Recently, in response to some John Locke Foundation mailers sent to
various fans of the organization who have either moved or ceased their
interest, we got two, count them two, letters from a company out of
Durham, called Self-Help, requesting that we take two gentlemen off our mailing list. They stated:
Dear Marketing/Circulation Associate,
Our organiation has become increasingly concerned about the amount
of waste we generate each day and the subsequent environmental impact.
We select products with reduced and/or recyclable packaging, and
recycle whatever materials we can. We realized that after all our
efforts in reducing waste, we are still discarding large amounts of
unwarrented mail as well as unsolicited catalogs. It is our intent to
to be part of the solution, not part of the problem [Emphasis mine].In this spirit,
we respectfully request that you remove the attached name(s) from your
mailing list, as this person(s) is no longer employed by Self-Help.Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
[Self-Help]
Administrative Services Coordinator
Besides the litany of good enviromental deeds done by said Self-Help, and the absurb pseudo-religious
terminology of “in this spirit,” one can only ponder if the best way to
fight junk mail is with more junk mail? Cannot they be joyous in the
fact that they didn’t fall into the same sin that we did, “Bless me O
Lord that I am not like those polluters.” But they did. I guess picking
up the phone and calling must add to one’s personal CO2 emissions…
It is funny that even holier-than-thou environmentalists fall into the old false maxim of the lesser of two evils. Pity.
