Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Terrifying spectre of complete comfort

There is a solution to all of the problems listed in the various articles for this week's reading.

Get off of the internet.

The fact remains that google, amazon, or facebook can't retrieve information that you don't willfully give them. That's why you "agree" to their terms of service when you create an account, and the document is 600 pages long, so you don't read it. You are pseudo-participating in their surveillance for the purposes of their advertising and marketing interests.

That's the way it works in America. The media perpetuates a "keep up with the Joneses" mindset, so that everyone wants the latest phone, the nicest car, the "best" of this and that, etc. and makes it readily available through the racket of credit purchases. They don't care what you buy, as long as you don't pay all at once, and they bleed you with interest.

"We buy things we don't need and can't afford to impress people we don't care about."- Dave Ramsey

The trade-off of this consumer culture that we so eagerly participate in, is the benefit of "comfort". We just want to be "comfortable" even if it means giving up any semblance of privacy or choice in the matter. To me, the idea of drones bringing you products before you even ordered them is absolutely terrifying, but to many it seems "wonderfully convenient".

My solution is simple. Don't put any personal information on the internet, pay only cash, don't live beyond your means, don't use GPS, etc. etc. etc. I may sound like a weirdo or a hermit or a conspiracy theorist, in fact many of my friends and family call me these and more, but it really is becoming the only way to avoid the dangers of these corporate titans having a stranglehold on a life that could truly be called "yours".

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