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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32471 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 13, 2023

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What exactly do you mean by tech?

Tech. The FAANGs, and the SF startups, and the various companies who aren't startups any more but want to be FAANGs

I’d argue that the position of tech giants in today’s market puts them more in the category of consumer goods.

You can call a tail a leg but it won't make it so. The names of the sectors are somewhat arbitrary but at least they are pretty well agreed on. Consumer goods is e.g. Unilever and Proctor and Gamble... and there's evidence at least of P&G being "second generation".

And I’m saying that the consumer goods category is what’s most responsive to idpol. The market of middle-class liberal consumers is really insulated from heavy industry. Not so much from iPhone trendsetting.

There's no "pull" from consumers in either tech or consumer goods, it's all push from the companies and their ad agencies. No consumers wanted that Gillette (P&G) ad about how men suck, least of all the consumers of men's razors. The "it's consumer demand" thing is just a threadbare fiction told to dismiss complaints, and it's long since worn through.

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