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Dalton
Roberts |
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I remember reading Thomas Huxley's words, "Terribly early in life I discovered that one of the unpardonable sins, in the eyes of most people, is for a man to go about unlabeled. The world regards such a person as the police do an unmuzzled dog." He’s right. If people can label us, they can control us. A label tends to put us in a manageable category. This political season has brought this home to me. I knew if you contributed to a Republican or Democratic candidate other partisan candidates would dun you but I did not know you would be deluged with mail and calls if you contribute to an independent! That’s right. There’s no safety now in being an independent. I contributed to an independent candidate a few years ago and now they all send me solicitations. Each label we take on puts us in nice little predictable boxes and then politicians and advertisers control us by feeding us what our category predicts we will swallow! If you are going to “go about unlabeled,” you are going to be going up against every computer in the world. Every time you contributed to any special cause, your name went into the computers of similar causes. How? Selling mailing lists is a big moneymaker. Your name has been sold so many times that you could take a long vacation if you just had a fraction of the money. I am not suggesting you not contribute but I am saying you will only be a free person to the extent that you can become unlabeled. Every time you get rid of a label that puts you in a Pavlovian storage bin, you will gain a measure of personal freedom. When you write a check, attach a note saying, “Do not sell my name to anyone. If you do, I will never send you another check” If you contribute to any candidate add, “I am a thinking human and my goal is to use independent judgment to arrive at decisions. So do not assume I will contribute again. And I won’t if you sell my name.” I constantly get solicitations for pills and potions that will raise people from the dead. I guess everyone over the age of 40 does. We are all in the computers of companies preying on the elderly. Most of the claims they make for their products simply have a few glowing testimonials of people claiming to have been raised from the dead and contain no references to research proving their efficacy. Here’s a note I have found to be effective in stopping their mail or obtaining additional information: "I am one of the most radically independent-minded humans on this planet. Give me some facts, figures and ideas to support what you say or don't write/call again"? To stop phone solicitations, put this note by your phone and read it when you get a call: “I do not make decisions on the phone. Write me at (give your address) and include full details. Thank you and goodbye.” Have you noticed that phone solicitors never ask, “Were you busy?” or “Do you have a moment?” That’s the main reason I am so hard on them. They are rude, selfish boors. Listen, all who wish to become more unlabeled, it will require strong and persistent efforts for us to become less labeled. We will have to splash cold water in the faces of all the control freaks of the world. We will have to paralyze them. Do not think you can be a nice little mousy cherub and get the job done. It takes sharp scissors to cut the strings of puppeteers. I like the Bible verse that says, "For freedom's sake, he set us free." In other words, freedom has inherent, freestanding value. We will never be free as long as we are iced down in someone's computer.
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