The Pursuit of Truth in La La Land

Insights and reflections on the power of the image industry

La La Land, according to Webster is a euphoric dreamlike mental state detached from the
harsher realities of life; the mental state of someone who is not aware of what is really
happening. It is difficult but exciting to be an academic and scholar in La La Land; because
certainly, one can be considered impractical, irrelevant, and theoretical in a world that has
become fast and instant; loud, noisy, grand standing, broadcasting, and over-the-top. Under this
framework, there simply isnt enough time for reflection and observing the rules of inquiry and
recognizing the path from hypothesis to theory to fact/ law/ principle while apprehending the
value of intuition rooted in reason. It is difficult to be a rational and social being in La La Land;
because certainly, one can be perceived as irrational or a know-it-all, and a highly abstract
ivory tower sort of individualanti-social, who does not know how to commune with others.

I cant say La La Land is always and completely wrong. I cant say Im always practical and
truly relevant. I cant say I havent had my share of grand standing and being over-the-top in my
thinking, analysis, and proclamations. I cant say I havent also messed up the path to proper
inquiry, muddling hypothesis and theory with conjecturing and sweeping logic. I cant say Im
always rational and never irrational and sometimes tend to think that I do know it all. I cant
say Im not abstract; in fact, I am and quite enjoy being alone in this ivory tower, dabbling in the
abstract. In fact, I consider it a privilege, which has allowed me to make a hobby out of reflection
and pondering and making up all sorts of things in my head the way citizens of La La Land do in
their heads. The only unique claim I (and I suppose most people in the world of academia
interested in the pursuit of truth), can make is thisthat we have the privilege of environment
and time suited to reflection and recognizing the path to proper inquiry and living out our
rationality for a more true and real social life and thus, understanding this La La Land. But it is a
path and a journey that isnt without the same struggles as the citizens of La La Land; and I shall
demonstrate with my personal experience as case study by narrating, describing, and critiquing
my struggle to become scholarly and live out that definition of being rational and social in my
ivory tower as I attempt to make sense of La La Land. More particularly, I will focus on the
following:

1) My classes
Understanding Media and Its Content
Communication Theory
Communication Research

2) My research
Humanistic Marketing (2017)
Management Spirituality (2016)
Servant Leadership (2013)
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (2013; 2009)
Public Relations (PR) (2007; 2004)

With this, I shall attempt to demonstrate the dominant culture of the overwhelming focus on
human emotion (as opposed to reason) through the practice of the emotional appeal, encouraging

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a more irrational and anti-social human being. Thus, La La Landa euphoric dreamlike mental
state detached from reality, unaware of what is really happening. I will present my findings and
critique of this La La Land through my research and with what we tackle in my classes. In the
process, I will also present a critique of my work in my attempt to make sense of this La La
Land.

My Classes

The very first course students take in our school is a subject called Understanding Media and
Its Content, which is essentially about basic communication principles and media history. It is
essentially about understanding themselves and their relationship with the media. If they pass,
they move on to Communication Theory, where they are taught to read, understand, and analyze
information and messages in everyday media and the life of the times as a consequence of the
media. Emphasis is given on the significance of context and the practice of framing. In the end,
they are expected to develop their own theory, which must be grounded on existing
communication theories and inspired by case studies and issues that have involved the media.
The course is about gaining an awareness of the world outside themselves and realizing what
might seem frivolous and light (such as pop culture, advertising, and the movies) makes and
writes history; thus, the pressure to be scholarly, intellectual, responsible, virtuous, and to have a
great level of self-awareness as a future manufacturer of messages. Finally, they take
Communication Research, where they are taught to be grounded more formally through the
rules and essence of research; and by marrying the concrete and specific experience/ finding with
general abstractions on the industry, society, the human person, and man.

We begin with the general premise that the greatest global threat is the illusion of truth. Our
general concern is the pursuit of truthwhat it is, how to get to it, and how to read those who tell
us this is it, this is the truth. In academia, it's a staple to reference all your sources. Simply saying
"sources" makes a point an opinion, hearsay, rumor, perhaps even fiction. The same rules should
apply in journalism and media; as the same rules should apply in everyday interpersonal levels of
communication. If a person or some body claims secrecy, confidentiality, and anonymity in the
failure to provide proof that should accompany any serious accusation, then it is but a tall tale. The
value of a claim goes up the ladder from hypothesis to theory to fact--depending on the marriage
between a sensible rationale and the empirical evidence provided. Finally, we evaluate a position,
perspective, or idea on the following principles: human freedom, human dignity, subsidiarity,
solidarity, and the common good. A university lecture is of course, not enough to go into the
details of exactly what we do in class and how we apply this framework as it would be too long.
I can instead give you a samplinga feel and experience of how we read, decipher, and make
sense of La La Land. For this, Ive chosen the following story, which has hogged headlines in the
mainstream global media: Trump and RussiaGate. The basic claim, as framed and portrayed
in the media is that the Russians hacked the US elections that set the results in favor of Donald
Trump, who himself, has been accused of being a kind of Manchurian candidate for the
Russians.

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But what exactly do they mean by directed hacks to influence US elections?
-directed hacks means: cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee; specifically emails
from John Podesta, Clintons campaign chairman, which were published in Wikileaks.
And what exactly did these emails contain? Well, a lot; but for the purposes of illustrating the
absurdity of medias focus, I chose the following:

1) Admissions of rebel war crimes, special ops trainers inside Libya from nearly the start of protests,
Al Qaeda embedded in the U.S. backed opposition, Western nations jockeying for access to Libyan
oil and concern over Gaddafis gold and silver reserves threatening European currency.

2) A strategy for regime change in Syria way before any protests against the Syrian president.

It is odd how the Hillary Clinton emails, which are filled with controversial details shedding light on
various huge wars that cost billions of dollars and dismantled a few countries and killed people are
trumped for RussiaGate and TrumpGate which, at best, has produced a series of hypothetical
scenarios and possibilities as evidence. The mainstream media choose to focus not on the contents of
those emails and their implications on justice and the death of people from entire countries in a big
region; or that the general American public may have had a truly problematic candidate for the US
presidency not because the emails were leaked but because those email exchanges took place in the
first place because Americas Democratic candidate planned on doing questionable things.

And even before any investigation, Obama sanctioned 2 Russian military intelligence--the GRU and
the FSB, and expelled 35 Russian diplomats. And they accuse Vladimir Putin of being aggressive.
And they accuse Trump of being dangerous and possibly starting World War III. You will notice how
negative media on Trump increases every time he says things like the US should get out of Syria and
respect the Assad regime; and that the US should get along with Russia. Then theres the entire US
Congress, which overwhelmingly voted to set additional sanctions on Russia. Sanctions have
historically led to warsparticularly two World Wars. Sanctions are unethical and tamper with the
free market.

It is tragic how the reasonable man doesnt seem to have much representation in the mainstream
media. Media criticisms of the current US president increased after he pulled out of the Paris
Agreementeven if there truly are legitimate problems with the agreement. Once merely has to read
and see the details. Or why you could never google any critical article about how the current French
president and his wife met when he was 15 and she was 40; and how their love affair is ever always
romanticized. And why quite so suddenly, when the French president decides to get along with
Russia and cease to support operations in Syria, you can now find some of these articles. Ive been
testing my theory on the effects and implications of search engine optimization on this particular
topic since the French elections and comparing the results to today. Or how Bruce Jenner has been
framed hero. To critique him would certainly be dangerous and deadly. Or how Meryl Streep was
proclaimed inspiring and brave for delivering a speech condemning Donald Trump and criticizing
Republicans at an awards ceremony filled with full-fledged Democrats, where one was certain to
earn glowing headlines and raving praise; and she was also able to successfully plug her artistic
accomplishments. Brave would be to pop the bubble by delivering to an audience that needs
convincing but rather, she inflated it and like a typical citizen of La La Land, basked in the magic of
the surreal accolades. I can go on with a critique of Netflix and HBO and the practice of belittling the

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implications and essence of pornography with the popularization of content such as the current
number one show on earthGame of Thrones.

My Research

I too have fallen into a euphoric dreamlike mental state detached from the harsher realities of
life, where one is not aware of what is really happening. Ive had my own struggles through
my own obliviousness and narcissism, in chasing unicorn ideas, and faulty reasoning; that which
I created in my head, where mistakes were/ are made and intellectual humility is also often
neglected. This is my bout with La La Land.

My very first article was published in Media Asia in 2004, entitled, Journalism as Public
Relations (PR). I was never particularly interested in PR because I was never a talker and didnt
really like parties, events, crowds, and people. But I considered myself a writer and my curiosity
was strong even at an early age. While other children were buying tickets to see this Hispanic
boy band (Menudo) and getting haircuts after watching Demi Moore in Ghost, I was reading my
fathers subscriptions to Newsweek and Time, watching CNN (when it was relatively unknown
in the Philippines), and regularly catching the National Geographic Show and David
Attenborough during the days of pre-cable and internet Philippines. Journalistic writing,
particularly the investigative kind, was always attractive; and it brought me to always be part of
the school paper from high school to college. Writing was something I always did for its own
sake--for my personal enjoyment. This backstory explains why I may have naturally gone the
direction of pursuing PR as a field of research; and why my framework has been critical. But its
not all due to nature as nurture (environment and circumstance) also played a role. PR is the
parent (some would say cousin) of IMC. But this is my attempt to try to piece a context and story
to find connections and meaning. While this all could have had some bearing on the direction of
my field of interest, the more immediate and tangible reason was that the article was based on a
class I took in U.P. during my post graduate studies. We were assigned to do research on the
different US presidents; and I was given Ramon Magsaysay. My research into Magsaysays life
and presidency encouraged me to do something Ive always been inclined toinvestigate;
because there was a mystery and I loved mysteries.

My research revealed the Magsaysay era to have been the period in Philippine history, which
marked the birth of envelopmental journalism and the cozy relationship between government
and media as well as journalism and PRprofessions and disciplines, which are supposed to be
checks on the other. But this is not a paper Im particularly happy with; thus, I will not waste our
time analyzing. It wasnt very well written. But however embarrassing, I bring it up today to
precisely show how research and the pursuit of truth is a process; and hopefully, a process of
evolution and development; because I cringed, when I read it 8 years ago; and Id probably
cringe even more if I read it today. Unfortunately (perhaps fortunately) Im not yet brave enough
to read it again to find out. I was very young and didnt quite fathom the nature and purpose of
research. I had an idealized version of the pursuit of truth in my head; but I also wanted to try my
hand at getting published. So one might say, my process was contrived; because I was idealistic
and not experienced enough to be insightful. I also realize now how being idealistic isnt also
quite idealespecially in the way of pursuing the truth and finding out.

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As soon as I finished my PhD, our then director and now dean, Dr. Jerry Kliatchko, encouraged
me to write a version for publication in a peer-reviewed academic journal. By the time I was
doing my post-doctoral studies, I came to realize PR was not about going to events and talking to
people. PR was primarily about writing--and most of those I interviewed for my dissertation
were exceptional writers. One of them was even published in the second top ranking peer-
reviewed academic journal in PRthe Public Relations Review. Imagine a practitioner in La La
Land published in a high ranking (top 2!) peer-reviewed journal! I was impressed many of them
were well read and spoke very well; but low-key, quiet, and unassumingsomething one
wouldnt expect from citizens of La La Landthe image industry, which deals in showthe
business of show business, as the song goes. But the business of converting my dissertation for a
peer-reviewed, ISI accredited publication was going to be a lot more difficult and painful. In
those days, there were no online systems for paper submission. It had to be done manually
through snail mail. I recall submitting to four journals at the same timesomething those of us
in the business of research know shouldnt be done; but naughty me did it anyway. One by one
the responses came in and they were allrejects. I had my first taste of unadulterated, blunt
critiques and criticisms from those in the field of rigor; and they were harsh. After three rejects, I
had a sort of silent existential crisis. Imagine, that one thing you thought you could be good at,
didnt like you. So my pride and ego got the better of me and I decided I would never submit an
article again. I may have even been a little angry. And perhaps the Good Lord heard me and
thought I might not be strong enough to overcome this hurdle. He gave me a nudge; and it was in
the form of response #4: we are happy to inform you. While there were revisions to be made, it
was nonetheless a wonderful yes; and I immediately abandoned my self-pity and woah is
me, Im not good enough response to the first three rejects. Best of all, my article was accepted
by the top 2 ranking peer-reviewed journal in PR. In 2007, an article based on my dissertation
entitled, Understanding the Reputation and Image of the Philippine Public Relations Industry,
was published in the Public Relations Review. I didnt tell anyone it had been accepted as I
couldnt quite believe it myself until it saw print. I still remember the day it finally came out. I
was in my cubicle reading and Dr. Jerry Kliatchko came up to me looking quite excited and said,
Congratulations! Congratulations, for what? I thought, as I gave him quite a puzzled look.
And I think he realized I didnt know, as he handed me a copy of the PR Review, which he
happened to pick up from the library and opened it to the page where my article was. He was
surprised. I was surprised. I cant say it didnt feel greatespecially after three rejects (which I
kept to myself and told no one as I was embarrassed). Suddenly, my resolve to completely
abandon research was abandoned. It wasnt a revolutionary paper with a unique or interesting
framework. It was simple and straightforwarda mere narration and description of the
Philippine PR industry. The writing wasnt perfect either but I suppose they must have liked it
precisely for its straightforwardness and simplicity and the simple and coherent way I organized
data into basic information on Philippine PR, which would be useful for anyone who might need
some sort of a PR primer on the country.

From my 2004 and 2007 articles, one can see my investigative and critical slant. Was it a
consequence of curiosity? The impetus to know and grasp the truth? Did I want to gain wisdom?
Was I setting out to pursue the truth for the sheer love of knowing? Not really. I primarily wanted
to be published. I wasnt even particularly interested in PR. I liked history, global politics, even
science, and journalism. I tended to look down on the support industry because I thought it was

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all just about selling, parties, events, and ads. My interests lay in what I thought the heavier,
more serious, and importantthose things that have large effects and implications on society,
civilization, and history. One can say, I was thinking in slogans and labels in my perception of
the support industries as well as in my goal of doing research. I was judging the book by its
popular cover; and in so doing I was being shallow, literal, frivolous, and oblivious. I was
ironically, in a euphoric dreamlike mental state detached from reality; because I hadnt realized
I was precisely studying the most powerful industry on earth, which was certainly heavy,
serious, and utterly important. In many ways, it was essentially an institution, which influenced
and perhaps even directed all other institutions. I would eventually realize this.

But the road to getting published is not an upward climb. My paper on corporate social
responsibility (CSR) took a heavy beating and did the rounds of journalsreject after reject,
revision after revisionand one has got to revise the paper to suit a journal before making a
realistic submission. One strategy I have is to make sure I have a fairly good number of
references from the journal Im submitting to; and so I have to read and revise quite a lot
whenever I submit a reject for another publication. Its certainly a lot of work. What I (and Im
guessing, most people do is) to initially submit my paper to the top journals in class A peer-
reviewed of my topic; and go down the ranks as I get those letters of rejection. If A is exhausted,
then I go to class B; and you go on and on until you get a publication to notice and finally accept.
Finally, in 2009, my article, Why Corporate Social Responsibility Remains a Myth: The
Case of the Philippines was published in Asian Business & Management (ABM). It wasnt
my first choice but it was at least still an ISI-accredited peer-reviewed journal. It was a long and
arduous process both intellectually and emotionally; because to put so much work into
something inevitably personal (because writing is always personal) is difficult.

The investigative and critical slant is even more apparent having grounded my framework on
critical-cultural theorist, Erving Goffman; structuration specialist, Anthony Giddens; and
organizational sense-making expert Carl Weick. Thus, far (until 2009, that is), this was my most
intellectual paper and I had finally begun to want to find out. The path to inquiry was honest
and real. It wasnt just about wanting to get published. More than a decade after my college
graduation, having finished my PhD, working in an advertising agency for almost a year, and
having taught over 10 batches of students, one is less contrived in the effort to understand and
make sense. But somehow, I already had a sense of this prevalence of slogans and labels with
the move to discussing conditions and issues in CSR practice that are contrary to its essence and
nature and the inclination to look for ultimate answersthus, a philosophical outlook in seeking
to show the root reason for the CSR myth. This root is recognized as the lack of ethics in CSR
and CSR-related activities, which stems from a conflict, which much of business ethics
literature (as well as myself, at that time) attributes to ensuring profits and the need to do good
and establish good community relations.

I was in IESE presenting a marketing paper when I got an email from Dr. Zen Udani, who had
previously read my CSR article in ABM. His field of interest was management and leadership
and he was now working on a paper on servant leadership. Cory Aquino had just passed away
and according to Zen, there was a lot of interest in the late president in his field. He asked if I
wanted to collaborate since like myself, his slant was also in the field of business ethics. I was
not particularly interested in Cory Aquinoeven if my family went to the first EDSA and both

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Aquinos and Cojuangcos were family friends. My lack of excitement was due to two things: 1)
Philippine politics didnt interest me and even at an early age, I always preferred to tackle things
very far from home; and 2) the late president was not a particularly effective leader in getting the
country to make bigger leaps in economic development. But there was one thought lingering in
my headthat through all her failures and mistakes, she seemed to always come through as a
strong and positive symbol for human dignity, freedom, solidarity, subsidiarity, and the common
good; and she was a regular natural rallying point for times when these basic things were
compromised and attacked. And this symbol was specifically manifest during her dramatic and
moving funeral, which seemed truly spontaneous as the first EDSA event. This is particularly
significant since studies show how close to impossible it is for any mass or collective to
assemble in such huge numbers and maintain the assembly. (Those we see on CNN that happen
in the Mideast have questionable origins and are anything but natural). Semiotics, its called, in
the field of communication theory; and the late female president seemed to be a uniquely
significant case study for this science of signs and symbolsthe same science much of
advertising and the entire image industry is premised on. Cory Aquino was an interesting and
unique symbol to study. She gave the country a cultured narrative; and narratives are important.

It was a grueling and bloody process of submission, revision, and rejection going from one
journal to the next, moving from the top business ethics and management journals in class A to
the lower ranking journals in the category. Miraculously, Zen and I managed to get published in
the journal we had originally intended and first submitted to but had initially been rejected.
Persistence does pay. In 2013, our article entitled, When Servant Becomes Leader: The
Corazon C. Aquino Success Story as a Beacon for Business Leaders, was published in the
Journal of Business Ethics (JBE). We looked at Cory Aquinos life and presidency and the
evidences they yield for the usefulness and soundness of servant leadership as an alternative for
business in its crisis of leadership. My experience with this project, would unknowingly affect
my own views about marketing, business, CSR, and the entire image industry. It made me see the
power and significance of symbols.

Simultaneously with our servant leadership paper, Zen and I were also working on a CSR article,
which was accepted for publication in the same year (2013) by the same journal, JBE. The
article was entitled, Bringing Back the Essence of the S and R to CSR: Understanding
the Limitations of the Merchant Trade and the White Mans Burden. Our main contention,
as the title declares, is CSR has generally departed from the true notion of social and
responsibility. We proposed a corporation focus on profit-efficiency versus maximizing profit;
and we defined profit efficiency as the process of ensuring a good and profitable practice
that is, determining and sustaining cooperative human activities to ensure goods internal to a
practice are sought to also guarantee external goods will enable the maintenance and further
flourishing of the institution, which houses the practice. The corporation was created as an
instrument of economic efficiency. If the creation of wealth is taking a toll on other aspects of the
business (e.g. people, communities) the efficiency aspect is compromised. Profit efficiency is
figuring out how much profit to achieve in the context of maintaining a business as a community
of persons seeking efficiency in a trade and ensuring human flourishing. We defined the
corporation as, a community of persons engaged in a profitable practice working toward a
common goal with the privilege of legal liability to encourage greater sociability but greater
accountability and responsibility to its community and society.

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But how does one ensure a good practice? We based our proposal on leadership Joseph
Badaracco, who wrote the book, Questions of Character: Illuminating the Heart of Leadership
through literature and Aristotles virtue ethics:
1) Have a good dream, which should be based on Aristotles concept of telos (the good for
man) and the possession of which will enable one to achieve Eudaimonia (well-being or
happiness).
2) Sound reflectioncorporations should be designed in ways that engage individuals in
philosophic reflection.
3) Have a flexible moral code, which we proposed as Catholic Social Teaching (CST) as
prescriptions are encompassing and general enough to enable people to exercise that
freedom to develop themselves within the inevitable context of community in the
tradition of developing a good dream, sound reflection, and a flexible moral code.
4) The formation of virtue.

Therefore, it will be efficient in its allocation, use, and reception of profit, better enabling the
tendency to maximize relational capabilities. At the same time, its support for profit efficiency
helps maintain the elements that create an organizational culture proper to a practice, which will
encourage the true essence of a corporation through cSR. The S and R are made bigger to
stress the significance of keeping the essence of social responsibility. The framework proposed
guards against the narcissistic and Messianic tendencies of the White Mans Burden (as well as
the tendency to utilize it as a front for wrongdoing) and the propensity for immoderation by the
Merchant Trade (as well as its tendency to also use it as a front for making more money at the
expense of others).

I was now doing things I really lovedphysically staying in my ivory tower and playing with
abstract ideas in my head but with the goal of finding out. I wanted to understand and know.
And I began to venture outside my head. I started opening my mind to alternative ideas just to
give them a chance and see. I even read the book of Theodore Herzl, the inventor of Zionism
since the Israeli and Palestinian conflict had been a long-time topic in my class; and my position
was always critical of Israel. Prior to being critical of Israel, however, before I actually read deep
into the conflict, I was critical of the Arab world. My interest in the Israeli and Palestinian
conflict began after I had an argument with a Turkish classmate in one of my classes in UP,
where I made such an irresponsible comment about Muslims and their links to terrorism. It was
an incident that got me curious; I read. Parochialism and intellectual pride are great big
stumbling blocks to learning, knowing, and getting closer to the truth.

It took quite a bit of rejects before our paper on management spirituality was finally accepted and
published. Our paper, The Utility of Virtue: Management Spirituality and Ethics for a
Secular Business World was published in the Asian Journal of Business Ethics (AJBE) in
2016a whole three years after we started the project. At this point, I was no longer sensitive or
hurt by any reject or review. I had come to understand and realize how the value of a paper is not
necessarily equivalent to the rank of the journal, which publishes it; because if you cast aside
your pride and keep to your goal of simply wanting to pursue what is true and to do it well, then
you will hear out those reviews and you will read a lot more, and you will ponder and reflect and
refine your expression. And by the time you get to journal number 100 (not that I or we ever

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were this fortunate), it wouldve been such a greatly improved and better-written paper. Sans
one glaring typographical error, I am fairly satisfied with this paper. Reasons are as follows:

1) I started to reconcile my issues between virtue and the art of doing things for their own
sake and utilitarianism; because there is utility in virtue and there is virtue in utilityfor
every value-added service rendered to others, there is a corresponding virtue
enhancement in the person.
2) I learned to see how skill and virtue are intertwined and married; and thus, so are
corporations and doing good. There is no competition between virtue and skill. One gains
skill in achieving virtue as one grows in virtue in the effort to acquire skill.
3) I started to question my closed and parochial view of Protestantism as self-righteousness
with a selfish brand of utilitarianism. I discovered this in the Annabaptist-Mennonites,
who, unlike Max Webers Protestant Reformers, do not consider work to be a calling in
the sense of being specialsomething the Reformers, in Webers analysis, tended to
utilize and view as self-righteousness since those with high-paying jobs are part of Gods
pool of chosen ones. For the Annabaptist-Mennonites, God is a creator and thus,
craftsman, and that it is important to emulate His character in ones work. Their view
seemed to be identical to Catholic Christianityto be Christ-like in ones work, task, and
profession. We defined management spirituality as the characteristic and qualities
business leaders need to develop as persons of purpose and character in the organization
or workplace.
4) I gained a better appreciation for our late former female president. One can claim she is
probably the first Catholic (and perhaps even Christian) political leader to bridge the gap
between Church and state (the sacred and the secular). She was strong in her faith but
subtle in her proclamations and practicea unique quality for both spiritual and religious
leaders and political and business leadership that have been dominated by more
charismatic principles and practice. And while her presidency was certainly troubled as
she committed mistakes and did not always make the best decisions, people still hung on
to her character and persona as she remained relevant even unto her death. She is
empirical proof of the staying power and effect of authenticity; because people were
willing to forgive and forgot her lack of skill.

But there is certainly always room for improvement. With every new project, one hopes to get a
little better and perhaps refine or even correct less than ideal ideas, perspectives, and positions.
This brings me to our latest and current project.

Humanistic Marketing (2017)

Our latest paper was just recently rejected. No, I am no longer ever sad about such rejects from
an emotional perspective. What I do feel is exhausted and tired because the amount of work one
places in such a project is enormous. I honestly first go through a short period of prepping myself
for embracing and tackling it again. Nowadays, I spend this period of procrastination reading
articles from the Mises Institute (mises.org), the Foundation for Economic Education (fee.org),
Sputnik International (Russias CNN), and the personal page of lewrockwell.com, founder of the
Mises Institute. But they also arent exactly a waste of time since I have learned quite a bit from
these non-traditional academic and scholarly sources. Yes, I have found the scholarly also outside

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the world of journalsbut this is another discussion. My venture into Mises and Fee came as a
consequence of my attempt to be more understanding of traditional CSR and development aid;
and yes, I discovered these sites by googling. I was introduced to the world of the libertarian and
it was in their pages where I discovered I was a capitalist after all; and the capitalism I was
critiquing wasnt capitalism. What I thought was capitalism was socialism parading as
capitalism. I was immediately attracted when they attempted to explain what a libertarian is
(https://fee.org/articles/who-is-a-libertarian/):

Those of us who favor individual freedom with personal responsibility have been unable
to agree upon a generally acceptable name for ourselves and our philosophy of liberty.
This would be relatively unimportant except for the fact that the opposition will call us by
some name, even though we might not desire to be identified by any name at all.

As you can see, they have an awareness of this practice of thinking in slogans and labels. They
continued:

Someofuscallourselvesconservatives,butthattermdescribesmanypersonswho
basetheirapprovalofaninstitutionmoreonitsagethanonitsinherentworth.Manyof
uscallourselvesliberals.Anditistruethatthewordliberaloncedescribedpersons
whorespectedtheindividualandfearedtheuseofmasscompulsions.Buttheleftists
havenowcorruptedthatonceproudtermtoidentifythemselvesandtheirprogramof
moregovernmentownershipofpropertyandmorecontrolsoverpersons.Asaresult,
thoseofuswhobelieveinfreedommustexplainthatwhenwecallourselvesliberals,we
meanliberalsintheuncorruptedclassicalsenseHereisasuggestion:Letthoseofus
wholovelibertytrademarkandreserveforourownusethegoodandhonorableword
libertarian.

They added, a libertarian is

One who holds to the doctrine of free willone who rejects the idea of using violence
or the threat of violencelegal or illegalto impose his will or viewpoint upon any
peaceful person. Generally speaking, a libertarian is one who wants to be governed far
less than he is todaybelieves that the government should protect all persons equally
against external and internal aggression, but should otherwise generally leave people
alone to work out their own problems and aspirationsWhile a libertarian expects the
government to render equal protection to all persons against outright fraud and
misrepresentation, he doesnt expect the government to protect anyone from the
consequences of his own free choicespersons who make wise choices are entitled to
enjoy the fruits of their wisdom, and that persons who make unwise choices have no right
to demand that the government reimburse them for their follyA libertarian respects the
right of every person to use and enjoy his honestly acquired propertybelieves that the
daily needs of the people can best be satisfied through the voluntary processes of a free
and competitive marketfavors a strictly limited form of government with many checks
and balancessees less, rather than more, need to govern the actions of othershas
much faith in himself and other free persons to find maximum happiness and prosperity
in a society wherein no person has the authority to force any other peaceful person to

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 conform to his viewpoints or desires in any mannerdoesnt advocate violent rebellion
against prevailing governmentsexcept as a last resort before the concentration camps
The libertarians goal is friendship and peace with his neighbors at home and abroad.

Sounds like the Thomistic definition of freedomthe power to do what you ought yourself;
and Catholic Social Teaching (CST) with the principles of freedom, human dignity, subsidiarity,
solidarity, and the common good.

But I also realized how socialist our world is and how much of this socialism is celebrated in and
by the image industry. What is capitalism, then? And what is socialism? Han-Hermann Hoppe
has an interesting explanation, which considers the reality and power of signs, slogans, and
symbols: (https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/10/hans-hermann-hoppe/socialism-vs-
capitalism/):

The USA did not represent capitalism but as Americas ascendant neoconservative elites
were fond to proclaim, democratic capitalism.

Under democratic capitalismdemocratically elected state government could interfere

with private property rights if this was deemed in the democratically determined public
interest and for the common goodthe government could expropriate, tax and
redistribute private property, and it could legislate or regulate the uses that private owners
were allowed to make of their property.

"The US-government had not only become the countrys largest land- and real estate
owner and owner of all public streets and schools. For the common good it had grown
to annually consume almost half of the US national product (GDP), and the public debt
had steadily increased to reach 60% of GDP by 1989 (and more than 100% today)the
government had monopolized the production of money, established a government-
controlled central bank, abolished the gold standard and replaced gold with a paper-
money that it could, with the help of its central bank, create at will at practically zero
cost. Through a steadily growing flood of legislation and regulation, the property rights
of private owners were constantly redistributed and reshuffledFriends of government,
the promoters of the common good, were rewarded and its enemies punished.

And for the common good and to make the world safe for democracy, the US-
government maintained the worlds largest, most costly and heavily armed military
forces, occupied hundreds of military bases around the globe, and engaged in a seemingly
endless series of wars to enlarge its empire and sphere of influence."

On the other hand: Wasnt democracy, i.e., majority rule, incompatible with private
property and laissez-faire? Wasnt democracy just another, a particular form of socialism,
i.e., of the socialization of the means of production? And wasnt it democracy that had
to be blamed for the increasingly blatant shortcomings, failings, and blunders of the US
and the Western world?

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 Without a doubt, the Left will try to label also the coming economic breakdown and
social disaster as--indeed: the ultimate crisis of capitalism and propose to cure it
with yet another version of socialism.

Hoppe defined capitalism as the means to justly acquired private property and free,
voluntary association, contract, and exchange of and between the owners of private
property.

Thus, in our effort to attempt to make marketing humanistic, we realized, marketing as a concept
was already inherently humanistic. For Adam Smith, the pursuit of self-interest was an efficient
way to organize economic activities, which benefit society provided it is restrained by self-
command and moderated by inner justice as well as administratively enforced justice. The
humanistic quest which involves the question of human nature and the understanding of a shared
vulnerability and the resulting necessity to protect human dignity, was central to the humanistic
quest which gave birth to economics and marketing in the first place--that humanism and
utilitarian economism have very similar roots. As a careful reading of Smith and Milton
Friedman suggest, their use of the principle of self-interest is consistent with ethical conduct and
they never advocated the pursuit of ones interest to the detriment of individuals and society.
Problem is popular interpretations of Smith and Friedman suggest self-interest devoid of ethical
and other-regarding considerations. But the ideal economic actor is a person of goodwill,
prudence, and self-restraint; in other words, a humanist.

Conclusion

The following are my general findings and thoughts on La La Land:

1) La La Land encourages us to read and think in slogans and labels, which discourages thinking
and thus, knowing because the symbol is unattached to and detached from reality and it is
premised on human emotion.

This is manifest in words such as "fake news", conspiracy theory, "terrorism", "Holocaust/ climate
change denier", and "axis of evil"--terms that discourage the human mind from attempting to find
out.

2) Slogans and labels arent always just words. The most obvious examples come from
advertising and branding: a) Disney = wholesome family entertainment; b) Walmart = cheap; or
c) Apple = tech-savvy cutting-edge geek (although this perception is waning). But they can also
be entities, countries, events, and people. Take the case of former US president Barack Obama--
Nobel Peace Prize recipient and a particularly popular leader of the free world, who was
supposed to be the worlds answer to warmonger George Bushbecause this was the way he
was packaged. But Obama dropped more bombs and spent more money on wars than any other
US president (https://mises.org/library/war-obama-has-been-worse-bush;
http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/16455). Theres also that comparison we can make
between the US and Russia since the latter is often framed in the media as a very dangerous
warmongering country; and many of us might concur. But data will paint a very different picture

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(http://www.globalfirepower.com/defense-spending-budget.asp) with US 2017 defense budget at
$587 billion and Russias at $44 billion. Other data such as the number of foreign military bases
is also quite tipped with Russia having 9 (7 of which are in former Soviet satellites and the other
two in Syria and Vietnam); while the US has a whopping 900 in multiple countries in various
continents. See: https://mises.org/blog/trump-should-follow-putin-military-spending.

3) Theres a prevalence of factionfact + fictionor what I call the Dan Brown Framework of
communication. This is exacerbated by the fact we have great difficulty with systems thinking
an understanding of a system by examining the linkages and interactions between the
components that comprise the entirety of that defined system (systemicleadershipinstitute.org); in
other words, the lack or absence of context.

4) Finally, socialism seems to be inserted in almost every facet of lifefrom politics, to

economics, to entertainment, to the social and other popular media. In fact, I now see how La La
Land might be a metaphor for socialism. Like socialism, it is dramatic and dreamy--a euphoric
dreamlike mental state detached from the harsher realities of life; the mental state of someone
who is not aware of what is really happening.

And in understanding, studying, and critiquing La La Land, we might find the logic in the story
of its storyits reason for being. Why and how did La La Land come to be? In so doing, we can
help write its story and refine its culture; and we can only write and refine it if we study and
understand it. Otherwise, we remain in a euphoric dreamlike mental state detached from the
harsher realities of life, not aware of what is really happening; thus, chasing rainbows and
unicorns in our own attempt to make sense.

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