Selling an Unknown

I confess, I'm frustrated. If you value anything I do, please read
this message.

Imagine if you were a salesman, and you had a product that you knew
would be really beneficial (to a life-changing degree, in fact) to
anyone who bought it, but you couldn't tell people what it was
before they paid for it. Wouldn't that be annoying?

Last time I checked, "The Most Dangerous Superstition" had sixteen
reviews on Amazon.com, and all sixteen gave it five stars out of
five. Two recurring themes among the comments have been: 1) pro-
freedom folk saying they didn't expect to learn anything new from
the book, but were pleasantly surprised, and; 2) people saying
that, having read it, they think it's one of the most important
books there is. Believe it or not, my purpose here isn't bragging,
and the point of this message isn't even about my book. It's about
the challenge of making something worthwhile, but having no way to
show people how much it would be worth to them until AFTER they buy
it--a salesman's worst nightmare (and I'm not even a good salesman
to begin with).

Well, that challenge is even more obvious with the "Escaping the
Myth" event I'm doing--the first one up in Michigan later this
month, and then hopefully similar events in New Hampshire,
Pennsylvania and Florida within the next two months. As much as a
lot of people have raved about "The Most Dangerous Superstition," I
think this event will blow it out of the water, when it comes to
changing people's paradigms effectively, quickly, and relatively
painlessly. Basically, I think it will do what 99% of freedom
advocates have decided can't be done: getting through to "normal"
people without making them plug their ears, run away, or have
tantrums.

However, the event is a lot harder to sell than the book, because:
1) no one has gone through it before, so there is no "word of
mouth" about it yet; 2) it takes a bigger investment of time and
money than buying and reading a relatively short book; 3) it's even
harder to convey what the event does, and what people will get out
of it, than saying "just read this book."

The first "Escaping the Myth" event is two and a half weeks away,
and so far there are only about a dozen people who have paid or
firmly committed to be there. Now, as many of you know, I don't
mind talking to even just one person, but because of the
interactive nature of this event, having less than twenty people
participating might make it less effective. (I'd still do it
anyway.) What's frustrating is that I know that there are literally
millions of people who, if they attended the event, would be very
glad they did, but I have no way to prove that to anyone ahead of
time, especially because no one has done it before.

Anyway, the best I can do is tell people that if they attend, and
the event doesn't change their view of reality, I will give them
their money back. (Those on my list may recall that I did that with
TMDS when it came out, with overwhelmingly positive results.) But
who I really want at the event are all the "normal" people (not us
weird folk who obsess about philosophy) who think that their view
of reality is already just fine, and their assumptions, beliefs and
actions are perfectly good and proper. In other words, the people I
MOST want to be there are the LEAST likely to think they need what
the event can give them.

So this is my final plea to this e-mail list before the first
"Escaping the Myth" happens, to do whatever you can to nudge a
"normal" person or two into being at the Michigan event. If they
learn nothing, they pay nothing. And, of course, it's even better
if you can come too, and keep your "normal" friend or family member
company. If you're a paid subscriber to the "Iron Web" thing, you
actually get in free if you get someone else to sign up. But now
I'll also add this: if you're on my e-mail list, and you get
someone else to sign up, you can get in yourself for $40. (This
deal applies only to the event in Troy, Michigan, on July 21 and
22.)

So, that about wraps up this pathetic beg-a-thon. I am confident
that those who attend "Escaping the Myth" will be very glad they
did. And the other six or seven billion people won't know what they
missed. For more info, or to purchase tickets, go to
www.larkerose.com. I also made a short YouTube thing about it, if
you want to forward it to any Michigan-area folks you know:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdYwEX-ViVA

Sincerely,


Larken Rose
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Supreme Court of Retroactive Tyranny Justification

Dear Subscriber,

A few people asked me for my take on the recent ruling upholding
Obama's Commie-Care. So here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNZV7TrWVX0

(Incidentally, I JUST posted it, so if the link doesn't work, try
it a little later. It sometimes takes a while to appear across the
whole network.)

One thing I thought of after posting the video was this:

Since it's a basic principle of "law" that an unconstitutional law
is no law at all, and shouldn't be obeyed or enforced...

AND since four of the Supreme Court justices said the Act was
unconstitutional...

Why didn't they ALSO say, "so everyone should DISOBEY it"? For all
their self-righteous pontificating in the dissenting opinion (which
I agreed with), why end up by kissing butt and letting the
admittedly unconstitutional "law" stand? If it's unconstitutional
(as it obviously is), why not tell people to DISOBEY it? Come on,
Alito, Scalia, Thomas, where are your freaking spines?



Larken Rose
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Wanted: Detroit-Area Spies!

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Dear Subscriber,

If you: 1) live within 100 miles of Detroit; 2) have a PayPal
account; 3) have access to a color printer, and; 4) want to make a
little money for a little work, here's your chance.

I just finished a flyer advertising my "Escaping the Myth" event.
Unfortunately, I live six hundred miles away from where the flyers
need to be posted. So I'm willing to bribe people in central
Michigan a dollar a flyer to print them out and hang them up where
ever you think they might do some good: colleges, restaurants,
telephone poles, whatever (preferably in a way that doesn't get you
arrested). For starters I'll max the deal out at twenty flyers (and
twenty bucks) per person.

If you're interested, send me an e-mail (to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.),
I'll send you back the 3 megabyte PDF file, you print out twenty
decent-looking color copies (normal sized paper, glossy if you have
it), post them around town, and then I send you $20 by PayPal.
(I'll just believe you if you say you put up the flyers, and hope
you don't rip me off.) Yeah, the payment is kind of wimpy, but so
is the work, which shouldn't take much more than half an hour, even
if you dawdle. Any takers?



Larken Rose
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Wanted: Michigan Trouble-Makers!

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Dear Subscriber,

I confess, things like Twitter and Facebook left me in the dust. So
I could either slowly do a bad job of it, or ask YOU guys to do
something for me. Again, I'll be doing the first edition of
"Escaping the Myth" up in Troy, Michigan on July 21st and 22nd. I'm
sure there are lots of groups and lists of people in that area who
would like to hear about it; I'm just too technologically out-of-it
to know how to find them or get the message to them. So, if there
are any Michigan trouble-makers out there who want to take pity on
a "Facebook-challenged" doofus like myself, and forward the
following short announcement around, anywhere it might land in
front of freedom-loving Michiganders, it would be greatly
appreciated.

Sincerely,


Larken Rose
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- --------------------------------

WANT FREEDOM?

Do you love freedom? Almost everyone says he does. So why don't we
have it? The truth is that very few people, even among self-
described "liberty activists," fully understand what freedom is, or
why it is so difficult to achieve.

A significant change to human society requires a significant change
in how people think. For the last two centuries in the United
States, honest, courageous, well-intention advocates of liberty
have continually and zealously pontificated, protested,
demonstrated, petitioned, campaigned and voted, in an attempt to
achieve a truly free society. All the while, government power has
grown, and liberty has shrunk. Will two hundred more years of the
same approach result in freedom? No.

So, is there any hope for a free society? Yes. But it will require
a fundamental paradigm shift, even among those who already consider
themselves to be ardent advocates of liberty. This is because, as
things are now, almost everyone--conservative, moderate, liberal,
socialist, libertarian, or "political agnostic"--is unwittingly
helping injustice and hindering freedom, not because of any lack of
virtue or intelligence, but because of a fundamental
misunderstanding about the nature of reality (as strange as that
may sound). Of course, no one thinks that his own view of reality
is skewed. But if everyone focuses on finding fault with the
beliefs and assumptions of others, and no one dares to re-examine
his own beliefs and assumptions, nothing will improve.

Whether you're politically active or apathetic, and whatever you
now believe about science, history, religion, politics, philosophy,
or anything else, "Escaping the Myth" will dramatically change the
way you see the world. If you want to fully understand why tyranny
has so often defeated freedom throughout history--and how that can
and will finally change, without any election or revolution--then
be at this first-of-its-kind event. You will never see the world
the same way again.

"Escaping the Myth"
July 21 & 22
Somerset Inn -- Troy Michigan
presented by Larken Rose
(author of "The Iron Web" and "The Most Dangerous Superstition")

For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit:
www.LarkenRose.com

Off to Porcfest

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Dear Subscriber,

Tomorrow I hit the road and drive up to New Hampshire for the
Porcupine Freedom Festival, a.k.a. "Porcfest." With any luck, both
of the talks I'll be giving--and probably most of the other things
happening up there--will end up on YouTube, for all those who can't
make it there in person.

Whenever some statist whines, "Show me one place where anarchy has
worked," I think, "Roger's Campground, in Lancaster, NH, for one
week every year." Now, some might retort, "Yeah, but that's with a
bunch of people who already respect individual rights." Exactly!
That's why the cult of statism has to fall, and be replaced with
the universal understanding of self-ownership: so the whole world
can consist of people who respect individual rights.

And for anyone who hasn't been there, if you're imagining that
Porcfest is a gathering of people who all believe the same things
and have the same values, you're WAY off. I can't think of any
group I've ever seen with a wider diversity of moral codes, income
levels, education levels, religious (or anti-religious) beliefs,
lifestyles, etc. The one thing they all have in common is a love of
freedom. As a result, the drastically varied group gets along just
fine--no "authority," and no crime (well, no real crime--the kind
with victims).

So tomorrow I'm heading up there, without enough money to pay for
lodging for the week, or to pay for gas to get back. Uncertainty!
Surrounded by strangers, many of them armed! No guarantees! No
safety net! No "law enforcement" around! All manner of rebels and
anarchists roaming around!

And there is hardly anywhere else I'd rather be, and hardly
anywhere else where I'd feel safer. Anarchy rules.

Sincerely,


Larken Rose
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