Never give anything for “free”

11/04/2009 by AJ.

As I fast approach my next birthday, I’ve got to that stage in midlife where I start to wonder whether I would have done anything differently in the past.

Certainly in terms of looking back with the insight I have now, then if you had put the ‘me of now’ in the shoes of ‘me of then’ it’s very likely I would have.  I was never good at realising at exactly what point you are ‘flogging a dead horse’ and should drop something and move on.

However, the ‘me of then’ would NEVER have done anything differently.  Despite the fact that I could make a decision quickly, I would usually have stuck to it, unless someone could give me a pretty good reason to change course.  And that hardy ever happened.

So, I realise that what I did then is what makes me what I am now.  Very ‘Star Trek’ in outlook - it’s the painful memories as much as the pleasant memories upon which you continue to build your foundations and world view.

That said, there is one thing that I wish I’d got into sooner, and I wonder whether the me of, say, 15 years ago would have been intrigued enough to follow up and get a new interest.

I would love the ‘me of now’ to bump into the me of 1994 and point out some of the truth behind what was going on around us. Back then, there were no DVDs to quickly burn copies of and hand out.  Then it would have been third or fourth generation VHS tapes containing such material that these days absolutely cascades across the internet and on discs you can pick up on Amazon and eBay.

I could have seen myself watching a VHS in that scenario.  Probably less likely that I would have bought a book and got absorbed in it - my initial interest would have had to be attracted enough to it first, in order to devote that much effort to something.

15 years ago, I wasn’t political at all.  Labour and Conservative have never been on my scanner.  Liberals seemed fair enough until they became the Liberal Democrats, then that kind of blew it.  I have vague memories of campaigning back in the early 1970s (when my age would have been a single digit) AGAINST entry into the ‘Common Market’ - at the time when we were allowed referendums on such things.  Even at that age being part of Europe seemed a complete nonsense to me - Great Britain didn’t need it then, and there’s enough evidence to show that even in the 21st Century we would be better off out of the whole shooting match than remaining in an ‘institution’ (and so many definitions of that word apply in this case) that the majority of British people do NOT want to be part of.

So, politically speaking, I’ve been in a limbo for well over 20 years.  Basically, anyone who stands on an ‘out of Europe’ platform is likely to get my attention, but should there not be a choice, then I vote by scrawling on the ballot sheet “None of the above”.  That way the politicians don’t confuse my stance with apathy - yeah, if you don’t vote it’s because you couldn’t care less, rather than no-one actually making a strong enough case for my vote.  Ah-hem.

Which leads me to believe that, 15 years ago, I would have been interested if someone had come along and told me that the political left-right paradigm was phoney, that they were all masks on the same face, and that what we saw in the media was on the whole nothing to do with what was REALLY going on.  I would have been interested in following up and seeing what was being talked about.

And fifteen years ago, if there had been a VHS of David Icke offered to me, I would have been interested in seeing what he had to say.  Even back then I wondered what the hell he had said to have become so hated and ridiculed by the media.   The reaction seemed to be entirely over-the-top; and besides, if this man really WAS having a nervous breakdown, was this REALLY the best way to treat him? With the benefit of hindsight, it was probably because he is very persuasive in his debating, and the last thing wanted was people actually listening to what he had to say, rather than the media’s completely unfair version of his views.

Which brings us to where we are now.  The ‘me of then’ would have wanted the ‘me of now’ to give out materials and stuff to take a look at. DVDs in particular, as these often reference books and websites that you can then research further through.

I’ve given out dozens of ‘copyright free’ copies of DVDs that I have found enlightening, mainly because I would really like it if others broke through their programming and saw what was actually right in front of them.

The downside is that I KNOW the vast majority of these remain unwatched.  I try to think of these as little ticking time-bombs, waiting to ‘go off’ the moment they are viewed. However, for whatever reason, people I respect have decided that if I have given them something I think important, their reaction is not to watch it.

Despite it covering things they have expressed a view on, which shows they need to watch this stuff to discover an alternaive view of things.

One fellow truther said to me a few months ago that he has stopped giving out DVDs for free.  The reason being that if people received it for ‘free’ then they actually place no value on it.  This is not the case in other cultures, but here in the UK it is absolutely the case.

The problem is, if I was to ask for a pound to cover my production costs (DVD blank, pouch, printer cartridge ink), you then get pounded with the response “well, if it’s that important, why aren’t you giving them away?”

Damned if you charge, damned if you don’t.  As you may know, The Alternative View II is happening at the end of May in London.  A three day conference with speaker fees and expenses to cover, venue hire, advert costs, stationery, leaflets, event programme and so on.  And people make the excuse that they won’t go because there’s a registration fee to pay! “If it’s that important, it should be for free”.

Of course, even if it was, they still wouldn’t go - a bluff, basically.  Same sort of attitude as those who complain about having to pay for a DVD. If they are going to watch the DVD, they will be prepared to pay for it.  If they would be prepared to go to AVII, they’d be prepared to pay for it.

So, should you ever give someone something for nothing?  A dilemma, indeed. It may indeed only cost me about 25p a time to give someone a DVD, but that soon mounts up when you are giving out handfuls of them.

That said, it’s better they have something at hand for a rainy day that might just change their world view.

The ‘me of then’ would have taken the documentary from the ‘me of now’ and may not have watched it immediately.

But the ‘me of then’ WOULD have watched it at some point.  And then the sparks would begin to fly.

I just hope that the people I trust with free DVDs in the here and now will do the same … because I KNOW the ‘me of then’ could have been so far ahead of the game if I’d had an extra 15 years to find out what was going on, and the biggest secret is that it’s never too late to jump aboard and seek out the truth!

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