Offsetting Shame
by Tom Buchanan
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

For shame, for shame! It is too bad that we have removed shame from our society. It used to be that shame was a motivating factor for one to behave with dignity and honor. Today it is politically incorrect for anyone to feel shame because we must all have good self esteem and feel good about ourselves if we deserve it or not.

In the Middle Ages a rich landowner could relieve his guilt by buying indulgences from the church. Guilt and shame were for the poor peasants and serfs. Exposing the hypocrisy of the behavior of buying absolution for one's sins and shining a light on it resulted in stopping the behavior all together.

But, as everyone knows history will repeat itself if not studied. The idea of the rich buying their freedom from guilt has once again appeared on the scene, but this time is the religion of secular humanism and environmental purists that are keeping score and relieving the shame of bad behavior.

Today we are fully aware that we can do something about protecting our precious environment and about how gluttonous in using our natural resources we have allowed ourselves to become. In order to absolve ourselves we can now buy carbon-offset. This not only makes us feel good, but the rich polluters can snub their pointy little noses at the common folk.

Soon, this will become commonplace and we will be taxed to offset our carbon waste in all of the products we consume. Yes I said taxed. We will be taxed to the point that only the elite will be able to afford the good life. The environmentally green elite folks can now fly around the world in private jets and justify not bowing to the fear they proclaim that will fall upon the planet or practicing what they preach because, you guessed it, they can offset their indulgences.

In today's world we can communicate via the internet or satellite television. There is absolutely no need to show up in person when the world is on the verge of an environmental catastrophe. The only reason that one would thing that he is so important that he must show up anywhere around the globe is good old-fashioned pride. If the message of disaster were so important then the messenger would be insignificant.

Recently a major auto insurance company has begun advertising their “Green” program. The way it works is if you sign up with them they will donate $30.00 to Carbonfund.org. The claim is that the thirty dollars will offset the pollution that your car produces in a year. Now that should make everyone feel better, shouldn't it? What is really does is attempt to set the tolerance level of a new green tax that your state will impose on every vehicle annually.

While we are on the subject of cleansing our guilt why don't we look at other ways that we can feel better about by offsetting our bad behavior.

What if we decide to wear a plaid shirt with striped pants? Would that be a violation of fashion? Perhaps we could get a fashion offset that would buy clothes for the needy.

How about the PETA offset? If you eat meat or wear leather why you could feel good by making an offset donation to an animal rights organization. Don't forget, you could be made to feel guilty about owning a pet. Just contribute and everything will be fine.

Oh and we could start the obesity offset. If you eat too much you can feel good by donating to the fund to feed the starving children in China. Don't be shy, just go ahead and finish that bag of chips and leave no doughnut untouched.

Just think, we could apply this principle to traffic violations and other criminal behavior. Instead of paying that speeding ticket or the one for running that red light you could contribute the “My Way or the Highway” offset. You can get a bumper sticker that lets the police know you have paid your dues and you don't need to look in your rear view mirror for them.

There are plenty of other offset funds that we could support like smoking, gambling and other addictions. Why we could offset the guilt of being in the country illegally with an offset.

The most important offset we could contribute to is the Freedom Offset Fund, the FOF. This is the fund that would allow you to practice acts of individual freedom and autonomy and feel good about your self as long as you contributed to the Offset Fund For Socialism, or OFFS. But we really don't need the FOF because is that not what our present taxes are designed to do?

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