The Benevolent Ones

I watch a lot of old TV shows on the over-the-air networks and the digital sub-channels that they provide in this bold new era. The commercials that run both during those shows and others more current are interesting. I'm specifically thinking now of the commercials run by law firms. I distrust any law firm that advertises on television. This is true for me also of religions and colleges. At the moment, it's the law firms that have my attention.

The ads tend to concern a particular matter on which the firm hopes to sue with you as a plaintiff. Without them, I wouldn't ever have heard the word mesothelioma. The firm always tries to impress upon you this selfless spirit of theirs. What a favor they are doing you by using the media in hopes of find you with this horrible problem and helping to fix it! It's all about the big settlement you can win to remedy your ills and then some.

There's very little about what they get out of it. We're to believe from their commercials that they mostly get a warm feeling insight that springs from the knowledge that they have done good in the world. Of course, I'd like nothing more than to believe that, but I have the sneaking suspicion that they have more financial motives for their crusading effort to punish the guilty on your behalf. I am guessing that they hope to make piles of money.

I'm not stating anything shocking here. This is all very obvious, and probably it's so much so that only I would even bother writing it down. I would like to think that no one would get taken in by something like that (as I'm assuming that no good comes from the enterprise), but they certainly would not run the commercials if they didn't fully believe it would be worth their trouble. They wouldn't believe that if it weren't true. What a downer it is that such things work in this world.