the art of the brand

Recently, as a result of a discussion with a client about empowering children through rewarding thinking, i got sent a copy of the highlights of a book about the failures of the American lifestyle. The sender thought I would agree.
I don’t. Effective branding involves effective understanding of what people want–and what they want is a function of their environment, not yours.
So, here’s the so-called rules—and a reality check from me.
Dumbing down our kids : Why America’s children feel good about themselves but can’t read, write, or add. by Charles J. Sykes

Rule 1: Life is not fair; get used to it.
Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will not make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice president with a car phone until you “earn” both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger-flipping; they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you screw up, it’s not your parents’ fault so don’t whine about your mistakes. Learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning your room, and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. So before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades, they’ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off, and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

Now, here are the real rules, as i see them lived by in high schools and colleges, evidenced on FaceBook and MySpace and rent-a-coder.
1. life is not fair…so team up with people who are good at screwing others.
2. who cares what the world thinks? if that mattered then war and racism and famine are just jolly.
3. u’ll make whatever u can talk somebody into paying u–so screw u for telling me what i can and cannot make. met the ceo of facebook lately?
o. thought not.
4. my teacher is a relict of the past or somebody trying to help me. please go back to ur john wayne movies where we get to praise toughness.
5. my grandparents were screwed over by the depression, wwi, wwi, and people like u. their thoughts on what seems fair are ptsd’d to hell and gone.
6. if i screw up, i screw up. and if my choices are believing all ur crap while my so-called future gets exported to india and china, i will feel utterly free to complain that all of u lied to me. Given the realities of lies like telling me that mountain top removal is a way to improve worker safety, ddt is harmless and suburban sprawl will empower world freedom, why am I so supposed to trust you now?
7.no, my parents got that way by being boring, and thinking that would give them stars in their crown in heaven. And if u got off their backs, maybe could talk. talk doesn’t mean listening to them lecture on and on about how i need to be “their” kid. i’m not. people can’t own people. in the usa we had a little argument about that wayy back…lincoln won and they put him on the penny so u pennypinching pundit punks  would remember that.
9. work was made for man, not man for work.
10. right. you-tube is real life…does that bother u yet?
11.no. i’ll probably end up working for myself. u people sent all the other jobs overseas when the tough-minded jocks and preppies u all love so much got a chance to make a buck off it.