Uncle Scam Wants YOU

[chucanelli]

Wow. I just saw the biggest, most obvious piece of propaganda in quite a while. It advocates the use of check cards instead of cash, because cash "shouldn't slow you down."  The commercial is amazingly choreographed, but the message is so blatantly obvious: A cashless society is ideal and anyone who says differently will just get in the way of your

Comments

[chucanelli]

Well, now that money is being translated into electronic signal, it could possibly lose its worth. Inflation is almost inevitable. The real danger lies not in credit cards, however, but in their successors, the next order of convenience - mark cards (which already exist) with smart chips, and following soon after the chips will be implanted, or required at least (not by law, of course, but everything else will simply not be in use). All of your credit card information is freely accessible to the government. If you buy something with a credit card, they can know about it. Cash is a solid, non-traceable (in and of itself) medium that allows us the privacy we so willingly give up for the sake of convenience. Like I said in the entry, it's not that I'm sure the government WOULD take advantage of that information in the worst way possible, but we shouldn't ever give an entity with so much power that ability.
Someone recently asked Pat Robertson (I'll try to find the article) about the situation in Europe, where they are creating a DNA database, requiring that everyone be entered in it. They asked if he thought it was a good idea for the U.S. to follow in their footsteps in this sort of endeavor, and he said absolutely not. It's a horrible idea - you think you can trust your government now (and even that is certainly questionable), but that information in the hands of corruption, be it our own government or some outside force (GREAT idea for the war on terror, guys. awesome.) would surely destroy us.
The point is, as long as money is exchanged through electronic signal, the government will be able to track any person's every move. This puts them in an irrefutable position of power.
By the way, propaganda is simply advertising that attempts to sway public opinion. It doesn't necessarily have to come from the government. This can be considered propaganda because sure, it would be extremely beneficial to Visa for this cashless society to become a reality. But they have to start somewhere in the minds of their consumers: advertising. The propaganda aspect is targeting the mindset here, not necessarily trying to invoke an action. I doubt this came from the government, but I'm simply stating why that mindset is a very, very bad idea. Whether the credit card companies are conspirators with the government is not really the question here. Visa is, in promoting this concept, accomodating for actions the government will have the power to take if it becomes a reality, but that is not to say that is their purpose in or function of the commercial; they are, if nothing else, looking for the own interest.

[pastorbarry]

I tend to agree with you.