Wednesday, 11 March 2020

On Ads and Simple Minds.

So here’s the anti-ad argument:

You invade people’s life without being invited and ingratiate yourself into their consciousness. You use whatever means are available to manipulate their thoughts, tastes and desires. You aim to brainwash them until they are receptive enough to want whatever it is your interests require them to take. You have no thought but for yourself because at the core of your being there is no human component.

That being the case, would somebody please tell me what the difference is between spam and advertising. Am I wrong in regarding all advertising as spam, and wondering why on earth we make the distinction?

This is at the heart of my problem with YouTube. The way in which Google uses advertising on YouTube is vexatious to the spirit of anyone with a modicum of sensitivity. I’m sure Google knows this, and encourages the practice in order to persuade people to pay them to have the ad-free premium service. And people fall for it because people are generally as weak as Google is unprincipled.

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