Civil Disobedience in the Age of Convenience
Put another way: What If Protesting Saved Us Money?
About a month ago I went to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston to see a tremendous Henry Moore/Georgia O’Keefe retrospective. What can I say? I’m a former football player who likes museums.
And while the Moore'-O’Keefe exhibit was fine, I left most excited by the “Power of the People: Art and Democracy” exhibit - specifically the gallery of posters made by students at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in May of 1970, addressing contemporary political events and movements such as civil rights, Black Power, and women’s rights
Visiting this exhibition was a powerful reminder of the importance of reflecting on our democratic principles and the continuous effort required to uphold them. But what I see today is very different from protests in the 1960s and 70s. Yes, we see outrage on social media. We see marches that make headlines for a day or two.
But where are the people willing to disrupt their own lives for the sake of change?
The truth is that protest has evolved. The battleground is no longer just in the streets—it’s in our wallets, subscriptions, and daily choices. That got me thinking:
What if, instead of asking people to sacrifice, we asked them to save themselves money? What if civil disobedience in the 21st century didn’t cost us a thing—instead, it put money into our pockets?
What If We Just Cancelled Amazon Prime?
See, Amazon has over 180 million Prime subscribers in the United States. Nearly half the country pays $139 a year for faster shipping, a bloated streaming service, and the convenience of one-click shopping. Let’s imagine that just half of those subscribers—90 million people—decided they’d had enough of Jeff Bezos’s open embrace of Trump and Ayn Randian nonsense at the WaPo. Suppose they just canceled their Prime memberships as a form of protest. That would be a $12.5 billion revenue loss overnight. And if all 180 million subscribers did it? $25 billion gone.
And $25B back into the pockets of….well, everybody.
For context, Amazon’s 2023 net income was $30.4 billion. Every day Americans could seriously erase nearly an entire year’s profit in one move. A simple, painless act of protest that costs nothing—but sends an unmistakable message.
Civil Disobedience Without the Sacrifice
Traditional civil disobedience has always required personal risk. The Freedom Riders of the 1960s boarded buses, knowing they could be dragged out and beaten. Protesters at lunch counters faced violent mobs. The stakes were life and death.
Today, the stakes are still high—democracy, corporate control, and the erosion of rights. But the method of disruption doesn’t have to involve physical danger. The tools of power have changed, and so must the tools of resistance.
Canceling Amazon Prime isn’t a march or a sit-in, but it’s economic non-cooperation—hitting the empire where it hurts. If done at scale, it wouldn’t just send a message—it would force a response.
Imagine the headlines:
“Millions Drop Amazon Prime!” -NY Times
“Amazon Faces Subscriber Exodus Amid Backlash” -USA Today
“Amazon Stock in Freefall: Mass Cancellation Campaign Gains Momentum” -FT
“Jeff Bezos applies for unemployment! MacKenzie says “sorry” to Jeff’s pleas for food.” -Enquirer
Why It Could Work
The beauty of this kind of protest is that it aligns with people’s own self-interest. Unlike a traditional boycott, where you have to find alternative stores or give up products, canceling Prime saves you money. In tough economic times, that’s an easy decision to justify.
And the reality is, Amazon needs Prime subscribers more than Prime subscribers need Amazon. The membership model is what keeps people locked into Amazon’s ecosystem. Once that hold is broken, spending habits change. People find alternatives—direct-to-consumer brands, local businesses, even Walmart (which, ironically, offers free shipping with no membership).
Amazon relies on habitual spending. Break the habit, and the company takes a massive hit.
The Ripple Effect of Economic Resistance
A mass cancellation of Amazon Prime would be more than a financial blow to one company. It would be a demonstration of consumer power—a reminder that corporations don’t dictate society, people do.
It would also set a precedent. If people realized they could organize at scale to defund companies that support the erosion of democracy, what else could they do?
• A three-month rent/mortgage strike to protest corporate landlords and housing unaffordability?
• A boycott of media conglomerates funding disinformation?
• A mass switch from big banks to local credit unions?
The lesson of the civil rights movement was that coordinated action—when sustained—could topple systems. Today's lesson is that economic disobedience may be the most powerful tool we have left.
Convenience is the Cage
The biggest challenge isn’t awareness. It isn’t outrage. It’s convenience.
Amazon has trained us to believe we need it—that life without free two-day shipping is unimaginable. But step back, and ask yourself: How much do I really need it? If millions of people can adapt to working remotely, to adjusting their lives overnight during a pandemic, they can certainly live without Prime.
Convenience is the cage that keeps us obedient. The moment we realize we can live without it, we become free—and dangerous.
What Comes Next?
The civil rights activists of the 1960s were heroes because they risked everything for what they believed in. Today, the risks are different, but the stakes are just as high. We don’t need to march into the streets to be arrested—but we doneed to act.
Canceling Amazon Prime isn’t the solution, but it’s a start. A test of collective action. A proof of concept that people still have the power to disrupt the forces trying to shape the world against their interests.
So the question is: What would it take for you to click ‘Cancel’ and join the protest?
Because if enough people do, the billionaires and corporations shaping our future might finally be forced to listen.