Dear Molly and outraged BoA members,
I was almost one of you, putting my name on the petition. I too have a BoA debit card that I use on occasion, and enjoy - on some subconscious level - not having to pay for it. Like you, I would really prefer to not pay $5 a month to continue to do so. Moreover, as I like... to think of myself as an 'activist' on some small level, signing petitions and such, I was obviously tempted to join you. But you see, I happen to read the petition (1st paragraph), and so instead here I am pompously giving a simple lesson in English usage.
$5/month for a service, any service, is not outrageous. 'But they want to charge me to get my own money' you say. Yes it's called providing a service. Costco charges ~$4.50 a month for you to *shop* there. That's right - they charge you to take your money! Let's write a petition to Costco!
There is of course a visceral kernel of truth in your claim - the charge seems frivolous, unjustified. This has been free (for the short span of our memory anyway),
and now you suddenly want to charge us for it? What gives? But lo, you are not powerless in the face of this heinous injustice. Turns out, BoA is not a monopoly! There are in fact other banks who will be happy to provide you with free debit cards - both large and small.
Of course, customers banding together to protest a corporation's behavior is a core element of market capitalism and a proven method of achieving real economic and social change. Threatening to go to another provider is an excellent strategy, something I really wanted to join.
But outweighing the prospect of keeping $5 a month is the harm you perpetrate on the public sphere by diluting the meaning of 'outrageous.' This may not sound like much, but in a representative democracy, outrage really is the central mechanism of keeping the system accountable. Outrage is the best motivator of people; it is a precious, precious resource, that you waste so recklessly (and here I also mean you, change.org)! You know what is outrageous?
-University tuition costs have tripled in just a decade
-10's of millions of Americans cannot afford health insurance
-9/11 First responders still can't get coverage for job-related cancer
-The federal gov't can't seem to get its shit together to halt global warming
-The new banking regulations that were supposed to prevent a repeat of '08 were watered down into meaningless-ness by those very banks that caused it in the first place
-State-perpetrated murder is slowly morphing into a civil war in Syria as nations look on
Etc.,
Don't spend your outrage on small personal grievances, save it for what really counts.
/end rant/
