#Uber's Josh Mohrer and me.

A couple of years ago taxi hail apps were new and I had the notion that they were the inevitable wave of the future. Here in New York it looked like a contest between HAILO and Uber. Josh Mohrer had invited a driver from my garage to dinner (not me) and HAILO (unlawfully) solicited drivers at La Guardia airport. The competition was intense. Being of Jewish heritage and old enough to recall who the bad guys were in WORLD WAR TWO I simply couldn't get behind any company that called itself by the Nietzschean name Uber. And so, I bought my first smartphone and linked up with HAILO. After a few days I became convinced that HAILO's driver app was a public safety menace and eventually the Guardian on line accepted an article I submitted about the taxi app public safety menace. I also had my own blog from which I railed against HAILO and promoted my Guardian piece. I got tweeted by Josh Mohrer about all this- he was appreciative. I told him that I could never affiliate with a company going by the Nazoid handle "Uber." He told me his father is a "Holocaust survivor" (I suppose I could make a case for calling myself one too, but I don't). Josh Mohrer told me that his Holocaust survivor father just loves the name Uber and in fact "Uber" is part of the English language lexicon and has no fascistic tinge associated with it.

Then I went by #Uber NYC headquarters in Long Island City and low and behold, what did I see!? UBER has six bases in New York City and here are their names:

Uber (meaning superior)

Unter (meaning inferior)

Weiter

Hinter

Schmecken

Danach

Now I am not anti German, I see that Germany accepted the fact that they needed to  be pacifistic and repentant for things they did not only against Jews. Strange though, Uber is not a German import. It's a California based startup gone viral, and it's founder Travis Kalanick is not German. Yet he's very preoccupied with words Nietzschean and Germanic. Matched with his "Take no prisoner" style I get a queezy feeling about Josh Mohrer. I imagine Kalanick would have anticipated objectors like me, and he would want someone in New York City with a Jewish name, someone loudly and clearly Nationalistically Jewish, and that's Josh Mohrer. I get the feeling that there was not all that much anti Nietzschean flack after all. So many Jews and Gays and non Aryans of all stripes either missed the implications or decided to keep their mouths shut.

With its shady and hyperaggressive approach and its gross dishonesty and exploitation of drivers I find it unfortunate that their New York City frontman is someone like Josh Mohrer.