We have nothing to fear but people who only know how to sell us fear

This morning, I received my usual advertisements of stupid things that I know I will never purchase. We all get those. Best Buy, trying to tell me that I have one whole day before their sale ENDS FOREVER, right before they send me another email telling me that I was lucky they extended the sale for JUST ONE MORE DAY. This continues until they realize I’m probably not reading their emails.

I’m not pointing the finger solely at Best Buy because practically every company under the sun, from Walmart to JCPenney’s sends me these “must do this deal right this instant” sort of letter, as if their ridiculous sales tactics will actually work. And they must, because they keep sending them. So I imagine some grandma in Wheatfield, Wyoming is running to Best Buy every fifteen minutes after they fire off another email.

But I’ve been okay with that, because it’s just one of those consequences of living in a civilization in the muck of all that capitalism has to offer. Yet, today, I think the bar dropped a bit too low.

I received this from The Sharper Image:

Now, I’m not saying that I dislike The Sharper Image, because I’ve spent hundreds of dollars at their store and online. But this just seemed all sorts of wrong. It came in an email, titled “We’ve got you covered…