Disentangling

In light of recent events (Amazon’s GoDaddy whacking ar15.com, Shitter delisting Trump and so on — you all know what I’m talking about), I did a couple of things yesterday to try to disentangle myself from these assholes as much as possible.

  • When I re-register this website, it will be with GoDaddy’s competitor.  I discussed it at some length with Tech Support II, and it will be done.
  • I’ve never used Shitter or Faecesbook, so that’s okay.  I’m probably not going to go with Gab or Parler, because I’m not interested in having an online “social presence” other than through this website, which I can control.
  • If Hosting Matters shuts me down because of doubleplusungood thought- and speech crimes, Tech Support has a backup plan so that won’t affect me either, other than as a mild irritation while the handover is completed.
  • Ditto WordPress.
  • I canceled my Amazon Prime account.  This will be a little inconvenient in that I won’t have access to their movies and such, but I’ll survive with Hulu and Roku, albeit with commercial irritation.  Netflix is also under review for similar reasons.
  • Most of the stuff I order from Amazon can be purchased locally or through the various companies’ own websites, so I’ll be doing that too.  On the very few occasions where I must use Amazon, I’ll just pay the postage.
  • Ditto Walmart, Target and so on.  I’ve had it up to here with seeing “Made in China” on everything, so every time I find that irritant, I’m going to find a manager and tell them why I’m not buying from them today.  Or I’ll only buy stuff made in other Asian countries e.g. Thailand if there’s absolutely no American-made equivalent.  Or I’ll just do without.
  • I already ditched Chrome;  last night I ditched Mozilla and went with Brave.
  • Today I’m going to ditch Thunderbird and go with ProtonMail, as soon as I’ve figured it out.
  • I long ago stopped using the Google search engine, swapping it for DuckDuck Go, so that’s done.  DDG isn’t quite as good, but it’s sufficient for my needs.
  • Now I need to find something equivalent to Google Maps so I can ditch those assholes too.  Any advice on this will be welcome.

I’m quite aware that this is like pissing in the wind, that I’m only one guy etc.  Longtime Readers, however, will know the precept behind the Nation of Riflemen:  turning America back into a nation of riflemen, one citizen at a time.  The same applies to me, as an individual:  I’m just one guy, but one of many such guys.

If my one action helps other people disentangle themselves from Big Tech, maybe, just maybe we can make a difference.  Regardless, I’m not going to support their fucking enterprises if there is any alternative — even if as noted above, the alternatives are not as good.

And finally, I’m going to do the same every single time a corporation does stupid woke shit or some kind of totalitarian activity.

  • You wanna take a knee during the National Anthem?  Fine, that’s your choice, just as it will be my choice not to watch or support you.
  • The University of North Texas can take their begging letters and wipe their asses with them, as I will do if they send me any.
  • If any financial institution starts cutting off service to the firearms industry, their cards are going to go bye-bye out of my wallet, even if it’s a major inconvenience to me.  Conversely, any financial institution that shows a proper conservative attitude towards their business will get my custom.

And just so everyone’s clear on this:  any money I save from the above activities will most likely go towards the purchase of ammo and guns, and the use and practice thereof.

I am just one guy;  but we have to start somewhere if we’re going to stop this nonsense.  I know that many of my Readers already do or have done what I’m doing now, and that’s great.  Now spread the word to all your family, friends and acquaintances, just like you did with the Nation of Riflemen, encouraging prospective gun owners and teaching them how to shoot.

The Revolution starts now.

28 comments

  1. Fair warning: WAZE is a wholly owned subsidiary of Google.
    Try Mapquest.

    For a browser, Brave is good, so is Opera (and Opera has a built-in VPN). For website registration (godaddy) try and find an out of country registrar.

    I ditched Netflix when they played that movie glorifying child porn and trafficking.

  2. We’ve started disentangling as well. A whole bunch of just one guys are doing this. I don’t think the companies will care. But my conscience will be clean and their power over me will be significantly reduced.

    1. I’ve been using Open Streets for years. It supplies the base maps for one of my amateur radio applications. It’s maps are at least as accurate and up to date as the ones provided by MinTru Section G.

      Don’t know if it has the search and route planning features though.

      1. I have Guru ex-Galileo on my phone. It is as free download. With vector maps it works *offline* so you do not need internet or cell coverage. Integrated with GPS, and does route planning and spoken directions (spit). Download only the states that you need. Of course no ‘streetview’.

    2. For laptop/desktop use, I don’t have any recommendation.

      I’ve used maps.me on my iPhone, mostly on overseas trips, because it uses maps that are downloaded and kept on the phone to minimize bandwidth usage in the app.

      My iPhone also needs to be upgraded, but I don’t know what would be a good replacement. I’m disgusted with Apple, but they’re better than Google (which rules out Android).

  3. Yes. Disentangling is a process that for me is going to take time. Not only the distancing myself from the scum you mentioned, but also getting out of a blue state to someplace deep red. (The good red – no commie reds)

  4. Don’t fool yourself. “They” are just getting started. They will eventually turn off your electricity with the smart meter. Cancel your medical insurance. Check out how they squeezed Laura Loomer. Canceled uber, lyft and even uber eats. In China you can’t leave the house or travel any distance when you do. Nor buy food. Streets constantly monitored with facial recognition. Social credit score is low ? Then you are depersoned.

    The other nite my mind drifted back to my childhood. The big local library was this classic picture. Heavy wooden tables. In summer the large windows opened with a pole. Lazy fans turning to cool us readers. Lost in the books. The world surrounded me. My working career as a sales slug I had a trunk filled with map books. The beeper was an extravagance for when my wife was preggy. No web. No cell phone. No social media. Elsewhere I apoligized for my deeds. I sold the means of our societal destruction to the largest and smallest companies in America.

    Sadly I believe we have crossed the Rubicon. No turning back. Things will only become more Orwellian than he could have imagined. I am glad I am old.

  5. If one is faced with a situation in which there is no alternative than to order via Amazon, then do this: Order through AmazonSmile, where a certain percentage of your order is forwarded as a charitable contribution to the charity of YOUR choosing. I’d suggest the Second Amendment Foundation, which is an AmazonSmile option.

    One Ace of Spades commenter calculates that she’s directed about $500 in contributions to SAF that way, as she relies heavily on Amazon due to her very remote, non metro location.

    Ain’t perfect, but it IS using the enemy’s own tools against ’em, at least a bit.

    Jim
    Sunk New Dawn
    Galveston, TX

    1. Jim, I do the same thing with Amazon Smile. I’ve sent a fair chunk of change to the Gun Owners Foundation, which is part of Gun Owners of America.

      1. Jim: I fear that donating to 2AF or Gun Owner’s Foundation will very soon be declared a Crime Against the State. When that happens, write a check and mail it in. So far, USPS is remaining very quiet about any kind of delivery restrictions. They need your stamp money.

  6. Sadly, disentangling is very hard. A year or 2 ago a journalist tried disentangling from “the big 5” tech giants 1 at a time, and then finally all 5 at once and it was… inconvenient, at best. The tentacles of the big tech companies are extremely pervasive.

    Her columns about it all can be found here: https://gizmodo.com/c/goodbye-big-five

  7. For the past 20 years people have been asking me why I use my own domain for email instead of using gmail like everyone else. Perhaps now they’ll finally understand.

    The biggest problem is that when you finally get out, they pull you back in. That is, when a new player gets too popular, one of the big five buys them out. Ditto for banks.

  8. Bu-bu-but I can’t leave Facebook.
    It’s just too much fun tickling the Facebook wienies, seeing just how far I can go without being placed in durance vile. I have to admit: they continue to try – in vain. Thus far, I’m their slippery eel – a minor irritation.
    I should be embarrassed 🤪my red face!

  9. Here’s a little help with ar15-com: https://www.ar15-backup.com/index.html
    Expect to wade through several nanny screens about how this connection is not safe or private.

    And if you’re having trouble deciding about NetFlix, keep in mind they hired the Obamas as “producers” and put Susan Rice on their BoD.

  10. HERE Maps (https://wego.here.com/, also available on the app store of your choice) is a good alternative for mapping. What I especially like about HERE is that you can download the map for any region in the world to your phone, which is a nice backup in case cell coverage is spotty or non-existent.

  11. I am ALL THE ABOVE, and once I verify American Express is who I think they are, they are dead to me too. I called Navy Federal Credit Union today to cancel my American Express card and the kind CSR told me to extract all my reward points before doing so. She said their phone has been ringing of the hook since Monday. NFCU is the largest credit union in America, and I’m guessing they are rethinking their relationship with AMEX. We’ll see.

    Not a Twitter or Facebook user, but the Fetching New Wife is as her practice finds it essential, but that can’t be helped just yet. I live in the liberal asshatery center of the universe (Northern Virginia DC suburbs) and have had to become the Gray Man in the past 4 years. As soon as Texas gives their Nurse Practitioners practice autonomy, we are outta here like a boner in sweatpants.

    1. “…we are outta here like a boner in sweatpants.”
      LMAO! Don’t laugh very often lately, so many thanks, that laugh made my day.
      I’m in Richmond, which has gone all BLM crazy, so I hear ya about NVA.

      1. For anyone interested, AMEX is suspending all donations to members of Congress who didn’t support the certification of Biden for president.

  12. I have a Garmin standalone GPS from the days before smart phones. Less convenient but then it works even if there is no cell service which is common for me, given my lifestyle.

    Sebastian over at Shall Not Be Questioned is in the process of disentangling from GoDaddy. Since he is some sort of IT guy in real life, he may have insights.

  13. We’re all pissing into the wind… Keep voting with your wallet. I placed Gillette on my no buy list a couple of years ago. They’re still around and they’re hemorrhaging money. P&G’s SEC fillings show an ongoing loss that they’re insisting has nothing to do with their offensive toxic masculinity commercial.
    Get woke, go broke. By ourselves we make no difference but when millions of pissed off people quit patronizing a company…
    Look at Fox news ratings since election day. Keep the faith and let us know if/when you discover a corporate led by progressives so we can drop the banhammer on them.

    1. This just in….
      Google has purchased Fitbit. I stopped using them years ago, but today I purged all my devices of their software.

      Now, how do we stop Google from tracking our every step, even when the phone is off and has no SIM card?

  14. I read this somewhere a long time ago, and I’m probably paraphrasing it, but here it is:

    You may think that you’re only one person, and your actions only amount to a single drop in a vast ocean, and that’s true. But what is an ocean? Just a multitude of drops.

    I deleted my Twitter account yesterday. I never really used it, so it’s not a great loss for them, but I figure somebody’s probably watching to see how many people delete their accounts, and I wanted to add to that number. If Parler comes back, I’ll probably make an account there, just to add to their numbers.

  15. Deactivated Twatter, uninstalled Firefox, then Chrome today. Using Brave and/or Dissenter.

    Planning on either moving away from or completely closing FB at some point. VPN was also acquired.

    Would like to dump Gmail, but Proton seems quite restricted. Any other good (free) email options?

    1. Something to keep in mind is that, in the tech world, if something’s free, you’re not the customer, you’re the product.

      Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc. aren’t that different from your local television stations. The vast majority of their revenue comes from advertising, so their business model revolves around providing a product that attracts your eyeballs, and in turn they sell your eyeballs to their real customers, the advertisers. Unlike your local television stations, though, tech companies can identify you and track you, and that information is what they give so willingly to advertisers to target their ads more effectively.

      All this was a roundabout way of saying that if you really want to disentangle from big tech, you probably have to pay for things you used to get for free. As far as email goes, Proton Mail is one of the best for privacy, plus they have bundles with their own VPN service. Though it looks like you already have a VPN service, so I guess that doesn’t help you much.

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