You know that sinking feeling. You’ve been using a product for months. It’s elegant, fast, makes your life easier. Then the creator posts something. A blog about wolves and sheep. A tweet that makes your stomach turn. Suddenly, that email platform feels like a moral compromise.
I’ve been there. A friend of mine canceled his Hey subscription last week. Not because he found a better email service. Not because of a price hike. Because David Heinemeier Hansson—the guy who built Ruby on Rails, who wrote a book on remote work, who made Hey—published a piece called “Wolves, Sheep, and Gypsies.” My friend felt dirty using the product. So he quit.
But here’s what he didn’t say: he didn’t write to DHH. He didn’t start a campaign. He just quietly canceled, then posted about it on Twitter. We’ve convinced ourselves that every purchase is a moral statement, but the truth is uglier: it’s a performance.
This is the illusion of ideological purity. You think you’re taking a stand. But you’re really just protecting your personal brand. You’re not trying to change DHH’s mind—you’re trying to signal to your followers that you’re one of the good ones. The software itself? It worked perfectly. The ideology? That’s what you’re consuming now.
Let’s be honest: you can’t audit the beliefs of every person in your supply chain. That phone in your pocket? Its components were made by people with views you’d despise. The coffee you drink? The farmer might have voted for someone you hate. So why is Hey the line in the sand?
Because it’s easy. It’s a single subscription you can cancel with two clicks. It’s a clean signal. Cancel culture in software isn’t about change—it’s about signaling. You don’t actually believe you’ll hurt DHH’s business. You just want to feel clean.
I’m not defending DHH’s post. I’m not defending anyone. I’m pointing at the mirror. The next time you feel that urge to cancel a subscription over a creator’s politics, ask yourself: am I trying to make the world better, or am I trying to make myself look better?
Because if you’re honest, the answer is uncomfortable. And that discomfort is where the real work begins.
FAQ
Q: What question would a skeptic ask?
A: Isn't it valid to stop supporting someone whose views you find harmful? Of course. But consider the scale: one subscription versus the thousands of unexamined transactions in your life. The real question is whether you apply the same scrutiny to everything, or just the easy targets.
Q: What's the practical implication?
A: Stop pretending you're a perfect ethical consumer. Instead, focus on actions that actually change systems—like donating to causes, voting, or engaging in direct dialogue. Canceling a subscription is a zero-cost performance that changes nothing.
Q: What's the contrarian take?
A: The contrarian take is that canceling Hey is actually a rational choice if you value consistency. But true consistency is impossible. So the real contrarian move is to admit you're a hypocrite and keep using the product you like, rather than pretending to be pure.