Stick it to the man - Yaaa! Just don't us send the bill

Two things popped up at me on Twitter today. One a blog with comments by Alex Payne criticising Twitter, again (you work for banksimple now!) and another bit of street graffiti adorning London's new cycle hire scheme (the Boris bikes), which are sponsored by Barclays.

Alex Payne comments about how Twitter used to be free and open and fully staffed by a group of off-the-grid wholesome types before "the corrupting influences of capital and marketing" took over. It can be found here at Gigaom.

As for the Barclays/Boris London Cycle hire, well it is more amusing, and since we've never claimed to be a family publication, I won't apologise for the language.

(there is news that London Police are looking for a short, balding man, who collects newts and is know about town as 'Red Ken', but I digress)

Now, since I don't live in an anarcho-syndicalist commune, I tend to have one thought with these two posts "how do you propose to pay for this?"

There is something endearing about Alex Payne's criticisms of his former employers, like an artist who just wants to sit in his Dumbo squat creating breathtaking works of genius and just wishes the SoHo galleries would stop calling and sending checks. But now he is issuing dire warnings to Twitter that they are doomed to die if they don't re-embrace his corporate governance philosophy.

We've all left companies and jobs and muttered to ourselves that the firm will never survive without us. Somehow most of these companies do manage to limp on, without our immense talent roaming its corridors.

For some reason the same people who don't believe in the free market seem to have unyielding faith in the social market. (and if you think that Western capitalism has been subjected to the free market over the past 30 years, you're kidding yourselves - but that is another blog).

So, I say to Payne, let it go, let Twitter fly or fail by the whims of the free or social market and let's hear more about the snazzy new tech making bank customers lives easier at banksimple.

As for 'Fuck Barclays'. Well, I've had my own share of corporate rage from time to time (I will never fly in a Virgin plane - don't ask). But London now has a public cycle hire scheme man! That's a cool thing. Since we live in a world where no one wants to pay taxes anymore, yet complain loudly whenever the government needs to make cuts - how does anything get paid for?

Yes, Twitter, Payne, Boris Bikes, its corporate sponsorship - that ever persuasive necessary evil. The protestor sits on an easy perch - however, you can only reject privilege if you've had access to it in the first place.