12.29.2006
Things Fall Apart
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Then sometimes they come back together.
In the news today, AT&T, everyone's favorite phone company, is swallowing BellSouth like a cobra eating a small gazelle on the Discovery Channel.
"Big is bad!" said the regulators and deal makers, and there was divison. The average Joe saw no difference, except for the new logo stenciled on the bucket-truck. Except Joe or Josephine got a headache when they called customer service.
Wait 20 years.
"Small is bad. Big is good!, said the former regulators and deal makers.
In place of disarray, there was unity. One omnipotent brand that can take away all our troubles, as we march along to the corporate anthem.
In watching 2001 on DVD, Dr. Floyd calls his little daughter on a picture-phone marked with a Bell logo.
"How dated," we said, "We already have picture phones that are better, and everybody knows its (fill in the blank) Bell" - or a new meaningless name like "synerga"
Now, it's 2006 - and everthing is as it was in 1968 - even the Bell logo.
