And the merchants of the earth weep and
mourn for [fallen Babylon], since no one buys their cargo anymore, cargo of
gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth,
all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of
articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense,
myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and
chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.
Revelation 18:11-13
I
return to the subject of last weekend’s Reflections, which is why I have
repeated the verses above. People have always bought what they neither needed
nor had previously wanted until it caught their eye. Greed, vanity and
covetousness are common human sins. But marketing, advertising and sales talk
have evolved to make the most trivial, the most wasteful extravagance into
must-haves so we can be accepted, appreciated, respected, valued by our work
colleagues, neighbours – and the good looking men and women who catch our eye
in the street or on a train! In these and many other ways, they convince us
that we can fulfil our potential with a lifestyle beyond the reach of our
parents and grandparents – and beyond all the other ‘losers’ who do not take
advantage of the same opportunities.
The
ways this is done are far more sophisticated than simply placing adverts in shops,
along streets, on television and in magazines. Product placement in television
programmes and movies creates the desire for them; articles about the latest
gadgets and cosmetics in newspapers and magazines, and reports of the latest
versions of things, creates necessities without which we would be incomplete as
persons.
Not all
the sales calls we get are the sell us things but only to find out what sales
we might be vulnerable to persuasion, so that the callers can sell lists of potential
customers. My home telephone is registered as not wanting to receive cold calls
but I receive about 20 each week. Some calls may be from within the UK from
people who simply break the law; others are from call centres outside the UK
that do not need to respect the register.
It's likely that some
call because a long time ago I ticked a box on an application or
survey form to say that I was willing to receive information about products – or
perhaps I failed to tick the box that said I was unwilling to receive the
information – and the list of such people has been sold from company to company.
One way
or another, a lot of money is made trading in the identities of vulnerable
people for others to exploit.
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Copyright © All Souls Clubhouse Community Centre & Church and Philip Evans
2013.
Scripture
quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright
© 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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