Rick wrote, in part::
> "I think that the people who make money off of such [desperate] people
> are true bottom feeders making money off of the false hopes of dying
> people. I can't really blame the parents and people in the situation
> because that is all they may have to cling to . . . .
This comment reminds me, obliquely, of the ad that allegedly ran in the
National Enquirer several years ago. It offered a "herpes detection kit" for
about $10. The ad claimed that it"EVEN WORKS IN THE DARK."
A friend of mine, who notices such things, suggested that what you probably got
for your ten bucks was a cheap flashlight and some pictures of herpes lesions.
No false claim--the flashlight does in fact "work in the dark." But the appeal
is at best to a very thin hope that users might avoid herpes infection by using
it. My friend put this offer in the category of items he described as
appealing to the "mooches," folks who want an easy (not to mention
cheap) solution to a difficult, perhaps impossible-to-resolve, problem. Some
diet plans, as someone earlier pointed out, seem to fall into this category,
too.
Pat Cabe
**************************************************
Patrick Cabe, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of North Carolina at Pembroke
One University Drive
Pembroke, NC 28372-1510
(910) 521-6630
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
