The cynical side of me thinks that perhaps the recent “enshittification” of large platforms like reddit and twitter is actually part of a larger campaign of class warfare.
There’s been a very noticable discontent among average working class people since the pandemic, when “essential employees” realized that’s just a euphemism for “your health and life don’t matter”. There’s been a lot of noticeable efforts by workers to organize and exercise their power since then – Starbucks, Amazon, UPS, the railworkers etc. The most high profile attempts in recent history.
The common denominator has been that reddit and twitter have been the main hubs through which people have been organizing and raising widespread awareness. And they are movements that are starting to bridge political gaps as even right-leaning people realize they’re getting screwed by hyper-capitalism.
So part of me thinks the destruction of these platforms is not out of incompetence, but is a deliberate attack on that growing consciousness and an attempt by the corporate world to exert control.
Interesting, however I tend to disagree. Although these sites have been good means of organizing, the corporate overlords had to know that alternatives would quickly replace them if they burned them down. Seems more likely that they are desperately trying to monetize these sites, but just way too out of touch with how hard us working class plebes are being squeezed from every angle and literally can’t afford to pay for the most basic form of entertainment like this. Literally, I can hardly leave my house without paying something to exist in a public space. I’ll be damned if I pay more than I already do (a device, internet, electricity) to exist in public online spaces.
Unfortunately Netflix’ plan to squeeze even more out of people seems to have worked though :/ I was hoping for the same effect there, i.e. that people would instead resort to alternatives like piracy… Maybe these are different audiences though? Or is it maybe more important to people to have entertainment to escape real life (like streaming services) than entertainment with a flavor of empowerment?
The cynical side of me thinks that perhaps the recent “enshittification” of large platforms like reddit and twitter is actually part of a larger campaign of class warfare.
There’s been a very noticable discontent among average working class people since the pandemic, when “essential employees” realized that’s just a euphemism for “your health and life don’t matter”. There’s been a lot of noticeable efforts by workers to organize and exercise their power since then – Starbucks, Amazon, UPS, the railworkers etc. The most high profile attempts in recent history.
The common denominator has been that reddit and twitter have been the main hubs through which people have been organizing and raising widespread awareness. And they are movements that are starting to bridge political gaps as even right-leaning people realize they’re getting screwed by hyper-capitalism.
So part of me thinks the destruction of these platforms is not out of incompetence, but is a deliberate attack on that growing consciousness and an attempt by the corporate world to exert control.
Interesting, however I tend to disagree. Although these sites have been good means of organizing, the corporate overlords had to know that alternatives would quickly replace them if they burned them down. Seems more likely that they are desperately trying to monetize these sites, but just way too out of touch with how hard us working class plebes are being squeezed from every angle and literally can’t afford to pay for the most basic form of entertainment like this. Literally, I can hardly leave my house without paying something to exist in a public space. I’ll be damned if I pay more than I already do (a device, internet, electricity) to exist in public online spaces.
Unfortunately Netflix’ plan to squeeze even more out of people seems to have worked though :/ I was hoping for the same effect there, i.e. that people would instead resort to alternatives like piracy… Maybe these are different audiences though? Or is it maybe more important to people to have entertainment to escape real life (like streaming services) than entertainment with a flavor of empowerment?
Yo ho!
“You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor
While the intent may be pure stupidity with no malice, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t pushed by social forces of class warfare.