Speaking of Spam
Speaking of spam, Seth Godin wrote
What a shame that we let organized crime, aggressive promoters and selfish nebbishes wreck such a useful medium.
[Seth Godin, "When Spam Approaches Infinity", Seth's Blog, 6 November 2007.]
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To thwart spam, comments by new people are held for moderation; give me a bit of time and your comment will show up.
I welcome comments -- even dissent -- but I will delete without notice irrelevant, rude, psychotic, or incomprehensible comments, particularly those that I deem homophobic, unless they are amusing. The same goes for commercial comments and trackbacks. Sorry, but it's my blog and my decisions are final.
on Friday, 7 December 2007 at 05.03
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**What a shame that we let…**
Hmm…the suggestion here is that we could have done something.
I view it as parasite-host. The parasitism here is pretty deeply ingrained in the human condition. To dig the parasite out might set the host back too much.
Islamic radicals seem to have benefited greatly from the internet, plus cell phones, modern transportation, and modern banking systems. It seems we also 'let' them wreck the system, but I'm not sure what else we could have done.
I start to think of Islamic aggression as a kind of parasite, but a parasite by definition does not kill its host.
Western societies are soft in this area. Lenin said he could use the 'useful idiots' in the West to advance his ideology, and that the West would 'sell the rope' to hang itself. I see events, such as the guy in the Netherlands, living on the dole, killing Theo van Gogh, and think maybe Islam is fulfilling Lenin's prophecy.
on Tuesday, 11 December 2007 at 01.57
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Spam is just one relatively new and spectacularly out of control element of an insidious assault on the quality of modern life that's been building for decades: commercialism run amok.
Years ago, I sarcastically commented that before long there would be ads posted on the inside of public restroom stall doors — captive audience and all that. A couple of years ago, I saw something indicating that's being done now.
Billboards all over the place. Ads on the seatbacks of bus stop benches. People buying T-shirts, mugs, shoes and other stuff emblazoned with commercial logos and messages. You can wear them when you go to see the Restivo Bros. Concrete Co. Tigers play the Wiahaluke Plumbing Contractor Supply Co. Ratchets at Heironymous Wilkowitz Investment Broker Stadium.
Then there are the telemarketing phone calls. And it's not just some mouth breather from suburban Dallas or Newark any more. No, it might be a robo call set up by a Chicago shady dealer through a server in Ukraine or a call center in India.
There are the "associated" company deals. Buy a new car, expect to be haunted by associates of the manufacturer, dealer or your auto insurance company. A dozen times a week, this associated-business end run around the do-not-call list robo calls to ask "Do you realize your new-car warranty will expire in a few weeks (days, minutes, seconds)?" The fact there's no way to trace these calls to their slimy source protects the life of another human being and keeps me from facing a murder rap.
There was something of a revolt against this stuff in the 1960's and 1970's, in the Hippie and Southwest commune movements. A backlash is long overdue. When it comes, it's liable to be proactive and downright nasty.