Spam suggestion, and thoughts on advertising.

This spam thing is getting way out of hand. Why not simply continuously spam every politician in the world until they stop it?

God, what I wouldn't give to just have one single day without some lazy, greedy American trying to sell me something that I don't need and don't want. It just never ends. Turn on the radio, turn on the TV, turn on the computer, go to the movies, pick up the phone, drive down the street, stop by the grocery, go here, go there, there's this never-ending assault on your consciousness, this constant attacking that keeps you always on the defensive. Buy, buy, buy. It's like living inside a cloud of mosquitoes. And if you buy something, they just come back for more and more, and give your address to other parasites so that they in turn can harass you.

More and more I come to think of advertising as an invasion of privacy, and as a violation of my right to live my life the way I want. This never ending assault is as damaging to my mental well-being as second-hand smoke or other health threats are to my physical health.

Maybe we should take the war on spam to a higher level, and ban advertising entirely, at least in public places? You know there really isn't any statistical proof to show that it works. The web has provided the first opportunity to ever actually measure its effectiveness, and the statistics show that the click-thru rates on ads is less than one percent. The same with telemarketing. Ban it in public places and on public airwaves, and require private businesses to post signs warning that advertising is present in the same way they post signs warning of the presence of toxic chemicals.

I guess the response of most people to this would be to ask how companies would be able to let people know about their products. Hey, they don't need to do that. "Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door." If you have a really good product, people will spread the word themselves. They'd be glad to.

Personally I've long since come to the conclusion that if someone is advertising something that means that the product isn't good enough to stand on its own, and that they need to push it. And on that basis I pretty much make it a point not to buy anything that's advertised. :)

This constant assault on people is exceptionally damaging to children.

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