3 ms·

Cable companies will just rename the rent to service contracts. The root of these issues is letting sociopaths have the power they do.

by Jemm 6y ago

cxr 6y ago
Not wrong, but maybe thinking of things in terms that are too simple, i.e., the natural corollary that if we would just stop letting sociopaths do what they do, then we wouldn't have things like this. But it's usually not sociopaths versus normal people. Sure, maybe there are a lot of CEOs who could be clinically diagnosed as sociopaths, but a lot of average people who don't fall into that bucket are able to rationalize their way into doing shitty things. I'm talking about everyone from waitstaff and gas station attendants to people doing admin work and small business owners—not just people in conspicuous positions of power making many times the national average income. I'd wager that if you were able to get your hands on an oracle that could provide the true count of incidental contact and the measure of impact on the average person's life by sociopaths versus good people who do bad things as a matter of performing their daily routines, the difference is probably an order of magnitude heavier on the side of the latter. Not to mention Hanlon's razor and all that.
- dylan604 6y ago
  > maybe there are a lot of CEOs who could be clinically diagnosed How many times is it that the CEO comes up with the idea to do something like this? For start ups, I can see the CEO actually having this kind of involvement. Jobs/Musk/Zuck all come to mind of a CEO that is in total control. ATT/Spectrum/Comcast/etc all seem to be on a different level. This adding of fees type of schemes seems more like something the bean counters come up with, and then eventually the CEO is informed/blesses the decisions. Would a CEO in these companies really be the ones scheming up ideas like this or be more concerned about the next acquisition?
  - cxr 6y ago
    I don't think this line of thought is without value, but I also don't think it materially affects the point I was making.
yostrovs 6y ago
The cable companies can simply raise their prices to compensate, and the consumers won't notice the difference because they'll be paying the same price as last month. Most people don't even know of the modem rental fee.

Cable companies will just rename the rent to service contracts. The root of these issues is letting sociopaths have the power they do.

by Jemm 6y ago

Cable companies will just rename the rent to service contracts. The root of these issues is letting sociopaths have the power they do.

cxr 6y ago

Not wrong, but maybe thinking of things in terms that are too simple, i.e., the natural corollary that if we would just stop letting sociopaths do what they do, then we wouldn't have things like this. But it's usually not sociopaths versus normal people. Sure, maybe there are a lot of CEOs who could be clinically diagnosed as sociopaths, but a lot of average people who don't fall into that bucket are able to rationalize their way into doing shitty things. I'm talking about everyone from waitstaff and gas station attendants to people doing admin work and small business owners—not just people in conspicuous positions of power making many times the national average income. I'd wager that if you were able to get your hands on an oracle that could provide the true count of incidental contact and the measure of impact on the average person's life by sociopaths versus good people who do bad things as a matter of performing their daily routines, the difference is probably an order of magnitude heavier on the side of the latter. Not to mention Hanlon's razor and all that.

dylan604 6y ago
> maybe there are a lot of CEOs who could be clinically diagnosed How many times is it that the CEO comes up with the idea to do something like this? For start ups, I can see the CEO actually having this kind of involvement. Jobs/Musk/Zuck all come to mind of a CEO that is in total control. ATT/Spectrum/Comcast/etc all seem to be on a different level. This adding of fees type of schemes seems more like something the bean counters come up with, and then eventually the CEO is informed/blesses the decisions. Would a CEO in these companies really be the ones scheming up ideas like this or be more concerned about the next acquisition?
- cxr 6y ago
  I don't think this line of thought is without value, but I also don't think it materially affects the point I was making.

yostrovs 6y ago

The cable companies can simply raise their prices to compensate, and the consumers won't notice the difference because they'll be paying the same price as last month. Most people don't even know of the modem rental fee.