Spencer M Ross
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srossmktg.com
Spencer M Ross
@srossmktg.com
• 5% associate professor: consumer welfare, marketplace justice, marketing, tech, fulbright scholar on equitable coffee markets (🇨🇴)
• 95% infodumping flaneur: politics, ND xennial, specialty coffee, judaism, bebop, #GoHabsGo
🏡 Boston area, views mine
Pinned
"[Rabbi Tarfon] used to say: It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it." (Pirkei Avot 2:16)

"That which is hateful to you, do not do to another. That is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary; go and learn." (Hillel, Shabbat 31a:6)
My LinkedIn feed is either colleagues researching AI or people talking about AI at work or AI at home for basic human functions.

They must think I'm nuts for reposting doomerist stories like this, but I have yet to see anyone post a genuine, critically positive story about AI.
“TikTok’s reliance on attention-grabbing short-form video content, coupled with apps like Sora 2, has made it far easier for non-Black creators and bot accounts to adopt racialized stereotypical Black personas using deepfakes.”
The Viral ‘DoorDash Girl’ Saga Unearthed a Nightmare for Black Creators
A delivery driver posted a TikTok alleging she had been sexually assaulted by a customer. The deepfakes that followed reveal a growing digital blackface problem.
www.wired.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:36 PM
In which Theo Huxtable busts up Milton Friedman's ideology of corporate social responsibility in standing up to a soup executive about the benefits of soup "in these tough times" (this is a seminal clip in my origin story).
November 26, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Spencer M Ross
I found my new favorite Xennial comedian. Every bit, a banger.
Do you remember the crayon factory on Sesame Street?
YouTube video by Charles McBee
youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Okay basically so far I'd say "Pluribus is about if the Borg weren't Borg but other humans, on Earth, and Captain Picard was inverse Locutus."
November 26, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Reposted by Spencer M Ross
This is borne out of my Fulbright research in Colombia. Would be the first of hopefully a couple papers from that qualitative data (and presumably second coffee paper).
November 25, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Spencer M Ross
I'm hopeful this is one of the more impactful pieces I've done, though I'm not entirely sure what the prescriptions are other than a) structural reform b) governance reform (shorter supply chains and/or producer ownership of supply chains).
November 25, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Spencer M Ross
Back to working on our "moral market entrapment" theory, which is basically a process theory that describes how (coffee) producers get "stuck" in an inequitable market that is supposed to be solved through responsible consumer choice (under neoliberalism).
November 25, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Pluribus Ep 5 is up.
November 26, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Back to working on our "moral market entrapment" theory, which is basically a process theory that describes how (coffee) producers get "stuck" in an inequitable market that is supposed to be solved through responsible consumer choice (under neoliberalism).
November 25, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Spencer M Ross
“For those who have always had the power of opinion, whose voices have always been heard, whose perspectives have always been centered, it can be jarring when that’s no longer automatic.”

Can’t stop thinking about @rabbisandra.bsky.social's recent piece

rabbisandra.substack.com/p/when-power...
When Power Confuses Equity for a Threat
Last week, I was in New York City sitting with two Jewish leaders, talking through the polarization tearing through the Jewish community.
rabbisandra.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Spencer M Ross
“When you’ve stayed in your lane, in insulated communities, and haven’t been around a real diversity of thought, it’s genuinely shocking to discover that other voices are now being heard just as loudly. Maybe louder. And that registers as a threat rather than a correction.”
When Power Confuses Equity for a Threat
Last week, I was in New York City sitting with two Jewish leaders, talking through the polarization tearing through the Jewish community.
rabbisandra.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:32 PM
"How’s this for a Chat GPT prompt: “My daughter is 9. She's home sick today, but feeling better. We’re staying off screens so she’s bored. What should she do?”"

Oh dear.
November 25, 2025 at 6:30 PM
jfc it's real
November 25, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Reminds me of the "dignity of work" agenda Sherrod Brown toured on back in 2019.
November 25, 2025 at 6:13 PM
I found my new favorite Xennial comedian. Every bit, a banger.
Do you remember the crayon factory on Sesame Street?
YouTube video by Charles McBee
youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Once upon a time (20+ years ago), Montreal's rock scene was filled with a 70s-ish revival-met-britpop. I got a chance to interview this artist from Whitehorse, Stephen Kozmeniuk, aka Boy. Eventually ended up producing for Dua Lipa. Anyways, this wistful interlude is stuck in my head.
Hollywood
YouTube video by Boy - Topic
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 4:30 AM
I'm only interested watching folks who can get a pierogi sold to them.
"elevate charismatic figures such as Alan Dershowitz"

-____________-
November 25, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Reposted by Spencer M Ross
NO
November 25, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Reposted by Spencer M Ross
Phil Knight is almost single handedly funding the OR GOP, one of the more extreme state GOPs in the country. Keep that in mind next time you’re in the market for sportswear or sneakers. www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...
Nike co-founder Phil Knight makes record-setting donation to help elect Republicans
It is the single largest donation Knight has made to an Oregon candidate or political action committee.
www.oregonlive.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Reposted by Spencer M Ross
I feel like so much of my current research either directly or indirectly deals with critiquing consumer responsibilization-as-neoliberal function. Everyone's decided to flood the zone with choice, let the consumer decide, and pray the consumer makes the "right" decision sans market structuration.
Q: Passengers say you're putting the onus on passengers to create a more pleasant air travel experience. What are you doing immediately on your end to help?

DUFFY: In the end, it's my responsibility to behave well. I can't offload that to anybody else. How I dress? I can't blame anybody else.
November 24, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Spencer M Ross
Our research on this has been in the file drawer for two years now, as we could not find takers at the journals who would concede this was a phenomenon worth publishing our findings. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/n...
A Tap-to-Pay Society Is Leaving These New Yorkers Behind
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:50 AM
We are now 12 days out until my daughter's bat mitzvah. This evening, she's already complained that she would rather stay home and do her homework than go back to the synagogue for another rehearsal (as we're doing now).
November 24, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Reposted by Spencer M Ross
This is why The Right doesn't see Trump's comments as an issue.

We are living in two epistemic realities with two social contracts.
November 21, 2025 at 5:55 PM