01-10-2019, 04:45 PM
The attached story confirms what we have now known for a long time, and that is that we have a new era of robber barons operating in Silicon Valley. The enclosed article says a lot but in my opinion doesn't quite go far enough. It forgets to mention that while these companies such as Uber who use drivers boast about being able to be your own boss, that meme stops at being able to choose your own schedule. By all we should now know that where everything else is concerned they definitely operate on a "my way of the highway" credo. And if your ratings fall below a ridiculously high level, even if you have not done anything terribly wrong you can be "deactivated", their euphemism for "fired" with no reason given and usually no real grounds for appeal. Just ask any Uber driver this happened to, including yours truly. I have boycotted them ever since, and the couple of times I needed rideshare I used Lyft, but now I have heard that they really are no better in this regard. These companies have little regard for the drivers even though without them the companies would not exist. Same for those offering delivery of food, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc.
Contrary to what we saw during the original robber baron era, there has so far at least been relatively little meaningful protest against these conditions although there have been occasional attempts which, like the Occupy movement, tended to be very short-lived. Will it take something as huge as the Bastille to create any sort of direction toward a kinder, gentler, Silicon Valley? And could it eventually go the way of Detroit? Are we able to build something of a movement with the answers gleaned? This inquiring mind would like to know.
Contrary to what we saw during the original robber baron era, there has so far at least been relatively little meaningful protest against these conditions although there have been occasional attempts which, like the Occupy movement, tended to be very short-lived. Will it take something as huge as the Bastille to create any sort of direction toward a kinder, gentler, Silicon Valley? And could it eventually go the way of Detroit? Are we able to build something of a movement with the answers gleaned? This inquiring mind would like to know.