Brian Price
Retired pharmacist.Degree from the O.U. in psychology. I am a passionate sceptic particularly about politics and politicians, Big Pharma.and "Who rules the world."
Location Aberdare, South Wales.,
Activity
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Brian Price made a comment
She gets her message across clearly and powerfully. and indeed convincing. However I found her dramatic use of hand and arm gesticulations unnecessary. and even distracting,
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Brian Price made a comment
Re. the Priscilla Lindsay interview; I read "The Grapes of Wrath" 60 years ago and I believe that the conditions described by John Steinbeck then, still exist today for some millions of Americans and indeed billions of people in other third-world status countries, one of which it looks like G.B. is hurtling towards.
I wonder if my story-telling could... -
Brian Price made a comment
I would like to be able to have some success in passing on to my grandchildren, my perspectives on the way the world works. Despite my ingrained scepticism,I am a convinced optimist and perhaps 'story telling' could be the way to do it.
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Brian Price made a comment
I hope to replace my argumentative style with the gentler approach of stories, of which I (and most of us) have an abundance.
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Brian Price made a comment
The word 'culture' is used in so many narratives and my understanding of it is incomplete. i would like to a more detailed account of what it stands for.
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Brian Price made a comment
Your report on Browning's account of the R.P.B.101 in Poland might give the impression that propaganda and its results are only applicable to Germans. There are few examples of powerful states which are not or have not been guilty of mass murder.
For example: There was no mention of the genocide of tens of millions of indigenous natives in the United Sates of... -
Brian Price made a comment
I worked from 1967 -2005 as a pharmacist in my own pharmacies. My working- class origins provide a base for looking at business, politics and so-called 'capitalism' with suspicion and a large dose of scepticism. I look forward to discovering how the way I see things fits in with the analyses and conclusions the course reveals.
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Brian Price made a comment
I'm 84, a retired pharmacist with an O.U. degree in psychology and interested in comparing your perspective on propaganda with that of Noam Chomsky's.
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Brian Price made a comment
The bit in the above narrative which looms large in importance for me is the possible control of the internet by the people who are the current owners of our society namely Big Business and the State.
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Brian Price made a comment
I chose no.3 because that's what I'm most interested in.Most of the other stuff is made up of terms like " apps" " platforms", "posts" etc. which I don't really understand. I manage e mails for exchange of ideas on politics and personal opinions.
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Brian Price made a comment
Some years ago I tried to find out about my family history but couldn't get any information on my parents let alone grand-parents. So here goes again.
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Brian Price made a comment
Descriptions and definitions of bullying are abundant. But...
I think the feeling of 'power' that the bully gets is the prime motive and hence a major cause of bullying behaviour.. Attention must be directed towards the drug-like 'buzz', power provides, and what can be done to control it at all levels of society, from infant schools to industries and... -
Brian Price replied to Dorothy L
There has always been a tendency in schools starting at infant level to make national greatness the main purpose of education.
Competition and admiration for 'winners' are inevitable consequences. And the mass media and the telly continue the post-school propaganda. Bearing in mind, your statement above; perhaps we could do with a cultural change? -
Retaliation should never be considered. Let's be grown up and not descend to level of our political leaders. I cannot see eye to eye with the 'eye for an eye' brigade.
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Brian Price made a comment
Bullying must be dealt with, it must not be ignored. I know it can cause unhappiness. Bullying takes many forms and methods of stopping it are neaded. I await enlightenment.
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Brian Price replied to Ronald Godwin
Your analysis is as usual perceptive. However, I would prefer the idea that paid income should always be higher than income from benefits. Then increases in benefits which are under government control would push up wages. Isn't this what we need in a society where billionaires and food banks exist side b y side?
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Dear Christine your experience must be different to mine. Of the thousands of people with disabilities I have known over ten years, not a single one used their condition as an excuse not to work. Their display of integrity is remarkable, considering the way they have been treated by our 'hard working' government.
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Brian Price made a comment
One of the factors to be aware of is the fact that money is never 'spent', it is circulated. So the trick for the chancellor is to control this circulation so that the bulk of money ends up in his pockets and those of his pals who run the country.
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Brian Price made a comment
Other MOOCS have not impressed me as much as this one.
I know I am too late for questions to the educators however, I would like to comment, that there seems to be a lack of emphasis in the academic approach to the study of the causes of war, on the influence of power on human behaviour. Recent neuro-scientific research by members of the B.Ps.A., has...
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Brian Price made a comment
To maintain stability in any society the majority must accept their own exploitation by the ruling minority. This state of affairs is achieved by filling the minds of the exploited with lies, fictions and myths disseminated as truths, by the rulers.
So wasn't Paul Revere using propaganda to replace the lies, fictions and myths propagated by the British,... -
Brian Price made a comment
David Betz seems to go along with the idea that the 'War on Terror' was an outcome of the 9/11 attacks. (Those events, believed now by many, to have been perpetrated or at least organized by the U.S. government, were used by Mr.Bush as an excuse to invade Iraq.)
As an example of identifying a cause of war, from a common-sense perspective is it unreasonable... -
Brian Price made a comment
Yesterday afternoon, Malcolm and Viv invited us and some friends to their house for drinks. A conversation between Malcolm and Richard became heated and then turned nasty. Malcolm left the room and returned with a shotgun with which he shot Richard dead.
Rita and I decide to spoil yesterday afternoon's get-together to which 150 people had been invited. Our...
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Brian Price replied to bernard grose
There is also another basic human characteristic, shared by the vast majority of the human race which is a desire to live in a world without violence. The trouble is that power is allowed to get into the hands of the wrong people. Or is it the case that power has a psychopathic effect on some of the people who become our leaders?
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Brian Price replied to Ernesto Vialva
I agree. Nationalism, ethnicity, religion, culture and any other social phenomena that can be used to stir up hatred, are all subjects worthy of study in the causes of war. But I believe more emphasis should be placed on the effect of power on the behaviour and mental states of people who govern us, especially individual leaders.
'Politicians have proved... -
Brian Price made a comment
Just read Ernesto Vialva's contribution below and find it difficult not to see the cause of wars as the manipulation of the false-consciousness of the lumpenproletariat by power-crazed leaders.
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Brian Price replied to Ernesto Vialva
Ernesto...you've hit the nail on the head.
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Brian Price made a comment
In today's Independent on Sunday,Robert Fisk in his article about the mass slaughter of Armenians in 1915 by the Ottoman Turks, and the Holocaust in WW2,writes '...The Armenians and Jews of the 20th century...were the first victims of industrial genocide, a crime fuelled by nationalism'.
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Brian Price replied to Steve Archer
Bertrand Russell, present among the crowds in Trafalgar Square on the day in 1914 that news of Britain's declaration of war on Germany was announced, was dismayed to note that "...average men and women were delighted at the prospect of war.".
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Brian Price replied to Steve Archer
Common identity, that's what we want...to recognize the stupidity of allowing ourselves to be manipulated by the 'vested interests of a small minority.
Hitler said ' What good fortune it is for governments that the people do not think.' -
Brian Price replied to Anthony Soames
I like your contribution Anthony.
Nations were developed in Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century. A definition might be, '...a geographical group possessed of a sentiment of solidarity',Psychologically it is analogous to a herd of cows or a school of fish or a flock of geese.
At that time 'self interest' with regard to the individual was... -
Brian Price replied to Clive Hilton
I don't think entire populations can be manipulated, there are always some informed individuals who resist the brain-washing pumped out daily by the media. Nevertheless, there are occasions when lies and myths involving patriotism or xenophobia have an effect on a majority of a population.
Some examples might be, the rush to enlist at the outbreak of ... -
Brian Price replied to Andrew Melville
Can I delete 'of the' in the last sentence?
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Brian Price replied to Andrew Melville
The Vietnam conflict gave rise to crowds of people protesting in the U.S. which was followed by a mass exodus of the U.S. military from Vietnam. The two events might or might not been seen as a causal relationship.
However the millions of protesters in London streets had no effect on Tony Blair's decision on Iraq.
No matter how many rational explanations are... -
Brian Price replied to Mohammed Usman
I like your concise summations Mohammed. I would add that along with 'health' 'disease' 'education' and indeed any activity that can be commodified, war is now a business.
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Brian Price replied to Charlotte Nanton
Academic research, analysis, and conclusions seem to focus on the causes of war as coming from the decisions, tactics and motives of entities such a 'states' 'countries' or 'governments'. But as illustrated in the above comments by Charlotte Nanton, wars may easily be seen as being started, organised and perpetuated by individuals who belong to the tiny ruling...
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Brian Price made a comment
Most of human history is characterized by the fact that a small minority has ruled over and exploited the majority of its fellows. It might be thought by some including me, that this kind of exploitation is maintained by filling the minds of the exploited with all, sorts of lies and fictions to justify and explain their acceptance of the minority's rule. This...
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Brian Price made a comment
I have a great respect for the dental profession. But over the last sixty years I have visited a dentist about seven times.
last summer my left lower first molar, because of pain, had to be extracted.
Its cap of precious metal composite which had been there for 12 years was handed to me and i could see that the under- surface consisted of discoloured... -
Brian Price made a comment
There has been some publicity on the potential danger of the presence of mercury in people's' mouths . Are dentists likely to continue using amalgam for fillings?
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Brian Price made a comment
diamond is a geometric shape: a quadrilateral with two opposite angles more than, and the other two less than, 90 degrees.
Cause; when two events are observed to regularly occur one after the other the first event may be said to cause the second. (or something like that). -
Brian Price made a comment
For a start perhaps investigation of so called 'bad' language. Phenomena associated with swear words, taboos, frequency of use, class/words correlation, their of effect on some people etc.
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Brian Price made a comment
I didn't have a clue about and never even heard of Corpora linguistics. It seems from what I have seen of the course so far that it should contribute substantially to my aim of life-long learning.
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Brian Price made a comment
I cannot agree with Simon Wright that, '...competitiveness of a company and the health of communities around it are mutually dependent.' Competition produces a lot of losers and one or perhaps just a few winners. How can competitiveness ever go hand in hand with social responsibility where competition inevitably results in monopoly or, (in the 'dog eats dog'...
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Brian Price made a comment
I've always written notes, always... and I've never ever read them. But now I think I shall change my ways.
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Dorothy, I share your scepticism about the philanthropy of 'the supplier'. Typically the populations of the U.K.and U.S.A. can be seen, not as communities or even countries but as businesses. Are governments and multinationals working to convert the whole world into a business opportunity, where natural resources and undeveloped societies are waiting to be...
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Brian Price made a comment
Wouldn't Sustainable Development and consequently a more equitable distribution of wealth stand a chance if big banks and big businesses were publicly owned?
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Brian Price made a comment
In 'The Natural Step' statement I note with interest the use of the pronoun 'we' when describing how nature is being destroyed. But I do not see that it is 'we' who are doing all this stuff. It is 'they' the easily identifiable culprits who are destroying the planet's resources. By 'they', I mean the owners of big corporations, the bankers, political bosses,...
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Brian Price made a comment
The three alternatives in the 'Poll' questions, show how technology and business interests have taken control in everyday life in developed countries. I believe that we could do without disposable packaging, planned obsolescence and being brainwashed from infancy to go for something which is new and can be replaced eventually ( the sooner the better) by a...
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Brian Price made a comment
The ecological viewpoint shows how life could be organised optimally for everybody on the planet, a concept which exists deep in the psyche of every individual.( Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis, Erich Fromm).
The trouble is that the ruling minority and their allies the middle-classes, will be loathe to let go their grip on wealth, power and influence.... -
Brian Price made a comment
Extreme wealth, extreme poverty and private ownership,the three great evils of our time, seem to fit in easily with both the environmentalist and economist approach. So it seems to me that logically, emotionally,instinctually and scientifically the ecologists are showing the right way forward.
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Brian Price made a comment
Incineration better is my guess because who knows what poisons are being leached into the surrounding soil by land-fills. Hot air machines wear out and need replacing which is not in the interests of sustainability but great for the manufacturers and investors. Similarly using dish washers are not a sustainable option. Anyway I like washing up, and you don't...
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Brian Price made a comment
I am surprised, at the absence of Freud's concept of the subconscious in the course material and that there is no mention of how consciousness in any society is filled with deception, myths, lies, and fictions, to preserve the interests and perpetuate the dominance of the ruling minorities. I wonder to what extent business schools contribute to this process.
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Brian Price replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
Is it or is it not true that, pro-business,pro-profit, pro-wealth attitudes produce very rich people and very poor people? The latter in the U.K alone number in the millions at or below subsistence level. Or does Boris Johnson have a point when he asserts that 'Greed is good'?
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Brian Price made a comment
Isn't Dan Pink's excellent presentation, just another wheeze to brainwash the brainwashers into more efficient brainwashing of consumers?
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Brian Price made a comment
From what I remember of Freud and the interpretation of his theory by Erich Fromm, our conscious minds are deliberately filled with lies and myths that give rise to norms, values, and taboos which are necessary to sustain the minority ruling classes' control over the rest of us.
Is it reasonable then for an understanding of the mind to start from the premise... -
Brian Price made a comment
At this stage in the course I am still waiting to be persuaded that brands are not artificial constructs used largely as a front by the manipulators to hide the truth from the manipulated. Perhaps Robert Jones will prove me wrong.
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Brian Price made a comment
I've just come across something written by John Spedan Lewis in the 1930s...'Capitalism has done enormous good. But the perversion has given us too unstable a society. It is all wrong to have millionaires before you have ceased to have slums.'
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Brian Price made a comment
Big companies owned by a relatively small number of people mis-use brands as instruments to maintain the power and wealth through profits, to which they have become accustomed.
At this stage in the course I would say that most brands are used to achieve as big an ROI as possible for people who want something for nothing.(John Lewis seems to be an exception).... -
Brian Price made a comment
I would say that the CBO court jester function is of the utmost importance. Power over others can affect the mind and brain in a way that can distort cognitive and emotional functions of the people who have the power... the greater the power the greater the potential distortion.
Two examples come to mind; Roman generals were reminded during their... -
Brian Price made a comment
Power may be seen as the fundamental stuff of human relationships. Holding power over others-defined as controlling resources that they want, need or fear- has far reaching effects on how business and consequently free- market societies are organised.
The 'Example brand agency structure' in 3.3, has no box for 'consumers', indicating that consumers occupy... -
Brian Price made a comment
This merger is an example of how competition tends towards monopoly. The estimated saving of $500m will involve loss of jobs in both companies but might be seen as providing an opportunity to boost to the wealth and power of the two bosses. So who might benefit? Possibly or even exclusively Mr.L. and Mr.W. ?
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Brian Price made a comment
A factor that could be added to the model is the effectiveness of a company's propaganda.
For example, the commercial impact of the Coca Cola brand may be compared to its social impact by looking at the extent to which it contributes to the obesity epidemic. -
Brian Price replied to Brian Price
Thanks Jackie.
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Brian Price made a comment
What's IP?
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I agree with your comments Eirlys, but hope you don’t allow your feelings of sadness to cloud your healthy scepticism.
It is easy to see brands as brainwashing devices, used to sell more and more things. A malaise of contemporary society proposed by some thinkers is that ‘things’ and their production have become more important than people. Brands are indeed... -
Brian Price made a comment
The brands that achieve the greatest commercial impact are those promoted by companies with the largest marketing budgets. For better or worse they are the same companies that achieve the greatest social impact. Assuming that the concept 'social impact' means benefits to society, then as long as the things which dominate commercial activity, like profits,...
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Brian Price made a comment
Somebody who spent £100 on a tie which they knew could have been bought for a tenner, might be judged to be mentally deficient. Isn't this an example of the potential dishonesty of brands, rather than being providers of 'higher psycho-social needs'?
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Brian Price replied to a ramcharan
I agree. The whole commercial system depends on the 'bottom line'. So social purposes cannot not the main aim of any company. Even charities have to make a profit in order to pay their directors' fees and expenses.
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Brian Price made a comment
I would value a brand by the amount of money I could make by selling my shares in the company. Short term perspective? Yes. Selfish? Yes. Isn't this what it's all about?
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Brian Price made a comment
I, am prepared to accept that brands may be a force for good in society but surprised at the faith people have in their favourite brands and find it difficult not to associate the use of brands with brainwashing. After all, isn't the main purpose of brands to increase sales and hence profits for the company's shareholders?
The 77 billion dollars Coca Cola is...