Talk about how Big Tech manipulates us
Go ahead: complain. Explain to a friend why everything sucks.
Big Tech has rotted, and "I don’t know how to fix things," Ed Zitron said on December 16 ("Never Forgive Them," 42-min read).
"To quote Howard Beale in the movie Network, I don’t want you to write your Congressman because I don’t know what to tell you to write.
But what I can tell you is that you can live your life with a greater understanding of the incentives of those who control the internet and have made your digital lives worse as a means of making themselves rich. I can tell you to live with more empathy, understanding and clarity into the reasons that people around you might be angry at their circumstances, as even those unrelated to technology are made worse by exploitative, abusive and pernicious digital manipulation."
Zitron asks that we have solidarity with everyone around us and together hold powerful people to account. Start with words:
"Be the person that explains to a friend why Facebook sucks now, and who chose to make it suck. Be the person to explain who Prabhakar Raghavan is and what his role was in making Google Search worse. Be the person who tells people that Sam Altman burns $5 billion a year on unsustainable software that destroys the environment and is built upon the large-scale larceny of creative works because he's desperate for power.
Every time you do this, you destabilise them."
Send your complaints here
Even if you don't know what to write to your Congressperson, maybe you know what message you'd send to hell in a handbasket.
"'Feck You', a recurring column on The Handbasket highlighting people and entities showing an alarming level of fecklessness in the face of clear and present threats to democracy. Have a nomination for a Fecker? Email MKwrites4000@proton.me"
In other words, complain to Marisa so she can do the complaining for you. That's one way to amplify a message.
