Moments of actual mourning for lost loved ones thoughtfully co-opted and "branded" together with the concepts of endless consumerism and hollow nationalism. "Attack on America," "America Strikes Back," "God Bless America!" - these messages have reached almost total media saturation. The papers, the TV, the radio - all have pitched in and done their part to whip up some good ol' fashioned nationalism. And now, by employing the image of a most recognizable american icon - The Shopping Bag - and combinig it with the American Flag; we are witnessing a new type of marketing and patriotism. A type of marketing and branding that is far reaching and yet very dear and personal. Yes, these messages of "openess" and "business" are grouped with an image of the american flag (reduced to a shopping bag.) And, this association does everything to encourage blind obedience and is also thoroughly disempowering. Citizens that are subjected to daily and repetative image bombardment have proven themselves to be unquestioning and loyal - especially in times of crisis. Here in this clean poster, we have the elements of alienation and faux participation in an out-of-control, corportate oligarchy. Citizens should be afraid of whomever we apply the "terrorist" label to. But, at the same time, the citizen should be feeling confindent in our abilities to provide safe shopping environments. Our experts have much experience in the field of "PROBLEM / SOLUTION" population control and "perception management." In the past, PR teams (working closely with the corrections lobby) have been able to create perceived problems and minor hysterias in the population for which they would later provide solutions. A perceived drug problem, creates justification for wars in Columbia and in Southern Mexico and much needed support for racial profiling here in America. Lead a ship into troubled waters in the Gulf of Tonkin, and presto-chango - you get all the reason you need to start a full-scale war for control of the opium trade in the former colonies of French-Indochina. A little scare about "Soviet Communism" and one ex-nazi is able to convince certain US officials to give up the pretense of an open and democratic government and instate a new secretive shadow government - known as the CIA. So, with the mega-event of mind-control and consumeristic behavior-patterning - Christmas - coming up, it should seem only natural by now, that we have to ramp up our control of media environments and actively encourage the behaviors that are good for all Americans. Workers should start feeling obliged to get out their credit cards, generate some usury fees for themselves, and stimulate some good o'l fashioned economic activity by buying cheap items made in sweatshops and by driving around - a lot. Everyone must be aware by now, that although they are being horified and disempowered by constant messages of fear and imminent demise - once they are inside our heavily surveilled and policed environments of shopping convenience - they will always be safe. And, we can see that the obedience training is really paying off as the citizens have accepted the demise of their constitunional freedoms with barely a peep. Yes, the group mind is really in effect and people are now afraid to doubt or give voice to legitimate concerns. Its almost as if they have been conditioned to actually prefer their slow transition into one of our nice new prisons. In fact, the architecture of our malls, our schools, our work places and our new public gathering places are looking a lot safer ... a lot more like jails and prisons. So, we are fast on the way to becoming happy, safe, little worker bees in carpeted cubicles - safe and monitored. Isn't that grand? And how did we come to feel so good about the end of Constitutional America!?! Yes, our Constitution certainly was focused on providing enfranchisement primarily for white, land-owning males at its inception. But, over the years, after many amendement battles - the Constitution had come to resemble a real"Social Contract." that actually bound the governing powers in meaningful ways. In places, the Constitution was starting to read like a speech for the advancement of civil liberties - one that might have been lifted from a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. or from John Locke's 2cnd Treatise or from the parliamentary gatherings of the Iroquois 5 that Benjamin Franklin had witnessed. And yet now, after the "war on drugs," after the "Oklahoma crime bill" and after our brave fear-mongering leader, George Bush Jr. decided to capitalize on one of our most horrible tragedies - we have become quite cozy with the idea - quite eager to give up our freedoms and turn over our communities to total-surveillance, high-tech imprisonment and all kinds of petty authoritarinism. Yes, the "flag w/ the bag" ploy is really paying off. Of course, our experts are aware that their efforts to persuade, inform and direct any population are greatly enhanced by the introduction of a "brand identity" and by asserting ownership of basic and universal concepts. Who better to "inform" the public than hired Public-Relations professionals and media "placement" moguls? These have been working tirelessly together to create a new spell in America. Citizens have been frightened and overwhelmed by a longing to show pride and participate in democracy by shopping, watching sporting-events and cheering fo a goevernment that they now know very little about. But, this particular moment of genius and belittling orgy of meaningless iconography was the work of one man living in Marin County. The new urban legend of this now famous "flag-as-bag" image was apparently not created by one of the monolithic PR Firms of Rotating-High-Cabinet-Officials and inter-locking board directorettes of multi-national corporations. No, they were all bettered by the ingenuity and timeliness of one citizen from Marin County California. And, yet the imagery contains universally accepted archetypes of popular culture. The Flag as Shopping Bag poster campaign is also effective in yet another way. Yes, when placed together, the viewer can plainly see that what they formerly thought were two very different things are now actually one motivating concept. A sense of wanting to belong and a belief in the necessity of continual and obligatory consumption, are at last brought together for viewers in such a way that their subconscious minds cannot miss the association. They will be compelled to respond to the call for unity in very deep and responsive areas of their minds. Imagery is now widely known as the medium that is most appealing and communicative for the "right brain," or the hemishpere of the mind that is said to be more creative and intuitive, more image and sound based. The Copy (or written text that accompanies the imagery)motivates the onlooker in its own very potent way, by appealing to the more logical and linguistic lobes that occupy the other side of the human mind, what is often called - the "left brain." Also, by combining the text of the word, "America" and the phrase, "open for business," the propagandist has cleverly made shopping, belonging to America and "open"ness all seem like perfectly logical associations. In very powerful and neuro-linguistic ways, the American subjects are exposed to programming that rallies them behind the slogans of the current petroleum-military regime's choosing and makes them yet more responsive to the behaviors that their PR-masters suggest. Yes, you can really manipulate your citizen subjects by potently combining images and language in order to encourage the behaviors the investment class both desire and deserve. What's more, those who are subjected to enough of this type of imagery and programming eventually are lead to feel insecure and disconnected from their own sustenance, families or communities. The way they are encouraged to participate in their enviroment of much-hyped national unity, is by buying the plastic items and factory food that is trucked into their districts from far off and invisible locations. This type of alienation, dependency and fear can be used to keep the citizen inline and to promote order at home and abroad. After our skillfull manipulation of the imagery and meaning of our most recent tragedy - our citizens have become so insecure and aquiescent that they are passively accepting the realities of their post-modern vulnerability and total subjugation to an elite group of bankers, military barons and investors. Hats off to San Francisco Mayor, Willie Brown for recognizing that this poster was a perfect way for him to pretend that he cared about his city subjects by spouting empty rhetoric about freedoms and by helping to reduce them from active participants in a real democracy to mindless spectator/shoppers. This bag is helping to unify us all by placing our only real symbol of national identity in the context of dis-embodied consumption in mind-altering environemts. Air-conditioned panopticons of public/private partnerships in total-security and freedom. We are all getting comfortable with this and the double-speak is quite normal to us all now as formerly opposing nuero-linguistic concepts are coming together in unity. Food aid and cluster bombs / freedom and low-paying jobs in the service sector - it is all there together. Bravo! Well-done my good and friendly fascists. You have topped yourselves and marketed to the American public the desirability of their own enslavement and demise ... brilliant! And to my fellow American spectators, and good Christian soldiers ... show how much you care by getting out there and shopping. Time to enjoy your insulation and shop now ... or come in for questioningas a terrorist. OK, and thanks again for the shopping the home of the free and the brave.