GreenBeard

Samsung are the same, and even more aggressive with the adware. There's really not a lot of decent consumer hardware these days that aren't just obnoxious ad pipelines.

We get that the people who work for a jerk, are not responsible for the bad decisions of that jerk, and it's a shame that they will suffer for his bad decisions, but that's part of the risks you take as an employee, and there are a great many risks you take working for anyone, most of which the owner class refuse to acknowledge. We all recognize that it's a struggle to find new employment, but they always have the option of finding a new company to work for.

The owner is the primary beneficiary of any capital investment. Collateral damage for their decisions is their responsibility, not the consumer.

That's a very legalistic interpretation of art. From a psychosocial perspective, all art is participatory. Each token is more than simply a construction of the artist. Who and how it's shared with and interacted with is an active participant in creating its meaning. The act of choosing is in itself an internalizing behavior. There does remain some externalized imposition, but as an act of voluntary community building, not a function of practical necessity in the service of ends not entirely your own; and importantly if the terms of that voluntary association change you can remove the symbol.

False equivalence. Expressing yourself through material means, like art, music, heck, even bumper stickers, that's perfectly reasonable. You don't "own" that license plate. It's not yours, its an identity being externally pushed on you. They let you customize it somewhat, to make it feel like something you're choosing to do. You're not choosing it. It's not an expression of the self, it's an identity externally imposed, and that's a meaningful distinction, even if you understand and agree with why it's being imposed.

How clever. Bravo.

I mean it's not a wrong take, it doesn't make financial sense.

Sort of, but this is slightly different. It's an active obfuscation of an externally imposed identity element. A justifiable one in this case, but an external imposition in the first place, and external identity elements should always be held at arm's length because they tend to get abused.

Incorporating it into your material identity dulls your awareness of the fact this representation of you, isn't "you", and how it's used isn't up to you. Creating an attachment to it has risks, risks you are inclined to ignore if mentally it's just another personalized bumper sticker in your perception.