The Runaround

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That doesn't really have anything to do with anything.

But, this does. It's not something that you may really feel very strongly about, but it just happens to be in my face right now, so I can't help it. I'm working on a program about identity theft and, as such, I'm perhaps uniquely sensitive to the subject. Not so much in the "how do I keep people from taking my identity and stealing all of my financial geegaws" sense of things, but more in the "why are so many financial institutions so invested in selling protection from this to consumers?" In the program I'm working on, the presenter makes an interesting point in that the only people who can really control identity theft are the companies that are responsible for issuing the credit in the first place. And those same companies turn around and sell the ability to protect us from what is -- in essence -- their own craven greed or blunt incompetence. Either way, it seems, actually kind of criminal. It's like you're giving these companies your trust and they're basically in the business of betraying it and then selling it back to you as some kind of competitive advantage over other companies in the same business. Want fraud protection? Sign here! When, in reality, what they ought to say is, "Want real fraud protection? Don't give anything to us, we'll just handle it carelessly, or better yet, sell it to some borderline psychopath who will impersonate you and buy a lot of hummel figurines for his shrine to Orgatz, God of the Unholy Spork Festival. Or something. I think I kinda got lost in the ramble again. I do have to watch out for that.

I'm also working on a program about gay marriage. That's far more emboldening in the whole "human spirit" kind of thing. If I balance the programs properly, I'll be equally paranoid and uplifted. Which may not be a good mixture at any rate.

I really, really feel strongly, though, that the word "geegaw" needs to make a serious comeback. I'm hoping that someone will work it into street slang or something. Maybe I could get a tv show on MTV called Pimp My Geegaw.*

*Note to unfamiliar viewers: I don't actually watch MTV, so I'm mostly making statements on the basis of hearsay, conjecture, and promotional trailers.