# The Uber boycott **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 29, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539 "2017-01-29T22:59:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/101 "2017-06-23T20:35:29Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Yay me! As long as I’m white middle-class entitled, I’m going to _use_ my privilege. > > Boy, fetch me some grapes while I call my stock-broker to sell orphans to cat-food factories on the margin. > > (BTW: Your jargon is out of date. If you’re going to use old leftie phrasing, you at least should toss around classics “bourgeois” and “landlords” (as a term of disdain) ) Thanks for this contribution. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/102 "2017-06-23T21:30:38Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > All hail the beast that is white middle-class entitlement. Who in this example has white middle class entitlement? ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/103 "2017-06-23T21:40:32Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Whereas taxi drivers the world over are courteous law abiding drivers and always know the city they drive in. Is to frickin’ laugh. Agreed, but it is much easier to spot a cab/taxi and avoid than look for a little stupid Uber sticker, its more about the volume of drivers, but you are kind of proving my point. Do we really need more of those who drive like cab drivers? Yikes. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/104 "2017-06-23T22:11:36Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Who in this example has white middle class entitlement? urgh. You make my skin crawl ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/105 "2017-06-23T22:50:15Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > urgh. You make my skin crawl Do not personalize your argument\* in this fashion. If you feel you must, the BBQ Pit is right around the corner. \*I use this loosely [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/106 "2017-06-24T00:04:01Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Thanks for this contribution. Hey, it’s better than the other ignorant political/economic comments you’ve dumped in this thread already. At least mine isn’t just a big, winey, appeal to emotion. And I f my jargon was law of the land, I at least be making money and the orphans would be put to good use as kitten chow. If your jargon was the law of the land, millions of people would be thrown out of work because you didn’t think they were making "enough ". :rolleyes: Also as a “privileged white male”, I am using my middle class privilege to banish you from this thread forever. Let’s see how powerful my privilege really is. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/107 "2017-06-24T03:57:39Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > urgh. You make my skin crawl JFTR, **Bricker** isn’t white. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/108 "2017-06-24T07:01:33Z")
Is that important to you. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/109 "2017-06-24T15:14:53Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > Agreed, but it is much easier to spot a cab/taxi and avoid than look for a little stupid Uber sticker, its more about the volume of drivers, but you are kind of proving my point. Do we really need more of those who drive like cab drivers? Yikes. I’m sometimes in towns with no taxis, so the the only choice is Uber (or maybe Lyft). ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/110 "2017-06-24T16:33:19Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > Do we really need more of those who drive like cab drivers? Yikes. There’s pretty solid evidence that increase in the amount of ridesharing in a city is causally linked to a decrease in the rate of drunk driving and the rate of accidents as a result of drunk driving in the US. If my choice is more cars driven like cabs or more cars driven by drunks, I’ll choose the cabs. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/111 "2017-06-24T16:55:06Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Is that important to you. You’re the one ranting about “priviledged white males”, not me. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/112 "2017-06-24T18:59:30Z")
n/a … ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/113 "2017-06-25T01:59:19Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I’m sometimes in towns with no taxis, so the the only choice is Uber (or maybe Lyft). Like where? And how did you get there? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/114 "2017-06-25T02:47:01Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > n/a … I told you that I was using my WHITE MALE MIDDLE-CLASS PRIVILEGED to banish you from the thread and you have continued to post. This is unacceptable. If you don’t leave the thread, my first WHITE MALE MIDDLE-CLASS PRIVILEGE punishment is to force you to drink domestic champagne and make you give your maid an extra day off per week. Think about THAT when you have to try to get your butler to do the dishes. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/115 "2017-06-25T08:38:09Z")
So now we have the first wave of Uber backlash and I’m a little surprised it took this long. The Uber/Lyft grab for share has been terribly deflationary, but that will change when investors run out of patience and want to make some money, which ought to happen in about oh, say, a week from now. I don’t know if there will be time for a backlash-to-the-backlash, or whether we just go straight to Backlash II when it costs the same as a cab. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/116 "2017-06-25T13:33:00Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Like where? And how did you get there? Far off suburbs. Well, there may nominally be taxis, but if you call one it takes an hour to get to you. Whereas an Uber will be there in ten minutes. I get to these places by living there, or by having other family there. Normally I drive my own car, or rent a car, but once in a while I need a ride. Now mind you this is a fairly new development that Uber serves these distant suburbs. It used to be that we had to rely on calling these cabs, bad as they are. But the difference is night and day. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/117 "2017-06-25T13:55:20Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Far off suburbs. Well, there may nominally be taxis, but if you call one it takes an hour to get to you. Whereas an Uber will be there in ten minutes. > > I get to these places by living there, or by having other family there. Normally I drive my own car, or rent a car, but once in a while I need a ride. > > Now mind you this is a fairly new development that Uber serves these distant suburbs. It used to be that we had to rely on calling these cabs, bad as they are. But the difference is night and day. So when you wrote: > [@suranyi](#): > > I’m sometimes in towns with no taxis, so the the only choice is Uber (or maybe Lyft). you weren’t writing an accurate description of your situation at all; got it. And even tho you do have a choice to call a legitimate taxi service, you just choose to use an exploitative unregulated service instead because it’s more convenient for your needs? Do I have that right? ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/118 "2017-06-25T19:34:22Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > You’re the one ranting about “priviledged white males”, not me. Have you ever thought about it as a concept not a ethnicity descriptor . Anyone who isn’t white in the USA and has so little regard for opportunity and working conditions of working class people is on some very weird, self-absorbed trip. It’s one of those situations where you pity someone but your anger is likely to get the better of you. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/119 "2017-06-26T00:31:51Z")
Can someone show their work behind the idea that driving for Uber is worse than driving a taxi? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539/120 "2017-06-26T13:16:12Z")
From talking to Uber drivers recently, I gather Uber keeps a cut of the fare and they get the rest. I’m really not sure how that’s any different from traditional taxis - or pizza delivery, for that matter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uber-boycott/778539.md?page=7)