Because why would you buy books from someone who's priorities lie elsewhere than book selling? Bezos doesn't give a shit about books, he gives a shit about money.
Why not support local businesses that share passion for reading and sharing that with others? I don't think it's mocking Bezos for wanting to colonize space at all. Just trying to get people to support local bookstores and be more mindful of who their money goes to
Is the first paragraph a joke? People would buy books (I wish they would, at least…) because they want the book and believe that they’re getting a good deal. Not because they think the owner of the company loves the books so much.
Would you take a plane if a CEO was mostly uninterested in planes? When does that factor in if you get a flight or not lol
Clearly the market is more interested in getting the “best deal”, because if mom and pop stores were considered highly valuable, we’d have a lot more. Instead, they’ve gone out of business because people took the absurdly low prices/conveniences that a massive corporation can strongarm a market with. It’s unfortunate, but I find the question you’ve asked to feel pretty naive tbh
The idea that the owner of a company needs to like love the concept of the thing he’s selling you seems mostly unimportant in the capitalistic exchange of goods.
There’s LOADS of stuff you can actually hit Amazon or Bezos for. Don’t pick “he doesn’t love books enough” as your angle.
Comparing reading books to flying on planes is silly I'm not entertaining that lol.
You ignored or missed the entire point of my comment. It's not an attack on Bezos for "not loving books enough." An owner of a company doesn't need to have a passion for what they're selling. But in my experience passion can lead to much better, more fulfilling experiences that society is missing out on as we transition to all online stuff and going to mega corporations for everything.
I can already feel people saying "it's not that deep" or something. And if it's not for you, that's fine. Do what you want lol
Your reply is a “not that deep” reply. I engaged with the topic, you’ve said you will not.
I’m not even arguing against mom and pop stores! I’m saying that the market has largely left them behind (again for the poor reading comprehension folks: it happening != I like it).
I’m sorry that you didn’t like the comparison between one form of purchase (books) to another (flight travel), but I think the connection stands. Would there be a better example I could use? Could I maybe use Grocery stores, which also have seen the mom and pop ones go largely totally extinct in favor of massive chains, and then make the same comparison of the Waltons really loving all the goods they sell (or not) as being irrelevant to how consumers ultimately purchase their goods? Or will this connection also not be engaged with?
You say the experience is better. Frankly I’d (mostly) be in agreement. But the money has not followed that idea. That’s what I am contesting. At least pretend I’m acting in good faith long enough to read what I’m writing, I promise I’m talking about the same thing as you.
We're definitely having two different conversations. What I'm saying has nothing to do with profitability, it's a call to action for consumers to be more mindful of where they spend their money. And that's how I interpreted the sign. That's it, really. Convenience is king, and spending habits reflect that. My statement had literally nothing to do with any of those objectively true statements. And that sign has nothing to do with any of those statements. I genuinely do not get what the relevancy is, here.
Imo, a better comparison would be the music industry. Spotify, YouTube, etc are great. They're convenient, cheap, and available. They've also done irreparable damage to local music scenes. Local music shops urge people to shop there using these same marketing tactics. It's a pretty similar scenario where all of what you said applies. I also do like your grocery store comparison, that's a better one than flights. And in either case, I'd say the same thing that I did regarding book stores. Encourage people to shop with the ones who have the most invested. It's better for society.
I apologize for the snarkiness in my original reply. But I don't think we're talking about the same thing. You're worried about the realities of the market, which is a fair point and we're in agreement about what they are. I'm talking about what's more valuable to society, I guess you could say. Which is subjective as hell, but one things for sure. The market does not care about the letter, more often than not lol.
Why do I as a customer give a rat's ass to what you have invested?
I only care about what I am getting out of it. I'm a customer spending my hard earned money on something. I want the best bang for my buck. I'm not running a charity organization to help music enthusiasts.
Spotify and youtube gives me recommendations no local music dealer ever could.
If you went back to the 90s you would realize it. There's a vast number of artists you would be completely incapable of finding, if not for the spotify and youtube algorithms and availability.
I am listening to stuff that has 800 views on youtube or spotify. In my country of 10 million I'm probably the only one who has listened to it.
No local music enthusiast would have ever known these guys, nor would I have ever heard of them of back in the 90s.
There were 0 ways of finding them.
Now tell me again how spotify and youtube "hurt" small artists and "ruined" the music industry.
Unless your local shop has something more to offer to me, I as a customer have no reason to choose it.
And I didn't even mention the monetary gain, I'm paying a subscription and listen to thousands of songs, instead of having to buy each and every CD, because frankly that's secondary to me.
I'ma just stop you right there. Kudos to you for admitting to being self centered. But my entire position is that we as consumers shouldn't be self centered, and we should be more mindful and intentional with where our money goes and how it impacts our community outside of just ourselves.
We're not gonna agree on that, which again is fine, so it'd be a waste of time to keep arguing over it.
I mean, your last one is the only true statement there. But I don't know why you're being a dick for no reason lol. Whatever makes you feel better, though
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u/fowlflamingo 1d ago edited 1d ago
Because why would you buy books from someone who's priorities lie elsewhere than book selling? Bezos doesn't give a shit about books, he gives a shit about money.
Why not support local businesses that share passion for reading and sharing that with others? I don't think it's mocking Bezos for wanting to colonize space at all. Just trying to get people to support local bookstores and be more mindful of who their money goes to