Product recall
Once upon a time I tried to wake some people up.
There came a time in my life when nagging questions left off whispering and began to scream. I decided to answer their call. In my quest for truth, many times--because of my own dogged effort--I was rewarded. Other times, I just happened to stumble onto gems, worthy of keeping. Worthy of passing on. After years of idle, mindless sleepwalking, the truth... the unchanging universal kind, found me, and I found it.
And a funny thing happened. As it was when I learned a previous Truth, I thought I'd share this new and improved variety (aka: Real; universal; unchanging) truth with those same ones that I cared most about.
When I did, from the very ones I cared most about and sought to help, I began to hear an allegation... a claim... a charge.
"Who's influencing you?"
"You must be listening to those apostates."
"It must be that Franz book you read. The old teejay would have NEVER said that."
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Here in the U.S., Ralph Nader's legacy--and a good one it is--will be the product recall. A thorn in the side of corporate America, he found flaws--many of them potentially fatal--in far-too-many consumer products. Through sheer determination, he'd see to it that manufacturors were legally forced to recall their products and fix them free of charge. It's an almost daily occurrence these days, so much so that few even think much about it.
What precipitated the recall in the first place is that kazillions of people where all having problems with the same car/ink pen/typewriter and they talked about it amongst themselves. Nader simply tapped into the dialog.
Later on, if they happened to read something in a newspaper or heard about Nader's efforts to correct a problem they were having, they would all nod in agreement with the author. "Yes, I had/have that problem, too!" they would mutter to themselves, thinking they were alone--but not, at last.
People all over would read such articles. People who never knew each other and who had never met. Were they ALL swayed--influenced--to agree with Nader? Or did they nod in silent agreement because of their own experience? An experience that jibed all too closely with what many others--worlds away and never-met--had experienced?
Product recall. It's a good thing.