04.25.08
Own Your Own Mind
I sat and watched vulnerable, desperate people running - runningto the back of the seminar room to waste money they didn’t have on junk that didn’t work and that they would never use. A woman in front of me burst into tears and told me that she had spent $1,200 the previous day on material that explained how she could buy properties all over North America with no money. She had been whipped up into an emotional frenzy by the smooth taking conman that posed as a caring mentor in the front of the room. She couldn’t afford what she had bought, she was in her fifties, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and earned minimum wage as a security guard, and she was single mother with two dependent children. Disgusting.
Here’s the worst part: some of these “seminar leaders” actually sell courses on how to manipulate peoples’ minds and emotions and have them spend money on overpriced rubbish, get then running like idiots to buy stuff at the back of the room, only to regret the purchase for years afterwards. Intelligent, well grounded people will not rush to be ripped off, so the victims are generally less intelligent and hardup for money, with poor self-esteem. THINK before you leap into an investment scheme or a tax saving deal. Get solid advice first. Don’t believe the discount stories and the scarcity pitches.
Ayn Rand said, “Rationality is the recognition that nothing can alter the truth,that reason is an absolute that permits no compromise - that the alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind. Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of judgement, that no substitute can do your thinking, as no pinch-hitter can live your life - that the vilest form of self-debasement and self-destruction is the subordination of your mind to the mind of another, the acceptance of an authority over your brain, the acceptance of his assertion as facts, his say-so as truth, his edicts as middleman between your consciousness and your existence.”
Do your due diligence before getting into a Joint Venture. Check peoples’ motives. Read between the lines. Don’t sign ANYTHING before taking the contract to your lawyer. Do not buy expensive things without sleeping on it first. Things look different the next day. Instead of crying, “WHAT DID I DO? I must be crazy!” Be glad that you had enough self control to consider the facts. And this manipulation is far more widespread than most people realize. Take control of your mind, be an independent thinker, and demand freedom.
The best way to maintain your rationality and objectivity in an increasingly manipulative world that operates sans conscience and sans consequence, is to pour realism into your mind by reading the right information, immerse yourself in the philosophy of Objectivism, and connect with like-minded people.
Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com
