The Non-Conformist Xmas 12/13/02

The title of each blog is the music that I'm listening to for the day. Again, I dipped into the vaults and pulled up an old college radio show. A Christmas show to be exact. I can listen to Christmas anytime of the year. Funny thing... I loathe Christmastime. It's my least favorite time of the year.

For some reason, I started collecting Christmas music that fell through the cracks. The stuff that didn't get any reaction on the popularity meters. The Christmas oddities, if you will.

And every year, I would subject my audience to two or more full hours of my Christmas collection. It was the only time that I played Christmas music on my show. Just like the day itself, I kept "The Non-Conformist Xmas" special.

With that said, on with the show!

I have been dancing with the devil for over a week now and I’m LOVING IT!

I got a check card and I’ve gone cashless. I can pay at the pump. I have paid some bills online. I have walked into a pizza joint and used my check card for a pick-up order. I have even used that plastic sucker for fast food purchases. It’s totally amazing!

You see… I was brought up Baptist for 18 years of my life. I have always heard about the coming New World Order (and I believe in those conspiracies outside of my Baptist upbringing) and the one world government. Everyone is going to be numbered, and in some ways, we are. No one will use pesky money anymore, we’ll all receive numbers or barcodes to send or receive payments.

Currency and coins will be a thing of the past. And if you aren’t willing to receive your number or barcode, well… The devil has a surprise for you. An all expense paid trip to hell on earth. You won’t be able to purchase food or even a Sony Playstation 20. Accept his mark and you shall live.

But, there’s a catch. As there usually is with Lucifer… You get the mark and that’s your passport to eternal damnation. Today we use our Visa check cards and get those reward points for tomorrow we’ll all burn in hell.

My belief is a LOT different from that. If banks and other institutions are keeping up with your money and transactions, who’s to say that they aren’t keeping up with you? Watching your every move? Maybe even planning your next?

Paranoid? I don’t think so.

Look at those cards that everyone uses at the grocery store… They say that it’s to save you money and keep you coming back. But did you know that they track everything that you purchase? They can even send you sale fliers and emails to alert you about specials based on what you have purchased before.

And if they have this information gathered on you, who says that they won’t turn around and sell it? Sell it to other corporations? Sell it local, state, and federal institutions? Sell all the information that YOU have provided them for the sake of saving a few dollars?

They look at us as just sheep and we can be herded to slaughter anytime that they choose. Look at all the SUV’s on the roads. Go ahead, I dare you to tell me that human beings are not herd animals. We see and we want. We want to be like everyone else. Being different is bad.

I have a few of those grocery and drug store key ring cards and I use them. Only they don’t have my name or any other information about me. I use ones that I’ve found in any number of places. I once found a key ring with 5 different cards on it with no keys. I picked them up and I’m still using them today.

There’s probably a non-drinking old lady without a cat somewhere wondering why she keeps getting sale fliers about beer and cat food specials.

I recently used my VIC card at Harris Teeter and I checked my savings for the year at the bottom of the receipt. Damn! The only savings gathered for the person that the card actually belonged to were from that purchase. I was hoping for more, but I figured that once that person lost their card, they went and freely signed up for another.

I filled out a form for a Winn-Dixie savings card a few years ago and used my trusty, fake name. For the address, I used the store that I frequented most often. I thought that it would be funny if they got all the sale fliers for Sidney Tiddycheeks at their store. The fun part was thinking about store managers and other employees wondering whom the hell “Sidney Tiddycheeks” was.

Keep in mind that as much as I love the freedom of having my check card and going cashless, I know deep down inside all this information is being compiled. I’m still rather paranoid about it.

Last night at work, I had to ask Ronald (our maintenance man) to borrow a dollar for the snack machine. I didn’t even have a single coin in my pocket. And so far, that’s the only draw back that I can see.

Well… Besides having my every move and purchase charted by “the man”.