While watching Muta's latest video titled PLEASE END THIS NIGHTMARE, referring to the so-called new era of PCs where everyone's going to have their own AI agents doing everything for them. Jenslop Wrong have already talked about this many times already, but that's not the point of this post.
When Muta mentioned whether people can afford a Steam Deck or not due to how insane the market is right now when it comes to RAM and SSDs, I found myself saying, “Afford it? It's not even worth it, dude!” Why would anyone in their right mind spend that much money on a mediocre handheld that barely supports the OS it comes with? No one should ever spend that much money on any device that's not flexible enough to support multiple OSes seamlessly. Heck, I would quit gaming forever in a heartbeat if it means corporations won't get a fucking dime from me.
Sadly, however, we all know that most people are drowning in debt that they don't even bother to check their bank statements; that behavior even encourages corporations to get away with sneaky tactics like artificial scarcity. And when you think about it, it is artificial scarcity, because the bulk sales are based on promises alone, and promises, especially from a corporation don't mean shit. Every big corporation is obsessed with PR now like that's all that matters like, fuck integrity, fuck customers, heck, fuck even the businesses they deal with. It's like George Carlin said:
Everybody knows by now, all businessmen are completely full of shit; just the worst kind of low-life, criminal, cocksuckers you could ever wanna' run into – a fuckin' piece of shit businessman. And the proof of it, the proof of it is, they don't even trust each other. They don't trust one another. When a business man sits down to negotiate a deal, the first thing he does is to automatically assume that the other guy is a complete lying prick who's trying to fuck him outta his money. So he's gotta do everything he can to fuck the other guy a little bit faster and a little bit harder. And he's gotta do it with a big smile on his face. You know that big, bullshit businessman smile? And if you're a customer – Whoah! – that's when you get the really big smile. Customer always gets that really big smile, as the businessman carefully positions himself directly behind the customer, and unzips his pants, and proceeds to service…the…account. I am servicing this account. This customer needs service. Now you know what they mean. Now you know what they mean when they say, “We specialize in customer service.” Whoever coined the phrase “let the buyer beware” was probably bleeding from the asshole. That's business.
Power inevitably corrupts; that's a given, and it seems like these out-of-touch corporations are enjoying the shit out of it. If you want to fight back, keep both your money and your personal data as far away from them as possible.