DigitalSoldier
Honorary Master
http://www.24.com/news/?p=ca&i=523023
Few people know that Karl Marx's great treatise against capitalism was written in the British Library during a heady, rapid-fire eight-year period during which he was simultaneously trying to complete an application form for a cell phone contract.
As all of us know, or at least all of us who haven't actually bothered reading it, Das Kapital, (or Capital as it's now called, in the same spirit that the Holy Bible is now called God's Book of Handy Tips), is a critical analysis of capitalism.
Driven mad by rage and frustration, Marx invented Communism TM. So effectively, everything from the October Revolution to Stalin's purging of millions of Russians, from the Vietnam War to apartheid, can legitimately be blamed on Vodacom.
Well, perhaps I go a little too far there. But as I sit staring in disbelief at this form that my mobile service provider has sent me, I can understand why someone would think that capitalism is one of the great evils of the world, or at the very least, damn annoying.
Why the hell does MTN need to know my car registration number in order to give me an upgrade on my contract? What gives them the right to ask me for my credit card numbers, and expect me to fax it off to them?
Some of these questions are bizarre. "Name and Surname" I can understand, "Gross Personal Monthly Income" I can understand, but "How Married"? I was tempted to put "By a drunk priest", but that would be untrue, firstly, and secondly - what the hell business is it of yours?
No you will NOT pass on my details...
And that's another thing - while I might be prepared to give all my most intimate information away to a soulless capitalist institution, even though I know that same information will immediately be sold on to "Our trusted partners" (i.e. anybody from Standard Bank to Joe's Easy Funerals and Previously Owned Coffins Emporium, as long as they can pay for it), I find it unacceptably rude when they ask me to provide someone else's information.
Few people know that Karl Marx's great treatise against capitalism was written in the British Library during a heady, rapid-fire eight-year period during which he was simultaneously trying to complete an application form for a cell phone contract.
As all of us know, or at least all of us who haven't actually bothered reading it, Das Kapital, (or Capital as it's now called, in the same spirit that the Holy Bible is now called God's Book of Handy Tips), is a critical analysis of capitalism.
Driven mad by rage and frustration, Marx invented Communism TM. So effectively, everything from the October Revolution to Stalin's purging of millions of Russians, from the Vietnam War to apartheid, can legitimately be blamed on Vodacom.
Well, perhaps I go a little too far there. But as I sit staring in disbelief at this form that my mobile service provider has sent me, I can understand why someone would think that capitalism is one of the great evils of the world, or at the very least, damn annoying.
Why the hell does MTN need to know my car registration number in order to give me an upgrade on my contract? What gives them the right to ask me for my credit card numbers, and expect me to fax it off to them?
Some of these questions are bizarre. "Name and Surname" I can understand, "Gross Personal Monthly Income" I can understand, but "How Married"? I was tempted to put "By a drunk priest", but that would be untrue, firstly, and secondly - what the hell business is it of yours?
No you will NOT pass on my details...
And that's another thing - while I might be prepared to give all my most intimate information away to a soulless capitalist institution, even though I know that same information will immediately be sold on to "Our trusted partners" (i.e. anybody from Standard Bank to Joe's Easy Funerals and Previously Owned Coffins Emporium, as long as they can pay for it), I find it unacceptably rude when they ask me to provide someone else's information.
