dispatches from the new world of work

Junk Man Speaketh Out

I can already imagine the Comments. But what the hell ...

I Am Junk Man.
I am ... Garbage Man.
My curiosity knows no limits.
My appetite for the Undesirable is ... Always Unsated.
I read everything.
I talk to everybody.
(I am the guy in the grocery store applauding the long line ... so I have time to get ... all the way through ... the Enquirer.)

I love the ... "unwanted," intrusive INTERRUPTIONS ... that are ... The Spice of Life.
(Of course I am ANNOYED by those Unwanted Interruptions ... BUT THEN I DISCOVER THAT THEY ARE THE BASIS FOR 99% OF WHAT I LEARN THAT'S COOL.)

I never know where an Inspiration will come from.
(I do ... KNOW ... KNOW ... KNOW ... it will likely come from an un-likely-"UNWANTED" ... UNSOLICITED ... quarter!)

Junk Man (me) ... LOVES ... Junk Mail. (You never know ...)
Junk Man ... LOVES (here I go) ... most Spam.
(Not phishing however.)

Junk Man ... HATES ... Filters ... All Filters ... on Any Aspect of Life.
(Junk Man is still ... IRRITATED ... that his beloved wife signed up for the national No-call List. Junk Man misses the telecom solicitations at dinner time.)

Junk Man ... as a child ... had ... Inappropriate Friends.
(Blacks, Jews and Catholics were Spam in WASP world 50 years ago, when Junk Man was a 12-year-old Junior WASP. In those days we had Filters. Oh, did we have Filters ... such as laws that kept Spam from building in our WASP communities, for one example. Jim Crow was anti-Spam man, alive and well in those self-same, pre-MLKing, Ozzie-and-Harriet "idyllic" '50s.) (In 1960, when Junk Man was 18, there was a Breakthrough: Catholic Jack Kennedy spammed WASP-world ... and became President.)

It's a ... Philosophical Point!
Junk Man is a Libertarian!
Junk Man ... SPAMS ... Corporate Meetings with unwanted messages.
(A group of healthcare execs hires Junk Man to talk innocuously about "the future" ... and he calls them "killers" to their faces, based on Patient Safety Data—that the HC Execs don't think Junk Man ought to have access to.)

Junk Man ... LOVES ... Capitalism & Entrepreneurialism, where "unsolicited start-ups" crowd the competitive space of Orderly Oligopolists. (LISTEN UP: What else were Microsoft/Apple in 1982 to IBM if not Computer-industry Spam??? Unwanted, unauthorized, unsolicited, annoying, distracting, graceless, hippie boys sticking a juvenile finger in Daddy Blue's Private Monopolistic Pie! From Big Blue's perspective, fending off Microsoft-Apple was causing ... what else ... a Wretched Waste that led to loss of productivity!) (Isn't it true that everyone who makes the History Books does so because they ... Spammed the Establishment? Wasn't Tom Paine's 49-page Common Sense ... Maxi-Spam ... to Georgie-ThreeSticks-The-Big-Brit?)

Junk!
Celebrate it!
All ... SUPER-COOL THINGS ... start as ... Junk!
Hooray!

Tom Peters posted this on 11/12/04.

Comments

Thank You.

I sometimes feel that I get sucked into reading all the SPAM, the junk, the blather, the blogs, the newspapers, the gossip, the the everything. I can not walk upstairs without a magazine, use the restroom without reading material. Fortunately, at the end of the day my perspective grows, my reference base increases, and ideas do pop.

Now all I have to do is monetize it like you have and the Missus will be much happier.

Tom, thanks for the blueprint.

Posted by Tom Royce at November 12, 2004 8:34 PM

Right on target (again!) Tom!

I LOVE the process of examining my junk mail before it hits the 'circular file' -- especially when I get to experience the joy of finding something worth keeping/questioning/exploring.

I'm the Junk Man!
(goo goo g'joob!)

Posted by Don The Idea Guy at November 12, 2004 10:30 PM

I too love soaking up the world around me ... but all of the useless types of spam get in the way of real life. Give me Tom Paine, but take away those useless, distracting, unwanted emails promising me relief from pain!

Posted by Steve Yastrow at November 13, 2004 1:58 AM

Steve, the problem as I see it is that if I'd had a spam filter on, circa 1775, it would indeed have weeded the crap out ... but also surely prevented me from having Tom Paine come my way. What was Nazi book burning and modern art suppression other than state sponsored ("legislated") Spam Filters?

Posted by tom peters at November 13, 2004 4:59 AM

Thanks, Don!

Posted by tom peters at November 13, 2004 6:38 AM

Tom

I love the Blog AND this is piece just crap. Yes the strange connections you make are the source of everything great, but you ain't getting any of that in Spam. Spam is automated... no human voice on the other end. All noise no signal. There is a difference between spam filters and shutting out everything.

We need to be curious. I have Spam Filters on and I get huge amounts of value from the web/net. Its because I'm curious and have a magpie mind. Getting opportunity takes a mind that is continuously open to the possibility of things. Don't try and drink the Atlantic, put on a wetsuit and dive in and explore. It more fun and less of a waste of time and energy.

Oh and 'Nazi book burning' Tom that just lazy thinking, gotta try harder on that. I'm invoking 'Godwins Law' (google it if you're not familiar)!

And keep up the passion. It helps the rest of us

Dermot

Posted by dermot casey at November 14, 2004 10:37 AM