--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_re...@...> wrote: <snip> > It *matters very much* to them what others believe; they are > so persistent sometimes *in* their sales pitches that one is > tempted to suspect that they actually receive a *commission* > for converting someone to their stance or cause or belief > system.
One wonders who might be offering Barry a commission for converting people to his belief that people whose beliefs matter to them are his spiritual inferiors. Judging by the number and frequency of repetitions of his sales pitches in this regard, the belief that he is spiritually superior to others is *terribly, terribly* important. <snip> > Just like prostitutes, there is a REASON they are standing > there on that street corner (or, metaphorically, standing on > their soapbox preaching at you and trying to "convert" you). > They GET something from selling their wares. The pros- > titutes get money; the prosyletutes get to shore up their > shaky beliefs systems by believing that they have > "converted" someone else to believe in it, too. Actually, in many cases those who promote their political beliefs have a pragmatic reason for doing so: the more people in favor of, for example, action against global warming, the more of a chance legislation instituting measures to fight global warming has of passing. It's also important to make a distinction between *selling* and *informing*. Many people are, like Barry, sadly ignorant of what their elected officials are doing. *Unlike* Barry, some of these people may welcome new information along these lines. And again pragmatically, the more people who are aware of Obama's apparent unwillingness to keep his campaign promises with regard to transparency or gay rights, for instance, the more pressure is likely to be put on him to mend his ways.
