quid pro quo

It seems like every day now someone asks me about my car. Maybe it is a little deserving because of how smugly satisfied I am with Kermit. I love my Prius. I really, really do. I love long drives, listening to the music… and not listening to the engine. I like my Cops style backup camera, even if it really isn’t useful. I like that I really do get something like 45 miles per gallon.

But, yeah, it’s a Toyota. And this week, Toyota certified its place in the ranks of evil corporations.

I’m not worried about my car. I had an annoying replacement of the brake system a few months back… but I’m due for an inspection sticker and have to head back to the dealer anyway… when I’ll just see what they say has to be done to my car. I’m not going to give my car up. I bought it (and squeezed some extra money from my disposable income) to follow my conscious about global warming. But now… well, my conscious is squirming about buying into the evils of corporate power.

I don’t shop at Walmart. I avoid McDonald’s (although I confess there is an eleven year old who makes that a little more challenging). I am trying to purchase foods that aren’t overly manufactured by massive factories. I won’t buy books or art or music that support causes I find detestable. I am making plans to pull my money out of Bank of America. I try, try, try to detach myself from the evil tentacles of the corporate monsters.

But it is a flawed goal. I can’t go live like Thoreau in a shack in the woods. I really… I can’t do that. I need a car to get to work. I have to put gas in that car, hybrid or not. I have to use the Internet at work. I don’t have to use it at home… but I do. And cable… but that is part of the evil communications empire – like my cell phone, which no matter how much I neglect it I still pay into Verizon’s coffers. I like my coffee. Man, I really like my liquid crack. The Starbucks habit is… well, altered. I won’t say better. I’m not consuming cup after disposable cup each morning. Now… it’s just freshly ground stuff I brew for my own mug. But it’s still… corporate. I eat a lot more vegetables and fruits. But I like my peppers and berries, even if they come from Mexico. I buy books through the giants. I buy music online from the giant fruit. I wear clothes made in China and sold through cookie cutter stores. I shop every weekend at Target.

I am… indisputably bought.

And you know what? I don’t want to change that. I don’t want to give up HBO even though I think True Blood jumped the shark. I don’t want to give up my coffee. I don’t want to pay a lot of money for laundry detergent. I know I should feel badly about that. And I do… but not enough, I suppose.

So maybe you want to say Toyota is this big evil company right now. Because they lied to the consumers. Well… maybe, well yeah. They are evil. Duh. But they still make cars that get excellent gas mileage. My beloved Corolla was still ticking when I traded her in. The most money I had to put into her was on the suspension… not the engine. Toyota is flawed, but it’s still a better car than most. 

And yes, I contribute to the problem by giving them that allowance. By forgiving the fact that precious lives were lost due to their dishonesty. By holding onto my Prius and not turning it in as a demonstration of my outrage. I accept the fact that there is a tiny stain of blood on my hands… because I look the other way.

But don’t we all? That’s how these corporations get their power. How they get the idea into their heads that they can do whatever they want, no matter how it hurts the nameless little guy. Toyota apologized… maybe to cover their tracks. But … what did Wall Street do when they bollocksed up the economy? What did the oil companies do when they drove up prices? Did they do anything to make things better? What… what did any of us do? What are we doing?

We point fingers and blame. Because, well, it’s always someone else’s fault. Especially the government. They are the ones who spend too much money. They are the ones who ruined the economy. They are the ones who don’t care enough about the little people. It isn’t Comcast. It isn’t Bank of America. It isn’t GM. It certainly isn’t us. Because all we do is buy our food, go to work, watch our television, talk on our phones, buy our clothes, go to our sports games, and live in our precious little worlds. 

We didn’t make the choice for these horrific consequences, no. But… we supplied them with income and entangled ourselves in this inescapable net. We make these businesses more powerful, wealthier, more encompassing with every purchase we choose. And we choose not to care or to blame or to get angry at all. Because in order to do that, we would have to be angry at ourselves.