the power of facades is hypnotizing and there couldn't be a better example when the COO of my company (a media celeb who gets driven off in black limousines by impeccably clad chauffeurs & gets a half page for his pic alone in NYT) narrated his story. with tools of wry humor & forthright call-a-spade-a-spade talk he mesmerized the audience while the leadership team looked on satisfied. the last q&a round was staged with questions given to a select picture-friendly employees. the audience lapped it up with glee and awe.
another example of a life-slice driven by goals other than work, knowledge and a thirst for the real. and again power & capability driven by looks/material possessions.
and the masses like lil donkeys slavered over what looked like juicy carrots.
this is what is being told to people in this organization or any i think - gear up & get up & get your skodas & scorpios. you will look impressive. you can give private cocktail parties in your humongous backyards. let's barbeque and power talk.
what really bothers me is not the possessions themselves but what they mean. coz what they mean drives the reasons & goals of life/work. when these reasons/goals are skewed, you can bet your ass that it will go the way of glib talk rather than reasoned logic. its not ideas but agendas that win. and it eventually leads to a world full of bullcrap.
look at the new global threat - global warming. today our world is grappling with it not coz there weren't people with foresight. there were. just that these people twisted the foresight to meet their ends. and turned a deaf ear to the voice of reason