"Maybe it's easy for a couple of arrogant old timers to ignore it because they are just about escaping it, but the reality of thhe world todday is that of homogeny and conformity, led by corporate propaganda (advertising)"

Thank you Lox for your interesting if facile dissertation on the character of two people you know nothing about....Most edifying.

The reality of the world today is that any individual CAN choose to conform, or NOT.

Kids are indeed vulnerable to subtle persuasion. I used it very successfully to steer them away from a lifetime of mindless conformity, and in the process produced two very bright, successful, and individually worthwhile human beings.

My daughter at 39 is an E grade nurse specialising in intensive therapy, and the mother of three fine children who are similarly individualistic.

My son is head of art at one of the biggest secondary schools in the area, leading the efforts of five subordinates. He too has children, as yet too young to be affected by ads.

My kids DID suffer some peer disdain because they did not wear the right designer labels. Both of them started breakaway groups which eventually included many who had been against them initially.

Both developed, without instruction from me, their own personal tastes in clothes, food, music, and just about everything else.


IT CAN BE DONE, and IMHO IT SHOULD BE DONE.


The Playboy affair, by its very nature, is indeed a quantum leap worse than anything McD could do in the way of harm.

Customer pressure should easily sort that one out.

BTW I am NOT arrogant, but I will confess that I am proud of my kids individuality. HELL, they no longer take any notice even of me!

And that's how it should be.

Don T.