Cafe 42 Blog

You Are Getting Screwed

by jcafesin, posted in Uncategorized

The most successful marketing campaign I ever created promised to save people money.

It did the opposite.

Today, America’s cellphone carriers are using the same marketing trick on YOU.

I knew it was evil when my partner in the boutique marketing agency we ran introduced the campaign idea to our credit union client. It would cost our target market, mainly low-income Latino airline workers, way more than they were currently paying on their car loans.* I designed a comp (a visual of the projected campaign) and my partner presented it. Campaign tagline: “Get lower monthly car payments or get $250 cash!”

“You’ll never have to pay a penny on the campaign promise,” my partner promised our client. “Just extend the timeline of the loan to lower your borrowers’ monthly rates,” my partner explained. “And while it’ll take them longer to pay off their loans, it’s additional interest for you, and a nice little boost in profits,” she assured the CEO.

The client loved the idea and gave the campaign her go-ahead.

The campaign garnered a 58% response rate. Even better, 38% of those who saw any part of the campaign, whether it be email, display posters, info pamphlets, counter cards…etc., converted.

Fast forward 30+ years to last week. I needed a new phone, my old cell so cracked I couldn’t read texts anymore. Hate AT&T which I’d been with since I got my own landline at 14 (way before cellphones). If you’ve ever been with them, you’ll know why I hate AT&T. Decided to go with Verizon after our daughter signed up for $45 a month including unlimited data. Our AT&T bill was $184 monthly for two phones, and mine has NO internet connection on it. Plus, Verizon had a FREE iPhone with sign up.

My husband and I visited Verizon last week to get FREE iPhones, and a cheaper phone plan similar to our daughter’s.

Except the iPhone was NOT actually FREE.

There was tax on the phone for Verizon’s inflated value of $999. And the cheapest plan we could get for just our two ‘FREE’ iPhones was over $79 each monthly, or $158 a month before taxes. And the new iPhones would be ‘LOCKED’ to Verizon, meaning if we wanted to go to another carrier, Verizon makes it impossible to unlock your phone from them if you get it ‘FREE’ through them.

Clearly Verizon, and all the other phone carriers are scamming us with their ‘FREE’ phone offers.

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile…etc., phone carriers are doing to most of us exactly what my biz partner and I did to the low-income Latino airline workers that belonged to our credit union client. It was evil then.* It’s evil now.

How to Avoid Getting Screwed by your Cellphone Carrier

Our daughter got her $45 monthly rate from Verizon, including taxes, because a week earlier we’d given her the latest iPhone, purchased at an Apple store for her college graduation. We bought it UNLOCKED, so it did not belong to any carrier. She was able to choose the cheapest phone plan with Verizon because she did not have to PAY for their ‘FREE’ [locked] iPhone that she could not take to another carrier if she was unhappy with Verizon.

So, instead of going with Verizon’s ‘FREE’ phone offer, my husband and I went looking for UNLOCKED cellphones. We didn’t want to spend close to double for iPhones, so we tried to find inexpensive Androids. Except we couldn’t find hardly any, except on Amazon, which has destroyed retail, so I don’t shop on it anymore.

Went to Best Buy. The store was vacant of customers and their shelves empty of most products. The salesman suggested we try Amazon.

Who else besides Amazon has the largest selection of phones available? The phone carriers, since (according to the sales rep at Verizon), most everyone gets their cellphones from carriers these days, “because of our great FREE offers!”

Verizon offered us $79 per phone monthly with their ‘FREE’ iPhone, and we had to pay the tax on Verizon’s inflated value for the iPhones which I could get from Apple for a hundred less, with a larger display, and unlocked. Further, Verizon wanted a 3-yr contract at the higher rate to “cover the FREE phone.”

In every possible way, Verizon’s ‘FREE’ iPhone deal is a SCAM, and most everyone is buying into them with any phone carrier these days.

Do you even know how long your contract is with your new ‘FREE’ phone that you cannot take with you to a new carrier? Most people don’t. They blindly, robotically pay their bills.

Let’s bring into this portrait of corporate corruption AUTO-PAY. When I first heard of it, I said to my husband, “What kind of idiot would agree to something like that?” Paying vendors for services automatically through your credit card allows these companies to make their screw-ups YOUR PROBLEM while they just keep billing you. No lights? PG&E will still AUTO-charge you. No cable? Xfinity will still AUTO-charge you. Problem with your bill? They will still charge you, and now it’s on YOU to get them to give you your money back. And good luck with that!

The old way, I simply would not pay them until they cleared up the issue. Not paying them gave them incentive to fix it.

AUTO-PAY also lets these corps raise their rates at will, and so what if your cable bill used to be $140 for the year, and now you’re paying $284 a month. You hardly even notice the slow creep up adding $10 — $30 to your credit card every few months.

My daughter swears by the ‘convenience’ of these financial apps. Well, honey, convenience is hella costly!

So is buying into Verizon’s (or any other phone carriers’) marketing! Like my campaign to the Latino airline workers in the late 1990s, you can bet Verizon’s conversion rates are great from their ‘FREE’ iPhone campaigns with every Apple upgrade.

—

*If you’re thinking: “Maybe some people need lower monthly rates and don’t mind paying more in the long run.”

Well, in case you didn’t know, extended debt keeps low-income people low-income for life.

Finnegus Boggs, Lessons from a Marid Dijinn

by jcafesin, posted in BLACK MIRROR, Fantasy, Fantasy Series, Fractured Fairytales, friendship, Twilight Zone, Uncategorized, YA Series

This is the audiobook of Billy and Tyron, two Oakland teens from the rim of the hood, who are granted a chance to rewrite their destiny by the genie Finnegus Boggs.

SUSPENSE; Short Story; Modern Fable with a “Great Life Lesson!”…

How AI Works IRL

by jcafesin, posted in Uncategorized

The danger of AI isn’t what it knows, it’s how it decides what’s true…

Saw 60 Minutes with Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai on the current state of AI.

Scott Pelly, the interviewer, asked Sissie Hsiao, Google’s VP, what Google’s new chatbot, Gemini, does.

“It’s really here to help you brainstorm ideas to generate content like a speech, or a blog post, or an email,” she said with confidence, which made my skin crawl.

Let’s all stop exercising our neural connectivity to do tasks like writing an email, or a blog like this one, that requires disciplines in linear thinking, quantitative and qualitative reasoning, real news research, and engagement of my MIND to construct. Ms. Hsiao is suggesting that doing these tasks that demand and promote brain power are worthless wastes of our time.

So, Ms. Hsiao, where does that leave most of us who aren’t all paid the big bucks by Google to fuck up humanity even more than you already do? A hint, honey: STUPID. Do that research Sissie, and even Google’s AI will find recent data that humanity is getting dumber:

…etc.*

Next, Scott Pelley was “speechless” that Gemini made up a story from Hemingway’s six-word flash piece.** Mr. Pelley was so overwhelmed, he said, “Gemini appears to possess the sum of human knowledge.”

BULLSHIT.

There is NO INTELLIGENCE in Artificial Intelligence. The software NEVER, EVER THINKS. Gemini, ChatGPT, MS Copilot SCRAPE THE INTERNET to construct their responses to our queries. Every publicly available article, news feed, video, ad, post online are SCRAPED and stored in data centers like AWS (Amazon server farms).

Everything YOU do online, every Google Doc you create or read, to your social media posts, to what you see, watch, interact with, buy, to every email and text exchange you have are SCRAPED, stored and analyzed to “return better responses to queries.” How? Google, Microsoft, Verizon, Xfinity, T-Mobile…etc., all have access, and all sell, exchange, or share their data to improve their AI.

After SCRAPING the internet for data, these LLMs (large language models) WEIGH THE IMPORTANCE of the data they’ve collected according to your query. They analyze PATTERNS of behavior as it relates to the query, but also as it relates to all it knows about you, and it knows a LOT, as stated above. It simply follows its programming to return what you requested in a way you will likely hear it—i.e. siding with your existing opinion, or writing an email in your unique ‘voice.’ But AI DOES NOT THINK. It cannot distinguish between fact, propaganda, marketing, or popular opinion. It collects, stores, and analyses the data it finds, then regurgitates the LOUDEST SIGNALS that aligns with your query. The more a viewpoint dominates the data, the more likely the AI will present it as fact.

Which brings me to this pic I clipped from the 60 Minutes AI exposé:

Next, Scott Pelley asked Google’s chatbot to “Summarize the New Testament.” In one second, Gemini came back with: “The New Testament is the story of God’s love for humanity, which was revealed through Jesus Christ.”

BULLSHIT.

The actual Bible is filled with a jealous, angry, vengeful God (Corinthians 10:22; 2 Corinthians 11:2), who murders millions of people at his whim. Jesus is hateful to Jews (John 8:44) and others. He tells parables in which beatings, and even killings of household slaves are affirmed as ‘disciplinary measures’ (Luke 12:45–47). Revelations, the last chapter in the New Testament, tells of God, and Jesus inflicting the “punishment of eternal destruction,” (2 Thessalonians 1:5–10) on anyone who doesn’t agree with, or believe in them. Strip away blind faith and this is called TOTALITARIANISM.

My human interpretation of the New Testament is: “The New Testament is a collection of violent stories that center around two jealous, angry narcissists who inflicts hardships, loss, plagues, and other forms of gruesome violence on humans.”

So why did Google’s chatbot call the New Testament a “story of God’s love for humanity?” Google’s AI engine is trained on most ALL THE DATA ON THE INTERNET. This includes digital marketing — all those annoying ads — but also what people are saying, via texts, and posts, and blogs…etc., about any given subject. At least 80+%† of the U.S. identify as religious or spiritual. Christianity alone touts 64% of the U.S. as believers, and, by far, put out the most advertising. Christian marketing is close to a trillion-dollar-a-year industry.

Gemini, and all LLMs today are a combination of Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Deep Learning…etc, algorithms. That’s it. Garbage In, scraped from the internet and into the AI software, like Christian advertising, and people chatting up their spiritual beliefs to each other, led Gemini to spew Garbage Out — its positive, loving spin on the New Testament — even though the book itself, well… isn’t.

Since 99.999%…etc. of all that data Google’s collecting confirms both Bibles are good, righteous, and loving, Gemini LEARNS (not THINKS) that this is a FACT. AI of today WEIGHTS the importance of data by CONSENSUS, NOT TRUTH, or even FACTS. Truth by SOCIAL CONSENSUS, like Germans who became Nazis, and today’s hate on immigrants, Jews, and Muslims. If only 30% of the data Google collected on Christianity was positive, Gemini would likely not have come up with the nonsense it did. If Scott Pelley had bothered to question Gemini’s translation of the New Testament, or the CEO of Google had pointed out that their AI is a WEIGHTING SYSTEM that places more ‘value’ on the masses than the FACTS, perhaps those of you who’ve read this far will now understand how dangerous today’s AI really is.

Another question from Scott Pelley: “Is Gemini safe for society?”

Sundar Pichai: “I THINK so…”

—

*Human Idiocracy:

  • How many of you remember (or ever learned) phone numbers, now that you have them on speed dial. (Why does it matter? Try calling your kid in an emergency without your contacts list).
  • Who remembers, without the help of Google Maps, how to get to a place you’ve only been to once? Or even 20 times? For that matter, which of you even knows how to read a real map?
  • How many of you even know that the “news,” and information you’re getting through Google (or any) Search is only a fraction of what is on the internet, and worse, it is a reflection of how YOU think, delivered to you via recommendation engines that reinforce your own perspective? Essentially rec engines make you THINK you’re smart, but only make you dumber by serving up no other perspective than your own.

**Gemini’s AI construct from the words of Hemingway’s 6-word tale: “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn,” missed the subtext of the words entirely. No one buys shoes for a child yet to be born, which Google’s AI story suggests. Hemingway’s story, (and the original he stole it from), is about the loss of a baby already born. Infants get booties. Babys get shoes. So, it’s likely the baby was born but never made it to the walking stage, neonatal deaths a rather common occurrence until the 1960s. Gemini missed all of this completely and made up a story virtually unrelated to Heminway’s 6-word tale.

† People who identify as nonreligious, but claim to be spiritual, are known as “NONES”.

Letting Go of Family

by jcafesin, posted in Uncategorized

Friends come and go, but is FAMILY really forever?

The day my father called to tell me my mom had cancer, I hung up the phone, turned to my husband and said, “Well, that’s the end of my family.” I said it, but I didn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it, though I knew it was true my mom was the glue that bonded us to each other. I’d been an integral part of a family for 45 years. I was the baby, the last born of three, and my mom raised us all with the philosophy that friends come and go, but family is forever. And I believed her, in fact, adopted the ideal as real.

After I moved from my parents’ home I came back for every holiday, talked to my mom several times a week, called and sent gifts for special occasions. It never struck me as odd that when I called home and my father answered he’d simply hand the phone to my mother. It nicked my feelings when I gave gifts to my sisters three kids for every birthday, holiday and achievement, and they never even said “Thanks,” but my mom assured me, “kids are like that these days.” Behavior I’d never accept from a friend became acceptable because my sister’s kids were ‘family.’

During the last bit of my mother’s illness our family spent even more time together. We gathered at my parents’ home, the one we were all born and raised in, sat at the kitchen table and talked in hushed voices, my mom slowly dying in the bedroom down the hall. I spent hours, cross-legged on her bed talking with her, but when she died we were unable to resolve the lifetime of discord between us.

There was, and still is no doubt my mom loved me, deeply, profoundly, passionately. She showed it, consistently calling me to stay connected. And even though our talks frequently devolved to arguing about how she felt I should be living, she never abandoned me, exited my life despite how harsh it was between us so much of the time. ‘Friends come and go but family is forever.’

Two decades after my mom’s death, I have no relationship with my father. He does not call, doesn’t return my calls when I call him. He does not know his grandchildren anymore, has not seen them in ten years, doesn’t call them, acknowledge their birthdays, has no clue how old they are, or how proud he should be of my great kids. It didn’t resonate as strange that my mom always signed both their names with every card and gift she sent her ‘grandbabies.’ It was the woman’s role, after all, to take care of such things in the world I grew up in.

My sister stopped talking to my family sixteen years ago. Though my kids had established what we all felt was a loving relationship with their aunt since birth, about two years after my mom’s passing my sister informed us in an email that it was too much of a bother to maintain any relationship with her niece and nephew. She, too, has not sent them a card or called them since. She refuses to talk to any of us since my DH sent her a three sentence email asking her to please send our daughter her birthday card on her birthday instead of three months later with the card she sent for our son’s birthday. Oh, and he asked her to please spell her niece’s name correctly on the cards. My sister felt this was too much to ask of her, and exited our lives, an action she never would have taken when our mom was alive.

For the first couple years after my mom died, I called and emailed my father regularly. If I got him on the phone, which was rare, I made sure to have my kids talk with him. Per my mother’s teaching, I thought it important my children maintain a relationship with their grandfather. I called him. He never called me. A month or more before my kids birthdays I’d remind him in weekly voicemails and emails to make sure he’d acknowledge their special day’s. When I forgot to remind him (for the fifth time) a few days before his granddaughter’s 7th birthday, he sent nothing. And it’s been that way since.

Ever look at your life and think, “this can’t be mine”? I had a family once, for almost 50 years they were woven into my life’s story. My kids had family beyond their parents. Their grandmother, even their aunt (until my mom died) graced them with that profound measure of security the actions of love provide. They believed in their grandfather’s love as well, simply by association, since his actions were always rather lacking.

Both my kids claim it doesn’t bother them their aunt and their grandfather have checked out of their lives. They graciously remind me that they have their father’s mom, and his sister, their other aunt. But they live back east and we haven’t spent near the amount of time as a family as we did with mine when my mom was alive and just a few hours from the Bay. I find it impossible to believe being abandoned by my family as they have been doesn’t nick them internally a bit. My son, and now even my daughter will not give my sister the honored moniker ‘Aunt.’ The rare occasion she’s mentioned, they refer to her only by her given name, on par with some transient acquaintance they once knew.

I no longer have the foundation of my family I thought I once did. I see now that ‘family is forever’ was my mother’s wish, not reality. Her desire to retain the family connection she lacked in her own home growing up was so raw, and our love for her so powerful that while she was alive we all honored her need. This year, for the first time in my life I didn’t sent my dad a Father’s Day card, nor called him to acknowledge the day. I’m just so tired of pretending his abhorrent selfish behavior is acceptable.

Thing is, I can’t stop wondering what I did so wrong that my father and sister would abandon my family as they’ve done. Both fervent Republicans and religious zealots, they clearly feel we have nothing to say to each other anymore. Maybe we never did, and I just didn’t notice, languishing under the security blanket of perceived love, the spillover of actualized love my mother extended so freely.

Twenty years later I still mourn the loss of my mom, virtually daily. I’m also grieving the loss of my family. But unlike losing a loved one to death where the sting of loss lessens with time—every birthday, occasion and achievement that passes without my remaining families acknowledgment fuels my internal rage, and taints these events with a deep and abiding sadness. And I’m truly lost what to do about that. As long as they’re alive, I don’t know how to let them go.

Can We All just Get Along?

by jcafesin, posted in Uncategorized

Years ago, I took my five year old son to a playgroup. It was our first time at this particular group, meeting at the hilltop home of the founding member, and we were over an hour late. All the regular members of the group were already there, the moms gathered on the back porch watching their toddlers play in the sand strip that ran along the side of the house.

There were only two kids my son’s age there—the founding member’s son and the girl from next door. The boy and girl, friends since birth, were playing house in a plastic playhouse with pink French windows and a blue shingle roof. After observing them a moment from behind me, my son joined the kids in the playhouse. Five minutes later he and the other boy were in the yard sparring with sticks, then pretending the sticks were guns and shooting at the little girl.

My heart went out to her as she tried in vain to encourage her neighbor to come back into the playhouse and continue their game. And I did intervene several times, reminding my son how it felt to be left out and insisting that he find a game that included her, until finally they all agreed to play with the train set inside and went in.

I stayed out on the porch and had a somewhat stilted conversation with the other moms amid them chiding their children for eating sand, or throwing it, or both. A few minutes passed and the little girl came out of the house crying. The boys were making fun of her for being a girl, taunting her for liking dolls and playing house, claiming that girls and boys couldn’t ever be friends since ‘boys were cool and girls drool,’ so she wasn’t allowed to play with them anymore.

My son’s introduction to the new playgroup wasn’t going well, and I went into the house to confront him. He was happily hiding with the other boy in a tent-like structure they’d built on the living room floor. I called both boys to come out and face me. After my son vehemently insisted that the other boy had said the little girl couldn’t play, I told them both to sit down, hoping to enlighten them.

I again reminded both of them how it feels to be left out. Then I explained that in the grown up world girls and boys play together all the time.

‘In fact, my very best friend is your dad,’ I told my son and his new friend, and the little girl standing beside me. ‘He’s my favorite playmate. We can always find something to do together that both of us like. He’s my BFF for life!’ And since he was a boy and I was a girl, the boys were obviously wrong thinking that girls and boys couldn’t be friends. The two of them sat there thinking about what I’d just said, asked, “Really?” followed by “Wow,” and they finally invited the little girl back in and included her in their game. She got to be Princess Leia.

Listening from the back porch to my exchange with the kids, the women confronted me the moment I took my place on the concrete steps outside. They all wanted to know if I’d lied to the children about my relationship with my husband. Did I really possess the friendship I touted? Was he my first choice to play with, talk to, expose my innermost self to? I insisted he was. My husband was my closest friend, or at the very least it’s what we strove for. Wasn’t marriage about sharing yourselves inside and out?

Their answer turned out to be universally ‘NO.’ Out of the eleven women there, not one said their spouses were among their top three friends. All felt that, especially as they got older, they were drawing away from their husbands and moving towards other women for emotional support. They considered their girl friends their closest friends, those they shared their most intimate thoughts and feelings. All agreed that only women fully understood women, or wanted to, making it natural, normal, even healthy that they gravitated to like kind. Then they used our kid’s interaction earlier as an example of how males and females “naturally segregate” to back up their position.

Nature verses nurture is an ongoing debate over how much stereotypical behavior in boys and girls is genetically instilled or environmentally gleaned. Unarguably, gender has genetic differences in our physicality and our brain function. Boys and girls generally play together without reserve until around the first grade. The sexes begin to separate between 5 and 7 yrs old, around the same time we develop the brain power to assimilate within our environment, and begin to copy behavior of those around us. Eleven out of twelve moms at that playgroup chose to congregate almost exclusively with their own sex, modeling division between men and women to their kids.

Regardless that so many women today think most men are idiots, their utility is not limited to their earning capacity—making 20% more than a woman does—or their reproductive organs. Men are generally more linear, quantitative than qualitative, objectifying than identifying, competitive vs cooperative. While their brute strength is no longer required to bring down the mastodon [since we can all buy better steaks on Amazon], men offer lessons in living a more fulfilling life by being a bit more self-focused instead of solely maternal.

Most of humanity’s existence, men have taken the top tier—been the king of the castle, the final word in the household—because they could. Physical prowess won the battle of the sexes until recently. With the advent of technology, the reign of men is coming to an end.

Surrounding ourselves with like kind—women defaulting to women for a safe harbor—will not level the playing field or bridge the divide between the sexes. Women must learn to step up, stand our ground, not acquiesce to a man’s request simply because he made one. Men must step down from their throne atop the social order, even if they feel no ground, and embrace women’s emotional intelligence, our capacity for caring—for our children, and for them. No longer the sole bread-winner, men must offer more of what women do each other, become more maternal—beyond self—and more emotionally aware and available because with everything given something is owed, regardless of gender.

Our greatest hurtle to the union of humanity is not racial, religious, socioeconomic, cultural or political. The biggest chasm between us is our gender. Before men and women can actualize ourselves as equals, we must see ourselves as one people—the human race—each with our own gifts for the other.

Born Racist

by jcafesin, posted in Uncategorized

Every human being on the planet is BORN a racist…

We are ALL racists. Every human being on the planet is BORN a racist.

‘NO!’ you’re screaming at me. ‘BULLSHIT, you whacked-out bitch. I am not a racist!’

Racism is taught, not inherent to our nature is the common wisdom. And while it’s true racism, hate, fear can be taught by parents, community, schools, religious leaders, and conservative media, we are all born, to varying degrees, racists.

Mammals, the genome to which Humans belong, are born with an innate FEAR of THE OTHER — anything outside what is familiar to us. And this fear manifests as RACISM, and SEXISM, and NATIONALISM.

“FEAR of THE OTHER” should be the universal definition of racism. And humans manifest our fear in a variety of ways. Some, their fear is so overwhelming, their ignorance so great, it aligns with HATE, and they are violent against THE OTHER.

But sometimes, when our fear is acknowledged, and then examined, it motivates us to learn about THE OTHER. Only then, do we discover that regardless of color, or even gender, we are not so different. We all FEEL the same feelings.

‘BULLSHIT,’ you calling me out again. ‘You don’t know how it FEELS to be Black.’

You’re right. I’m White. But I know what it FEELS like to be dissed. I grew up overweight in chic L.A. I was the butt of fat jokes through elementary and middle school. I never got asked out on a date until I dropped the weight in my senior year of high school. And while I am now in “good shape,” I will go to my grave feeling fat. I will never fit in to the world where thin is the only way to be “in.” And I know what it FEELS like living forever on the outside wishing to be in.

So what if you were fat, you say. You lost the weight. Skinny or fat, I can’t stop being Asian, or gay.

And I am a woman. I know what it FEELS like being judged as lesser than because I am not a man. I know how it FEELS to be making two-thirds the salary of the guy next to me doing the exact same job. My first job out of college as an art director for a major jewelry manufacturer, the CEO of the company came into my first big meeting and grabbed my breast instead of my outstretched hand. He squeezed my tit like it was an orange and said, “Nice!” I know how it FEELS to be objectified for my body alone.

Being disrespected makes me FEEL valueless, ashamed, awkward, angry, mystified, enraged, scared, small, sad. And all these negative feelings manifest inside each of us when we are dissed. The fact is, Black, White, Fat or not, we’ve all experienced each of these feelings independently, or simultaneously, regardless if we are consciously aware of them. Each of us may react to our feelings differently, but most all of us are intimate with feeling dissed.

Most of us are also intimate with feeling happy, engaged [in a pleasing activity], safe, content in moments. Our reasons for feeling these things may vary, though not as much as you think. The love of a parent, guardian or friend; the comfort of a safe home; full bellies from tasty food makes most of us FEEL good. The intensity of our feelings varies wildly from person to person. Some enjoy positive feelings far more often than others born with internal angst, or into external misfortune. But the feelings of HAPPY and SAD, GOOD and BAD, PROUD and ASHAMED, EMPOWERED and DISSED are common to all of us.

Being alive means FEELING. The enormous, complex range of feelings we get to experience, both body and mind, is exclusively Human. The capacity of our brain power is what separates us from every other living creature on this planet. And while we all have different experiences, feeling the same things provides a natural bridge to unite us, a window for empathy, even camaraderie through our shared feelings.

We are all born racists. You, me, all humans are born with an innate fear of THE OTHER. Once again, we are standing on the precipice of change, Racism and Sexism the topics de jour. Perhaps this time, we will get off the politically correct train, admit we are all racists and choose to fight our innate fear of THE OTHER. We’ll acknowledge the benefits of integration and globalization as an opportunity to learn from the best of each other. We’ll not only believe in, but practice equal rights.

Stand up, or take a knee, but SPEAK OUT against hate, and educate the ignorant that there really are no substantive differences between us — not color, not culture, not gender or age, not religious or sexual preference, because all human beings FEEL the same things.

How do U FEEL right now?

The Purpose of Life

by jcafesin, posted in Uncategorized

What is Your Purpose in Living?

Christians and Muslims (actual believers, not in name only because they celebrate Christmas or Eid al-Fitr) believe the purpose of living is to serve and reflect their God’s will to ensure their assent to heaven after death.

Jews focus on the present rather than an afterlife. They believe humans should partner with their God in completing, repairing, and perfecting His creation.

Buddhists have no God. They want to wipe out greed, hate, mental anguish caused by desire, attachment, and ignorance to reach Nirvana (not the band ;-})—where the mind achieves clarity and peace. Rebirth is extinguished for the enlightened (those who achieved Nirvana), like a flame going out.

Hindus have Brahman, their Supreme God that takes many godlike forms. Their purpose in life is much like Buddhists—to reach Moksha (spiritual liberation), the end of reincarnation. They are unique in that they give no rigid purpose to living, but provide a moral, ethical framework for living a meaningful life and achieving Moksha.

I am an atheist, so I, alone, must determine my purpose in being alive. While I’m not a Nihilist, I agree there is no inherent, or dictated [by a god] meaning or purpose to life. My mother and father created me, as did theirs before them and so on, back to the earliest humans. All life here emerged through entropy, not born of some cosmic energy carving morality in stone or assigning us purpose.

Since I believe no god or mystical force gives me purpose, I’m free to create my own. I was lucky to be raised by Jews in name only—celebrating Hanukkah and went to temple on Yom Kipper, though in discussions driving home learned neither my mom or dad believed in Bible ‘fables,’ or a god. With no Grand Plan, like most of us I still needed one, something to motivate me to get out of bed in the morning. I, too, require some sense of purpose in living, and a reason to stay alive through dark times.

My mother was a devout social advocate. We spent many holidays feeding homeless, or handing out relief supplies to wildfire victims my formative years. She raised me with the foundation that all of us can make time to help others with less, especially those who have what they need. My father was a dreamer, and a philosopher at heart. His dominant side was a narcissist though—theory was fun to ponder, but getting to the best of us required his exclusive wisdom and guidance.

My old life’s purpose is partly a product of my parentage. My father believed a woman’s purpose—all women, in fact—is to reproduce. My mother was certain that raising kids would be the richest, most rewarding part of my life (and indeed they have been!). Having children, with mom as their primary caretaker, was the only consistent messaging my folks agreed on, (and society at large in the 1970s), so finding a mate and creating a family became my primary focus.

Since childhood, the life’s purpose I conjured was to raise kids better then me—kinder, more creative, emotionally intelligent, more aware of and caring for the world beyond theirs. I was sure that if each generation invested their TIME and energy into raising their children, gen over gen would become smarter, more innovative, more collaborative, and humans could reach our creative, compassionate potential.

I was that stupid.

Parenting is an art, not a science. Being there for your kids means way different things for different people. Both my husband and I worked full-time throughout their childhood, though my consulting career in marketing took a back seat to parenting, which basically killed it. (Running your own gig is like nurturing children—requires focused time and effort.)

By my kid’s measure, I’ve been present, available, attentive to my kids since their births, my focus on them, their needs first. I was lucky our combined income and investments allowed me to do so. Many parents can not, or choose not to make their progeny their highest priority while pursuing their own greatness. They raise latch-key kids who must fend for themselves for the most part while both parents work. With no safe harbor, children grow up afraid, resentful, angry.

My sister basically abandoned her kids to her nanny and our mother while she played tennis and traveled with her husband. And both her kids are angry, lost adults. Other parents are poor role models, instilling racism, blind faith, hate into their kids.

My life’s purpose before kids was clear, and simple really: to raise kind and productive people, and instill in them a desire to do the same. And so I have. But they are not one of many in a kinder, wiser, more empathetic gen, they are an anomaly. Regardless the safe harbor I provided my kids, they grew up lonely in a neighborhood where children were indoctrinated with religion from birth, often racist and mean-spirited, and focused on themselves and what they could get instead of give.

So much for my Utopian dream.

My kids are now adults, in their mid-20s finding their own purpose, creating their own lives. I have the time to indulge in the writing career I pivoted to when they were young. I have the time, but lately I seem to have lost the inclination to write anything beyond blogs. And if you read my essays, you’ll notice the tenor of my posts lately—I am completely and utterly lost, without purpose.

It’s not classic empty-nest syndrome because I worked while raising kids, so they weren’t my entire life, just my first priority. And I have many interests to pursue, from writing to mentoring to traveling, even becoming more intimate with my husband of 30 yrs. So why every morning when I wake up do I lay in bed for half and hour wondering what the hell I’ll do today, and even if I come up with something I’m wondering the point in doing it at all.

I can’t make humans kinder with my writing. No one can motivate or legislate anyone to care beyond themselves. The best I can do is entertain, and we’re already flooded with entertainment choices a lot less heady than mine, which is why I’m read by mostly intellectuals, engineers, math heads, professors—people who think more than just believe. While I’m grateful for my readers, I don’t have many and have a hard time getting them in a world that prefers mindless entertainment. And it isn’t fun for me writing meaningless crap. So daily, when I sit down at my desk and the cursor is blinking at me, I wonder what the point is in continuing to write.

I could go back to teaching entrepreneurs how to create sustainable startups, but a decade of doing so at Stanford and Cal Berkeley was a lesson in futility. Students want to build their ideas more then walk the tedious process of how to sell them. And most of their offerings were iterations on middle-men SaaS money grabs—drop-shipping on Amazon, or sites like Realtor or Robinhood, or yet another ‘AI-curated’ media site.

By my mother’s example, I was raised that our purpose in living was to serve—our family, our community, our planet. Most were taught, often by example, to serve themselves, which is why we have Instagram, corrupt CEOs, oligarchs, politicians, and ‘good people’ on their cellphone while driving causing 14% of fatal crashes in 2024. I grew up with a life’s purpose—to contribute to reaching humanity’s amazing potential—but I no longer believe in it.

What to do from here…

What is Your Value

by jcafesin, posted in Uncategorized

Ever felt like you are nothing?

Valueless. Transparent, like no one can see you. And you’re screaming truth, cited facts, pouring your heart out, jumping through hoops to be noticed, heard, but you’re still ignored, marginalized. Worthless.

Ever feel invisible to everyone, even your reflection? Like, ‘who are you?’ when your eyes connect in the mirror.

Sometimes, when people say my name, I don’t know who they’re talking to, as if Jeri isn’t me.

I get most people reading this won’t understand what I mean—how it feels to feel like nothing—unless you are an artist, a depressive, or a realist. I’m all three, sadly. I’m also an idealist—profoundly awestruck by our creativity and ingenuity—and consistently disappointed by how often I, we, fall short of our amazing potential.

When I go black, my daughter and a few dear friends try to pull me back into the light by listing my accomplishments. Never works. The life I’ve lived—most of what I’ve done, from raising kind kids to navigating a 30 yr marriage to an autistic man, to a career in entrepreneurship and education, to fine writing novels and short works—seems so…small. Insignificant, touching so few. Like my mama, somehow I wanted to matter to more than just my kids.

Where do you get your value? Most people likely don’t dwell on this question. Sleep. Eat. Work. Play. Pay bills…etc., most don’t philosophize much after college when real life takes over. Beyond the overworked and the apathests who don’t ponder, as an artist and an idealist I’ve often wondered why some seem to be born with an inner confidence [I sorely lack], or a delusional self-image [I do not wish to attain].

During my dating years, most of the men I met ‘were at a great place in their life,’ and touted they ‘liked themselves,’ (with or without a partner). Ok…sure, but why? In my 20s, many were beer-bellied, broke, and living in a shared flat or still with their folks. By my mid-30s, most were middle to high earners, but were pudgy, balding, divorced and blamed it all on ‘that bitch,’ instead of seeing their fault in the marriage.

Met up with a new friend last week. Over chips and tacos he told me how he ‘only dates beautiful women.’ And they better have ‘chemistry’ when kissing, and be willing to get laid pretty quick into the relationship or he was out. He had to be kidding. He’s 72 yrs old, balding, in creaky shape with new hips and other health issues, divorced twice, in education all his life so not well off, living in a sketch part of town. For some reason it eluded him why the women he met didn’t want to come to his place.

Does Elon Musk think he’s great because he’s the richest guy on the planet? Or is he delusional that he’s an inventor when he hasn’t invented literally anything except the Cybertruck, and that ugly, hulking metallic piece of shit is an abject failure in the auto industry with plunging sales since its 2023 launch.

Does being rich, or a CEO or high-paid exec of some oil company, bank, or venture capital firm make you valuable? A Silicon Valley colleague and friend seems to think so. He recently held a conference matching founders to VC and was very impressed with the caliber of the executive panelists. Extensive research plays that from Elon to the head of Chevron, most who’ve risen to the top of the corporate ladder are psychopaths.

Psychopathy, according to Psychology Today, involves being impulsive, not troubled by anxiety, nor by feelings for others. It includes being aggressive, ready to assign blame to anyone but oneself, yet also able to manipulate and influence others. Does this not sound like Peter Darbee, CEO of PG&E? He defended millions in executive bonuses rather than investing utility profits into repairing the frayed pipeline that exploded in San Bruno destroying 38 homes and burning eight people to death. And I’ll bet you Peter still thinks himself valuable—intelligent, accomplished, savvy—even beyond his $35M exit package six months after the fire he let happen.

Had parathyroid surgery recently. The surgeon assured me in effusive detail that he was ‘absolutely sure’ only one of my parathyroids had a tumor and the surgeon at UW Medical was wrong in her diagnosis of hyperplasia. Turned out, UW was right. When I woke from surgery, the surgeon had removed two and a half of my four parathyroids. What made him so sure he was right, especially with evidence from multiple tests done at UW showing more than one tumor? Why was he so sure of his assessment over UW’s? What on earth made this man such an arrogant prick? Not once in post op, or in the follow-up a month later did he apologize for his diagnostic mistake. And I’ll bet you that doc never, ever questions his value.

I’ve been slamming myself as long as I can remember—suffocated by the weight of self-doubt and self-recrimination. Started with my family constantly putting me down—my mother insisting looking ‘put together’ would win me friends and later dates. My father assured me women were meant to be seen, not heard, and I’d better act demure with men or I’d be single the rest of my life. I could blame my lack of self-image on my parentage, but really? I could call out my husband of 30 yrs for ignoring or forgetting 80+% of what I say with what he didn’t want to hear, blaming me or colleagues instead of taking responsibility for his fuck-ups, but that’s autism.

My lack of self-esteem didn’t come outta nowhere. Failing to be a trad woman by my parents’ reckoning, and feeling invisible in my marriage certainly hasn’t helped my self-image any. Nor has my limited success as an author. Fine writing—fiction, short works, biz books—for over 20 years and I have just over 12,000 followers on my socials collectively. And no, for folks who don’t know, that is not good.

“Did I make a difference?” my mother wept on her deathbed. “Did I even matter?”

She meant beyond her kids, her husband and a few dear friends. She wanted to make a difference to the world outside her limited sphere, and she did as a marine science educator of So. Central elementary kids. But I get how she felt. I, too, want to be so much more than I am, and have been—be kinder, more patient, nurturing, less anxious and afraid. I want to reach more readers—encourage thinking and questioning, invite engagement and authentic communication.

Winston Churchill explicitly told his private secretary, Anthony Browne: “I have worked very hard all my life, and I have achieved a great deal—in the end to achieve nothing.”

In the days leading up to his suicide in 1890, Vincent Van Gogh told his brother, Theo, “he had failed, as a man and as an artist.” He sold only three paintings his entire career. (Kind of like an author today having only 12,000 followers after writing to be read for over 20 yrs, says the voice in my head).

“You’re your own worst enemy,” my husband tells me. And ofc, he’s right. For our first decade together, he, too, thought his shit didn’t smell—literally, he used to tell me he couldn’t smell the stink he created in the bathroom. Until recently, he was sure of his own rightness, certain his thoughts and opinions were based in reason, which is why he didn’t listen to mine. He assumed he understood his feelings and the actions (or lack thereof) they motivated. Thirty years of marriage and nine therapist later (some for years), he’s just beginning to acknowledge the black box of his mind that allowed him to live in delusion.

I have a hard time with delusion, which is likely why I see me as I am at times—nothing. Those moments I’m so wrapped up in my dark pity party I can’t see that essentially, we all are. Regardless of our contributions in life—an Insta influencer with 10M followers or Einstein—all of us make very little difference beyond our small sphere. We will be missed by few upon death, and only for a short time, then forgotten.

Reminding myself that it simply doesn’t matter if I matter beyond the lives I touch directly, and that life is a collection of moments and to make them as pleasurable as possible brings color into black. Present with those I care about who care for me, or immersed in the process of writing, engaged with my creative muse conjuring worlds and the people in them, I forget about feeling like nothing.

Then the voice of doubt that I’m writing crap and no one will read me anyway creeps in while I’m staring at the blinking cursor and the blank space after it…

Most Everything I Know About People I Learned from Driving

by jcafesin, posted in Uncategorized

I’m born and raised L.A. and have been driving since I was 14. And yes, illegally, but growing up in the 70s, if you wanted to go anywhere in the Los Angeles area, you had to drive there. There was no Metro Rail back then, and the buses weren’t safe for young girls, or anyone else really, and they were never, ever on time.

If I average out the time I’ve spent behind the wheel — from cruising most of So California until my first full-time job at 16, to crossing the Hollywood Hills at a snail’s pace, or sitting in traffic on the 101 or 405 going to school or work daily, to road tripping 1000 miles to Colorado every year for Christmas — best estimate, collectively I’ve spent a quarter of my life driving. And over the last 50 yrs, I’ve learned a ton about how people think by the actions (or lack thereof) they initiate behind the wheel.

To get good at anything takes practice, which is why most who’ve driven with me would say I’m a skilled driver. Scary, for sure, but I move through traffic smoothly, quickly, often getting to destinations an hour or more ahead of Google’s estimates. I can’t sit in my car on my cellphone, or space out behind the wheel like the Tesla or VW driver crawling along in front of me. Navigating traffic is a game, a psychological study weaving in and out, squeezing into open spaces, always looking ahead for what is going on, and around me for opportunities to move.

I’m not a defensive driver as the DMV handbook suggests. “The #1 rule of driving,” I told my kids when I taught them to drive: “Stay away from other drivers.” To accomplish this, especially in L.A. or any major city, one must be an aggressive driver.

The trick is knowing what type of vehicles to squeeze in front of, when to cut into a long line and what cars aren’t going to let you. It’s understanding who will chase and harass you if you cut them off or race them out, who to let pass, how to lose the idiot pacing you in your blind spot. A quarter of my life driving, and all these years behind the wheel has provided me a window into the psychology of the drivers of most every major automotive brand.

BMW drivers are categorically the worst on the road. Ranks #1 for total negative infractions* (tickets or crashes). Demographics of an average BMW driver (all models) tells us about them:

  • 70% Male
  • White, then Asian
  • Early-to-late 50s
  • Affluent
  • Highly educated

These are generally arrogant men, born of privilege yet internally angry, going through a mid-life crisis after achieving their financial and familial goals, but now, maybe even still, feel empty. They’ll cut you off in their M or 3 Series BMW sports models, then slow down in front of you while on their phone, completely unaware, or don’t even care there’s a line of 20 cars backed up and pissed off behind them.

Cut off or squeeze in front of a BMW driver, and most won’t chase or ram or shoot you. They’re not really paying attention to you, or driving, which is why you want to stay away from them!

RAM drivers are ranked #2 for worst drivers on the road. The RAM 3500 also has the ominous distinction of being the #1 deadliest vehicle, responsible for the most fatalities in the cars they hit. Their demographics tell us why:

  • 80+% Male
  • 70+% White, then Hispanic
  • Mid-30s to early 60s
  • Middle or above income
  • Careers in construction, agriculture, military
  • Politically conservative

These are MAKE MEN GREAT AGAIN followers. Pay attention on the road, and you’ll notice many RAM trucks with American and Support Police flags, or vote for [not my] pres stickers plastered on their bumpers and back windows. They’re generally disenfranchised men, often kids who failed out of school and became veterans, or are running small businesses on tight margins. They’re prone to flash anger and violence, and are gun rights advocates, so don’t piss them off behind the wheel.

Do NOT cut off, race out, or move in front of a RAM truck. Most drivers will harass you — follow too close, flash their lights, put on high beams, or worse. I’ve had a RAM truck race me out for 20 miles after I went around him going too slowly in the fast lane on I5 driving from the Bay to L.A. I’ve had another RAM driver pace me for miles so I wouldn’t pass him, then roll down the passenger window and point a gun at me, though he raced away without pulling the trigger.

Tesla drivers rank #3 for infractions, averaging approx 43 total incidents per 1,000 drivers. While Tesla commands over 50% of the EV market nationwide, owners are concentrated in very specific areas of the country. California has the highest Tesla sales holding half a million registrants. Florida and Texas are far below, followed by Washington. And as a SF native, and part-time resident of Seattle, I’d personally rank them #1 for worst drivers on the road. Two distinct demographic groups tell us why:

  • White Males
  • Asian/Indian Males (35–40% market share in SF and Seattle)
  • 25–50 years old
  • Single/Divorced
  • Highly educated
  • High earners
  • Careers in tech or medicine

First, you have the Driving while Arrogant issue. These are the privileged elite, and they know it. Wear it. Live it. Next is the ‘Driving while Asian’ (DWA) problem, the colloquialism known for a reason — Asian drivers tend to be slow, cut you off frequently, and seem rather unconscious of those around them. Add to this that these Tesla drivers thinking they own the road we all share, and it’s best to steer clear. Passing them is fine. They’re so busy on their oversized monitors or cellphones, they won’t notice.

The 26% women who own Tesla’s that aren’t a replica of the above males, are Woodstock nostalgics — with bumper stickers that say, “I bought this before Elon went crazy.” They’re too blank to know Elon was always crazy, and they’re not saving the planet with an EV because 83% of energy consumption in the US is still fossil fuel, and 58% of that is for the electricity fueling their Tesla’s.

Five decades behind the wheel has shown me the psychology of the driver by the vehicle they chose.

Speeding this along…

VW is ranked #4 for worst drivers on the road. They are one of the few car brands purchased almost equally by men and women (depending on the model). And you know their spacey drivers — the dippy 20 to 30-something putting on makeup or gaily chatting away on her cellphone completely oblivious to you, or anyone else on the road.

Cut them off, even flip them off and they generally don’t notice. If they do, they may give you the finger back, taking no responsibility for going 55 mpg in the fast lane in a 65 mph zone, oblivious they’re creating a dangerous road hazard forcing traffic to move around them.

Suburu is ranked #5 on the list of worst drivers. Ever sat behind a Suburu mom going exactly the speed limit with no one in front of her while she’s handing juice boxes to the kids in the back seat? And these are the safe Suburu drivers — with the fewest accidents, though they likely cause many with everyone passing them. Pass them, for your safety, and theirs.

The #5 rank comes from the Crosstrek and Impreza models. Both hold standalone crash rates where approx 10% of drivers have an active accident claim on their record. These are often young, first-time car buyers, and closely split by gender, urban college students, young professionals. The Problem with 20-something Brains, on Substack. Reading the post should cue you in on best practices for dealing with these drivers on the road.

Averaging 3 hrs a day behind the wheel and on the road with other vehicles, I’ve learned most drivers suck. Whether arrogance or ADHD, most drivers aren’t paying attention to the act of driving, which is why I taught my kids the #1 rule when operating a motor vehicle is to stay away from other cars! Colliding with a BMW or Tesla driver on their phone running the red light or cutting in front of you for that parking space at Trader Joe’s is statistically likely, while hitting a tree or one falling on your car is not.

To become a competent driver, and not just in your own mind, for everyone’s safety, and to lower our skyrocketing insurance premiums, PAY ATTENTION TO DRIVING! Note the psychology of the drivers behind the brands they drive, and act accordingly. But regardless of what you drive, here are some tips (not in the DMV handbook) from a seriously skilled driver with 50 yrs behind the wheel:

  • GET OFF YOUR PHONE.
  • Stop playing with your navigation (music, maps…etc).
  • Pass cars that go too slowly, or SUVs and trucks that impede your vision forward.
  • MOVE OVER to let cars pass who want to go faster (even exceed the speed limit — you are not a cop!).
  • DO NOT PACE other vehicles, especially in their blind spot. Give them a chance to move quickly should they lose a tire or want to avoid something in the road.
  • Stay away from other vehicles!

Road rage doesn’t come outta nowhere. It’s created by bad drivers.

—

Top 20 Car Brands — Total Negative Incidents per 1,000 Drivers
(“Negative incidents” = speeding tickets, DUIs, at‑fault crashes, non‑injury collisions, reckless driving citations, other moving violations.)

  1. BMW — 44.9
  2. Ram — 44.7
  3. Tesla — 42.8
  4. Volkswagen — 40.6
  5. Subaru — 40.3
  6. Acura — 39.6
  7. Infiniti — 38.8
  8. Mazda — 38.2
  9. Hyundai — 37.8
  10. Kia — 37.5
  11. Audi — 36.9
  12. Dodge — 36.7
  13. Chevrolet — 35.9
  14. Ford — 35.7
  15. Nissan — 34.8
  16. Toyota — 33.4
  17. Honda — 32.9
  18. GMC — 32.7
  19. Chrysler — 31.8
  20. Buick — 30.4

*CITATIONS
While the citations below confirm stats in this post, this essay is meant to entertain and enlighten, not infuriate. And even if you’re driving one of the above mentioned ‘worst drivers’ on the list, YOU aren’t one of them, right? ;-}

Vehicle Infraction List (accidents, tickets, DUIs):

BMW stats:

RAM stats:

Tesla stats:

VW stats:

Suburu stats:

Energy stats: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us.php

Marketing to Believers

by jcafesin, posted in Uncategorized

Do you believe in God and Jesus?

Why?

Likely because your mother taught you to — marketing to you throughout your formative years the benefits of belief:

  • Community
  • Solace
  • Salvation

Your beliefs were marketed to you through holiday celebrations, and maybe Sunday school and prayer. Even if mom, and/or your dad, didn’t directly push their beliefs onto you, they likely sold your religion to you via example: crossing themselves when hopeful; saying (and believing) “thank god,” instead of giving the credit to the person or people who brought about whatever they were thankful for.

Religion is a PRODUCT. Always has been — a way for the few in power to control the masses. Christians, Jews, Muslims, and all major religions have become successful, thriving businesses through MARKETING.

For most, your entire belief system is based on what has been advertised, marketed, and sold to you through your family first, then media, and likely your social circle — Christians hang out with other Christ believers, Jews with Jews, Muslims…etc., associate with their own “kind.”

Christianity is by far the largest held religious construct with 2.5 BILLION believers, almost a third of the global population.

By far, Christianity produces more marketing than any other religion. Like fake news, Christianity not only sells you on believing in the ethereal but also sells you on what to believe. They sell you on who and what to vote for, what you buy, and often who you shop from.

It is impossible to find real numbers on how much Christianity spends on advertising. Christian marketing pros make sure it’s a black box because they don’t want you to know they are spending trillions annually to sell you on believing, or concertizing your existing faith by selling you politicians, books, and businesses that megaphone Christianity. Christian books, too many to begin to count, Christian Superstores and Mega-Churches, TV and online evangelist, and movies like The Passion of the Christ, Noah, Heaven Is for Real, all are subtle (and not so subtle) marketing campaigns to convince you to become a Christian, or buy the products and services of Christian organizations if you are already a believer.

In fact, Christianity’s foundation is not God or morality. It is MARKETING. By Christian law, it is every Christian’s obligation to market — PROSELYTIZE Christianity to the world.

Most of you believe as you do because your belief system was manufactured and marketed to you continually throughout your life.

Faith-based marketing (FBM), generally Christian, is a strategy that recognizes the importance of religion to consumers. FBM attempts to tie an organization or specific product to a religion. Chick-fil-A, Hobby Lobby, Tyson Foods, Jet Blue, and the list goes on, associate themselves as Christian organizations to better market their products to the over $5.1 trillion a year spent by Christian buyers. Most of these companies use Christianity as a convenient cover story, but they do not practice Christian values. The struggling clothing retailer, and Christianity advocate, Forever 21, demoted most full-time workers to part-time status to avoid paying them medical benefits. This is typical for companies espousing Christianity. They market to your beliefs, quote the Bible to manipulate you into thinking they have any morality at all, to maximize your Christian dollars.

Passengers on Alaska Airlines received pocket-sized prayer cards along with their refreshments (until the backlash by customers threatened to hurt their income). Businesses that are not affiliated with any religion, like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Bank of America, Dairy Queen, McDonald’s, Clorox, Delta Airlines all sponsor MegaChurch events. 20th Century Fox has a division called FoxFaith that produces religious-oriented films, often sponsored by the companies vying for your Christian dollars, and the Republican Party (GOP Marketing).

Christianity has been marketing to Republicans since the mid-1950s. President Dwight D. Eisenhower spearheaded the phrase “under God,” be added to the Pledge of Allegiance, and the 1955 law requiring “In God We Trust” to be printed on all U.S. currency. Dwight was not religious, but saw the Republican base swung strongly Christian, so he converted to Presbyterian, was publicly baptized, and won reelection a year later by a landslide.

In the early 1980s, a coordinated effort by the executive director of the College Republicans for Ronald Reagan, Ralph Reed, Pat Roberson (700 club televangelist), and Jerry Falwell (Young Warriors for Christ) campaigned to Christians to turn them into “America’s most powerful Republican voting bloc.” He sent direct mail marketing to church mailing lists across the U.S. to convince them that ‘liberals,’ and non-believers were destroying America, and reminding the church members about their obligation to vote for candidates that espoused Christianity. And it’s worked!

Republicans are now THE party of Christians. During the Capital Riots, Christian signage was everywhere: “Jesus Saves!” and “God, guns & guts made America, let’s keep all three!” Most of the Capital Rioters were/are Christian ‘believers.’ Crowds chanted, “Shout if you love Jesus!” And the crowd cheered back, “Shout if you love Trump!”

Target-marketing to Christians, especially low — mid-income Christians, has exceptionally high conversion rates — gets these people to buy, try, and subscribe with each campaign.

Why?

Conservative Christians are way more likely to buy into marketing than any other target demographic.

But why?

It is pretty simple, really. People who choose to believe in fairy tales (like a virgin birth of a married woman, resurrection, and eternal afterlife with a judge at the gates), without THINKING— just believing, taking it on faith that their mother and society must be ‘right’ — are exponentially easier to convince to believe in anything, no matter how absurd. So, when Fox News and other conservative media flood the internet and TV with marketing claiming the ‘2020 Election is a fraud, and Trump won, not Biden,” Christians tend to believe it.

Looking for high engagement with your marketing? Target and SELL your products, services, and ideas (real or fake) to true Christian believers.