FacebookTwitter
Hatrack River Forum   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Books, Films, Food and Culture » Marketing Companies worse than the Justice Department

   
Author Topic: Marketing Companies worse than the Justice Department
Magson
Member
Member # 2300

 - posted      Profile for Magson   Email Magson         Edit/Delete Post 
From Lileks:

quote:
Every election cycle we get The Call: hello, this is the group that presumes you believe as we do; please vote. Sometimes it’s a political party. Sometimes it’s my union. Tonight I got an interesting call on the answering machine - a fellow following up on a house-call paid by one of the MPIRG kids. The guy asked for my wife by name, described the person who’d come to our house, and named the issue: reducing coal-fired electrical plant emissions. I remember the meeting. I made the mistake of engaging the young woman about the efficacy of wind farms, and told her I supported less coal and more nukes. She informed me that the electricity generated by Minnesota wind farms could supply the entire electrical needs of the lower 48, and at that point I said, kindly, that she’d just spoken absolute nonsense, and I wished her a good night.

So now this organization several months later calls up our house, matches my wife’s name to our phone number and residence, and wants to follow up on the conversation. Wow. We’re in their database.

CITIZEN ACTION is what Caller ID says. Hmm.

This isn’t MPIRG; their phone number is different. Some googling about turned up the connection - I was called by a local chapter of the Progressive Action Network, which appears to be telemarketers for progressive causes. The “jobs” page gave me the Minnesota chapter, and their phone number is the same as the one on Caller ID. Keep in mind that the guy on the phone identified himself as a member of MPIRG, not Citizen Action. <artejohnsonvoice> Innnnteresting. </artejohnsonvoice>

Now it gets fun. The email for the number that called me is XXXX@camembershipcenter.org. If you go to that site, you’re redirected to the PAN site. If you whois the site, you find that the site registrant is the Citizen Action Membership Center at 328 East Hennepin. But the contact info for Citizen Action is an address on North 12th Street. But! Below the Citizen Action entry on the PAN site is another PAN client called “Minnesota Clean Water Action,” whose address is 326 E Hennepin.

My point? My point is this: the CIA used Joe Pesci, Ed Asner, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldham to kill Kennedy! Or, just having offices in the same vicinity is not proof of nefariousness. Oliver Stone would love this stuff. Me, I got bored when whois googling on administrator names led to yahoo discussion groups about out-of-date DNS info.

So I’m going to call them back tomorrow, and ask them: “I’m curious how you matched a phone number, a specific name, an address, and referenced a particular conversation. Because if the Justice Department did to you what you’ve done to us, your breakfast would be running down your pants leg.”

I suspect there is no vast left-wing conspiracy here. Stay tuned; details tomorrow.

There do seem to be some amazing circumlocutions going on, don't there? I'm glad this didn't happen to me, that's for sure.
Posts: 1323 | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Synesthesia
Member
Member # 4774

 - posted      Profile for Synesthesia   Email Synesthesia         Edit/Delete Post 
Once in New York I tried canvasing, which means going door to door for hours and only getting paid 30% of what you get from canvasing.
Then, back in January or February I tried MASSPIRGS telemarketing for one night and I didn't even break even because I just can't convince people to give money when they don't have it or want to.
Nevertheless, as much as I believe in protecting the environment, I doubt I'll try those jobs again.

Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
sarcasticmuppet
Member
Member # 5035

 - posted      Profile for sarcasticmuppet   Email sarcasticmuppet         Edit/Delete Post 
Y'know some greenies object to wind farms? They say it interferes with the migratory birds or something...

I think they're kinda cool. But the coolest things are the solar farms up near Arizona/California off the highway.

Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Storm Saxon
Member
Member # 3101

 - posted      Profile for Storm Saxon           Edit/Delete Post 
I'm missing the newsworthiness of the link. Can someone break it down for me in a few sentences, preferably with small words.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Ryuko
Member
Member # 5125

 - posted      Profile for Ryuko   Email Ryuko         Edit/Delete Post 
WAAAA! I <3 James Lileks! He writes this hilarious column for the Star and Trib every few days... Backfence...I love it. YAYY!!!

[ September 16, 2003, 06:43 PM: Message edited by: Ryuko ]

Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2