Re:Beware Centralization
by southerntofu on Sunday October 03, 2021 @05:29AM
(#28735754)
When Coca Cola or Bolloré murder people, it's not exactly the government doing it. Sure the government are complicit and close their eyes, but you can't blame everything on the government.
To be clear, i agree it's not a binary choice and considerable amounts of bad things come out of governments too. Or if you like memes, you may enjoy: https://i.imgur.com/CkOr542.jpg
Re:Beware Centralization
by harimau777 on Sunday October 03, 2021 @09:21AM
(#28736973)
The issue as I see it is that:
Corporations control the government.
The bad things that corporations do are much more immediate and common.
When a government does something bad, in practice it is often just failing to protect people from corporations. For example, the parent mentioned providing clean air and water; however, the most likely scenario where that doesn't happen is a corporation polluting the environment.
When the government does bad things (or more commonly fails to prevent bad things from happening), the consequences tend to correlate with inequality.
But at the end of the day, even if FAANG help the government do a bad thing, it’s still the government doing a bad thing. Making FAANG the primary focus of our ire enables the government to continue to do those same bad things. And the bad things FAANG can do pale in comparison to what the government can and does do.
Again, it’s not a binary choice. But it’s why some people worry more about the government than large corporations.