Politics

[kyrielle]

I have been posting less about politics than I've been thinking about them - even on Facebook, and I'm saying more there than here (only because it is simpler, which is sometimes a curse, but occasionally handy).

This is because I only have so much energy and stress-tolerance, and I'm trying to spend it on staying informed and taking action. Talking to y'all about it *mostly* isn't action. I doubt I'm likely to sway anyone reading this, and people who want to stay informed still have lots of ways, currently. All I can do is add to your stressload.

But just so everyone knows where I stand: I am a liberal bleeding-heart most of the time, and right now I'm in full Never Again mode. First they came for the Muslims....

And isn't it fascinating that apparently countries he has business interests in aren't as bad? That may be malfeasance, but it could be as simple as "well, but I *know* some of those guys" fallacy. Could be. I'm not going to try to judge which one because it doesn't matter; I don't like the action and oppose it.

Now to figure out what to do about the ACLU. I do support a lot of what they do...but I've refused to give them money since they "tracked my parents down" to my address *and phone number* after their death, and tried to call them for donations, and were assholes about the fact they were deceased. No one else who got the new address did a reverse-lookup on it, got the phone number, and called to try to reach me. NO ONE ELSE. Except the organization that's supposedly all about privacy and personal liberty...except to its donors, perhaps.

D***it. I'd love to give them some money, but I don't want to be in their database. Wish I knew a way to accomplish that.

Comments

[the_rck]

I'm already in their database if you want to send a donation via me.

But, good lord, that's terribly obnoxious of them. Actually 'obnoxious' doesn't cover it. The behavior is horrifying.

[kyrielle]

That's my problem with it, yes. I mean, they didn't argue with me that my parents weren't deceased (which is good, I would have lost it), but they DID say the only way they could have THIS number under my parents' name (which they had sold to someone else, I think? Memory is foggy on that detail now) was because my parents must have given it to them.

My parents never lived at that house, never had that phone number. It was only ever mine and Scott's. In no way would they have given it as their number to anyone.

_No one_ else who got the change-of-address notification that forwarding their mail caused, attempted to reach them at my number/used it. Whether or not they did a reverse-lookup on it. But of all the groups, the ACLU?

[technoshaman]

Send a money order (and perhaps a letter, handwritten if you have fair copy, at least signed if not) to the local affiliate office or to National. Tell them *why* you're donating anonymously.

(And I should do likewise, and also to Planned Parenthood, who can't seem to stop with the dead-tree spam...)

[kyrielle]

Ooo, point.

[erisiansaint]

If someone who you know and trust is going to donate anyway, give the money to them and explain the situation.

[kyrielle]

*nodnods* Makes sense, and I have a friend who has already volunteered (being already in their database). Now to figure out how much I want to give them. On the one hand, I think what they do is very important, especially now.

On the other hand, I also know they can be privacy-invading jerks, which...yeah. Plus how much I want to send elsewhere.