The Right to Complain – Courtesy of Yelp

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Our Founding Fathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence, that all men “are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights.” In response to lawsuits filed against Yelp, Congress has ruled that these rights now include the right to complain.

As humans evolved, the ability to evaluate and compare was necessary for survival. By taking in a new person, place, or thing then mentally categorizing it with something already known, our ancestors, ideally, could tell friend from foe. In modern times, it’s not quite as life or death, but the ability to rate and compare things is still crucial to how our brain works and businesses have found a way to capitalize.

Companies like Yelp have utilized that natural behavior and branded it so that we can, for example, avoid food poisoning or a bad haircut. Because we are programmed to learn and remember more from negative experiences than positive ones, folks scrolling through the platform’s numerous reviews are likely to take away more from scathing comments than glowing ones.