Ah, capitalism and communism, hand in hand (Criticism)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Thursday, October 10, 2019, 09:02 (1876 days ago) @ cheapLEY
edited by Kermit, Thursday, October 10, 2019, 09:16

I also do not use those services.

Convincing the rest of the country to do the same is hopeless. People don’t care. Boycotts don’t work unless a massive amount of people buy in.

They’re also a weird way of shifting blame for the atrocities of corporate greed onto consumers.

Another thing is the rhetoric gets out of hand, and it's easy to be dismissed as the boy who cried wolf. Amazon is the worst company ever to exist? Really? Worse than Union Carbide? And it's fine not to buy chicken sandwiches because the guy who started the company has beliefs you don't like, but that's not going to persuade anyone who shares his beliefs to change their mind, and the latter is the real hard work of change. Boycotts are too often (mostly painless) gestures done to appear virtuous to those who already agree, and these days no one seems as interested in talking to anyone who isn't already on board their train.

Strongly disagreeing with a chicken maven's personal opinion is one thing, and then there's Google, who is helping a regime that's killed at least 62 million people over the past 70 years. No wonder they removed "Don't be evil" from their code of conduct. Yet we all do business with China. We've all benefited from the low cost of living in the United States largely enabled by cheap goods made in China. We're all implicated to a degree in a global economy. Part of the impetus for improved relations with China was the theory that economic development would weaken their oppressive system. So far China is trying to use their increased wealth to finance their oppressive system. I guess we'll see if their plan works long term.

I'm not trying to bust your chops, CheapLEY, or Cody's. I think it's good when Cody brings up these issues, although sometimes I'm less willing than he is to believe at face value the worst spin (e.g., regarding HR accusations and such). Maybe Cody underplays how hard it was to give up Destiny, but I also suspect he's got many varied interests and, as happens to a lot of us when we give up something we enjoy, he realized it was easier than he thought it would be. Good for him.

I don't know the answer, but it's good to keep talking about these things. Bungie employees read this forum now and then, and I'm sure many of them share our concerns. They just got out from under the yoke of Activision; let's hope the powers that be over there are sensitive to the pitfalls of a relationship with Netease. I'm glad they're no longer associated with Blizzard.