William Banks is a writer, editor, and translator. His latest book, Brandes contra Høffding: Nietzsche, Individual Greatness and the Welfare Society, is forthcoming in 2022.
Amazon wants to be both “Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company” and “Earth’s Best Employer.” But it can’t have both. In fact, its customer-dazzling business model is predicated on worker exploitation and endangerment.
In his final letter to shareholders as Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos offers a novel — and profoundly disturbing — conception of value creation: a handful of visionaries are the sole source of all “real value.” This aristocracy mercifully blesses customers, clients, and even Amazon workers with social goods.