Ebay’s Basic Assumption
After 15 years, Ebay is still running strong. Something caught my eye this morning as openned the homepage like a overly nerdy child on Christmas day. Current Ebay CEO John Donahoe is pictured next to the simple founding philosophy; people are basically good. Really? This is the founding philosophy of internet supergiant Ebay? If you continue reading the opening paragraph it mentions a backup plan with Ebay Buyer Protection services. People should follow the rules but just in case they don’t Ebay will protect you. I wonder if that’s what philanthropist and all around nice guy Pierre Omidyar had in mind.
I believe humanity has both the inescapable mark of original sin and the Imagio Dei stamp/creation in God’s image. It is difficult for me to disagree with people being basically good, because God created us with that special something only poets and artists can describe. And yet, one quick search through the pages of Ebay and you will find scammers lurking, once again proving there is something plaguing humanity that has no good in it. So what’s the backup plan? In Jesus Christ we have a champion that takes on human sin and if we are willing, he literally makes us good. Donahoe and Omidyar, you can take that to the bank (and not have to pay tax in most states).
We noticed your blog while researching for our own page, although I think we can lay claim to being slighly more critical of Donahoe’s message, which was probably carefully crafted over a few days by members of their P.R. team.