Dirty Big Business Tactics and What You Can Do About It

 It really irks me how huge multi-billion-dollar empires (sometimes monopolistic) not only squash small businesses with their tactics, but how they resort to predatory marketing schemes. This does not help our economy and it is something we all should be concerned about to the point of going out of our way to help the "little" guy. 

One of the practices that is really obscene (and should be illegal) is throwing up frivolous lawsuits against anyone who dares to compete with them, knowing full-well that they don't have a case, but since the courts are obligated to hear them, just the legal fees alone could destroy the small-time entrepreneur unless they rely on investors with deep pockets. Monopolistic empires already have their lawyers in place and such lawsuits are small potatoes and lucrative to ensure that any competition is eliminated.

Predatory marketing tactics - these target the consumers. If this is where you are going to apply your (hashtag) Resist movement, you would do well to apply your activism by boycotting. It's kind of hard though, since their tactics are so pervasive and sometimes seemingly necessary in order to live in and function in the modern world. There are two methods that are commonly employed: 

1) Subscription-based services. Have you noticed that if you want to use software or to stream media content or even purchase anything online, large-tech companies have gone to subscription-based services? Rather than relying on quality of goods and services or clever advertising campaigns, everyone is expected to pay a monthly fee just to be connected to their platform. This is effective (for them) not only because they get their monthly subscription fee, but since consumers feel they HAVE to make their subscription worth paying for, they patronize the establishment through buying more of their tangible goods and downloads. This is one of the ways that we are being bled dry by big-tech, and many of us aren't even aware of how this slow leak in our finances is driving us toward poverty.

2) The second part of this how big-tech lures consumers into signing up for their subscriptions. They will offer you something for "free" - whether it's a free month of their subscription, free shipping or their basic, scaled-down subscription. I'm not going to mention any names, but you may figure it out. One big-tech company will offer free shipping for orders above a certain dollar amount. There isn't a catch, necessarily, but you have to pay attention to the fine print. One of the free shipping options is absolutely free. The other option (that looks a little more attractive) signs you up for their subscription - and then you're on the hook. Once you're subscribed, you have to be proactive to cancel your subscription or they'll keep charging you the monthly fee. They'll make it difficult to unsubscribe and may even keep charging you every month long after you've attempted to cancel. There are other methods they use that are really annoying and sometimes "get you" when you aren't paying attention. They pester you incessantly to sign up for their paid subscription or if you've already paid for something from them, they'll keep pestering you to "upgrade" to their newest version (because the "old" one is made obsolete). Sometimes, when you are trying to click out of their popup, you inadvertently go to their site where you automatically add their service to a shopping cart - one step away from purchasing their product. Programmed obsolescence is the marketing ploy behind most big-tech softwares and media products. You can't just buy something and enjoy using it perpetually anymore, because almost invariably, there's an expiration date. At an arbitrary point in time or whenever you upgrade your hardware or other software, it just quits working altogether. Your only choice is to either quit using the product or pay more money for something you already bought and paid for.

There are some takeaways from this lesson that I want to emphasize. First, if you really value your local economy and those in your circle who work hard to produce high-quality products and services, do them (and yourself) a favor by patronizing them. It may seem like you're paying a little more than what you could purchase from a big-box establishment or big-tech empire, but you are not just making a purchase for your own consumeristic needs, you are also making an investment in your community and helping your friend or neighbor keep their business alive, which will give them more options for even higher quality products and services in the future. Secondly, if you resist the big-tech predatory practices and make decisions that are outside those realms, you help to keep alive the prospect of other options - tangible products that you can keep and use in perpetuity without the anxiety of expiration. This also helps to cut down on waste that goes into the landfills. One more takeaway (that should be important to all of us as individuals) is that you save money, or in other words keep from having to add this to your monthly expenses. Most of use struggle with our finances and some people constantly gripe that wealthy billionaires are getting richer at the expense of the "little guy" - but keep paying monthly fees to these empires! Stop it! Or at least stop blaming them when you keep paying them out of your own pocket. You have more control about this than you think you do.

Critical Thinking Skills - Part 2: Question Absurdity

My brother told me about when either he or a coworker decided to play a prank at work. One of them took the soap dish that was at the sink in the break room and put it in the fridge, with a sticky note on it: “PLEASE RETURN WHEN FINISHED.” The soap dish stayed in the fridge for days, perhaps weeks. Nobody ever said anything though and they thought maybe nobody even knew where the soap was until one day they observed another coworker remove the soap from the fridge, washed with it and then carefully put it back. They ran out of the break room, out of earshot of the other coworker to bust up laughing. They observed from a distance and saw that this was not the only person who did this. This was an inadvertent experiment in human behavior/critical thinking skills and proved the gullibility of those who never question absurdity. Keep in mind that these were all educated people.

A military custom that is strictly observed is that while in uniform, personnel are required to wear a hat outdoors, but while indoors the hat is to be removed. I remember this extraordinarily well because while I was in basic training (just after we were issued our uniforms), I forgot to put my hat on when I went outside, so a Military Training Instructor posted me by the door and ordered me to tell every single person who came out the door to put their hat on. We follow those customs and courtesies without question. Some of them have valid reasons for existing as rules, while others do not – and are merely a matter of compliance. Many civilians even consider it improper to wear a hat indoors, and will even go so far as to scold others for noncompliance.

There are rules that we follow in our society that nobody ever seems to question. “That’s the way it has always been” and nobody is going to buck the system. For instance, nobody can give me a valid explanation as to why it’s “bad manners” to put your elbows on the table. There is an entire set of rules called “etiquette” that some people follow (especially those in older generations), believing that complying with those rules is “proper” behavior. Etiquette is defined as “a customary code of polite behavior in society” – many of these rules going back to ancient times. There are entire books written about “proper” behavior and there have even been classes and schools that taught children about how to behave “properly” in a public setting. These were more common in the Victorian Era, but surprisingly there are still some that exist (in some form or other) in present day.

Habits, regimens, customs… we tend to get so conditioned to how things are “supposed to be” that we never apply critical thinking skills, thus those behaviors persist for centuries and nobody ever wonders why, or even dares to do anything differently. Some of these customs have long been obsolete, but are still observed nonetheless. There are yet others that are introduced into our society that may have had a fleeting purpose, yet persist long past the time of usefulness. It’s like these people still driving around with “Reagan-Bush” election stickers on their bumpers.

We even continue with obsolete terms in our vernacular. Almost nobody “videotapes” or “films” a performance anymore. Our phones don’t “ring” either. We certainly don’t keep a light “burning” (unless you are using a fuel-powered lantern). At certain periods, these were “modern” terminology, but we’ve outlived them and we are stuck with them until somebody comes along and makes a change and it catches on.

My challenge is, as always, to be ever conscious about why we are doing things and what makes us continue in our habits and customs. Apply critical thinking skills to everything that we do and maybe even start a new trend… something different, but purposeful. We are creatures of habit, but not all of those habits are necessary and some of them no longer serve a valid purpose. We may even be following trends and behaviors that are harmful to ourselves and others without even realizing it. The way we make those realizations is by questioning… especially when it seems absurd. Change the world, but this is done by challenging the status quo and changing one little thing at a time. Who knows? One little thing you do differently may affect an entire generation or change the course of an entire culture for the better.

Phishing Scams PSA (including general online safety)

Periodic reminder to avoid phishing scams. Whenever you get a concerning email, message of popup, avoid reacting to it. Definitely don't click on anything in the message. Analyze it logically and rationally. If you get an unsolicited message or one telling you an account has been "hacked" or is "locked" most likely it is a phishing scam.

Here are some indicators and actions:

1) Is the message addressed to you personally? If it doesn't have your first name or username, it's pretty certain (but not always) that it is a mass-emailed message.

2) Bad grammar, awkward phrasing, misspelled words. It's very rare that a corporate generated email will be thrown together and not proofread. Now, I have seen occasional spelling and grammar errors on legitimate messages, but when the entire message is filled with them it's malicious.

3) Check the email header. Where is the email originating from? What page is the address or web link leading you? If it isn't where it says it's from, you'll know it's not legit. The header may look like a bunch of garbled nonsense and theres a bit of a learning curve to deciphering it, but once you figure it out, it'll be like reading a book.

4) Do you have an account with who the message is from? If not, it's fake. If you do, open a separate browser tab and manually log in (don't log in with the link on the message). Check your account to see if there is any unusual activity. Check the messages on your account page (if applicable) to verify any messages you get in your email inbox, texts or popups. If your account has been compromised, change your password and resolve the problems from the page you logged into.

5) Report any suspicious activity to your email provider and if it's serious enough, to law enforcement or the FBI. They already know about Nigerian 419 scams and typical phishing messages, so don't bother them with those. If you are being threatened, extorted or harassed, these are the messages they may want to know about though.

6) If you're suddenly getting a plethora of junk emails and phishing attempts, you might want to think back on who (an individual) or what website you may have done business with recently. Some "businesses" will not only rip you off, but also harvest your email address or phone number and sell the lists to other scammers and mass-advertisers. If that is the case, you may have to do some damage control. Hopefully you haven't compromised any personal information that could lead to identity theft.

7) Be careful at where you do business with in the first place. Some businesses can look convincing, but still rip you off and steal your personal information. If it looks sketchy or if something just doesn't add up, don't buy from them or sign up for anything. As an extra precaution, you may consider clearing your browser history and cookies, especially from that particular site. This is no guarantee that you haven't been infected with malware though.

8) Run a reputable antivirus/anti-malware app and keep it updated. The clue here is reputable. Several people have come to me with their computers in desperation after they've clicked on some popup that said their computer is infected and they need to scan or download their computer with their software. Reputable antivirus companies don't do this. If you get a popup from some app or site you didn't install on your computer (or that didn't come pre-installed), you can bet that it is malware posing as antivirus software.

9) Be judicious with who you give your email address and phone number to. You may be inclined to hand your business card out to everyone under the sun or shotgun your résumé all over the Internet. You may also sign up for contests and sweepstakes at trade shows and the like. Don't be surprised then that you'll get spammed, robo-called and pestered until you can't stand it anymore. You may also get unsolicited junk and calls from those you didn't sign up with. Play stupid games, get stupid prizes.

10) Be careful when using unsecured networks. You never know who is lurking at the coffeeshop, airport, hotel or even your school Wi-Fi. Opt out of storing your credit card numbers and personal information that could be compromised for identity theft on your computer. It may be a pain to have to re-enter that information every time, but it's just an added measure of security if you ever use unsecured networks.

11) Never let your kids or anyone else use your phone or computer when it's logged in under your name. That's just asking for trouble. You might not personally get into trouble using the Internet, but leave it to someone else to do it for you.

12) Avoid falling asleep while using your device or using your device when tired. I'm guilty of this myself. I don't know how many times I've accidentally clicked on something as I was drifting off to sleep and my fingers are not in control. There is so much garbage content on web pages that you can hardly miss it if your fingers are wandering.

There are other measures and indicators that I most likely didn't mention. Scammers are always one step ahead of the masses and they'll get their money from those who aren't careful. The bottom line is to be vigilant and don't react or panic, but use critical thinking skills when online (which includes your phone).

Political Extremism

It's easy to think of political ideology on a straight-line spectrum, but that's not necessarily correct. In terms of extremism, the further right or left you get, the closer you get to the "opposite" end - so it's more like a 360-degree arc.

This would explain why there is a lot of confusion when it comes to determining whether historical atrocities were committed by left or right wing extremists, because when a leadership has gone too far to one extreme or the other, there is little distinction as far as the means and the end result: authoritarianism, oppressive regimes, mass-bloodshed, warfare, starvation, collapsed economies, and so forth.

The interesting thing is that at one extreme you'll typically have a theocracy, while the other necessitates complete atheism - both of which constitute a strong-held belief system.

Most citizens (unless they admit to being radicals and are thus proud of the title) will never consider themselves as being extremists because of the ramifications on a reputation, once education brings us to the knowledge of how harmful extremism in either direction can be. No sane person wants to be associated with that. Even many of those who hold the most extreme views will convince themselves (and try to persuade others) that they are "left of center" or "right of center" or "moderate" but almost nobody will admit to being an extremist... because "those are crazy loners or leaders of cult-like groups who write manifestos with a plan of action."

Truthfully, though, the divisiveness that's been going on for some years now (but has recently ramped up exponentially), has thrust increasing numbers to one extreme or the other (or exposed their true character). A good indicator of self-awareness would be to ask one's self a few questions:

The first would be if you advocate any doctrines that compromise liberty, justice and equality explicitly stated in the U.S. Constitution. Hint: There are many blatant violations (or attempts) against our constitution that are endorsed by so-called "social justice" groups or in the name of "political correctness" - even some that are proposed and a few that are even passed as laws.

Secondly, to what means are you willing to push an agenda? If it falls outside traditionally legal, democratic, constitutional methods, well - maybe it's extremism. In other words, espousing methods that use physical violence and/or property damage, coercion, extortion, bullying, harassment, intimidation, doxxing, character assassination, etc. are methods of extremists.

Third - if you can't accept that other peaceful, law-abiding citizens can have different opinions, beliefs or lifestyles that you disagree with, to the point where you desire to disrupt their peace, destroy their livelihoods and try to bring them into conformity to your own beliefs, it might not be your self-described opponents that are extreme - but you.

So what is the antithesis of extremism? What can we do to keep ourselves in check and avoid being pushed outside the boundaries of rationality? Well, I have one simple answer: Love unconditionally. Once we put stipulations on who we're going to love and under what stipulations, everything else starts to break down and we start to judge, categorize and make opponents out of our neighbors and fellow-citizens. Conversely, once we can develop unconditional love and compassion, for even those we disagree with (and even whom we may feel have done us wrong), we will not only develop an appreciation toward our fellow humans, but we may even start to develop an understanding why a person has an opinion or behaviors we don't necessarily agree with. This is the path to unity and harmony.

I'm going to include a bonus suggestion that can help ALL of us immensely: Gratitude. An attitude of gratitude, even for the most seemingly insignificant things, will dissolve a multitude of our ills right now. I could literally write a book on the ways it has changed my life and I've seen it change others, but for now I will leave it up to you to discover.