Episode 273: Chattel Trapped in Chat Hell

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I never cease to be amazed at how bad some corporate decisions are… until I finally figure out why those bad decisions were probably the best way for the company to make more money. I explore one revelation concerning my need to connect a simple device to the internet, only to be forced to chat support, in this Episode 273: Chattel Trapped in Chat Hell.

In this episode, I read from: Some of the transcripts from my time doing chat support; and my new streaming device's Privacy policy. (Quick note: the policy seems to have been crafted for a wide range of products, but since I only have one of them, I focused only on the policies that affected me. The minor edits I made in no way deflect what I felt was the original intent of the passages as written.)

I play: the sounds made by my DVR and movie streaming service; Pee Wee Herman noting what everyone he knows has; and, from the 1947 movie The Hucksters, a snippet of commercial and the voice of the Beautee Soap maker's character, Sydney Greenstreet. Also from that movie, Clark Gable's character complains about how bad radio has gotten since he returned from fighting the war, that backed by KMFDM in the opening. I close with Julie & Rolf & The Campfire Gang doing "Over The Rainbow."

Episode 272: Henry Saw This Coming

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There are far more thinkers whose writings can explain phenomena better than most; but thanks to ruthless historical suppression, those thinkers are not even considered. I'd like to frame a few economic problems many of us are facing today to the philosophy of Henry George in this Episode 272: Henry Saw This Coming.

In this episode, I read from: Jathan Sadowski's book The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism; Henry George's book, Progress & Poverty; an article about the Department of Justice's recent lawsuit against the makers of the RealPage software; my computer's quickie dictionary; and, from his newsletter Big, Matt Stoller's look into the state of family-owned farms today.

I play: Cory Doctorow explaining how copyright law has enforced patents (from Matt Stoller and David Baen's podcast Organized Money; and Arkansas farmer Adam Chappell, speaking on the American Farmland Owner Podcast.

Musically, KMFDM opens the show with Cory Doctorow explaining one just one element of enshittification. Julie & Rolf & The Campfire Gang close us out with "Over the Rainbow".