Evergreen Times

It started off as what looked like a perfectly ordinary project, but it didn’t take long to realize that something was badly wrong. I followed the trail. I drew my conclusions. What I was being asked to do was to produce “news articles” to make it look like public opinion was on the side of a really rotten, no-good, very bad person.

There was scandal upon scandal spanning years, all involving this guy having enriched himself by taking advantage of economically, mentally, and physically vulnerable people. Needless to say, he’d made a pile of money. Now, there was fraud case and so much “smoke,” that the fire alarms in my head were going off like crazy.

Several articles had been published already, some of them on semi-credible news sites. They followed the brief I’d been given to perfection. This guy had clearly invested quite a lot in an illogical argument against a criminal case. He wanted that argument to be seen as being supported by public opinion.

Most suspicious of all, he wasn’t saying “I didn’t do it!” Instead, he was trying to get off on a technicality and he wanted to bring politics into it. At least, that was my conclusion, and it made my blood boil.

I said “No.” Well, what I actually said was: “This is probably a very bad person. He should be tried by the courts. If he is guilty, he should go to jail. They should throw away the key. And when he dies, he should burn in hell for eternity. Don’t ask me to do this, please!”

And then, I started flashing back through all the projects I’ve declined, sometimes when I was still a newbie trying to build my client base, and all the arguments I had with myself starting with “If you don’t do it, someone else will.” And they do. All the same, I’m glad I didn’t.

So, story time aside, what should trigger a decent human being to turn down money for freelance work? See if you can add to the list!

Declined for Reasons of Conscience

1. It might harm someone’s health. Fad diets that could cause physical damage, unproven alternative “cures,” dicey online pharmacies: this list could easily become quite a long one.

When it comes to fad diets, some of them are pretty mainstream too – but doctors don’t approve. Damaging one’s health for the sake of a bit of weight loss is just crazy, and I don’t want anyone trying them because I “said” so. Cut calories within reason. Get some exercise. It isn’t rocket science.

2. It doesn’t match your personal convictions and ideas of morality. This one is really up to you. We’re all entitled to our ideas of right and wrong, and if you really think something is wrong, you probably shouldn’t support it.

If it’s controversial, for example something that’s generally accepted, or accepted by some sectors of society, and you just don’t agree with it, try for a little tact, but exercise your right to decline. I do this with any content related to religion. I’m not going to say religion isn’t a good thing for some people, but I’m not the right person to reflect religious points of view.

3. It’s a scam or its shady. Think multi-level marketing projects or gambling sites that claim to allow gambling in jurisdictions where its banned. Or financial gambles that are sold as “investments” when they’re nothing of the kind.

Anecdote: I lumped cryptos under this heading, and I really wondered if I might be wrong about that. But I had a bad feeling about them, and just look where they are now. On the few occasions that I did write about cryptos, I always recommended that people only put money they’re willing to lose into them. Turns out I was right. Vindicated.

Scammy products and services in general also fit into this category. If people are likely to lose their money and gain no utility from spending it, it’s wrong to help the people behind it.

4. You’d have to tell lies to do it. This probably fits into some of the categories above, but it’s the acid test. Telling lies is wrong. Getting paid to tell them might even be worse! If you aren’t sure, just keep it tactful.

“I don’t think I can represent this client’s interest well,” is probably what I should have said about the sleazeball in the anecdote I kicked this off with. But I was angry, so I got a little too forthcoming. My agency didn’t object and simply reallocated the work. The stories still got written. I was saddened, but at least, I didn’t violate my conscience by doing them myself.

If I can find an agency that refuses to handle this kind of thing, I’d be happier, but needs must and most of the stuff they handle is perfectly innocuous. I shrug and move on to writing about subscription software and video games.

Done Venting! Feel Free to Share Your Opinion!

I’ve just done what I wasn’t going to do on this website: I vented! I expect that I’ll get back to portfolio-worthy topics and the third person soon. But if you have experiences you’d like to share, have an opinion, or would like to add to my blacklist of topics one shouldn’t cover, do let me know!