Who Is Really In Charge?
For those who choose to read my work, you may have noticed a trend as of late; I have dedicated many words to technological creep, the ubiquity of technology for tech’s sake, and the like. I have little reason to believe any of my words will do any good, but I am human, screaming into the noise, and perhaps that is good enough. Perhaps, it will have to be.
In the opening scene of American Gangster, one of my favorite films of the 2000s, Frank Lucas (soon to be kingpin and drug lord of Harlem), played by Denzel Washington, is merely a driver for the current reigning gangster, the elderly “Bumpy” Johnson, played by Clarence Williams III. Walking casually into an empty department store, “Bumpy” becomes upset at the current state of American consumerism and seems to collapse from a heart attack. As Frank Lucas frantically shouts for help, “Bumpy” Johnson reassures him that nobody will come; “there is nobody in charge”. In the film, he dies right there on the floor of the empty department store.
That scene was filmed in 2007 and was set in 1968. It is one of those scenes in a film that I catch myself revisiting, with those precious words “there is nobody in charge”.
Well, there may in fact be someone in charge, who is to say, but they are not there for you, the consumer, the downloader, the customer, the digital silhouette of a human. They are not there to provide answers or help solve problems. They have an app for that. They have an AI chatbot that cannot sort out very human problems when they arise out of a very human error. They have no regard for their own responsibility or humanity, only to profit, and the more automated the maze becomes, the further from responsibility they sit.
Our demand for connectivity, convenience, and technology comes at a great cost–it becomes impossible to follow the supply chain of information. One day, Facebook is all of a sudden Meta. Twitter is now X, Digit savings is now Opportun. I am sorry, you’ll have to send your info to a third party, just after downloading their app. It would be one thing if anyone actually demanded any of these things. But we haven’t–it has been shoved down our throats with a wink and a smile…
Just a few weeks ago, I realized I had a “dead” LinkedIn account. Seeing the numerous complaints about the site, I no longer wanted to be associated with it. I have moved on from whatever profile picture, resume status, or any other details about myself years ago. I wanted my face removed from the site, my account closed, and any association with it forfeited.
Trying to do this led me through a digital labyrinth, a technological black hole that is yet to be resolved. For one, simply visiting LinkedIn from a Google browser automatically creates a profile for you and steals your picture from your Gmail account. So now, instead of deleting my account, I now have two separate accounts. But it gets even stranger– to now close this new automatically created, unauthorized account, I will need to enter a password.
But as you can see, “we don’t have a password for you”, forcing me to open an account, simply in order to close one. There isn’t a hell hot enough for these people….
As for my original account, they cannot verify that it is actually me. I wonder how these companies seem to know everything about you when it is convenient for them, yet know nothing about you at all when it is you that needs something. I was led to a third party, where I needed to download an app, then give camera access, then needed to fulfill a facial recognition process, and then send a digital print of my goddamn passport photo. Who the hell do these people think they are?
Well, LinkedIn has received my request as of two weeks ago, and I have still not heard a word from them. Not to bore my reader with another anecdote, but I am having the exact same issue discontinuing my relationship with Amazon.com. The issue is startlingly similar at Amazon—there is nobody to talk to, nobody to help, nobody that cares–nobody in charge.
We put up with this at our own peril; where the world becomes a giant digital hedge maze of broken links, unanswered inquiries, thoughtless, automated messages, and reassurance that your call is important to us. We are sleepwalking ourselves not to be ruled by robots, but to be treated as robots. What they want is total governance of our entire lives. To wear us down with apps, surveys, fine print, techno-disgrace. It is a prison of a kind.
The techno overlords can only think of humans by the millions or billions—they have no use for the individual. We have become dazed and faded while dancing in their digital humiliation ritual. But who can you complain to? Who will hear you out? Who will take final responsibility? My only hope is for a mass awakening. A revolution, if I can put it that way. The window for that possibility is rapidly vanishing– in fact, it may already be closed. But if the digital revolution were to come, it won’t be forged on an app. It will happen the old-fashioned way.
Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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This is a really good topic. Most people don't know any other way to live sadly. I lived through the creation of the internet and smart everything. I have a smart phone, but still use it like the old answering machines. It never leaves my home either. I recently got a new vehicle and had my phone with me then for information that might be needed during the purchase. They pressured me to do the pairing which I kindly pushed back that I didn't want to do. The sad part is people don't know the difference when that is the way that life has always been for them. Even school has changed. I took typing in school on a typewriter. I learned in books. There weren't computers in school. I read books growing up and I still do. Actual books, not digital.
I have my own website. I at one point tried setting up to sell my products on Amazon as well. The issues I had with my store with them was just like you described. There was no help to be had and this was with a business account. Google with their free merchandise account you can create for your products they want to control it all the way. They decide what you can put in it. Easy example I would create products for Breast Cancer Awareness month. They wouldn't let me add them because they were medical products according to them. I finally said forget it. SEO and website ranking is a bit of a joke as well. I refuse to change my website to what google wants to rank better. It is my website and I will have it how I want. I had a business account on Pinterest for a very long time and they just blocked it. They weren't happy with my About Me section, Contact Section. My About Me section is totally original that I wrote, but they said it wasn't original enough. My contact section is a typical contact section like any website. It reminded me of what google does. I said goodbye to them. TikTok the same way with my business account controlling what I can put in my store, but look at the content they allow. I fought Meta for awhile before we came to a happy place. I basically just use them for advertising to get people to my website. If I sell in those stores, Meta gets a cut of the money. It didn't used to be that way. Even from the business perspective you can see how the control factor is there.
Where’s Kafka when we need him?
I am reading, and recommend, a stunningly prescient book from 1992. The title and subtitle say it all: TECHNOPOLY: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. By Neil Postman.