The New Oil
Dallin Crump says:I struggle with this because I agree there are problems with Amazon. But if we are to apply this same approach to every product and service we use – boycott them because they do bad things – we would have to boycott almost everything. Walmart, Alphabet (and Google), Meta (and Fafcebook, Whatsapp, etc.), Apple, Microsoft, and so forth. It’s a long list. They all do bad things. But they all provide products and services we have come to depend on and that are even quite useful and helpful.
I deleted my Meta accounts earlier this year. My conscience feels good, but no Facebook means I am cut off from online interactions with some friends and family as well as organizations and groups who don’t want to use anything else. My wife still uses Facebook and updates me regularly on important news and goings on. But if she quit Facebook, we’d be in the dark about these things.
And if you really want to hit Amazon where it hurts, you have to go after AWS, which accounts for about 1/3 of global cloud hosting/computing. You’d have to boycott the companies that use AWS, right?
I agree with you. I want to take action. I want to “be the change” I want to see in the world. But following this logic to its conclusion means doing without the technologies and systems on which modern society has been built. And doing that alone is very hard.
Should I stop saving for retirement because my investments in my 401k and IRA include investments in many of these companies? These are questions I wrestle with often, and I don’t know what to do. But I’m also not sure I’m prepared to live in a cave yet.