Exception to two rules
One of those jury duty scams is going around lately. Letters or phone calls that seem legit, telling you to pay a big fine to the scammer because you skipped jury duty.

"Local" fake news media were warning people about it, but not giving the information you REALLY need to counter it.

I thought about leaving a comment on the fake news story to add the appropriate knowledge, then decided against it.

This fits nicely into one big rule, and is an exception to two others.

= = = = =

Fits nicely: Real experience is the only source of knowledge. The notion of jury duty given by "education" and mediasatans is almost entirely wrong. The basic visual image is okay: You sit there during the trial and you deliberate afterwards. All the rest is wrong.

= = = = =

Exception 1: The best rule about scams is: You can't cheat a man who checks carefully before responding to a threat or an offer. In this case you can't find out the facts by checking, so the rule doesn't work.

What's the important fact that you can't check? In this county (not necessarily elsewhere) there is no penalty at all for skipping the call. Only 40% of people who get the letter show up for service, and the cost of trying to fine or jail all the skippers would drown the court system. The 40% who do show up are the RIGHT 40% by self-selection, so everything works out. If everyone knew in advance that there's no penalty, the system would stop working.

I know this fact because I've been called three times, heard the intro lecture three times, ended up in the actual box once.

[Sidenote: You might doubt the scam because you don't remember getting a summons, but you can't really check that part either. Maybe you got the letter and accidentally tossed it as junk. Aside from your own errors, the post office is getting sloppier every day. Some neighborhoods are completely without mail service because the carrier doesn't like one of the residents.]

= = = = =

Exception 2: Normally I'm all for SHOWING YOUR WORK, but I'll make an exception in this case. I won't provide the missing information.

Why? As a result of the experience I know one other thing: Juries are the ONLY REMAINING PIECE OF GOVERNMENT AT ALL LEVELS THAT STILL WORKS. The only way a normal citizen can provide CONCRETE AND CONSEQUENTIAL FEEDBACK to the system. Everything else is fully fucked. "Elections" are worse than meaningless. Calling your "representative" just puts you on a blacklist. Sending money to a candidate is a total waste. Expressing opinions in public will ruin you or kill you. Only juries still function in a small way, and that small function is even more precious because it's the ONLY THING LEFT.

Labels: Experiential education

  ¶ 3:20 PM