in 2007 i had a need to belong and so i set about joining things like the bertrand russell society...the dada network...an unfortunate group of existentialist thinkers on yahoo...all kinds of stuff ( i was also new to the internet and was wild with abandon)...among other things i shipped thirty-five bucks off to amensty international...not a bad thing i suppose...a bit impulsive perhaps..but nothing ethically damning...then 2008 rolled around and the "recession" took its toll on my income and my attitude...changes had to be made and disgressional expenditures had to be prioritized...there was school...and through that i was hipped to the idea of micro lending by mik stokely in the anthro department( thanks mik!)...that wasn't going to be abandoned, economic stabillity ( not obscene wealth) fulfills a human need and a right in my book...neither was contributing to local food pantries...alas amensty found its way onto the expendable list and went by the wayside...doubly alas amnesty didn't agree and since my membership lapsed i have received monthly mailings of all sorts of stuff like address labels, pens,quarterly financial reports, and now christmas cards...all of this leads me to wonder exactly how much of my intiial membership fee amnesty has used up in trying to get me to fork over more lucre...postage, trinket importing, printing all the stuff they cram in there with the graft that is supposed to shame me into re-upping...surely they've used up that thirty-five bucks in three years and just who have they gotten out of camp x-ray or some cia balck prison since then? are they an ngo watchdog keeping tabs on human rights violations or an importer doing buisness? it has certainly sown doubts in m y mind about rejoining...and they aren't the only ones...credo wants me to express my support for progressive causes by buying a cell-phone plan...technologically advanced they use way more emails than mailings...but that means i get them weekly instead of monthly...i can't help but think that liberals have been infiltrated by bunko artists and low level capitalists...sure kiva asks for my support, but only when i make a loan or if they need a vote in some contest for corporate funding...they don't send me stuff to try to guilt me into making loans...it all very shady and it taints the issues ( in my opinion, mind you) with a seedy sort of capitalist manipulation...i could go on...doctors without borders isn't shy about asking for donations and neither are a lot of others...it is, perhaps, the carnival side-show barker facet of it that chills me...i will pick my own causes and i will back my beliefs with hard-earned cash given to people who use it to HELP others...not promote their own organization...it's my momey after all.
