Day: January 12, 2017

Most of us myself included know very little about the tools we use everyday, tools we have come to rely on. This is dangerous just like the lessening of car mechanics and rise of car computing threatens our mastery of our lives. We take Google to be the source of knowledge even while acknowledging it is a business based on clicks that benefits regardless of accuracy. When tech was new and fluid perhaps a rival based on verifiable information could have a chance but could anyone overcome the proper noun that has become the verb of the service provided. They have become monopolies and entrenched.
I speak of this as I was inspired by a conversation with Jack Delaney about how empowered consumers are right now. He noted the window could be closing if we don’t act. I agree we have more choice and access to choice through the internet. Granted we are limited by our ability to find choices by behind the scenes algorithms who generate the list we see but it is easier than calling line by line in a phonebook internationally. Just like Citizens United said money is expression. When we purchase we don’t just get a service or object in return, we also tell the vendor that we support them and their ideals. If they outsource labor or use inhumane labor, we support that with our dollars. This concept isn’t revolutionary but usually people think of denial as the main use. Boycotting can be effective but it at best is half the equation. We must research and chose what we support. Whose business practices create a world we want to be in. So not just avoiding child labor but buying companies that maintain a fair pay ratio say 50:1 like under Eisenhower. Saying what we don’t want is easy. Saying what you want and living it is the challenge.
-E.C. Fiori