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Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Focus on the Family

posted by on January 16 at 10:58 AM

Shortly after Noel Black’s piece on how to get free crap from Focus on the Family ran in The Stranger back in August—much to the consternation of “ethical” progressives (this is war, people)—the Talibangelists at Focus stopped shipping stuff for free. This may or may not have been legal, as the group enjoys tax exempt status. It’s a charity, you see, not a business or—heavens!—a political organization. (That’s why Rev. Dobson “ruled out” John McCain as a Republican nominee for president last week.) So while they can accept donations for merch, they can’t charge people for merch as if they were Amazon or See’s Candies or ExtremeRestraints.

Well if you missed out on a free Chronicles of Narnia DVD after Noel’s piece ran, you’re in luck. The freebies are back on Focus on the Family’s website! But there’s one small catch. Noel explains it all for us over at Newspeak:

THE BAD NEWS: In order to get the free shit (i.e. enter “0” in the donation field when you’re checking out), you must enter a credit card number to validate your identity, which means that you have to enter a legitimate identity, or have the credit card number of somebody else….

As far as I’m concerned, there’s no reason not to give Focus your personal information. And it’s not like they’re just gonna start charging random shit on your credit card. Yes, you may get junk mail from them, and you’ll probably have to be judicious about the amount of shit you order, but no big whoop. If we can get even 1,000 people to order the Chronicles of Narnia CDs (probably the only truly palatable item) at what must cost them at least $30 a pop wholesale plus $5 shipping, that’s $35,000 plus that’s coming straight out of their pockets.

RSS icon Comments

1

sweet. i'm all over this.

Posted by seattle98104 | January 16, 2007 11:07 AM
2

You're right that this is a war. And in war, tactics matter and this is a bad one. Ultimately victory will be achieved by by conquering the minds and heart of the middle ground. Whatever we might gain in weakening the enemy financially, we cede in goodwill. This feel-good measure, like Dan's doorknob-licking incident, is counterproductive.

I am going to click on your link to ExtremeRestraints, though. I'm intrigued.

Posted by MoralHighGround | January 16, 2007 11:08 AM
3

Can't this be one of those wars where we kill the people, instead of giving them our credit card numbers?

Posted by Boomer | January 16, 2007 11:12 AM
4

Moral high ground? Please. These people are dedicated to the annihilation (in the political sense, if no other) of people like us. If these idiots want to bankrupt themselves by voluntarily giving out free shit, we should help them.

Posted by tsm | January 16, 2007 11:29 AM
5

Their accounting info is available on their website. They are not any where near going broke.

Posted by f | January 16, 2007 11:32 AM
6

tsm: You and I both recognize Focus on the Family as the enemy. The question is whether we should help bankrupt them *at our own expense* -- because this kind of maneuver on our part generates sympathy for their cause among the undecided middle -- and those are the folks who we desperately need to win over to win this war.

Consider this hypothetical: if you could choose between bankrupting the religious right permanently or changing the minds permanently of everyone to the left of them, which would you choose? The answer to that question clarifies the right tactics here.

Posted by MoralHighGround | January 16, 2007 11:44 AM
7

Who, in the name of God, would be stupid enough to put their credit card number down, even with the assurance that it's not going to be used?

Granted, these are xtian fundies, not high on the evolutionary scale, but still....

And this is what's really fishy: You don't need a credit card number to verify identity in a web transaction. You can do it via an address or phone number verification service, in real time. And the cost to the merchant is negligble. They use it at the company that just laid me off.

Posted by catalina vel-duray | January 16, 2007 12:09 PM
8

Maybe we could scavage through Mark Dricoll's (Mars Hill Church) and find one of his credit card numbers to use.....

Posted by Just Me | January 16, 2007 12:13 PM
9

Just make up a 16 digit number. If you don't charge anything, how the H-E double hockey sticks are they going to know?

Moral High Ground,

You're making a massive assumption that these foaming-at-the-mouth wrong wingers have minds to change. They don't, and they've made it perfectly clear that no reason, compassion or logic can ever get through to them.

And the people in the middle are either openly hostile or at best apathetic.

Posted by Original Andrew | January 16, 2007 1:23 PM
10

Since when does a charity have to give you shit for free? Next time I go to a church I'll walk out with a pew.

Posted by King Rat | January 16, 2007 1:28 PM
11

@9 - you can validate a cc number's accuracy through an algorithm (mod 10). This doesn't validate that the number itself has funds or hasn't expired, but all cc numbers follow a pattern. so a random string of 16 numbers may not work. depends on what they do their end with the cc number you entered.

Posted by charles | January 16, 2007 1:58 PM
12

Here are a bunch of numbers that will pass mod-10. If they only run the algorithm and don't verify funds any of these should work. If they're using it to "verify identity" then they're prolly checking them w/ the bank but they could be lazy.

Posted by charles | January 16, 2007 2:03 PM
13

Charles, I am giving you the Sweet, Sweet Boomer™ Love

Posted by Boomer | January 16, 2007 3:37 PM
14

#2). Yennnnh, eat a dick.

#3). Perhaps.

#5). Yeah, these fuckers make millions.

#6). What do you think they're going to publicize this? Besides, the lines have already been drawn, and sympathy for the fags ain't comin based on preemptive non-actions, i.e. they'll like us better for something they aren't expecting us to do if we do it.

#7). If they do fuck with your credit card, all the better: it gives you legal recourse against FOTF.

#9). Has anyone tried it?

#10). It ins't a church, it's a "para-church," and a non-profit, which makes their giving away of free shit requisite, if not a bit dicey.

#s 11-13). I have no idea what you're talking about, but let us know if it works.

Posted by Noel Black | January 16, 2007 5:19 PM
15

Original Andrew @ 9: I'm not assuming that the religious right is open to persuasion. Nor do I include those who are "openly hostile" as members of the middle whose minds are not yet made up. Many middle-of-the-roaders are apathetic, as you note, and it's our job to convince them why we're right and why it matters. That's hard work but it's the only way to win. Theatrical antics hurts that effort by making it look like we're the bad guys.

Posted by HighMoralGround | January 16, 2007 5:23 PM
16

HMG,

If it isn't abundantly clear already, let me spell it out for you. There may be a place for your holier-than-thou opinion on the matter, but this isn't it. If you don't want to fleece these festering shit bogs for the price of a Narnia DVD, then by all means don't. But shut the fuck up about it already.

Posted by Hey Falwell, where's my fucking Narnia DVD? | January 16, 2007 6:31 PM
17

4111111111111111 is the test credit-card number

Posted by xx | January 16, 2007 6:51 PM
18

A DVD costs $30 wholesale?

Posted by keshmeshi | January 16, 2007 7:52 PM
19

Dude, I've done it. Donated zero dollars for free shit. Quite a bit. I'm not gay. I am not on a higher moral ground than anybody else. I just think it's pretty funny. I don't find it wrong in any way. HMG doesn't seem to have a very good sense of humor. And Focus on the Family is a fucking dumb organization.

They're never gonna take a real hit from this financially. And the organization is to busy trying to turn people straight that they'll never do anything to combat the zero dollar donation issue. If anything, people that actually agree with and like FOTF will donate more because they feel upset that some "gay assholes" out there donate zero dollars. Everything evens out in the end and I feel some pride in making extra cash for doing nothing. Everyone wins.

Posted by Focus On This, Bitch | January 23, 2007 12:48 PM
20

I have been enjoying the CD set my friend got me from FOTF without the least bit of guilt or shame.

If they are sincere in the their mission, they should WANT me to have these products so they can convert my sinful soul.

Unfortunately, unlike them, I understand allegory, so that's not gonna work. But I do like the Narnia stories!

Posted by AA | February 5, 2007 6:54 PM

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