My first (and probably last) psudeo profound sounding statement of the decade was broadcast via twitter and facebook this week. In case you didn’t cross it on those platforms it reads, “Small steps backward when huge steps forward are required should remind us of how fucked we actually are http://tinyurl.com/pfzgqb.” Have a read, come back and hear me out.
I’m still trying to hash out who’s more pathetic in the scenario. Let’s not mince words, both parties deserve a good scolding. In one corner we have the corporation buckling under the weight of the idiot masses; something of a rarity in itself. From an economical perspective, you’d think it would make sense for T-mobile to stick to their guns and charge extra for those who insist on eating up more resources in the billing process. Wouldn’t it be logical defaulting to paperless and make paper billing an opt-in program with a fee? From a touchy feely, liberal ethical standpoint, going paperless is an uber basic motion forward to get beyond our paper and stuff laden world. If nothing else it’s an opportunity for corporate big wigs to show that they actually share a sense of responsibility toward the planet which they inhabit. On these counts they’ve failed to show foresight, balls or a sound green financial strategy.
On the other hand we have the ignorant masses crying that they aren’t getting enough junk in the mail. It’s 
almost too easy to scowl at corporate slime but ultimately I think this latter group represents the greater of the two evils. People want to pride themselves on supporting green initiatives, political parties touting green promises and for recycling or driving a prius. But when it comes to making real, daily lifestyle choices/changes, it’s nothing but backlash from the everyday consumer. And therein lies one of the biggest reasons why at the core I’m very cynical when it comes to the impending climate catastrophe. People fear making real change to actually make this thing work from the ground up. We’re stuck in our little comfort zones of consumerism, automobiles and wastefulness. We’re rooting for and relying on our governments and private institutions to make enormous strides and ridiculous breakthroughs when we aren’t willing to do the small (but collectively significant) things ourselves. It’s as if we’ve forgotten how this whole grass roots movement thing actually works. The notion of practicing what you preach is becoming harder and harder to find in the modern world outside of fringe groups. I usually contend that apathy and shortsightedness will be the primary driving forces of our self-destruction, but a situation like this, though only a microcosm of societal interaction, shows a whole nother beast entirely. One of blatent ignorance, denial of the obvious, selfishness and irresponsiblity.
As a side note, as I arrived and signed up for a cell phone plan I was immediately given the option for paperless billing and told that a premium would be assessed for billing by mail. OFMG an opt-in program, how novel! Though Solo mobile is still a terrible company, with an atrocious website, and horrible customer service, at least they (and all telecoms here I believe) get something right at the end of the day.
Small tangent from that last thought, why is there never a telecom with a good record of customer service and fair pricing? These companies make a killing charging the rates they do for information across infrastructure which has existed for and will exist for a relatively long time. You’d think it would be the easiest market to sweep if only your upstart were open about policies, fair, and actually took care of customer needs in a reasonable way without ridiculous fees for stepping on cracks. I for one have never heard a person rave to me about how much they love their ISP or wireless service. Then again I don’t know anyone with fiber running to their house. Anyone have a different story?
Last word on topic: I generally hate heavyhanded shit but maybe just maybe this film will help the cause.
