Stupid Norton software ad...

The insinuation that a holdup victim is such a helpless, cowering idiot that he wouldn't use a gun to defend himself--even when handed one in the middle of the holdup--is so insulting that it makes me want to start building public bonfires fueled with Norton products...

http://everyclickmatters.com/dangers/heist.html

Watch about halfway through this video, when the bank robber with the pistol hands his gun to the customer so he can make change, and the customer just sits there, holding the pistol like it's going to bite him...

This is why I don't EVER use ANY product that Norton sells. They think we're all idiots who can't fend for ourselves.

Screw their software, and screw their predictive programming ad campaign. I've got a Mac and I don't waste my time on "download" sites so I don't get computer viruses. And if some bank robber is stupid enough to hand me his gun during a holdup, their plans are going to take a VERY unexpected turn...

Relying on BS software like Norton to keep your computer safe is like relying on the police to keep you and your family safe. This ad is a VERY clever and subtle way to reinforce the "victim mentality". Even when the victim is presented with the tools he needs to STOP the situation, he just sits there like a deer in the headlights...

This sort of "victim mentality programming" is intolerable. People who are aware of their evil ruse should point this out to the public. People who are awake and responsible should call for boycotts of this company, for insulting the intelligence of the public, and trying to program us to think that we are incapable of ensuring our own safety--even when we have the tools to do so right in our own hands.

This ad is the WORST kind of anti-gun FUD, because it's ostensibly about something completely different, but the REAL message is "You are helpless, clueless, and can't take care of yourself without the help of "experts" or "professionals"."

Disgusting... Pitiful.... and insidiously evil...

This sort of ad campaign is so blatantly anti-liberty and anti-personal-responsibility that it would be almost laughable, if it weren't such an insult to my intelligence.

I hope Norton's corporate servers get hacked by Japanese teenagers and their website gets replaced by HelloKitty porn anime'...

Love my MacBook

word.

Hey, folks, chill out and decock your hair-trigger responses. The entire point of the add is to reach those who would cower to the point of never defending themselves. It's to get people who have a false sense of security to wake up and defend themselves, and yes, through Norton's product.

We've been doing the exact same thing here on Open Carry as well as on other forums for years, attempting to get people to wake up and realize security doesn't exist out of thin air, but rather, it's something one must work towards, consciously.

One word -- Linux!

A bunch of words - I love Windows 7. Don't surf shady porn sites(translation: don't surf any porn sites) and your odds of getting a virus goes down to almost nothing.

Windows 7 lover -

Jack,

Do you love Windows 7 because you invented it?

"But the banner said that I was the 1,000,000,000th visitor. I HAD to click it."

Sorry, I can't help myself. I work IT and hear some of the worst excuses of why people got a virus on their computer. Usually its: "I didn't do anything!"

I've never cared for Norton for their anti-virus software. More often than not, some of the "freeware" is better than the stuff you pay for. You just have to know what is legit and what's junk.

Virtual congress is not different from sexual congress or legislative congress...

...unprotected somebody is gettin' screwed.

Dreamer said:

This is why I don't EVER use ANY product that Norton sells.

Click to expand...

Well, that and the fact that Symantec can't write software that is worth a damn.

@ cavalryman - Hell yeah, power to the penguins!

I have had no computer issues since dropping windows for Linux. None, nada, zip, zilch, zero... I don't run spyware protection, malware protection, anti-virus or pop-up blockers. Just a firewall and robust programming stays between me and the filth of the 'Net.

Linux is like my Springfield... it just works, and I trust that it works.

I'm not trying to make a point on which OS is better or more secure. I'm really not even trying to make a point that "protection software" is good or bad. Y'all are sort of missing the deeper issue...

That deeper issue is the insidiousness of the "victim mentality" message being propagated by Symantec. By pushing the idea that the ONLY way you are safe is if you enlist the help of some officially annnointed "guardian", they are perpetuating the mentality of helplessness. I mean, even when the bank customer has a semiautomatic pistol in his hands, and one BG is fumbling with his wallet, and the other BG (with the AK) has his back turned, the customer just sits there like a deer in the headlights...

This sort of subtle psychological programming is an EVERYDAY occurrence in the media. It's not just Symantec. It's GM Goodwrench, it's Dell, it's Intel, it's Sprint, it's a LOT of companies--drumming it into the heads of the public that you simply can't live your life unless you enlist the help of some "expert" or "authority", and that the idea of self-sufficiency is outdated, potentially dangerous, and in some cases, even unpatriotic.

Am I the only one who sees this? Perhaps my background in advertising, design, and publishing, and my life-long study of propaganda, public relations, and government-sponsored "reality creation" gives me some sort of special insight into this issue, but I find it hard to believe that other people--even people without this sort of background--can't see this.

They call the shows on TV "programming" for a reason.

Most folks don't even know why they eat bacon with their eggs. It's because Edward Bernays--the "father" of Public Relations--was hired by a meat-packing company in the 1920's to increase the sale of bacon--a meat product that was considered a "flavoring" or "ingredient" by most Americans, and NOT something you would eat on it's own...

And most people don't know that Bernays was ALSO hired by the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) in the late 1940'sto help them find a way to dispose of one of their most deadly toxic byproducts of the aluminum smelting process--sodium flouride. Bernays developed the ad campaign that convinced Americans that putting this deadly poison in our drinking water was a good idea. Sodium Fluoride is a principal ingredient in most bug and rat poisons, and is so toxic that Alcoa couldn't find a disposal site that would take it, so they decided instead to follow the leads of the Russian "reeducation centers" in Siberia and the Nazi Concentration camps (both of which used highly fluoridated water to keep their prisoners mentally docile), and sell it to municipal water treatment plants to put in drinking water as their "disposal method". Go online and download the MSDS for Sodium Fluoride if you don't believe this claim as to the toxicity of sodium fluoride. Or call up your local chemical supply house and attempt to purchase a 50# sack of this stuff--but you'll probably get a visit from DHS if you do because it's so toxic...

Public Relations IS propaganda. Advertising IS propaganda. And most of the time, the propaganda being pushed is NOT just a "buy our product" message. All the showmanship, glitz, and "authority endorsement" is just a sparkly veneer on a much more deeply-coded and insidious program of social engineering.

Wake up people.

This ad ISN'T about selling software. It's NOT about system security. It's about perpetuating the "victim mentality" and reinforcing the "reliance on authority". It's mental poison, as evil and insidious as anything Saul Alinsky ever published, and needs to be publicly called out for the filthy, socially degrading, spiritually bankrupt slime that it is...

Believe nothing that you read or hear without verifying it yourself ...

Believe nothing that you read or hear without verifying it yourself unless it fits your preexisting worldview. (The latter clause is to excuse the invincibly ignorant.)

Thundar said:

Jack,

Do you love Windows 7 because you invented it?

Click to expand...

Yeeessss, isn't it so awesome being an inventor of Windows 7?

In Propaganda (1928), his most important book, Bernays argued that the scientific manipulation of public opinion was a necessary to overcome chaos and conflict in society:

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democracy society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ... We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. ... In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons...who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.

Click to expand...

Words from the beast's very own mouth...

In Bernays own autobiography (which I own and have studied) entitled "Biography of an Idea", he states that Joseph Goebbels had studied Bernays book "Crystallizing Public Opinion" and use his ideas in the Nazi propaganda campaigns. This was in 1933...

He was actively involved in the propaganda campaign that th eUS mounted to overthrow and oust the democratically-elected president of Guatemala so that the United Fruit Company could essentially lay claim to their agricultural industry. This is openly discussed inthe BBC documentary "The Century of the Self".

The book "The Birth of Public Relations" clearly documents Bernays involvement in the "bacon and eggs" campaign:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Dk...BwQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=bernays bacon&f=false

Fluoride? You either believe it is a poison, or you don't. I just look at the ingredients list for rat poison, the ingredients for Sarin Nerve Gas and most prescription psychotropic drugs like Prozac, the sacks it comes in from Chemical companies, and read the MSDS to make my decision...

http://current.com/news/90543303_fl...to-sterilize-inmates-and-make-them-docile.htm

And don't even get me started on Aspartame...

TheFreeman said:

"But the banner said that I was the 1,000,000,000th visitor. I HAD to click it."

Sorry, I can't help myself. I work IT and hear some of the worst excuses of why people got a virus on their computer. Usually its: "I didn't do anything!"

I've never cared for Norton for their anti-virus software. More often than not, some of the "freeware" is better than the stuff you pay for. You just have to know what is legit and what's junk.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm in IT as well, I get the same stuff out here on the west coast. Personally, if people aren't protected I just give em a quick install of Avast and tell them "If it didn't come from Microsoft, Download.com, Google's direct website or the shelf of a store - don't attempt to install it. If you really need something and want to be sure pop me a call, a 5 minute call is better than a 3 hour ordeal when you get your hand caught in the cookie jar."

My general advice encourages people to establish a trusted network of websites. Google, Microsoft, Wikipedia, Download.com, YouTube, etc and try to find what they are looking for on those sites before considering any others. I also reiterate that they shouldn't open emails involving sex, money, drugs or anyone acting too personal that they have never heard of. Further advice teaches them about looking for SSL certified websites by observing the URL bar or the security indicator on the status bar, and finally to never let any company online store or save their credit card information - you have no way of knowing if a proper Information Security policy even exists in their company, or even within any company you do business with anywhere.

Norton & McAffe are a joke. Resource wise its like hiring a semi to haul a loaf of bread and it hardly mandates the use of a control panel that resembles the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Even more so - Internet security is 10% about the software you have on your computer and 90% about the potential for human error. Some of the most prestigious companies and organizations in the world including Pacific Bell, Microsoft, IBM, Lockheed Martin, NASA and thousands of other organizations including the FBI have had their secure information compromised - not because they didn't have good enough software or a powerful enough network firewall, but because the human element of the organization was improperly (or not at all) trained to handle how their role would be exploited during an intrusion.

Though I will agree with the sentiment that the Norton Ad portrays the use of firearms irresponsibly, to most people who aren't literate or concerned with firearms in daily life they would probably find it less offensive and more of a clever ad with a comical twist.

Bottom line - if security companies were serious about mitigating cyber security threats they would start getting serious about education. No amount of software or hardware is capable of mitigating the opportunity of vulnerability suggested by human error. Not unlike prescription drugs, the money is not in the cure but in the relief from symptoms.

So what was that quote? A gun in hand is better than a cop on the phone? Well - An armed and prepared user at the screen is better than an outsourced technician on the phone.

Cavalryman said:

One word -- Linux!

Click to expand...

Ubuntu for the win!

Loves my Linux!

Jack House said:

Yeeessss, isn't it so awesome being an inventor of Windows 7?

Click to expand...

Yes. Yes, it is. But I'm serious

Dem0072 said:

Agreed. I'm in IT as well, I get the same stuff out here on the west coast. Personally, if people aren't protected I just give em a quick install of Avast and tell them "If it didn't come from Microsoft, Download.com, Google's direct website or the shelf of a store - don't attempt to install it. If you really need something and want to be sure pop me a call, a 5 minute call is better than a 3 hour ordeal when you get your hand caught in the cookie jar."

My general advice encourages people to establish a trusted network of websites. Google, Microsoft, Wikipedia, Download.com, YouTube, etc and try to find what they are looking for on those sites before considering any others. I also reiterate that they shouldn't open emails involving sex, money, drugs or anyone acting too personal that they have never heard of. Further advice teaches them about looking for SSL certified websites by observing the URL bar or the security indicator on the status bar, and finally to never let any company online store or save their credit card information - you have no way of knowing if a proper Information Security policy even exists in their company, or even within any company you do business with anywhere.

Norton & McAffe are a joke. Resource wise its like hiring a semi to haul a loaf of bread and it hardly mandates the use of a control panel that resembles the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Even more so - Internet security is 10% about the software you have on your computer and 90% about the potential for human error. Some of the most prestigious companies and organizations in the world including Pacific Bell, Microsoft, IBM, Lockheed Martin, NASA and thousands of other organizations including the FBI have had their secure information compromised - not because they didn't have good enough software or a powerful enough network firewall, but because the human element of the organization was improperly (or not at all) trained to handle how their role would be exploited during an intrusion.

Though I will agree with the sentiment that the Norton Ad portrays the use of firearms irresponsibly, to most people who aren't literate or concerned with firearms in daily life they would probably find it less offensive and more of a clever ad with a comical twist.

Bottom line - if security companies were serious about mitigating cyber security threats they would start getting serious about education. No amount of software or hardware is capable of mitigating the opportunity of vulnerability suggested by human error. Not unlike prescription drugs, the money is not in the cure but in the relief from symptoms.

So what was that quote? A gun in hand is better than a cop on the phone? Well - An armed and prepared user at the screen is better than an outsourced technician on the phone.

Click to expand...

is kaspersky any good?
no you cant keep me off the porn sites

Wow

This **** is getting way crazy deep for a damn Norton ad.

I'm not disagreeing, just saying.

I give up on you people.

Maybe the "anti's" ARE right--maybe the majority of gun owners ARE a bunch of mounth-breathing, unsophisticated, easily brainwashed knuckle-draggers.

I'm starting to think that there may, in fact, be no hope for restoring Liberty after all.

Franklin was right--a People get the government they deserve...