Published 2018-03-16
A lot of people with whom I've shared my journal entry were confused as to why I would rage-quit Google entirely when I was upset with only one piece of the company.
Normally I wouldn't. Normally, I would just pivot my usage over to another provider, stop using the offending service, and get on with life. What's different now is that rage-quitting is often the only way to get traction on much of anything these days. If I didn't rage-quit, nobody would respond, nobody would notice.
Google's divisions care about their bottom line and their publicity. By publicly saying they are terrible, I get the opportunity to get some kind of response from Google. That didn't happen here, but then again, Google doesn't really care about individuals unless they're huge influencers, in which case they'd also like to hire you...
The short of it is, we still have enough alternatives to choose a different option. Until we get to the point where companies aren't allowed to have such significant market power (again), companies will end up reaching a size where they don't care about their detractors and stop innovating. Hence Google.
I'll leave you with a quote. It's more political, but everything is getting political these days:
“The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference - the only difference in their eyes - between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life and that it’s nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal.
-Quellcrist Falconer Things I Should Have Learned by Now, Volume II”