"This is Rachel from Cardmember Services..."
Most of us have fantasized about finding "Rachel" and chopping off her head after two of three robocalls from her in any given day. Today, in fact, I went ahead and pressed "1" to be connected to a "friendly customer service representative." Apparently, Rachel didn't think I would press "1" if she was honest and said to press it if I wanted to speak to a surly douchebag who would eventually hang up on me. Granted, I only did so to screw with said "customer service representative" but my questions were not rude – things like "Do you have a call back number?" and "What is the name of your company again?"
So, once my "customer service representative" turned less friendly and ended the call, I did a little detective work – actually, shockingly little – before I found out that the FTC went after a company in California last June that was/is allegedly responsible for some 370 million of these illegal, scam robocalls. Blood boiling with this glimpse of the vile enemy, I tried Googling the (rather unique) names of the defendants, Johan Hendrik Smit Duyzentkunst and Janneke Bakker-Smit Duyzentkunst, and found, alongside scathing articles about the case, this...
All of the sudden, I was looking at not only an image of one of my most hated nemeses, but was also suddenly in possession of her home and cell numbers. But reading the intro on her page, she seemed so nice. So normal. It only got worse when I looked at her blog, which is all about crafting and how much she loves her children. Suddenly, the AntiChrist (or at least Mrs. AntiChrist) was no longer a faceless scumbag I wanted to choke to death. She was, by all appearances, a very nice, creative person and a loving wife and mother.
The cognitive dissonance was too great. I wanted to post nasty notes on her blog. But then again, I didn't. I wanted to write her and ask her if she understood how much angst and frustration her family business was causing millions of people, but I am pretty sure the FTC injunction made that clear. I was left, as I am now, unsure what, if anything, to do. Perhaps I will just send her a note explaining my (fairly limited) quest and nonetheless, wishing her well, simply as a fellow human being. I'm still not sure.
But this got me thinking about the nature of distance and dehumanization in our current culture. Our modern political discourse is poisoned by the reduction of all sides to deeply negative caricatures. Anyone who suggests that single payer health care might be worth considering is immediately a socialist Nazi who supports death panels. I know many reasonable people whose concern over federal budgetary failures has made them side with the Tea Party, yet when I think "Tea Party," I immediately think of some dimwit at a Palin rally whose family tree probably looks like a braided ficus.
When people interact on posting boards and the like, they feel quite empowered to do and say horrific things to their faceless electronic foes that they would never say if seated at a table with them. One need look no further than the title of this post for an example. I am always talking about the ways I would like to harm those responsible for phone and text spam, but in real life, regardless of her role in this plague, Janneke Bakker-Smit Duyzentkunst is a real person – one who I would NEVER want to actually hurt in a million years. Can you imagine me explaining that to her children? "I hurt your mommy because her company crank called me." Pretty pathetic.
Perhaps she will stumble upon this post and rethink her shady business. Probably not. But I thank her for reminding me that even the most faceless enemies do, somewhere, have a face... and quite possibly a heart.
Most of us have fantasized about finding "Rachel" and chopping off her head after two of three robocalls from her in any given day. Today, in fact, I went ahead and pressed "1" to be connected to a "friendly customer service representative." Apparently, Rachel didn't think I would press "1" if she was honest and said to press it if I wanted to speak to a surly douchebag who would eventually hang up on me. Granted, I only did so to screw with said "customer service representative" but my questions were not rude – things like "Do you have a call back number?" and "What is the name of your company again?"
All of the sudden, I was looking at not only an image of one of my most hated nemeses, but was also suddenly in possession of her home and cell numbers. But reading the intro on her page, she seemed so nice. So normal. It only got worse when I looked at her blog, which is all about crafting and how much she loves her children. Suddenly, the AntiChrist (or at least Mrs. AntiChrist) was no longer a faceless scumbag I wanted to choke to death. She was, by all appearances, a very nice, creative person and a loving wife and mother.
The cognitive dissonance was too great. I wanted to post nasty notes on her blog. But then again, I didn't. I wanted to write her and ask her if she understood how much angst and frustration her family business was causing millions of people, but I am pretty sure the FTC injunction made that clear. I was left, as I am now, unsure what, if anything, to do. Perhaps I will just send her a note explaining my (fairly limited) quest and nonetheless, wishing her well, simply as a fellow human being. I'm still not sure.
But this got me thinking about the nature of distance and dehumanization in our current culture. Our modern political discourse is poisoned by the reduction of all sides to deeply negative caricatures. Anyone who suggests that single payer health care might be worth considering is immediately a socialist Nazi who supports death panels. I know many reasonable people whose concern over federal budgetary failures has made them side with the Tea Party, yet when I think "Tea Party," I immediately think of some dimwit at a Palin rally whose family tree probably looks like a braided ficus.
When people interact on posting boards and the like, they feel quite empowered to do and say horrific things to their faceless electronic foes that they would never say if seated at a table with them. One need look no further than the title of this post for an example. I am always talking about the ways I would like to harm those responsible for phone and text spam, but in real life, regardless of her role in this plague, Janneke Bakker-Smit Duyzentkunst is a real person – one who I would NEVER want to actually hurt in a million years. Can you imagine me explaining that to her children? "I hurt your mommy because her company crank called me." Pretty pathetic.
Perhaps she will stumble upon this post and rethink her shady business. Probably not. But I thank her for reminding me that even the most faceless enemies do, somewhere, have a face... and quite possibly a heart.
