- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
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It’s an interesting article, I couldn’t help but think of how “Pirate Speak” really comes from Robert Newton’s acting in a famous Disney movie. So while it predates big tech’s debasement of culture it’s still a “top down” artifact, in a way. I guess you could say it came from a creative decision of an artist (Newton adapting his native accent) and initially caught on for good fun rather than for profit. So far less cynical than the radioactive shit getting pumped out now, if for no other reason than in the 1950s Disney hadn’t figured that shit out yet.
Similar top-down cultural phenomenon dictated by corpos is concept of “personal carbon footprint” - as a means of shifting blame and focus from them to individuals. This is almost conspiracy level unbelievable when heard for the first time, but true nonetheless.
Honestly this is one of the ones I’m most sick of. Yes, everyone can do their part, but we aren’t even close to scraping the surface of the massive amounts of CO2 corpos are dumping comparatively.
yep, the concept of a “personal carbon footprint” was literally invented by an advertising agency working for British Petroleum https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/23/big-oil-coined-carbon-footprints-to-blame-us-for-their-greed-keep-them-on-the-hook
I ended up getting some ssds last black Friday, but only because they were 20% cheaper than they’d been all year. Now the prices are even higher, so I don’t feel like I bought at the wrong time
I love this “Cultural malware” as a name for things like these.
Yup. Black Friday and Amazon’s Prime Day are complete bullshit. I found out early when I saw a monitor I was tracking raise in price drastically then ‘drop’ to a sale price for Black Friday. When people wisened up to that companies started playing the ‘model number’ game, where they release the same TV or device but with a different model number to specifically skew prices and act like you’re getting a deal. It’s probably one of the best examples of late stage capitalism I’ve seen.
Only sheeple shop on Black Friday. An astute and correct observation.
Note the author doesn’t use the word sheeple, but “black-friday” and “cyber-monday” he argues are top-down orders to the masses to consume, and he is absolutely correct.
I’d hardly call them “orders.” I will shop for deals on both days, but that doesn’t mean I’m actually going to buy anything, especially with all the price tracking extensions available and the severe lack of actual discounts over the last few years. I will only buy things that are actually on sale and things that I actually want/need prior to me seeing them on discount.
I’d hardly call them “orders.”
Hmm…
I will shop for deals on both days
Yea…that’s the point.
The point is to increase sales. Browsing a website or walking through a store and not buying anything doesn’t generate any revenue for a business. Nothing is being consumed, nor is anyone being forced to buy things against their will as the term “ordered” would suggest.
Do you get this bent out of shape when a store has a sale or promotion at any other point in the year?
As unnecessary consumption is one of the roots of suffering in our world, yea. I don’t like sales culture. You don’t need any “good deals” in your life, it’s not going to make you happy. And your Pavlovian response to a fictitious holiday is the theme of the article.
Lol I’d hardly call it a Pavlovian response. It’s more that it’s a well known date for stores to have sales on their merchandise, which is why people shop around on those days. I don’t see what’s so offensive about saving some money on a purchase you were going to make anyway, but I think there is some projection happening here.
Black Friday is an infohazard SCP
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