So, I am about to leave for the dentist and I receive this e-mail: (Names omitted)
“Hello,
I represent a company called [NAME OMITTED] — a company that does what’s known as advanced search engine placement. We reach a network of over 22 million people who are predominantly US based. Our network is entirely opt-in, and the users on our Network allow us to present them with a preferred choice whenever they are looking for anything on the top sixteen search engines (MSN, GOOGLE, YAHOO, etc.) I seek one reputable source to send my clients on our Network to for organs for sale. I would like to speak with you on this.
“Please contact me at your earliest convenience. I will be in the office today and tomorrow from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Central time.”
Well, having been writing on the problem with organ selling, I get huffy and write back that I find organ selling to be unethical, so I doubt that my correspondent would want to talk to me.
I just received the following: “That was sent to you in error, we meant organs as in musical organs.”
Got me. Got me good. Funny.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
