Better to be nannied by the State than the Corporates

As we enter the glorious 2014 summer of sport, with cycling, football, rugby, tennis, cricket and maybe more, TV viewers will, if they haven't already, without doubt notice how prevalent and incessant, gambling advertising has becoming.

So what exactly is worrying about all this? After all, advertising has been around since the industrial revolution, and gambling since the dawn of civilization. The gambling per se, is not the real concern. Neither, in fact, is the advertising. Here is the issue:

Who is manipulating our society? Who is not regulating it? And therefore, who is really in power? When we break it down Iike this, we see that the hope of believing in a strong, democratically elected government is a tragic illusion. If unelected, invisible Corporations, who are impervious to criticism, immune from taking responsibility, and driven by nothing more than the desire to increase their material wealth, are running the country, then how can we ever hope that society will make any effort to act responsibly, or genuinely encourage its citizen to behave ethically?

The result of this is that people go one of two ways; both very damaging to society's social fabric. One: They hold contempt for the Corporate state and the feeble government who has allowed it to happen. Two: Broken spirited, they finally assume the role designed for them, and spend their lives in a fearful frenzy, as debt-riddled, emotionally and materially impoverished, confused, and unfulfilled consumers.

I don't advocate a nanny state. But neither do I advocate a government who sells its democratically elected power to a non-elected businessman. At least a nanny state has its people to answer to. A Corporate state ignores the wellbeing of the people, and works only for its greedy shareholders.