There’s a capitalist pattern that I can’t fucking stand.
(I’m sure this is written somewhere academically)
But the pattern of cutting off whole industries that are serving people adequately only to replace them with a far more expensive alternative that is:
A - stylistically/aesthetically (over) designed
B - the practical quality of the product is equal to or lesser than the classic product
We can see this nationally with industries like cable television and private transport.
Cable: Netflix came out and offered a la carte, advertisement free programming. Great! It was so good that the model was recreated countless times and it killed cable television.
Now, with cable television dead, Netflix can jack up prices and force ads back into programming.
Private transport: Uber killed taxis. By cutting costs and letting drivers use their own car, Uber could offer rides for pennies on the dollar. Remember taking an Uber for $6? It was so good the taxi industry crashed. With taxis gone, now Uber is free to charge you $50 for a ride home from the bar. The same typa prices taxis were charging.
Ok so that’s the pattern. But the way that it manifests itself on a local neighborhood level is so fucking sinister. I hate it. It goes hand in hand with gentrification.
So as an example, there’s a perfectly fine, working class neighborhood with immigrants and minorities. These neighborhoods have their own small businesses that provide services. For example a carniceria. There’s a butcher that also sells beer and conveniences. It’s affordable. A neighborhood staple.
The neighborhood starts to gentrify. Property values go up. Rent goes up. The new gentrifiers don’t want to visit this store because it represents the culture they are anxious to white wash. The old customers can no longer really shop there. It doesn’t really make sense to go there anymore over a Walmart or something, even if it’s a drive.
The carniceria goes out of business. The old building with the shitty hand drawn signs that added character to the neighborhood is gone; it not old offered the basic service of a butcher, but little cultural goods as well.
A couple of years later, after more gentrification… These old residents and new affluent ones are all getting their meat from Walmart. It’s the only option. Until a new resident realizes there’s a gap in the market. Walmart doesn’t have customer service. There’s no butcher you can talk to. It would be nice to be treated like a person. Why don’t we open a butcher shop?
Let’s get cutting edge graphic designer. Quirky name. Let’s get one of these old buildings and spend a lot of money to remodel it and offer these ancient universal human services, but in a way that is trendy and feels cool. The service matches the new artisan vibe the neighborhood would like to give off. And guess what? it’s 4x the price. When we coulda just had a fucking affordable carniceria with good service.
Copy paste rinse repeat.
I just saw a trendy dry cleaners pop up in Venice. WHY THE FUCK DOES A DRY CLEANERS NEED TO BE TRENDY? Just clean the fucking clothes.
“Too often distracted by the competitive world, and tripping over my own foolish ego feet, but driven by the beauty, I keep trying, and I stay the course, trying to let go and feel the moment of truth.” - Flea
I got a photo of mine selected for the school gallery. And the guy who does all the printing said he made me an extra copy to take home because he really liked it and thought I should have one.
So I came home with this huge print. And I couldn’t help but think like damn.. what would my grandpa have said about this?
It’s a picture of a young boxer with a championship belt looking tough af
I never really shared my pictures with him while he was around. Maybe I didn’t think they were good enough yet.
I think he woulda been blown away by it. And really proud of me.
There’s a lot of regret and sadness there that he never got to see me do cool things. Or things that I thought he’d be proud of.
But then I also think maybe I never would have gotten there with him around. Like I needed an end of something in order to really reach for something new.
I have a neighbor who is a Black woman. She has mental illness and severe behavioral outbursts.
About a month ago she was under the influence and completely out of control. She was on my front steps knocking yelling at the top of her lungs. She was being disrespectful and looking for any type of reaction. She desperately wanted any type of energy to feed into hers.
My grandmother was up and scared. Some of it was directed at my girlfriend.
I felt pretty helpless. She was fucking with my loved ones.
After over an hour I called 911. It was out of desperation. It was also out of anger. Thinking “I shouldn’t have to deal with this shit.”
The second they answered, I instantly started to regret it. My mind started racing like “fuck bro, what if they come and end up shooting her because she’s a Black woman.”
It went from “I don’t deserve this” to she “doesn’t deserve this.” Before the end of the call I had already fully backed down to asking them for strictly medical attention only and to please not send police. I made it clear she was mentally ill and just needed help.
I felt so fucking guilty and scared that I called back 10 minutes later and told them that she calmed down and to please cancel the call.
Even though she ended up coming back in waves for another hour at least.
I say this because of the Sonya Massey shooting. I know there’s nothing you can do in this country if you need first responders and any Black people are involved. This proves it.
Sandra Massey called for an intruder.
There’s no help and no resources because someone might end up dead. If you’re not Black do not call 911 if there’s any Black people involved or around even. These fucking pigs can’t be trusted with every-day routine shit.
