evil

Matt Ruby - Just how evil is Amazon? And am I awful for being a Prime addict?
also: Gizmodo - Is Amazon Evil and Am I Evil for Using It?

what is evil? people in the article above define it as:  not capitalism, something that is out of normal, dodging taxes, and "what lies outside the boundary of the moral community."

personally, i think I would evil as purposely hurting something (or someone) purely for one's own gain. therefore, amazon (bezos) is evil, because it repeatedly hurts the environment, local economies, and its workers to make more money for itself. plus, unregulated capitalism is definitely evil and amazon is trying its best to deregulate itself. 

so if amazon is evil, are you evil for shopping with them? no, because you're not purposely hurting anything. you're inadvertently hurting the environment, local economy, and fellow humans. also doing evil things does not make you evil anywat, unless those evil actions are born of evil beliefs. most people shop on amazon because it's easy and they think it's cheaper (tho often times it's not), not because they want to underpay workers, ruin the environment, destabilize the community, etc. however, they know they're doing these things second hand through amazon, and yet continue to do it anyway. which, again, while not evil, is certainly not good.

I think the majority of middle class americans have heard of a lot of the bad things amazon does and have decided to not think about it. to not take responsibility for encouraging evil because they are not themselves actively committing evil. but every decision you make is another opportunity to reinforce your beliefs, since it doesn't really matter you think if your actions don't reflect it. I think shopping on amazon shows that you value your convenience and wallet over your moral code (because I think most people say they value the environment, the local economy, and worker's rights).

so don't do it. decide now that you ARE a moral human. that the convenience of getting something shipped straight to your door matters less than the health of planet you live on and will leave to future generations. that your wanting to save a couple bucks matters less than the health and quality of life for 800,000+ amazon employees. that your 15 minutes saved by not price comparison shopping matters less than supporting local or smaller shops which hold up our community and pay a hell of a lot more in taxes than amazon does so that you don't have to be taxed more to subsidize bezos and his legal tax dodging.

don't perpetuate evil and don't support amazon. 

february 2021 donation

I was going to "cheat" this month too and count my over $50 of recent shipping costs to mail USBs/SD cards and cameras as my donation, BUT I just realized how much money I'm getting on unemployment, so I can certainly afford to donate an extra $25 this month.

I had really wanted to get to my list from last year (heavy on abortion rights, journalism, etc.), but Texas is having a really hard time of it right now so I'm donating to West Street Recovery. I found them thru the Strategist list. they're a new org, founded in 2018 with a less than $600k operating budget so I couldn't find that much info on them, nor any financials, but I'm donating anyway since I like their mission, their structure, their website, and their instagram, ha. also, I can donate thru PayPal which covers transaction fees. I've been really trying to use PayPal more on websites, rather than giving my credit card info since I feel like it's that much safer. ...who knows if it actually is. apparently my donation will just cover an hour of staff time :)

cameras

t asked a while ago on what to do with her old working DSLR. I suggested she contact khs and cypress college since they both had photography departments when we were there, altho i wasn't sure about now. a while later, my dad told me he was going to give his old working semi-manual camera to good will or whomever did a collection next. I asked he hold onto it for a while for me to do some research, since I had a point and shoot, and was certain others did too.

turns out there are very few groups that want digital point and shoots! film cameras are still in demand, as as DSLRs but simple cameras, not so much. did find one tho: project kare, which distributes the cameras at the "Mae Ra Moe refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border and to Karen State in Burma." 

"Our annual Student Photography Project has become a highlight the students look forward to every year! Dozens of students will be excited to take your used digital cameras home to photograph their family, friends, neighbors, and interesting scenes in their community...  Cameras are rare in the refugee camp and Karen State so students are very excited just to hold a camera. Having the opportunity to take one home and take photos is awesome! We award your donated cameras to winners of the photography contest, for students who produce the most compelling photos, their overall collection of pictures."

long story a little shorter, I asked friends and put up a post on FB and ended up shipping 9 cameras. thank yous to my dad, sophia (she's asked a friend and they donated 4 total!), ting, and alex (from dragon boat).

hit a snag in the mailing tho, apparently you can't mail that many lithium ion batteries in a single box that isn't its original packaging. but anyway, I emailed the org and they said that they normally purchase extra batteries for all the cameras anyway so I should just send them without. 

also, be sure to follow their facebook for photos from the cameras you donated! this set probably won't g up for a while since they're not planning on traveling there soon, but hopefully within the next year our cameras will be useful again :)

january 2021 donation

I'm "cheating" a bit this month. I'm counting my $80 annual national parks pass for my donation. cheating because it's not technically a donation since I'm getting membership, but I'm counting it anyway because entrance at Bryce was only $35 but I decided to get the annual pass anyway. I was going to get it at an earlier national park, but somehow none of them had anyone collecting so it was only at our last park that we got charged.