(Nothing really matters…)
Today is the Economic Blackout, if you haven’t heard, and our household is taking part in it. Yesterday, I ran all around town and did all of our shopping, and even gassed up the car, just in case. It can be rather tough to not spend money in New York, as it feels like you spend $20 the second you step outside of your apartment. I am confident in the reasons we are doing this (corporate greed, wealth inequality, oligarchs, inflation, Elon, Trump…) and I also know that other people have their reasons as well. I also know that many people out there think that doing something like this is meaningless and more theatrics than action. But, I will say this; if you are upset with how things are going, then it’s time to do something, even a “little” something. I won’t sit on my hands any longer waiting for someone else to say or doing something. What’s the saying? If you want change, you have to make the change.
And as long as we are talking about boycotts; when will there be a boycott against the largest greediest companies in America? Talking about Meta, Apple and Google. (I would think the Economic Blackout would affect Amazon, but what the hell, we can throw them in as well.) Do we need to stop using our phones and computers for a day? Delete their apps? How do we stop these companies from getting what they really want from us; our data. What does a data boycott look like?
And finally, I’d like to take a swing at the Washington Post while I’m at it. This morning I received an email from the editors at The Drift with an essay written by James Woods, the staff writer and book critic at The New Yorker and not that other James Woods. The email/essay delved into the stupidity of Jeff Bezos’ letter announcing the change in policy to The Washington Post’s editorial page. Long story short, Bezos is ordering that there will only be one opinion on the WAPO Opinion Page, which will be to support Personal Liberty and Free Markets. Woods’ does an excellent job in pointing out the hypocrisy and illogic in Bezos statement, and to me, signals the end of what The Washington Post used to stand for under Graham/Bradlee. (I would post a link to the essay, but it seems to only be an email at this time. If a link becomes available, I’ll share it.) With all of that having been said, I have a fantastical idea! Bezos bought the Post for $250 million, which is roughly what Elon spent to get Trump elected, so what if all the liberal billionaires, and all the other billionaires who hate Bezos, pooled some money together, say $250 million, and started a new newspaper in D.C. Then hire the whole WAPO staff away, and leave Jeff with a worthless company. Right? Isn’t that the only way to fight the oligarchy, is with the oligarchy?
