iPhone app iPad app Android phone app Android tablet app More

Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors
Jeff Jarvis

Jeff Jarvis

Posted: December 7, 2010 10:22 AM

I can use Visa and Mastercard to pay for porn and support anti-abortion fanatics, Prop 8 homophobic bigots, and the Ku Klux Klan. But I can't use them or PayPal to support Wikileaks, transparency, the First Amendment, and true government reform.

Just saying.

 
 
 

Follow Jeff Jarvis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeffjarvis

 
 
  • Comments
  • 69
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Comments are closed for this entry
View All
Favorites
Recency  | 
Popularity
Page: 1 2 3  Next ›  Last »  (3 total)
photo
EcnelisDoogod
B the change you want 2C
12:53 PM on 01/20/2011
"Just saying" I agree. Fanned.
12:36 PM on 12/14/2010
Mr. Jarvis, your points would have more credibility if you could make them without the gratuitous namecalling of your fellow citizens who happen to have disagreements with you on certain issues.
photo
SolarPowerGuy
Ph.D., Immunology; Solar power @ home; Green Party
02:22 AM on 12/13/2010
Straight to the point.
10:16 PM on 12/12/2010
a commenter said "The card companies are not discrete entities. They are joint ventures by groups of banks.

They are more of an industry associatio­n than a normal enterprise­."

So RICO applies if they allow illegal stuff to be charged and then are enfprcers of payment???
09:51 PM on 12/12/2010
i hope wikileaks and jullian assange were smart enough to think through how they would be attacked at all levels by various governments and corporations. they're site is being hacked enourmously after the state department cables were leaked and now they are being treated like a terrorist orginization. i understand that there are possibilities that lives and diplomacy may be risked at these revelations and that gives me pause, but my sympathies still lie with j. assange and wikileaks.


the most current polling in the united states on trust of government, either political parties, congress, scotus etc. is at an all time low. while i love my country how can i trust anyone in government or in politics. the press seems either incompetent or actively in bed with corporate interests.

its conceivable that if the press worked harder at investigative journalism the need for a wikileaks would be much less or unnecessary. after 8 years of bush, 2 wars, abu graib, torture and black site prisons off the mainland, cia destroyed torture tapes, massive wallstreet corruption, the creation of a massive military/intelligence/security state, citizens united and no accountability, no hearings, because obama wanted to move forward and not examine the awfulness of the bush years i live in an america i do not recognise or trust. this is truly heart breaking. we were the light of the world.
i pray for an american revival on honesty and transparency where those in power are held accountable.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Neapolitan
Reality has a liberal bias.
08:30 PM on 12/12/2010
I'm no longer surprised by any instance of corporate hypocrisy. For instance, one ginormous retailer with a two-syllable name won't sell certain non-porn mass-market magazines and movies like Maxim and Superbad, neither of which, to my knowledge, have ever been implicated in the death of anyone. Yet I can walk in and buy such family-friendly fare as guns and ammo and cigarettes and beer, all of which have.
07:53 PM on 12/12/2010
Yup. Corporations are unethical, immoral, and completely untrustworthy.

Giving corporations a voice in our government has allowed those corporations to silence our own voices in it.
feuille0d0erable
Empty is my micro-bio
06:33 PM on 12/12/2010
The Corporatists giveth and the Corporatists taketh away.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
photo
inthedesert
Those who never question will fall for anything.
05:19 PM on 12/12/2010
I closed my PayPal account not because of Wikileaks but because of security concerns with my bank account after reading about a woman who had had her checking account totally cleaned out twice by hackers in India. Anything that is linked to one's bank account is not good.
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
zuzuzpetals
04:25 PM on 12/12/2010
Clearly our purpose is to shop and consume, not to think.

Thanks for the post.
09:22 PM on 12/12/2010
this is so true, its enough to bring tears of rage
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Bergen2
04:09 PM on 12/12/2010
No big surprise. PayPal has it ass backwards. It's been difficult to boycott PayPal, ebay, Amazon, Visa and MasterCard, especially during the holiday season, but at least there is some satisfaction.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Mark Kraft
02:19 PM on 12/12/2010
PayPal's "Terms of Service" reason for cutting off service for WikiLeaks is because they facilitate a criminal act.

Of course, it's no secret that PayPal's parent company, eBay, is the world's leading vendor of stolen merchandise. You can also go on eBay and buy glass pipes and drug paraphernalia too. And the most popular ways of buying their illegal goods? PayPal... and Visa too.

Perhaps PayPal and eBay's bank accounts should be frozen, until they stop facilitating criminality?!
photo
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
moonflowerjewelry
Buy American made, no excuses.
02:45 PM on 12/12/2010
...well, like a lot of b&m stores that carry those items, they bear a disclaimer that they are intended for tobacco use only (or incense)...
05:25 PM on 12/12/2010
I might add that supporting wikileaks is NOT supporting a criminal enterprise. The only thing with which he has been charged is a condom's breaking during sex.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Mat Biscan
01:53 PM on 12/12/2010
I noticed on twitter some tech people I follow had their PayPal business accounts shutdown for donating money to Wikileaks. I would like to boycott PayPal, but that seems impossible.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
photo
01:06 PM on 12/12/2010
Well put. This is democracy American-style.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
12:55 PM on 12/12/2010
You pay for Porn?
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
montemalone
oenophile, aquarist, francophone, radical moderate
02:47 PM on 12/12/2010
Not if I can help it:)