MonkMakes and the USA

MonkMakes and the USA - by Simon Monk

Good STuff

I was 10 when I first visited America. Coming from 1970’s Wolverhampton in the English Midlands it couldn’t have been more of a contrast. It was a land of sunshine, cheerfulness and luxury. Everything was bright and big. Over-sized cars, large food portions and Coco Pops (nectar of the gods). Returning to the USA as an adult, my love of this country was only strengthened by visits for fun and work. The only hint of disappointment was that I was not born in this amazing land of opportunity.

As with many things, the world-wide-web wasn’t invented by an American, but it was the power-house of innovation, that is America, that really exploited it. I was happy to be an early adopter of American computers, social media, email providers and cloud storage. And, by extension, so did MonkMakes.

You may be sensing the arrival of a ‘but’.

A lot of people like me (foreigners to America) feel that the voice of America is no longer the super-friendly ‘have a nice day!’ but something quite aggressive.

Us Brits used to feel welcome in the US – we were tolerated for our Australian accents and incorrect spelling. Now, although I know that in theory it’s still populated by the many kind and smart Americans that I know and respect, it does not seem like a place I would want to visit until things change.

I never used to think twice about signing-up myself or MonkMakes to American services. Or for that matter ordering things from Amazon every week.

My behaviour has changed. There are some things that we haven’t found a way to avoid (I’m not giving up my MacBook). But here are some changes that I have made:

  • I no longer shop at Amazon (one year Amazon-free) – although we do still use them for book selling to the US. I can’t find a way around that one.
  • I have moved away from a big American company for our cloud services. We now use Proton Drive (Swiss) for our cloud storage (I highly recommend). I have a plan to migrate entirely away from American internet services, but it’s not easy and will require a lot of care.
  • I avoid American parts in designs, favouring Chinese or European parts.

It’s not a bad wake-up call. There is a lot to be proud of in the UK. There is a lot to be proud of going on in Europe. I just hadn’t really noticed – we don’t like to show-off. And now, I’m trying to support British businesses wherever possible (especially the small ones) and if they don’t have what I want, then I am looking to Europe. For example, all our hosting is with Fasthosts in the UK and our custom boxes come from pack.ly in Italy. Check them out, I don’t think you will find better anywhere else in the world.

I’m sad to feel estranged from America and I hope that one day I will be able to rekindle our relationship.