Why the Quotes?
"I quote others only in order the better to express myself." -- Michel de Montaigne
Why does LIFE sometimes send out emails that are a long series of quotes? Evidence not opinion.
"Conscientizing quotes" are a way to present evidence that people can use (or ignore) to challenge destructive economic rules and make possible life-cyle economics.
Evidence is different from opinion. Evidence is demonstrable. For example, when there is a quote stating the Fraser Institute is a registered charity, you can check for yourself either on the website of the Fraser Institute or on the Revenue Canada website. You can then contrast this fact with their "free market" advocacy statements. Most people would notice the grand canyon sized gap between their advocacy of sink or swim in the "free" market while at the same time they beg for state approved charity donations.
By creating a series of contrasting quotes, people can decide for themselves if economic and political assertions have any validity. It is showing what the rule-makers say (straight from the horses mouth) and also showing evidence that then hoists them on their own petard using their own words.
The quotes are not random, but have been carefully chosen and put in a particular order to present evidence that people are free to use (or ignore) to defend themselves .
The vast majority of people in the world did not make up the economic rules that everyone must sell a product in the market to live. Presenting evidence disputing invalid economic rules is a way to defend yourself in the court of public opinion.
Billions of people in the world have been deemed guilty of being unproductive and have been sentenced to live and die in poverty. It should be up to governments to prove that there is a living wage job for everyone who needs one. It should not be up to people surviving without livable incomes to prove they deserve to exist.
Using evidence-based conscientizing quotes may especially be useful for people who, for reasons of illness or disability, lack of writing confidence or typing ability, want to participate in resisting the economic dictums and fallacies that harm their lives.
It is also a form of grassroots research where people from positions of limited power can "conscientize" those with more power by presenting them with a collection of sourced evidence in the hopes that they will join in defending billions of people who have been sentenced to lives of poverty.
LIFE- Aug. 2007.
Some examples:
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See also the letter to PAR-L over their censoring emails with more than 5 quotes.
