OIP: Why do you think big puffy coats are the trend?
Self: Um, I don't know...fashion?
OIP: No, it's because they're stuffed with cheap polyester so that clothing companies don't have to pay more to use real materials that actually keep a person warm, like wool.
Self: Oh...
...
Friend of mine: I'm so relieved that I'm done with those taxes.
OIP: Did you pay the higher or the lower amount?
FoM: I went to talk to the tax authority and they said I only owed the lower amount.
OIP: Pay the higher amount. They always say the lower amount and then notify you seven years later that you've been running up interest the whole time on the amount you didn't pay.
...
OIP: Take it from me as a farmer, all the panic about pesticides is in the hands of the chemical companies. As soon as the patent expires on a good pesticide or herbicide that has been around for forty years, suddenly you start seeing on the news how horrible it is, and it has to be made illegal so you're forced to buy expensive new ones.
Self: Yeah, I always try to buy organic stuff, you know, to not support them.
OIP: Ha! You're playing right into their hands.
Self: ...I don't see how the organic movement could possibly be in the service of big chem.
OIP: Of course it is! This way they channel all the people who could potentially lobby for less chemical use, or the use of only certain chemicals, into the totally unreasonable expectation of using no chemicals at all. They're even happy to make concessions for this small, noisy, niche market group. And once they've diverted all the most concerned citizens into a very small niche, they are free to charge ahead with merrily poisoning the rest of the population, passing off the concerned citizens as crazy, exacting, and elite.
Self: ...
...
Self: Well it sure is great that everyone recycles so much here!
OIP: Of course we do, otherwise we get fined. That way the city forces all of us to divide the valuable from the non-valuable trash for them for free, and then forces us to pay them so that they can sell it to companies who make horrible polyester clothing out of it. So the city and the companies make a tidy profit, and we do the work and pay them for the privilege!
Self: IS NOTHING SACRED?!