Cutting Off Your Nose

by Don Hall

There are thousand ways to sell your idea in the marketplace of them.

Every NFP org out there (and there are a LOT of them) has the schtick to get you to part with a few of your dollars so they can continue to operate.  Lots of causes know how to use Kickstarter and IndieGo.  Public radio shills to you by reminding you three or four times a year how you listen to them and need to pony up a couple ducets to keep listening.  Hell, even the multitudes of homeless are trying get a few ounces of silver and ask you as you pass the Starbucks for it with a hopeful but determined look.

The techniques range from
You Can't Live Without This Thing
You Can Assuage Your Guilt By Giving Money to This Thing
Without This Thing Society Will Collapse
TRUMP Hates This Thing So Pay Me For It!

And then there is this:

Yes.  This is a screenshot from the Borg of Faces...

Yes.  This is a screenshot from the Borg of Faces...

Two kids selling candy for their basketball team.
One smiles and tells a fun story, entices you with the possibility of a quick sugar rush and "Please? My team really needs it!"
The other walks up and says "Hey, you privileged motherfucker!  Give me two dollars and I'm gonna eat your candy and fuck you for thinking you even deserve a bite of this rich, chocolatey goodness."

Kid One might sell some candy.
Kid Two is walking home with no money but a giant chip on his shoulder blaming everyone who ignored him and refused his brilliant pitch for assistance.  It's not him but everyone else.

Kid One helps his team.
Kid Two grows that angry sense of injustice.  He never wanted your money.  He wanted that chip.  Without that chip, he is irrelevant in the world he thinks.  The angrier he seems at no one buying his candy, the less actual work he has to do for the team.

Who is noseless now?

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Notes from the Post–it Wall – Week of June 18, 2017