"There
comes a time when a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta
do” (John Wayne?) and, corny context notwithstanding, the adage rings true
enough. I returned from campervanning in Northumberland to find that the barber
and the gym had both reopened so, after getting a decent haircut and resuming
my minimal fitness routine, I resolved that that the time had come for this man
to bite the bullet and quit Facebook. It may not seem a momentous decision, but
I did have to do it – even if it is more symbolic than practical. Quitting
is a visible token of my disapproval of monopolistic practices and the threat
they pose to democracy.
Let me
explain. At the end of the 19th century, free-market capitalism in
the USA ran rampant. For example, Rockefeller’s
Standard Oil obliterated almost all competition by methods so ruthless that
public outrage had to be assuaged and legislation was introduced, eventually,
to curb monopolistic practices. Known as anti-trust laws, they were
subsequently strengthened and enforced until the 1960s, when a certain school
of free-market economists undermined their validity, notwithstanding the irony
that when competition is eliminated by monopolies, the market can no longer be
described as “free”.
But the
consequences of monopolistic practices are much more far-reaching than the
consolidation of profit and the excessive extraction of value. Ultimately, they
are political. In an address to Congress in 1938, Roosevelt warned, “The
liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private
power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself.
That, in essence, is Fascism – ownership of Government by an individual, by a
group, or by any other controlling private power.” He would have
been aware of the supporting evidence: the Nazis encouraged the buildup of big
industrial cartels, which returned the favour by supporting the party with
Hitler at its head. You don’t have to squint to see that this scenario resembles
the one that exists right now in the USA, so-called “land of the free” and
defender of western democratic ideals.
But, you say,
I am shooting from the hip. Why not also boycott Amazon, or Apple, or Google –
valid targets all? Well, to some extent, I do (with a scattergun) but all
aspects of life outside a monastery involve compromise and I, too, want a slice
of modern technology. Also, I have tasted Facebook’s
blood! When certain advertisers withdrew their custom from the platform because
of its reluctance to edit and limit the
spread of hate speech, the share price dropped and the company was obliged to
act. Corporations do not possess a conscience. They feel pain only through
their profit and loss accounts. Loss of revenue is anathema. And, although
Facebook users are not, strictly speaking, paying customers, they are a valued
asset. If and when they leave, the company will feel further pain.
Ah, you say,
but have you not shot yourself in the foot? How will you keep in touch with
friends and family? Well (assuming I do want to stay in touch with them) there
are still postal and telephone services. And as for tracking down those
long-lost friends, well, if I have “lost” them it will probably be due to
negligence and a lack of application to the art of friendship on my part.
Likewise, some of said friends.
The western
democratic tradition is being eclipsed by the rising power of
kleptocrats and autocrats, aided and abetted by monopolistic corporations whose
profits are sheltered from tax in havens that are facilitated by their
accommodating politicians. Why else do tax havens exist? We still have some
freedoms of action, some choices, some opportunities so, before they are
further diminished, we should use them to good avail. It’s
sundown in the West: showdown time, gunslingers.
Hooray!
ReplyDeleteBravo Joe!
ReplyDelete