"How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?"
-C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face -- forever."
-George Orwell
In this diary, PerfectStormer asks those calling the phone companies (to protest their cooperation with the NSA) to be nice to the call center reps they talk to. I certainly agree with this request. Certainly, one should be nice to people. I'm originally from Minnesota, after all. Being nice makes things more pleasant, and in most cases it's a better way to get what you want. Who wants to do a favor for an asshole? But something about this request for kindness brought up anger in me. I had the vague feeling that I was being had. Not by the diarist, whose earnest plea provoked sympathy. But by the circumstances which put a decent, innocent person in the path of my real and genuine anger. When we are angry with someone, we "tell it to their face", don't we? And what is a call center rep but the face of a corporation?
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