From fantasy to reality
When we read this absorbing piece, we couldn't help but think of Portland City Hall:
Though this theme of slow corporate strangulation points to the future, it nonetheless offers two simultaneous arguments about the present: that the power of corporations is reaching a level equal to that of traditional states, and that traditional states themselves are beginning to act more and more like corporations, or, through various entanglements, have grown inseparable from them.
When private industry eventually takes over Portland's failing public services -- when Nestlé controls the city's water supply system, for example -- many residents may not even feel the difference, because of all the corporation-like "branding" that the city's politicians and bureaucrats have already created. In the Sam Rand administration, every city bureau has got to have a logo and a slogan, like some sort of cornball advertising campaign out of the 1960s:
It's ironic that a city that prides itself on its left-leaning ways is seemingly setting the stage for science fiction writers' nightmares.
| Posted at 8:42 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (8)
Jack you forgot the City Council logo:
"I'm with Stupid ---> "
Posted by Tim | July 24, 2012 9:32 AM
Oh, that's been happening for a while. I just note that both Ursula LeGuin and John Shirley (the author for whom the term "cyberpunk" was created as a pejorative) were both from Portland. Mr. Shirley, in particular, left quite the mark on Portland in return: between his bright silver hearse and his propensity toward troublemaking, I understood from several people that a few rental houses in Portland still have a clause in their leases that tenants can break the lease with no penalty if John Shirley were to move in next door.
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | July 24, 2012 9:44 AM
From forest to faucet, we deliver whatever the Fireman wants.
Posted by Mister Tee | July 24, 2012 10:00 AM
NO-ooooo!!!!!
Posted by Portland Native | July 24, 2012 11:03 AM
Actually, the problem with Portland is a little thing called way TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT and NOT ENOUGH corporations and other private business activity.
Posted by boycat | July 24, 2012 11:54 AM
"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini
Posted by reader | July 24, 2012 12:36 PM
The City of Corporatisim!
Small businesses which provide many jobs don't seem to fit in the above category.
Posted by clinamen | July 24, 2012 1:42 PM
At least they haven't bought expensive, copyrighted fonts to use with their snazzy corporate logos.
Helvetica is cheap.
Posted by Erik H. | July 24, 2012 7:44 PM