Field of Schemes

I can’t seem to decide which is worse – the general unscrupulousness or the pervasive stupidity of a large swath of humanity. Turn on the TV or radio, pickup your favorite magazine or simply grab the mail from your mailbox and we’re all inundated with hordes of “get rich quick” schemes, medical miracles and unsustainable consumer products.

I’m not naïve. I realize the “snake oil” business has been around almost as long as humanity. There have ALWAYS been people both who wish to take advantage of others and seem to want to be taken advantage of. Still, with the proliferation of all forms of media, the scheming has exploded exponentially.

As with any kind of problem of this nature, the best way to curb such excess would be if the consuming public would quit looking at and/or buying this crap. If the market dried up, fewer schemers would tread this path.

The fact that this kind of business IS proliferating informs us that more and more people are looking to incorporate shortcuts in their lives. Why work hard to get ahead, if you can do it with little effort for only 5 hours per week? Why exercise and eat healthfully, if you can pop a little pill that will melt away the pounds? Why scrub that nasty gunk off the toilet bowl when you can pour a corrosive chemical on it so that it vanishes in seconds?

In some ways, this whole phenomena is understandable. Unemployment is high, particularly here in the Pacific Northwest. Job security – the idea that a person gives their life to a company and they have a job for life – is a thing of the past. The middle and lower class continue to be squeezed by the corporate personhood and their allies in government.

When anyone lives a life of uncertainty that is surreptitiously dictated and controlled by the whims of faceless corporations, it is indeed logical that such individuals may come to feel that no amount of perseverance and scruples will do a person any good. If a person can’t make ends meet or enjoy the good life through their own initiative and industry, why not take a short cut? Isn’t that how others have made it to the top?

While the above may provide a partial explanation for the desperation of the disheveled masses, it in no way excuses the hucksters in our midst. They knowingly prey on the weakness of their fellow beings. They see pain and, rather than try to devise productive ways to help alleviate it, they feed it. They are nothing more than purveyors of misery!