Monday, July 2, 2012

Invasion of My Privacy

I really hate it when business seeks to invade my privacy.  Yesterday I went to buy a lawn mower at Sears.  As we are conducting the cash transaction, the sales clerk asks for my phone number and I tell him I don't want to give it to him.  He asks someone else for assistance.  He later asks for my address and again I refuse.  He can't process the sale because the cash register won't let him.  I am faced with a dilemma, give him what he wants or walk away.  I have already priced-shopped around town for the product I want.  I went to Lowe's, Home Depot, Wal Mart, the PX, and Sears.  Two basic elements in the decision making, first is that I have a $25 gift card from Sears and second is that I want an electric mower.  I'm stuck with Sears, it's the best value electric mower.

I just don't understand why retailers need my information.  I kid around with folks all the time.  One of those Halloween stores that just opens up for the season wants my phone number, I ask the girl if she wants a date with me.  The hobby store wants my zip code, I make one up.  My friend owns a barbershop franchise, they want my phone number so that they will remember how I want my hair cut.  What if I want a different cut next time, and different cut the time after that?  Are they stupid?

I enjoy using facebook, but I refuse to use any of the "apps" because they all want to use my profile information.  I deleted all information from my facebook profile because they use that information to target advertisements to me.  I regularly cleanse my computer of those insidious cookies that track my Internet usage.  Our cookie will help the page load faster on your computer, they tell us.

Have you read those notices from lenders about how they will, or will not, use your personal information.  They actually sell your personal information to other businesses without your knowledge or consent. 

Do you remember that national toll free number that we could call to tell them that we wanted to opt out of telemarketing calls?  It should be assumed that I don't want intrusive calls, and there should have been an "opt in" option rather than an "opt OUT" option.  Well, I called that number, and I also called a toll free number to opt for my cell phone.  I still get telemarketers.  I have AT&T for wireless service, they send me a text message once a month or so to peddle their international rates.

This invasion is legal and it's standard business practice and it's very aggressive.  I bought a home a few months ago.  Within days I am getting calls from Amerigroup to ask if I want to refinance.  I tell them no and ask to be stricken from their call list.  This doesn't work and the calls continue.  I get nasty with them, at times I get vulgar.  They keep calling.  One time I go along for a while, then I ask them if they can beat the interest rate on my loan, they can't.  They keep calling.  I ask one caller, what do I have to do get you stop bothering me.  I had to get very ugly with a supervisor, they haven't bothered me lately.

Is it unreasonable to want to go to Sears, exchange pleasantries and make a purchase without having to give them my phone number and address?  Think about this the next time you pull out your plastic card at the cash register, that magnetic strip could be storing all of your purchases.  You buy beer, or advil, or KY and they know it.  Since they have your account information on that card, they also know where you live.  They know what kind of car you drive, where you will go on vacation, when you get paid.  The know everything, but most of all they know how to separate you from your hard earned wealth.  Americans call that free enterprise and capitalism, business calls that targeted marketing, politicians call it campaign contributions, I call it highway robbery disguised in innocent questions from an unsuspecting sales clerk. 

I'm not off the mark, nor am I off my rocker.  Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean that they ARE NOT out to get me.

On Being Catholic

I haven’t blogged in a long time, what to blog about?  So many things have me in a tizzy and some things really get my dander up.  Of course the most touchy subjects are within the usual realm: family troubles, politics, religion, the economy, that sort of thing. I have purposely steered clear of family topics because anything I say can cause ill feelings among those that I love the most.  The other stuff is fair game.  One particular thing has caused me a great deal of personal grief and has caused me to introspect a lot lately.  I wrote a blog about "Growing Up Catholic," this one is about BEING Catholic. 

I went with my girlfriend for a short getaway trip, the fact that I said “girlfriend” is significant.  You see, we are Catholic and by church doctrine we committed a sin because we “roomed” together, but that’s another story altogether.  During this trip to Santa Fe, NM we visited the local museums and saw exhibits that recount the regional history.

Integral to New Mexico history is the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores in the region, conquistadores is a Spanish word that means conquerors.  The conquerors brought with them missionaries whose purpose was to help conquer, or Christianize, the local peoples, the native American Indians, savages, heathens.  The problem with the mission of the missionaries is that to Christianize them they had to be brutal.  Exhibits in the museum attest to violent atrocities that befell the indigenous population at the "point of the cross."  As we viewed the exhibits I recalled the horror of history in the name of the Catholic church.  They used the point of the sword, but since it was wielded by a Christian conqueror in the name of Christianity, the cross brings to mind the image of a Catholic sword

I blurted out, well maybe it wasn’t really a “blurt,” more of calculated comment, that the Catholic church has been perpetrating this kind of shit since the beginning.  I began to recount the efforts of the holy crusades commissioned by the Holy See, supposedly to protect its interests.  As much as anything else, the Catholic church was attempting to cleanse the holy land of infidel Muslims.  There were many crusades beginning circa 1096 and ending in 1272.

Before 1100, the Catholic church began to suppress heresy.  This was the beginning of the period of inquisitions, and there were many.  The inquisitor was the church.  Its basic aim was to eliminate non Catholics.  Historians break down the inquisitions into four periods, regardless of the periods, the Catholic purges on heretics extended from approximately 1184 to 1860. 

From 1096 to 1860 the Pope waged war against non Catholics and during that time frame he did some of it on this continent, as we witnessed while viewing those museum exhibits in Santa Fe.  That isn’t bad enough.  Today Catholic priests are waging war on boys around the globe, and it must be a church-sanctioned assault because the Holy See has yet to cooperate with any criminal prosecutions.  When was the last time you heard a church leader witnessed his own crimes or reported the crimes of a fellow clergyman, or testified against a priest in a criminal proceeding?  Its been nearly a millenia of brutality bathed in self righteousness perpetrated by Priests, Bishops, Cardinals, and Popes.  In this midst of this violence, the Pope has the audacity to tell me that my getaway trip with my girlfriend is sinful.  He decries homosexuality but not the sodomy committed by priests.  He denounces abortion but not the church’s murderous legacy.  What a crock.

So…why do I continue to be a Lector and Usher at my Catholic church every Sunday?  The truth is that I’m too lazy to find another church of a different persuasion.  I like my parishioners and I look forward to talking with them after church and the occasional party.  I enjoy church bazaars where I can drink beer to support the church, the beer booth at church bazaars are the top attraction and the best seller, how ironic!  But I feel so hypocritical!  Damn!