> If you do, you turn yourself into a serf;
I'm really not sure I follow. This is about self hosting services, I can't really link (e.g.) hosting my data on github.com and turning myself "into a serf".
> someone with no recourse when those whom you place your trust in ultimately betray you.
There's obviously recourse - as an EU citizen (at least currently) it's possible that companies can lose 4% of their global turnover for misusing data.
> (Also, just like “owning” a timeshare is not like owning your house, having a VPS is not self-hosting.)
You can see from my post that I also put up the price of running a rpi if you didn't count a VPS as self hosting, which I absolutely would because to me it's about what services I run vs what services I pay others to run.
You can’t outsource your privacy. Once you’ve given your information to a third party, that third party can and will probably use it as much as they can get away with. And legal protection from unreasonable search and seizure is also much weaker once you’ve already given out your information to a third party.
To generalize, and to also answer your other comments in a more general sense, you can’t outsource your freedom or civic responsibility. If you do, you turn yourself into a serf; someone with no recourse when those whom you place your trust in ultimately betray you.
(Also, just like “owning” a timeshare is not like owning your house, having a VPS is not self-hosting.)