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LIVE
FREE IN AN UNFREE WORLD!
By Robert
Smith.
If you haven't already read it, then I suggest you get
yourself a copy of "How I
Found Freedom in an Unfree World" by
Harry Browne.
This book is a classic, and is now back in print.
What makes the book worthy of the description "classic"
is in the way it identifies two
ways to working toward change - the "direct
action" method and the
"indirect action"
method.
This is not a review of the book - but I would like
to elaborate on these alternative direct/indirect action
strategies, as I believe such an understanding to be
crucial to anyone seeking greater personal freedom.
Let's say you're sitting in front of the TV - and fuming
over the type of news you are being subjected to. Things
like: new taxes proposed, infringements on freedom of
speech, reports on how education is failing young people,
welfare abuse - and so on.
You get the picture - a typical week's fare of news!
Of course, a lot of people couldn't give a hoot - and
happily gulp down another beer, and return to their
life of grazing (as in sheep!) But if you DO give a
hoot, then you have a couple of options.
The most popular by far is to "do something about
it" by becoming politically active. By this I don't
necessarily mean joining a political party, but that
one can do "political" things - like writing
letters to the editor, or joining pressure groups.
Let's take one example. You're fed up with high taxation,
so you decide to do something about it by joining a
political party that promises to reduce it. You also
bring it up in conversations and join some tax-reducing
lobby group. Soon, many hours of your life are taken
up by these actions.
In this case, you would have subscribed to a strategy
of "indirect action".
Why indirect? Because all your efforts to reduce your
tax burden are put into "indirect" ways of
achieving it - things like letter writing, attending
meetings, delivering pamphlets, calling talkback radio
- all in the hope of persuading OTHER people to listen
up and do something about it. It is "indirect"
because your actions do not directly reduce your tax.
Now, politicians LOVE indirect action like this, including
the ultimate indirect action - the VOTE. They love it
because it saps your energy - without any corresponding
results. It makes you feel as though you are achieving
something - when you're not (well, not much anyway).
It is the ultimate energy-drain
and I am quite convinced this is a major trap for the
otherwise sane person intent on making his life freer.
Okay, let's look at the opposite strategy - direct
action. Using the same scenario - you're
fed up with high taxation - how would you tackle this
using "direct" means? Well, I'm sure you already
know the answer. You take whatever steps necessary to
personally reduce your own tax burden.
So, instead of diverting your
energy to letter writing, meeting attendances, talkback
phone calls etc, you direct your energy to finding out
and implementing ways to actually reduce your tax bill.
You might decide to do more
"cash" jobs. You may decide to open an offshore
account and start a tax-free nest-egg. You may decide
to get a very creative accountant to ensure you get
the greatest number of deductions. You
get the picture!
The argument in favor of "direct
action", rather than "indirect",
is that it takes far less personal energy to achieve
measurable results - that directly affect your own life.
As a comparIson: you could spend 5, 10, 20 years of
your life working for "change" from within
the system. And at the end you could fail miserably
- because the system is almost impenetrable.
Or, you could work directly to change your own personal
situation and see results in months - or a year or two
at most.
Let's take one more example: You're not happy with the
education your kids are receiving. The "indirect"
way of dealing with this could consist of any or all
of the following: join the school board in the hope
of bringing change; vote for a party that promises change;
write letters to the editor; argue with your teacher
friends, march in the streets - and so on.
Or, you could simply withdraw your child and place him/her
in a private school with a record of achievement, or
do the teaching yourself.
One strategy would actually impact on your child's education,
the other one would simply drain your energy.
Of course I can hear a dissident
voice saying: "But
isn't this rather selfish, only solving your own problem
- when you could be bringing about necessary societal
changes - for the benefit of all?"
Precisely. It is selfish - and rightly so. You have
every right to act in your own self interest. Your life
isn't long enough to take on the burdens of the world
- at the expense of your own or loved one's life. Think
of it this way: If you had a child who could die of
some hard-to-cure disease, would you rather direct your
energy to lobbying the politicians and medical profession
to get their act together - or put all your effort into
trying to save the life of your child (by seeking potentially
effective treatment)?
If you want to do a bit of both
- direct and indirect - because it makes you feel better,
then that's okay. But
be very clear, if its results you want, then you'll
achieve far more by directing your energy where it matters
- on your own life.
You can start to take direct
action by taking a good look at:
http://offshoreprofit.com
and http://freedomflash.com
By
Robert Smith, office@offshoreprofit.com
* Copyright 1999, Robert Smith,
OPC International, Inc.
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In
previous
issue, our column about "Control your desktop"
showed you how to perform back-up without additional
device.
In this issue let's see together
which important folders / files to back-up in particular;
using WINDOWS
COMMANDER and the extended "send to" facility
of Microsoft "PowerToys
for Windows 95/98" in order to have a safety-net
against possible disaster.
FOLDERS
/ FILES TO BACK-UP IN PRIORITY WITHOUT ADDITIONAL DEVICE
I have three partitions on my system: C:/; D:/; E:/
- I presume that you have the same.
You can easily back-up files and
folders from one partition to the other without the
need of any additional hardware; you need only your
partitions and the dedicated software I suggested
to you in the last
delivery of AFRICABIZ: WINDOWS
COMMANDER
C:\Windows
If you have enough space within your D:\ or E:\ partitions,
the first folder and the only one to back-up is: C:\Windows\
You may create in D:\ or E:\ a folder called for instance
"WinBack" in which you can transfer the totality
of C:\Windows using WINDOWS COMMANDER.
Open Windows Commander and drag the C:\Windows directory
into your D:\WinBack or E:\WinBack and after each installation
of a new piece of software you can update the "WinBack"
directory either by performing the same as above i.e.
dragging C:\Windows into the "WinBack" or
by clicking on "Mark" in Windows Commander
Menu tabulation and choosing "Compare Directories"
between the two panels of Windows Commander and implementing
the "synchronize" procedure.
This way of backing-up C:\Windows is great in case of
complete disaster if you have to re-install your operating
system in C:\ - Once the reinstallation is performed,
you can restore D:\WinBack or E:\WinBack into C:\Windows
and have your final configuration as it was before the
disaster.
C:\Windows\Application
Data\
If you do not have enough space in your D:\ or E:\ partitions,
you need to back-up at least C:\Windows\Application
Data\ into a back-up directory created in D:\ or E:\
That will help you keep (and easily restore) your:
-
Address
Book
- Email
system
- other
important user's data.
OTHER
FOLDERS
I
have a folder D:\Reserve in which I used to park all
the downloads I have performed; they are handy when
I need to reinstall any of them.
I also always perform a back-up and constant update
of my C:\Windows\Favorites folder from C:\ to E:\BackFavorites.
In AFRICABIZ next
issue, we will see the IMPORTANCE of Windows "Start-up"
disk; and the difference
between the "Start-up" disk set-up from Windows
95 and the one originating from Windows 98.
You may need these "Start-up" disks to perform
restoration of your system after a crash or reconfiguration
it if a nasty bug pops up and stops the booting of the
operating system.
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