All Are One
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All Are One

January 18th, 2012 [ Tags: , ]

It probably says more about the places I’ve worked than corporate culture in general, but I have found that at some level, very little distinguishes one company from another. At the end of the day, employees are treated more like cogs in a money making machine than actual resources. Unless you’re a decision maker, you can be replaced.

Today, a number of prominent websites are going dark to protest SOPA and PIPA, two bills that would do irreparable harm to the internet as we know it. Google has posted a wonderful info graphic explaining the damage that will be done if these laws are passed.

I encourage everyone to do some further reading: Ars Technica, EFF, an open letter, Fred Wilson.

If you feel moved to action, Tumblr has a tool that will connect you to your representatives so you can talk to them on the phone, Fight for the Future has a form you can fill out to email your representatives, and Google has an online petition. We can stop this idiocy before it starts if we all say NO.

6Comment



  • HalibetLector

    It’s not just you and it’s not just Corporations. I’ve noticed mid to late stage Startup companies are just as guilty of this. It’s why so many people hop from early stage startup to early stage startup or go work for companies like 37signals (small companies who aren’t in a hurry to get big).

  • Vortigar

    Meanwhile in The Netherlands a copyright enforcement company (Brein) has managed to win a court case to have the pirate bay blocked by two internet providers.

    This was a very particular case as it requested the blockage of a single site, nowhere near as sweeping as sopa, but with this verdict in the bag these guys will probably be able to expand on their agenda.

    Not to mention that these copyright enforcers make buckets of money which will never ever find its way toward the artists they’re supposed to be supporting.

    Anonymous launched an attack on these guys last week and hit the wrong company. Which does not help in the least.

    And all the while there’s been a proposal stuck in governmental debate that will make it illegal for providers to block individual sites on any basis (ie. literally net neutrality in legislative form). Wish that judge would’ve waited for the final call on that proposal. But the man probably has no idea what kind of quagmire his ruling can unlock.

    Meanwhile the populace has zero influence on the whole thing unless we actually take it to the streets.

    Oh, how my freedom loving little nation has fallen…

  • http://www.facebook.com/aenya.silverleaf Aenya Hiri Silverleaf

    Man, do I know this or do I know this… It all comes down to having either no brain cells, a very easy-going attitude and stress immunity (yea right), or… well, what? How do you turn a company into something everyone is proud of and wants to work at?… I have yet to find the answer.

  • http://www.facebook.com/aenya.silverleaf Aenya Hiri Silverleaf

    Man, do I know this or do I know this… It all comes down to having either no brain cells, a very easy-going attitude and stress immunity (yea right), or… well, what? How do you turn a company into something everyone is proud of and wants to work at?… I have yet to find the answer.

  • Anonymous

    why are they called “startups”? I get the feeling that the word conveys something that starts bright and strong and then dies out depressingly. In my town a lot of people move in with big ambitions to make some money off of something cool that wasn’t there before, like a new restaurant, maybe a patisserie, maybe a french imports store, and the majority fail.
    What are the depressing huge disgusting loser companies doing right that gives them the ability to stick around? Except for Monsanto which has the FDA and USDA in its pocket and makes 94% of american corn. They clearly stick around because they are the spawn of evil hell-bent on destroying all that is right with the planet.

  • Becky

    This is a well-timed comic for me… I work in a public-sector job rather than for a corporation, and I actually have found my almost-one-year there to be very pleasant; but today I discovered that someone up the line had called in an OSHA officer over a very silly, minor thing concerning myself and one of my coworkers (of all things, we are wearing what someone out of the loop in a different department considers to be EXCESSIVE protective gear during certain tasks… which, to clarify, consists of dust masks), which means that the orignal panicker, various managers, my boss, the Big Boss, and goddamn OSHA have all been having extremely serious discussion about this “issue”, probably for weeks, without once deigning to have any kind of formal conversation with myself and the other person being talked about. In fact, we weren’t even notified that the inspector was on-site, let alone introduced to her or, god forbid, actually asked to describe to her our process so that she could hear about our mask-using preferences firsthand. Because shhh, sweetie, let the grownups talk. We know what’s best for you.

    The whole thing made me feel like a fucking child.