
Apple's Newest Store and the Perverse Logic of Philanthro-Capitalism - huihuiilly
http://bostonreview.net/class-inequality/benjamin-soskis-apples-newest-store-and-perverse-logic-philanthro-capitalism
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lacker
*The Apple Carnegie Library embodies recent developments that betray the principles that animated Carnegie’s giving: the uncritical valorization of philanthro-capitalism and the privatization of public goods and public spaces.”

I dunno, this seems perfectly appropriate to me. Carnegie was all about
whitewashing his monopolistic business practices with philanthropy. Now Apple
can carry on his legacy!

~~~
tonyedgecombe
Except Apple isn't a monopoly, there are alternatives to all their products,
most of them outsell Apple by an order of magnitude.

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IntelMiner
"Apple, and the tech industry more generally, has embraced a particular
approach to philanthro-capitalism, one in which the products they profit from
are presented as powerful forces for good themselves"

This is a bit of an overlooked tidbit that I haven't seen "discussed" before
much, or even articulated before.

Tech industry people for the most part really do genuinely believe that the
things they build and profit from are inherently forces for good, that they
"improve" the world in some way, usually however is defined by marketing. Even
when the reality is in stark contrast.

Are the things we make _really_ improving the world like we think they are?

Do things like Facebook and Twitter truly enrich our lives, or do they prey on
our psychological need for community and attention in order to sell our "data"
to advertisers.

Does a new $SMARTPHONE or $COMPUTER make the world "better" every year? Or
does it simply compel people to buy the "new shiny" as the "old" is pushed out
to pollute landfills and poison 3rd world countries.

Being in tech we live in an extremely isolated bubble. Quite literally, for
most of us. We live in "tech hub" alcoves like Silicon Valley or Seattle with
our climate controlled, Wi-Fi enabled existence. We work in ivory towers for
wages that many would only dream of, with comforts that even the richest could
only dream of a hundred years ago.

Of course even though it's a bubble, we can still see outside it. So we
naively project the world we want out around it, our values and assumptions on
how to fix it. We "make the world a better place" by shipping millions of
"$100 laptops" to 3rd world countries. We have billionaires pledge to fix
crises like Flint's drinking water. We have our companies act as extensions of
ourselves with LGBT representation in "pride month"

~~~
scarface74
Yes, the smart phone has improved the lives of many people in developing
countries and even poorer people in developed countries. It has enabled safer
mobile payments in developing countries for people without access to the
banking infrastructure and now they have access to information that they
couldn’t have. Even in the US you see semi-homeless and homeless people who
have cell phones that they use to reply to job ads and resources.

Between the private sector and the government, the private sector is much more
on the side of the angels these days when it comes to advocating for racial
and religious minorities as well as the LGBTQ community than the government.

By nature of both the electoral college, gerrymandering, and each state no
matter what its population having two Senators, the government doesn’t
represent the will of the people in the US.

Business has one motivating principle - profit. I can deal with that much
better than politicians who while they are motivated by money also and PACs,
they also get re-elected by pandering to people with a belief system that
isn’t in the best interests of anyone who does not fit with their definition
of a “model American”.

