Muse, (the band)

For those of you who don't know I am a huge fan of Muse. This is a relatively recent thing (within the last 3 years) so I have gone and listened to most of their back catalogue as well the new stuff. Part of what I like is their variation, and their skill. Not to mention that I love Queen as well (and there are definite parallels).

So there is a contest here at our local radio station

As a result I submitted an ad based tightly on the Affiche Rouge poster from WWII. I will post my version after the contest (not sure if I am allowed otherwise).

Anger, secondary emotion

I recently had it pointed out to me that anger is not quite how I thought of it before. Anger is in fact a secondary emotion, and not a primary one.

My first reaction was one of minor incredulity; it seems so basic and primal that I had assumed it was a 'primary' emotion. Part of this probably dovetails into my poor handling/understanding/comprehension of anger in general throughout my life.

See this link for reference: Anger As a Secondary Emotion

With that in mind it changes my relationship to anger quite a bit. Part of my issue with anger has to do with my relationship to my mother, and her lack of control around it. She was uncontrollably angry throughout so much of her life, and I have seen it destroy so many things in her life. It has done terrible levels of damage to her personal relationships, she has lost jobs because of it, and gained a reputation as difficult to work with in many parts of her life. Because of that I vowed to myself when I was a small child to 'never be angry'. While this was not necessarily a healthy thing, my goal I think was admirable; so as a result I am changing that vow to be something healthier: 'I will not let anger rule me or those I care about'

That of course has many ramifications, but essentially what it means is that if someone is angry I will work to find out what is hurting them, as anger is almost universally about some kind of hurt, physical or emotional. What it means is that I will always strive to communicate deeper with people about what is hurting them. This goes for me as well; communicating my own hurt has never been something I have been very good at, but my eyes have been opened by my child. I will need to communicate these things far more clearly with her in my life.

On public opinion

It is interesting, but I drew an odd parallel between myself and those entities known as corporations. I find that so many of the decisions of management hinge at least marginally on egotism, much like those of the common man. Unfortunately CEO's, COO's, CTO and to a lesser extent, CFO's are an incredibly egotistical bunch, bordering on narcissism.

As I discovered recently in a therapy session, my own ego is so bereft of actual faith in myself, that my ego has inflated to mammoth proportions. I can also assume that this is probably the case for these people I am so willing to judge so readily.

The post came up in reference to an article I read on Gizmodo, regarding an email on how Microsoft essentially failed with regards to iTunes and they knew it. The email was from 2003, indicating that they just weren't able to cut deals with the music industry like Apple was.

I argued that it was because Microsoft (particularly at the time) was being assaulted on all sides regarding anti-competitive/monopolistic practices, and that the cases were incredibly public, thus souring people on business deals with them. In other words their aggression towards the DoJ and other governments, as well as Sun, and others, had colored them as someone not to do business with. In other words, a matter of PR and perception (right or wrong).

It's funny how perception can play out both in business and in your personal life.

Gizmodo - Itunes-Microsoft-fail

So I guess the big question is, if I am in therapy, why isn't corporate america?