WARNING: THE THOUGHTS AND IDEAS EXPRESSED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF JOHN R. GRANGER AND ARE NOT
NECESSARILY THE VIEWS OF SEX STONE, L.L.C. OR ITS MANAGEMENT
2.26.03
There has been a recent web phenomena that has become somewhat of a fad. It is called cyber-begging. I first heard about the
concept several months ago when I read a story about a woman that had incurred ridiculous credit card bills and became buried in
the associated debt. Instead of spending less, getting a second job, or filing bankruptcy, she decided to start a web site asking
people to give her money. Apparently (I have not seen the site), her tale of woe was very well written and touched the hearts of
many web surfers, because she received thousands of dollars ? enough to pay off her debt and then some. The amount she
received over her debt she gave to charity.
Now, this woman?s site has led to numerous copycat sites, all asking the general web-surfing public to help them out of their
financial woes. Some are more successful than others, and I would assume that the quality of the writing on the site has a lot to
do with the success. The better you are at describing your situation in pathetic terms, the more likely someone will give you
money to help.
I find the whole concept to be offensive, I just can?t figure out who is worse: the beggar or those that send her money. Let?s
start with the beggar ? the woman mentioned above (I refuse to give her any more publicity) and the others that have followed in
her footsteps are intelligent and educated. Enough so that they are able to put together a relatively decent looking website. As I
have some experience in putting up a website, let me say that it really isn?t that difficult (the difficult part is finding the time to
maintain the site, but that?s a different story), but you do have to have some intelligence. Additionally, this website that I maintain
is very simple and straightforward. I have no background in programming, HTML, or any of that other crap, which is why I
stick to the basics. You can tell by their site designs that many of these people are much more knowledgeable about this type of
thing than I am. My point is that they use their skills and talent to panhandle as opposed to creating a useful product that they
could sell.
Everyone is a consumer. You consume or you die, it?s that simple. Those that have the right to consume are also producers ?
they generate some kind of productive output that has value for others. That productive output gives them the right to consume.
It is the natural way that society should work, simplistic as it seems. Cyber beggars corrupt the system by consuming without
producing anything of value to anyone.
Of course, sometimes circumstances can create a situation where a person cannot produce. I am not an authority on
homelessness in our country or the plight of the poor, but those are not the people that I am talking about anyway. I understand
that there are some unfortunates that are unable to produce, it is those that are able to produce, but do not, yet still consume that I
find offensive.
And what about those that actual contribute to the cyber beggars? They are equally at fault for corrupting the system. They are
complicit in the cyber beggar?s non-productiveness. They produce, but do not consume to the capacity of their production,
which creates waste. Granted, the waste is generally taken up by the consumption of the cyber beggar, so you end up with two
individuals living off of one person?s production and the waste still exists in the lack of production from the cyber beggar. The
real problem with the accomplice/contributor is that sometimes (often?) they consume and contribute more than they produce.
When the contribution comes at the cost of deficit spending in this manner, the waste generated becomes multiplied because the
contributor becomes closer to the position of the cyber beggar and will ultimately be forced to beg themselves, or declare
bankruptcy (the cost of which is borne by everyone in one way or another).
Why would a contributor push themselves towards this situation for the benefit of another person? Partially because society tells
us that it is good to be a humanitarian and to give selflessly. That sounds nice, but the truth is that in many ways humanitarianism
degrades the system in which we live. Another reason is that people are empathetic to the plight of these cyber beggars because
they are not too far removed from it themselves. They reason that if these people can be helped out of their situation, perhaps
someone will help me out of my situation. They, of course, never stop to think how absurd it sounds to ask someone else for
something that you refuse to give to yourself.