Make it happen - Lemmy.World

Does this also apply to say, smartphones?
There’s quite a chasm between a $100 million boat and a $100 device…

Somehow, all these pleas on behalf of the downtrodden never include us actually making any sacrifices or change, just the rich.

Weird how it’s easy to agitate for change when it involves zero sacrifice on your part.

That’s bullshit. Same argument corporations try to push on us about climate change. Fish rots from the head down. Obviously there will be sacrifices we have to make. But to preach “what will YOU be giving up, huh??” When megacorps and gazillionaires hoard literal mountains of wealth to the detriment of the world and all other while they purposely stand in the way of any progress or change that might affect their bottom line? Bootlicking at worst, misguided liberal soapbox bullshit at best.

Lol, I love “bootlicking” on Lemmy, as far as I can tell it’s used the same way trump uses rigged, that is to say “I don’t like it!”

I mean, on climate change, farming is one of the biggest contributors and as fat as the fat cats are, the 333 million non billionaire Americans eat a boatload more beef than the 750ish billionaires. Meanwhile, in terms of say, children losing their limbs mining the cobalt for our phones, the 333 million are way more responsible. Same story for sweatshops. Same for air travel, oil consumption etc.

But man, actual change on our part would be hard. Way easier to rail about billionaires online and feel snugly superior rather than actually doing the work.

farming is one of the biggest contributors

all of agriculture makes up about 20% of our ghg emissions.

Which is pretty huge and mostly discretionary.
we need to eat. lets dismantle the fucking prisons, banks, and armies first.

We don’t need to eat beef.

And banks have been instrumental in one of the largest rises in human living standards in history so dismantling them seems pretty cruel to those who don’t yet live as well as we do.

And banks have been instrumental in one of the largest rises in human living standards in history so dismantling them seems pretty cruel to those who don’t yet live as well as we do.

i don’t see any reason we can’t help people without banks.

Then you should read about how actual development works.
this is not evidence, it’s handwaving.
You’re the one who wanted to dismantle the banks. Being ignorant of how they enable development isn’t a position worthy of respect.
this, too, is not evidence.
Projects & Operations | The World Bank

World Bank
this is not evidence that people cannot be helped without banks

It’s evidence of banks doing substantial good works.

I’m curious as to what magical mechanism you are advocating for though.

that same bank also impoverishes developing nations with crippling debt.

but you haven’t shown that people can’t help each other without banks

Show me your equivalent non bank and non billionaire based development projects.

Otherwise your position is “dismantle the banks and surely some magical solution that isn’t in practice now will step in!”

Which fair, for a whiny privileged first world kid, makes sense as an attitude. It’s just impressively ignorant, selfish and childish.

when liberals get the bullet, too, I guess you won’t need to worry about how we take care of each other
Still waiting for evidence of this magical development program you insist is totally possible.
I’m waiting for the mods to read their reports

“Mods! This guy made me feel silly for insisting something was possible despite a complete lack of evidence!”

You could uhhhh, just show some smidgen of evidence as proof your privileged rich world position wouldn’t seriously harm the most vulnerable among us…

We don’t need to eat beef.

probably not but it’s really small potatoes compared to the systems that actively kill people instead of feeding them.

Way easier to rail about billionaires online and feel snugly superior rather than actually doing the work.

did you try abstaining from beef? the meat industry grows every year. did you try abstaining from smartphones? sweatshops? air travel? your decisions made no difference.

I do abstain from beef. Which is difficult as hell as I rock weights at the gym and beef is incredibly protein efficient. But it’s the least I can do. So I eat a boatload of chickpeas and chicken.

My smartphone is a shitty ancieng refurbished one as that’s the most ethical I could find.

I haven’t bought sweatshop clothes in years. So yeah, my fashion sucks as it’s mostly thrift shop but I dont feel evil. (Though, my boxers are falling apart and it’s getting kind of desperate. Sadly, because other people don’t give a shit there are very few ethical underwear options.) Similarly, every piece of non electric furniture in my place is second hand, except for my bed frame.

Gave up on cars more than a decade ago. Finally got a second hand one but bike, bus and train almost everywhere.

I’ve taken a 30 - 40% pay cut to work in the non profit sector. Which makes it unlikely I’ll ever buy a house but my work helps put kids through school.

My individual decisions don’t make a difference but it’s like voting. If others lived similarly, the world would be significantly better. We can all do better, it’s just harder than whining about billionaires online.

whining about billionaires online

is just as effective. if you want to change things that are wrong, you need to go to where they are and stop them.

Oh wow has Lemmy gotten big enough that now people bring it up in every comeback post the way people do with Reddit? Awesome. Call it whatever you want. The fact of the matter is that you crying about Americans eating beef will change nothing, while enacting policies punishing the corporations producing the bulk the waste on Earth will. But hey, I’ll bite, I don’t eat meat, and I don’t drive a car, since I work from home. So what else should I do to make you happy? Not have a smartphone, because smartphone bad? I’ve had the same one since high school, but sure, I’ll stop using that too. Now, what? Absolutely jack shit. I’m not feeling “snugly superior”. What I’m feeling is tired of randos, probably in my own damn tax bracket, defending the corporations and billionaires literally producing everything being consumed. Good luck convincing those 333 million Americans you googled to stop eating meat and dairy, which they have been convinced is necessary to live due to misinformation campaigns. Good luck convincing them driving the cars that those companies have and continue to lobby infrastructure for. Good luck convincing each and every single individual to basically halt their entire life as it currently one by one. Those Americans who have a very rich history of listening to others. That will be much, MUCH easier than targeting the corporations, and DEFINITELY much more effective.

You came to try to shame me and apparently all of America for refusing to do the work, because you interpreted me saying “corporations and billionaires are a bigger problem” (because they are) as “we shouldn’t take any individual responsibility”. But I’m the one being snugly superior lmao. Dunno why, but this is always argument people with your viewpoint make. Nobody said we shouldn’t take individual responsibility. On the contrary, I think we should all stop driving cars, and cut back on the insanely bloated levels of consumption in this country, alone. But I can only do so much. I can’t do shit about what you or every other person in this country is doing. And when people call for changes, especially involving policies for the some of the biggest polluters on the planet in a country whose politicians frequently block any such change, sauntering into the room and going “oh wow but you have a phone lol” doesn’t amount to anything but bootlicking. Because you’re not advocating for anything; nobody is arguing against personal responsibility. But when will it be their responsibility? They didn’t ask for your help, and they certainly don’t need it. So if it ain’t bootlicking, it’s just fucking pointless.

Oh wow has Lemmy gotten big enough that now people bring it up in every comeback post the way people do with Reddit? Awesome. That’s gonna so fun.

I literally have no idea what you’re trying to say.

Why are Americans eating so much beef?
Advertising, paid for by the rich.
Subsidization, this would have been lobbied for by the rich.
Health advice. Being British, if I told my doctor I ate beef daily they’d strongly advice against my daily beef eating. In America health care is a for profit system, its not profitable to have healthy citizens.

There’s probably a bunch more but case and point this is manufactured.