Capitalism Beyond View

I have read an article by a man named Trebol Sholzs. This article is titled “Market Ideology and the Myths of Web 2.0”. "Authority in the Web 2.0 world is introduced through property and the availability of the means of production."(Sholzs). This quote really picks at my brain. It bothers me because many people praise Web 2.0 as being a place of freedom. Somewhere you can escape capitalism and indulge in a sort of free world. As I have come to learn in life, nothing is free. You pay no matter what. Free is just a word without meaning. I say this because web 2.0 is used as a platform. The more people contribute the better it gets. The thing is it’s used mainly for capitalism. It seems free, but really it's “...using the masses of Internet gift–givers as a global pool of cut–rate labour.”(Referenced from Sholz). What the capitalist want to do is make it seem like it’s free so it doesn't make people feel bad, but really it’s making money.

"Many of the changes described under the umbrella of Web 2.0 have been incremental, not sudden."(Referenced from Sholzs). This quote takes us back again to the idea of the myths of new technology. We see at the time and would like to think that this new technology is going to revolutionize things, but when looked at in foresight we realize that the changes were just incremental. It takes time for these things to take hold. Just like electricity, the phone, and the telegraph.

"Web technologies that deserve to be celebrated, the Web 2.0 concept itself merely boxes current phenomena to launch them as a brand." (Referenced from Sholz). This is exactly how web 2.0 fits perfectly into the capitalist formula. It takes the technologies of Web 2.0, and brands them, allowing web 2.0 to make money, while making no actual changes to the technology itself. It simply puts a name on the technologies.

In conclusion, the web is capitalism, and capitalism in now the web. Capitalism has taken over the web. It uses us for free labour while making money of us. It makes us oblivious to the fact that the web is not a free land. The way it's put together is made for us to see it that way. What one may come to see is that Capitalism is always hiding around the next corner. Always one step ahead.