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Internet investments are a risk. Anybody who has dabbled in online investment opportunities will see a parallel in William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” The Merchant of Venice was a trader. He owed land, property and other assets but his working capital was invested in overseas trade. His ships, which carried his precious cargo, were at the mercy of evolving systems, in his case natural weather patterns. His accounting was based on probabilities not simple arithmetic. He had cash flow problems. He had witnesses who confirmed his affirmation, that his ships had been blown off course by a freak wind! He asked his creditors to be patient, to allow him some time to get his financial affairs in order.
Nobody believed The Merchant of Venice and very few people today are prepared to believe administrators of Internet investment programs, when they tell us that they have encountered one or a series of unprecedented events, which have blown their programs off course. Peoples’ reaction to news of this ilk is not a logical response, it is a primitive emotion, the survival instinct, which has been handed down from ancestors who lived or died as hunter gathers. These primitive feelings wear off when a rational person shuts them off at a conscious or subconscious level and he or she can see the situation in perspective. These intense feelings, which are controlled by our neurological responses, do not always shut down the way they should. They keep emerging like an unwanted cashed page in a computer’s memory or a bad dream. It is important that we can recognise this phenomenon in ourselves and others before we make judgments about those who own or promote online investment opportunities. There are times that these people need some support and understanding. Others need the full force of the law to limit their criminal activities.
Shakespeare uses this scenario to create a magnificent drama. The notorious miser Shylock was filled with bloodlust. He wanted revenge on The Merchant of Venice who owed him money. He threatened The Merchant and eventually obtained a legal document. The Merchant agreed to give a pound of flesh, if his ships did not come in. Shylock’s lust for blood exists today. You only have to look at some of the posts in autosurf and HYIP forums to see how many peoples’ primitive bloodlust overrides their thinking. The revenge they seek is totally out of control and unrelated to the losses that they have incurred. The “Merchant of Venice” made Shylock a fair offer of payment when “his ships came in” but no Shylock wanted his pound of flesh! The pound of flesh was Shylock’s right within the law and he sought to obtain that right in a Court of Law.
Shakespeare created the fictitious Portia to plead for the defence. She tried to arouse normal human feelings in Shylock with skillful oratory. Her words can move people to tears, when they are presented to an audience, four hundred years after they were written. Most of us remember her famous speech. “The quality of mercy is not strained.” Portia pointed out that the quality of mercy produces blessings for those that give it and those that receive it. She told Shylock that he could have his pound of flesh, that it was his right under the law. She , presented the knife to Shylock and she instructed the defendant to bare his breast. Shylock took the knife but his joy was short lived. Portia expounded more law. The law, which permitted him to take a pound of flesh did not permit him to spill one drop of blood. She continued. If he spilt just one drop of blood, his estates and other financial assets would be forfeited and they would revert to the State. Exit Shylock!
The hunter gatherer instinct is present in all of it. It is a healthy instinct, instilled in us to ensure the survival of our species. We can choose to use it or abuse it in this day and age. You can use it to strike out and find new horizons, new markets and new online business opportunities but the World Wide Web is an evolving system. You can only calculate probabilities. Use your acquisitive hunter gatherer instincts, they are a gift, part of your genetic heritage but balance those instincts with other qualities that you have inherited, which include The Quality of Mercy!
There are some really good investment opportunities and autosurf programs. Please bookmark my autosurf programs page. I do my best to keep this page updated and resubmit it each day.
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