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If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE
The PR Labyrinth that is Real Life
I started thinking about this a couple of weeks ago when I realized that as far as companies go, it doesn't seem like we're as weary of the modern tech giants as we should be.
Specifically, I mean the minimal threat level that they present to not only our privacy (and lots of other techy stuff I'm probably missing) but the other things that'll usually come along with a company; disruptions in a market that lead to people's lives changing for the worse and the weird international deals that basically result in soft slave labour somewhere in the world.
And then there's the mythical nature of these companies; Facebook, Google, Apple etc are all presented as these mavericks of the modern generation, built on the dreams of people not educated in the traditional way, their offices aren't distinct from mythical bastions of creation and are furnished (or at least we envision them that way) as such.
We just take this stuff for granted but I can't believe it is. There's no way this tech "startup" (and that word, oh that word) "world" came into existence all by itself, there has to be like a billion PR guys spinning this narrative into existence so we believe that the programmers of our favorite apps and the people who run their LLCs are just like us. In this narrative, "investors" are presented like experience points that they earn, not those who will eventually gain controlling stakes in their companies and change them so they make returns (long term or short term, an investor without this motive is something I've yet to come across) so we forget that in the end, tech companies are not a magical new institution merely known as a "startup".
And since the dotcom bubble was a few economic Armageddons ago (plus most of us didn't exactly live through it) every other tech company is given it's moment in the spotlight and compared to the big guys to give the illusion of a "free" space where everyone is equal.
It's not just tech companies either; whilst I'm not trying to disparage localized endeavours or the development of local economies, artisanal nougat is still extremely unhealthy and microbrewed beer will not magically erase alcoholics.
Specifically, I mean the minimal threat level that they present to not only our privacy (and lots of other techy stuff I'm probably missing) but the other things that'll usually come along with a company; disruptions in a market that lead to people's lives changing for the worse and the weird international deals that basically result in soft slave labour somewhere in the world.
And then there's the mythical nature of these companies; Facebook, Google, Apple etc are all presented as these mavericks of the modern generation, built on the dreams of people not educated in the traditional way, their offices aren't distinct from mythical bastions of creation and are furnished (or at least we envision them that way) as such.
We just take this stuff for granted but I can't believe it is. There's no way this tech "startup" (and that word, oh that word) "world" came into existence all by itself, there has to be like a billion PR guys spinning this narrative into existence so we believe that the programmers of our favorite apps and the people who run their LLCs are just like us. In this narrative, "investors" are presented like experience points that they earn, not those who will eventually gain controlling stakes in their companies and change them so they make returns (long term or short term, an investor without this motive is something I've yet to come across) so we forget that in the end, tech companies are not a magical new institution merely known as a "startup".
And since the dotcom bubble was a few economic Armageddons ago (plus most of us didn't exactly live through it) every other tech company is given it's moment in the spotlight and compared to the big guys to give the illusion of a "free" space where everyone is equal.
It's not just tech companies either; whilst I'm not trying to disparage localized endeavours or the development of local economies, artisanal nougat is still extremely unhealthy and microbrewed beer will not magically erase alcoholics.
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