Taking all of that at face value is absolutely great, good on ya. I don’t have the skills or the spoons to pretend like I’m going to be upheaving any industry so I just can’t be bothered. I’m a workaday schmuck who had no preparation for the world we’re in and am just trying to figure it out piece by piece.
Although I do feel like at the very least I can advocate for better strategy and arguing with people on the internet is something that at least makes me feel like I can at least maybe change a mind or two for what I think is for the better. I acknowledge though that there’s plenty of judgement to levy at that.
I have a parallel comment thread here that addresses this specifically but I do think that people are putting absurd weights on the moral outcomea of everyday consumerism. I am anti-consummerist, if I can help it I just don’t buy anything. The people that accuse me of being a priveledged funko pop hoarder always confuse me because that’s such a strange charge to levy but that seems to be the baseline, like people can’t help buy but the latest marvel Funkpop. If that’s rrue I’m already way way out of touch with the average, but there’s a hotdog stand I like I have no idea what the dude who owns it voted for and it would be nice to replicate that sort of ideal.
Boycotts work when they’re organized. BDS is a movement with a strong boycott focus. I follow along with that as much as I can and some of it’s easy, like I’ve never owned an XBOX and MS is a monster to the gaming scene I don’t support. Sodasteams are stupid, Disney+ is not interesting to me, easy. I’m struggling to fully de-Google myself but we’re, like, a personal tragedy away from my becoming a feral techno goblin and just abstaining from everything due to discreet madness. None of these decisions are moral, I support the movement and I don’t like 98% of the stuff on the list, easy, just takes the extra step of not choosing it when I have to make a choice, or just delaying whatever it is (if it isn’t an emergency) indefinitely.
I do think that the constant call for boycotts for every headline is a mistake and an ongoing tragedy. It is without exception that every single company and every single product has some kind of dark presence in its history. Can’t fucking buy a box of Cereal without wondering if a priest developed it to keep me from jerking off. The entire world is a clusterfuck of dubious human decisions. Casting aspersions and drawing fucking lines in the sand for every single trespass is an excercise in social atomization and I have come to my personal conclusion that you let them win the more we seperate, so no, I don’t give a shit if a CEO shot the last gazelle in Uganda so now anyone who bought shoes with laces in the last 10 years has the moral respinsibility to divulge their stance on the issue and condemn them daily or face ostricization because they haven’t bought shoes with velcro instead.
You can make your own decisions but no, I don’t think failure to immediately seek alternatives in the time of peak enshittification or not being the personal savior of telecommunications is a moral failing. I am not rushing anybody to it and if they ask for my age verification I’m going to lie like a decent citizen should and encourage others to do the same. I’ve lost friends for less and it’s actually just the stupidest thing in the world.
Taking all of that at face value is absolutely great, good on ya. I don’t have the skills or the spoons to pretend like I’m going to be upheaving any industry so I just can’t be bothered. I’m a workaday schmuck who had no preparation for the world we’re in and am just trying to figure it out piece by piece.
Although I do feel like at the very least I can advocate for better strategy and arguing with people on the internet is something that at least makes me feel like I can at least maybe change a mind or two for what I think is for the better. I acknowledge though that there’s plenty of judgement to levy at that.
I have a parallel comment thread here that addresses this specifically but I do think that people are putting absurd weights on the moral outcomea of everyday consumerism. I am anti-consummerist, if I can help it I just don’t buy anything. The people that accuse me of being a priveledged funko pop hoarder always confuse me because that’s such a strange charge to levy but that seems to be the baseline, like people can’t help buy but the latest marvel Funkpop. If that’s rrue I’m already way way out of touch with the average, but there’s a hotdog stand I like I have no idea what the dude who owns it voted for and it would be nice to replicate that sort of ideal.
Boycotts work when they’re organized. BDS is a movement with a strong boycott focus. I follow along with that as much as I can and some of it’s easy, like I’ve never owned an XBOX and MS is a monster to the gaming scene I don’t support. Sodasteams are stupid, Disney+ is not interesting to me, easy. I’m struggling to fully de-Google myself but we’re, like, a personal tragedy away from my becoming a feral techno goblin and just abstaining from everything due to discreet madness. None of these decisions are moral, I support the movement and I don’t like 98% of the stuff on the list, easy, just takes the extra step of not choosing it when I have to make a choice, or just delaying whatever it is (if it isn’t an emergency) indefinitely.
I do think that the constant call for boycotts for every headline is a mistake and an ongoing tragedy. It is without exception that every single company and every single product has some kind of dark presence in its history. Can’t fucking buy a box of Cereal without wondering if a priest developed it to keep me from jerking off. The entire world is a clusterfuck of dubious human decisions. Casting aspersions and drawing fucking lines in the sand for every single trespass is an excercise in social atomization and I have come to my personal conclusion that you let them win the more we seperate, so no, I don’t give a shit if a CEO shot the last gazelle in Uganda so now anyone who bought shoes with laces in the last 10 years has the moral respinsibility to divulge their stance on the issue and condemn them daily or face ostricization because they haven’t bought shoes with velcro instead.
You can make your own decisions but no, I don’t think failure to immediately seek alternatives in the time of peak enshittification or not being the personal savior of telecommunications is a moral failing. I am not rushing anybody to it and if they ask for my age verification I’m going to lie like a decent citizen should and encourage others to do the same. I’ve lost friends for less and it’s actually just the stupidest thing in the world.
Sorry that was way more writing than I expected.