Yesterday, a scam went down in Austin. Con artists masquerading as Disney talent scouts sought out families with cute young girls, convinced 300 of them to stand in line in the Texas summer heat for a pre-audition, and told the parents that if they signed the contract and paid $1500 up front, they would make their little girl a star. What actually happened was that they pocketed the $1500 and disappeared.

It wasn’t hard to figure it out if you tried. All you needed to do was google the company whose name was on the form you were filling out, and a scam warning would be the first hit.

No one did. A couple of people googled it and left quietly, but no one
told the other 298 families in line.

If I hadn’t already started the Freak Revolution, I would have started it today.

What would it have taken to save $450,000 of these innocent Austin families’ money?

Just one person who was neither obedient nor afraid.

Just one person who questioned authority, discovered the truth, and wasn’t afraid to tell the other people in line.

Just one person who didn’t blindly accept that these authority figures were who they said they were.

Just one person who read the fine print on the contract and cared enough about his fellow human beings to let them know that something was fishy.

Just one person who wasn’t afraid that bad things could happen to her kids if she spoke up.

No one did.

What has happened to us? What has happened to make us so complacent, so obedient to authority that we all line up in a row to hand over our money to crooks?

What has happened to us? What has happened to make us so terrified, so afraid to rock the boat that we’ll walk away meekly instead of speaking up?

What has happened to us? What has happened to make us so isolated, so alone that we only look out for ourselves and walk away without even a word to warn the person standing right next to us?

It would have only taken one person to save all 300 families.

Next time, that one person could be you. What will you do?