I'll tell you what your opinion is

Seeing "The Corporation" was an awe-inspiring cinematic experience. I was fascinated by the story of how corporations went from having very little power 150 years ago to displacing democracy and controlling the world. I was blown away by how the film uses a DSM-IV, the book used by psychologists to diagnose mental illness, to show that corporations are psychotic. I was encouraged to see that people are actually making a difference by fighting back. And I really wanted to buy the movie's soundtrack.\n"The Corporation" criticizes the way companies create slick branding images so they can not only coerce customers to buy their products, but also convince them to approve of how the company runs its business. It ties into the debate over "manufacturing consent." But when "The Corporation" uses cool-looking graphic design and awesome ambient techno music to keep the audience's attention, aren't the filmmakers sort of doing the same thing? Aren't they manufacturing dissent, if you will?\nI should be inspired to take on the most powerful destructive force on the face of the planet, but I only want to do it as long as I get to dance to the film's music.\nWhen you see organized protestors, the mere fact that they are organized means their agenda was set by someone above them. From anti-war demonstrations and labor union strikes to pro-war rallies and environmental activism, everyone's opinion is somehow manufactured.\nI recently read in a book by Kevin Mattson that in a truly democratic society, beliefs and ideas begin with the masses and work their way up to the elites. But often what really happens is elites force their ideas from the top down onto the public by using techniques like propaganda.\nBut I get my ideas from movies like "The Corporation" or by reading newspapers or magazines with manufactured opinions, so that means my opinions, which are manufactured, undermine democracy. Everything I think plays into the propaganda machine. I mean, I'm just some schmuck undergrad who applied for a job as a weekly columnist. If I wrote an opinion that was completely my own, not manufactured by anyone else, it would probably be something like this:\n"Pedestrians at the corner of Tenth Street and Fee Lane should push the button and wait for the walk signal before crossing the street. If they cross the street because the traffic light is green, they're blocking motorists who are trying to make a turn, and if these pedestrians get run over, it's because they're ignorant or drunk. So don't be a jerk. Push the stupid button."\nIt's pretty petty. Week after week, I could write about one petty topic after the next. At least my opinion wouldn't be manufactured. But is it really that much better? I'm going to admit something here: if someone else wrote that way every week, I wouldn't read it, unless it was written by a grouchy old man and his wrinkly, scowling face gets printed next to his byline.\nI enjoy reading manufactured opinions. Even though the thoughts I have in reaction are also manufactured, the point is the writer still made me think, and things that make me think make me write.\nFortunately for me, most of the people I know generally seem to like manufactured things. Hamburgers, automobiles, birthday cards, textbooks, sex toys and even crucifixes are all manufactured. And these things all appear in our homes. Well, most of them -- the fun part is guessing which things are in which homes.\nSo I shouldn't be that ashamed of having a manufactured opinion. Sharing our manufactured opinions help us to relate to each other. As I see it, my job is to offer the finest manufactured opinion I can every single week.\nNext week's column: "Boobs are good"