A curious post at Whale Oil under Cameron Slater’s authorship – Uber acting like a teenager on a brain fart.
Curious because last week Slater was posting in support of Uber and accusing the police of acting for “failed business model”taxi companies against them, and today’s post backs the “hard working taxi drivers” of the same companies.
Curious because Cameron Slater has a known record of pay per post from industry lobbyists, so there always needs to be some careful consideration of possible motives for his posts.
And curious because the post doesn’t sound like Slater’s normal writing.
So that naturally raises suspicions that someone with an interest in the issue could have supplied some copy. According to what has been alleged by Nicky Hager it wouldn’t be the first time, that was one of the biggest and most concerning revelations in “Dirty Politics”.
The start of the post amongst the usual clutter:
Whooops could be a bit ironic. Does this sound like normal Slater?
Uber needs to stop trying to be ‘cool’ and follow the rules. If other taxi companies fail because they run a terrible service, so be it, but if you are undercutting hard working taxi drivers who don’t do anything wrong by not following the law, you need your leash tugged.
Uber has been outlawed in certain countries. This is a clear signal that it is the Uber way or else, and legislators have had to react by taking punitive measures.
Uber needs to consider the “fair go” aspect of Kiwi culture. We all love a bargain, but not when people know the bargain comes at the cost of putting good people out of a job by not playing by the same rules.
Sounds curiously non-normal Slater.
Someone in comments has asked “are the taxi companies paying you to smear uber?” The way Whale Oil often appears now it’s impossible to know if that’s a genuine question or a patsy question ‘prompting’ a response, which Slater has done – “No actually and bye bye”.
Whale Oil has a record of deleting comments it doesn’t want or like.
The final paragraph sounds plain nonsense, likening Uber to Kim Dotcom.
Uber is like the Kim Dotcom of the taxi industry – counting on it’s underdog anti-establishment status to get ahead. As with Dotcom, that works for a while, until the people realise you’re getting ahead by crushing hard working normal people.
Does that sound like normal Slater? Does it mean Whale Oil is preparing a similar crusade against Uber?
Possibly not. Five days ago (January 12) Slater posted Police now hassling Uber passengers as they continue their commercial jihad on behalf of cab companies:
The police have involved themselves very prominently in a civil dispute between Uber and other cab companies and are now shaking down passengers as they continue their jihad against Uber on behalf of cab companies.
Why are the Police even involved in this. Surely it is a civil dispute, there is no public safety issue here, there are no crimes being committed…it is either a vest interest somewhere within the Police with a relative or friend who is an embittered cab owner or it is simply another revenue gathering exercise.
That’s accusing the police of acting on behalf of taxi companies.
A day earlier Slater had posted Why are Police doing standover for taxi companies?
Instead of catching real criminals, or stopping speeding drivers doing one kilometre per hour over the speed limit (because you know, speed kills) it seems the Police are now acting as enforcers for the beleaguered taxi industry under pressure from a new company in the market challenging their fold failed business models.
The Police have overstepped their mark here. The complaints are nothing short of harassment on behalf of business competitors…it is a civil dispute not a criminal one.
The public and market will judge the service and reputation of Uber, but now as a result of basically industrial sabotage that reputation is tarnished because of Police action and headlines in major Sunday papers.
Both those posts sound strongly against the taxi companies and their “failed business models”. Today’s post mentions the company “hard working taxi drivers” and “hard working normal people”.
The change of side is curious. And the final paragraph in last Friday’s post…
Who ever is their NZ PR person they should be fired, they’ve allowed their customer to be smeared from one end of the holidays to the other while they have been sunning themselves with their high ranking “connections” who have been no use whatsoever for the cause.
…has confusing references to PR and ‘connections’. They seem odd things to blog about, normally.
It may be that Slater doesn’t work for the highest bidder. But with his past record his changing approach to Uber will naturally raise suspicions, especially when he u-turns, and when he brings bizarre associations like Dotcom into it.
