State Robs Private Company Of $5bn Then Delivers Sermon On 'Appropriateness'
Original:
We're conditioned to believe that our State 'Big Brother' knows best. When changes take place in society and there is a degree of uncertainty and confusion it's harder for many to override the programming and place the new changes into their proper context. A context in which the State, which controls how we are all 'educated', isn't perceived as the solution to all our problems.
So it is with technology. New technology represents an enormous paradigm shift for society. It presents new opportunities and challenges and disrupts old ways of thinking and doing things. Figuring out what's 'right' and 'wrong' in these circumstances might appear overwhelming. But actually it's not at all. Technology is just a tool. A powerful one, but merely a tool none the less. It doesn't change the fundamental relation between Man and State. That is, the historic struggle for Man to rid himself of the State. Once it is understood that a violent extortion racket is a poor basis (in principle and practice) for the advancement of Man's condition, putting technology's relation to it in context becomes a great deal more straightforward.
The State is often said to be 'behind', 'slow to adapt' etc. to rapidly changing technological circumstances, but here we see it nimbly taking advantage of the lack of awareness of how State power extends itself and confusion regarding 'privacy' to not only take a huge dip into the profits of this company (which ultimately translates to higher consumer prices) but deliver a lecture on what it deems 'appropriate' behavior at the same time. Facebook is not a State. No representative from Facebook has ever appeared at my doorstep threatening to rob and cage me because I don't subscribe to their services. Facebook has never sent me threatening correspondence coercing me into conforming to it's corporate code of conduct. I am free to ignore Facebook and I do.
If you are concerned about the activities of any organization you freely trade with (tech or otherwise) you are free to stop your patronage according to the contract you have freely made with them. You are in control. You call the shots.
What this implies is taking responsibility for one's own life and choices. What that means to you is up to you and I'm not about to succumb to my conditioning and start delivering a self-righteous sermon of my own. I'm going to assume you know best for yourself, what's best for yourself - something the State will never allow unless they've already painted you into a false dichotomy of their own making (e.g. voting).
The technology is new, but the age old frighten, coerce and plunder routine has the flexibility to adapt to it very successfully. Similarly technology alone won't save us from falling for the same old tricks if we don't start to question our own assumptions about what the State is (a delusion) and what it's role should be (non-existent).