37 banks have merged to become just four — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and CitiGroup in a little over two decades,”
what Can we start to see?
One pattern that starts to emerge is that the majority of the population, the common people, is underneath and under control by a relatively small number of others, often elite or high-ranking in status, power, wealth, political or military importance, etc. We will start to see this more and more as we start observing.
Another idea that may be challenged is the idea of our choices. How much choice do we really have? We may look at the hundreds of different products and foods and goods we could buy as such an amazing variety to pick from. But is it really? If we go up to the top of the ladder, how many companies are creating these products for us? Oh, that’s right. Just a handful. As mentioned in the one article, it gives us an “Illusion of Choice”.
As for the news, I’m sure we have all heard of some people that say, “I only watch Fox news. You can’t trust CNN or any of the others.” And vice versa. This idea that somehow all these different outlets are so different from the others. That the news channels are not being used to offer a variety of people with a variety of political, moral, religious, and personal views this “illusion of choice” to keep them all content with some sense of “safety” and some sense of “I can trust this authority figure” that is feeding me this information. But again, when we go up to the top of the ladder, how many groups are at the top of all this “variety”? Oh, yeah. Just three groups. So how much is this information being manipulated just so I can hear what I want to hear?
They got this and thatWith a rattle of tatTesting, one twoMan what you gonna doBad news, misusedGot too much to loseGimme some truthNow whose side are we onWhatever you say, turn on the boob tubeI’m in the mood to obeySo lead me astray, and by the way now
Where did all the good people go?
-Jack Johnson-Good People
Data Visualization: 10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy