There was a time in journalism, way back when accuracy took precedence over agendas, that veterans would school the cub reporters with this bromide: If a woman calls and says she’s your mother, check it out.
Don’t presume. Don’t assume. Don’t trust single sources.
How trite this all seems as 2020 comes to a close and much of the news media has eagerly transformed into propaganda organs. If a single, anonymous source, supports the agenda, run with it. If a competently sourced story doesn’t suit the agenda, refuse to report it or, if that can’t be done, suppress it.
I had a head start on learning this type of now passe practice of digging for answers because the old man tended to answer requests for information with the general reply “Look it up yourself.”
Maybe he didn’t know the answer. Maybe he did. Either way, he thought it was better for me to learn to gather information myself. He was right.
All these years later, even after I’ve stopped doing this sort of thing for pay, the habit persists,
This is the roundabout way of getting into today’s inquiry: Why do so many charities set their requests at $19 a month?
Just the other night a cute kid on a television ad told me that donating $19 a month would show I cared.
So, $18 a month doesn’t cut it? How about $18.99 a month?
I wanted to know why $19 was magic, so I did some research.
Back in the day, I’d have needed to run to the family encyclopedias, or even to the library, to get my answer. These days it’s as easy as logging on to the internet, calling up a search engine and asking why so many charities request $19 a month?
Duckduckgo,com, my new favorite go-to for untracked search, didn’t pull an old man and tell me to look it up myself. Instead, it gave me many answers.
It’s not so much that $19 a month shows I care, but rather that most of us don’t care so much about parting with $19 a month. We would, however, think twice or more at $20 a month, no matter how worthy the cause.
People who set prices long ago learned the power of the nine. Gasoline prices end in 9/10ths. Car prices tend to be $29,999.99. Not $30,000, just $29,000 plus 999.99.
For similar reasons, many charities, and businesses, like to break down the cost per day. For example, that $19 a month can be stated in the minuscule amount of just 63 cents a day. Suddenly it all sounds so much less expensive than even $19 a month, or $228 a annually, which is $19 a month times 12, as in the number of months in year.
One source added that for book-keeping purposes and tax returns, the Feds require the charity provide written acknowledgment of gifts of more than $250 a year. The $19-a-month figures keep the total under the need for such paperwork.
This is not to say these charities, whether they are for ailing kids, wounded soldiers or suffering animals, don’t deserve the $19 a month or much more.
It just speaks to the way subtle psychological manipulation has infiltrated all corners of our society, whether it is used for purposes noble or nefarious.
As time passes, individuals are going to have a greater need to take it upon themselves to think critically about the messages they have conveyed to them by media, big tech and the government.
Sometimes you are being played like a fiddle. Don’t hand them the bow.
Sam Ross Jr's site 