facebook boycott = silly activism
So I've been invited to an event where users are boycotting facebook for a day, supposedly because "rumors" are that Facebook is going to become a pay site. The idea is that the massive outflux of users for one day will show Facebook makers that they will "pay" if they make the decision to charge for using Facebook.
Whenever I see these sorts of boycotts-- a few years ago there was a chain e-mail going around urging people to skip buying gas for a day to show oil companies that they needed to lower their prices -- I think of the scene in the movie Network where the big corporate head honcho pulls Peter Finch into his office and schools him on the global market economy ("YOU have meddled with the forces of nature man... and YOU... will... atone!") The basic message is that individuals have extremely little power against the global corporate hegemony because most people are accustomed to the comfort of their lifestyles and are unwilling to make the kinds of drastic decisions needed to affect change.
We all sold our souls to Facebook, Myspace, and other sites when we signed up for them. How many people actually took the time to read the Terms of Agreement when we signed up? How many investigated the security of where their personal information went to? Who checked into the history of any of these companies? Heck everyone knew Myspace was owned by Rupert Murdoch and how many people actually chose not to have an account there? Does anybody actually think the multi-billion dollar company that is Facebook is going to care if a few thousand people don't login for a day?
The oil one is even more ridiculous-- people who are a) unwilling to drive a better MPG car, b) take public transit, or c) take action against their government for any number of the bad foreign policies put in place because of Americans' dependence on oil, suddenly think that, because they are indignant about paying high gas prices, they can stop the entire system by not buying gas for a day.
I have an aunt and uncle who drive a bio-diesel car, power their entire house on solar, and won't fly at all because of the carbon emissions. They're also crazy new age rich white people who don't understand that the decisions they've made are not accessible to the majority of the worlds population. Also they're vegan PETA-type freaks who showed my grandma a video of a slaughterhouse on Thanksgiving to shame her into not eating turkey. They're one end of the spectrum.
But at the other end is the uniquely American sense of entitlement that says I can get all the benefits of consumer capitalism without having to educate myself about my decisions or making any kind of real sacrifice to get treated fairly. All I have to do is show those big corporations that I can make them "pay"!
(side note: this is yet another post that could also be titled "Now I don't want to get off on a rant here..." :) maybe I can get my own 1 hour HBO weekly show where I do a radical feminist reinterpretation of the old Dennis Miller routine?)
Whenever I see these sorts of boycotts-- a few years ago there was a chain e-mail going around urging people to skip buying gas for a day to show oil companies that they needed to lower their prices -- I think of the scene in the movie Network where the big corporate head honcho pulls Peter Finch into his office and schools him on the global market economy ("YOU have meddled with the forces of nature man... and YOU... will... atone!") The basic message is that individuals have extremely little power against the global corporate hegemony because most people are accustomed to the comfort of their lifestyles and are unwilling to make the kinds of drastic decisions needed to affect change.
We all sold our souls to Facebook, Myspace, and other sites when we signed up for them. How many people actually took the time to read the Terms of Agreement when we signed up? How many investigated the security of where their personal information went to? Who checked into the history of any of these companies? Heck everyone knew Myspace was owned by Rupert Murdoch and how many people actually chose not to have an account there? Does anybody actually think the multi-billion dollar company that is Facebook is going to care if a few thousand people don't login for a day?
The oil one is even more ridiculous-- people who are a) unwilling to drive a better MPG car, b) take public transit, or c) take action against their government for any number of the bad foreign policies put in place because of Americans' dependence on oil, suddenly think that, because they are indignant about paying high gas prices, they can stop the entire system by not buying gas for a day.
I have an aunt and uncle who drive a bio-diesel car, power their entire house on solar, and won't fly at all because of the carbon emissions. They're also crazy new age rich white people who don't understand that the decisions they've made are not accessible to the majority of the worlds population. Also they're vegan PETA-type freaks who showed my grandma a video of a slaughterhouse on Thanksgiving to shame her into not eating turkey. They're one end of the spectrum.
But at the other end is the uniquely American sense of entitlement that says I can get all the benefits of consumer capitalism without having to educate myself about my decisions or making any kind of real sacrifice to get treated fairly. All I have to do is show those big corporations that I can make them "pay"!
(side note: this is yet another post that could also be titled "Now I don't want to get off on a rant here..." :) maybe I can get my own 1 hour HBO weekly show where I do a radical feminist reinterpretation of the old Dennis Miller routine?)