An important message not only about consumerism

General
#1

Hi guys!
I just found this important documentary video for you. Can’t give a streaming link because I didn’t even try to find one. But I know you are all gogal phantoms so please, find it and watch it. Here’s the IMDB link.

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#2

Nice … Thank you for the hint to it :slight_smile: … It is a Netflix documentary and for those who have Netflix, they can stream it there

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#3

Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll give it a watch! :smiling_face:

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#4

I know, it’s getting a bit boring after lets say 20 minutes, but please keep on watching. There will be more interesting parts.

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#5

Thank god you didn’t fall for the Jolla C2 campaign while having a perfectly working SFOS phone already :wink:

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#6

Of course I did, but that is a whole different story. That is about Sailfish, not the hardware. And beside that…

a perfectly working SFOS phone

…isn’t really a thing. My X10III is a living prof of that. As much as I want it to be perfect, I’m actually giving my larger hope to the C2.

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#7

And yea… I don’t claim to be better than anyone else. I just wanted to make a point.

#8

Buy it, the netflix subsciption :grinning:

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#9

Another type of consumerism… own nothing but you are happy

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#10

Yeah… I don’t have Netflix either, doesn’t mean there aren’t alternative methods to get by!
And indeed; I won’t pay for something I don’t own if there are alternatives.

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#11

I won’t pay for something I don’t own even if there are no alternatives.

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#12

Not that I would ever do something like that my self, but a friend of mine said that it was possible to pirate this video.

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#13

Kind of what I meant, in this case I meant what eson is implying with his last post, yarr :pirate_flag:

Though I suppose there are cases where unfortunately my resolve is weak; like I’m “leasing” (not owning) some games on Steam simply because they aren’t on GOG and I want to play them multiplayer… that said, I can at least comfort myself with all the work Valve is putting into Linux these recent years.

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#14

You can still find it using search engines that searches instead of channeling your search just like yu.ru.

#15

Thanks for the suggestion, @eson!

I took some notes, I hope somebody finds them useful. I left out many interesting details, that I didn’t find relevant to smartphones. If you are curious, see the film yourself!

The documentary is focused on how corporations maximize their profits and these strategies are divided into five categories:

  1. Sell more
  2. Waste more
  3. Lie more
  4. Hide more
  5. Control more

Chapter 1: Sell more

  • Storytelling (example used: Adidas teaming up with musicians)
  • Create more opportunities to sell (example: football clubs using several different jerseys during season)
  • Create objects of desire
  • Create more and faster (example: fashion season changed from 6 months to 1 month)
  • Reduce the time for a consumer to think critically about what they are buying (example: Amazon 1-click shopping policy)

Chapter 2: Waste more

  • Planned obsolescence (examples: light bulbs, printers, clothing, non-replaceable batteries…)
  • 13 million phones thrown away each day
  • Phones represent the peak of the industrial capability of the day and they are epensive, yet they are treated as throwaway objects.
  • iFixit, company providing tools, parts and repair manuals for consumers, has been receiving many copyright takedown noticies from companies trying to censor information available to the public.
  • Consumers being forced to buy more (example: Apple removing headphone jack to bump up the sales of their AirPods)
  • It seems almost impossible to invert the trend of creating more waste, because that would cut down the profits and no CEO is allowed to do that on purpose.

Chapter 3: Lie more

  • Generally, people trust companies more than other social institutions.
  • Greenwashing: using kids and elements of nature in commercials, using green colour wherever possible, making ecological changes in a miniscule scale
  • Recycling symbols on products are aimed to pacify consumers from thinking about the waste.
  • Corporate leaders feel like they can have bigger influence on the waste matter if they are working outside the business world.

Chapter 4: Hide more

  • Companies don’t take into consideration what happens to product after they have reached their end of life.
  • Electronical waste is usually transported via Antwerp, since they don’t have sufficient resources to police what comes in and what goes out.
  • Waste is dumped in countries with weaker economy, because it’s cheaper that way and the real price is paid by the enviroment and the workers’ health.
  • Polyester (made from oil) is one of the biggest problems: microplastics end up in water and from there it goes into our food and eventually into our bodies causing inflammations and neurological disorders.

Chapter 5: Hide more

  • Leaders are obliged to back the company, no matter what.
  • Every company likes to tell their workers how they are the best employers and care about the environment.
  • Only one single narrative is allowed in companies.
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#16

Thank you very much for summarizing, that is really appreciated for people with limited time.
I totally understand the messages in the summery, but I wonder if there is a direct reference to Sailfish?
I can see the indirect implications of using Sailfish in the context, but is our loved OS directly part if this documentary?

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#17

Di you actually learn something new from the documentary? From the summary it seems to me all stuff that is already well known.
These kind of documentaries give you the impression that we (consumers) can do something about it and that makes us feel “enlightened”.
Unfortunately I bet most people will go back to 1-click buys on Amazon minutes after watching it.

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#18

@tuplasuhveli Thank you for the great summary!

This proves that you have to get rid of all the nonsense out there, like WhatsApp and Android apps that are basically embedded web browsers, etc…

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#19

Thank you so much for creating the summary!
I don’t have Netflix (I passionately hate subscriptions) and the documentary did not seem important enough to warrant pirating it :slight_smile:

I’m literally reading this while wearing a 20-year-old shirt… :grin:

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#20

There is also a nice discussion on reddit about the documentary → https://www.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/1gvqu8y/thoughts_on_buy_now_the_shopping_conspiracy/

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