Unfriendly #Pride reminder that rainbow capitalism is better than openly bigoted capitalism.
We *want* them to value our money more than our enemies' money. We want them to be ashamed of their right-wing executives, and to support their queer employees' Pride initiatives.
It helps literally keep us alive. Now more than ever, with diversity and inclusion programs getting shut down all over the place.
@WizardOfDocs i think the capitalists can be included in Pride when they start showing that they genuinely give a fuck. it's not about them, and it's not for them. acting with basic respect should not earn anyone a gold star or a cookie.
just like May Day isn't about getting corporate sponsors for the labour movement. we don't need them, cause we know what they're about, who they are, and what they intend to do.
the bosses always need us more than we need them. capitalism is never liberatory.
@burnitdown if they needed us, they wouldn't be so eager to roll back the diversity programs.
We gotta keep making them pretend they need us until it becomes true.
@WizardOfDocs it's never going to become true. gay and trans workers aren't exempt from being looked at like a tree that isn't toothpicks yet.
capitalism is an exploitation machine. it's not going to become not-exploitive by giving them space where none is owed.
if they aren't employing you and profiting by paying you wages, they're profiting from paying you nothing at all. capitalists need both surplus value, and surplus labour, to keep their power. that means keeping a certain amount of people unemployed is profitable.
that sentence makes no sense, so i'm going to keep saying what i was already saying.
if keeping a certain amount of people unemployed is profitable, who do you think will be first to remain unemployable? this is how capitalism disables us.
how do you think people become marginalised? who do you think does the marginalising? those are the same people you're saying we should hope will somehow magically gain a conscience after more than 500 years of white supremacist mass murder for profit. homophobia is derived from white supremacy. so, by this reasoning, let's invite the KKK to Pride until they gain a conscience. how do you think that will work out?
maybe we should invite Israeli diplomats too, until they gain a conscience and stop the genocide. what do you think?
Keeping big corporations out of marches and safe community spaces is protective action. Pushing for more than rainbow-washing is protective action.
Also, keeping big and small corporations excited to market to us celebrating Pride is protective action.
Outcomes are much worse when queer symbols are restricted from merchandise and marketing. Product selection decreases. Bigotry increaes. Employees or the corporate owners need to hide their non-cishet identities to keep their jobs, which we know from expansive studies and recent experiences causes actual harm both short-term and long-term.
Not to mention there's overlap with other marginalizations. Interest in LGBTQI+ Pride has been helping with mainstream acceptance of intersecting identities. We're already seeing Lantinx, Black, Asian, and immigrant markets being buried in the rush to cater to homophobic White supremacists.
Capitalism is not liberation. It's only a tool.
Tools can weaponized. We don't need it turned entirely against us when we're already at a disadvantage. Do we?
@shadowfals @WizardOfDocs capitalism is not a tool for liberation. it is a tool for exploitation. weaponising capitalism means genocide.
why don't we invite cops to pride until they gain a conscience and stop being white supremacist murderers and rapists? oh wait, haven't we covered this one?
why do we need to be another corporate product? lack of merchandise and marketing is not the problem. white supremacy is the problem. capitalism loves white supremacy and can't live without it.
there is no such thing as kinder, gentler capitalism. if you aren't exploiting people, then you can't "weaponise capitalism". capitalism is already violent. capitalism will never be on our side because we are not the white supremacist status quo, but for some reason white queer people still think that if we befriend those who would sell a crematory system to nazis without blinking, somehow they'll magically stop doing that. when has that EVER worked????!!??
[smashes the fucking mic]
Capitalism is not a tool for liberation.
It's a dangerous tool used in our society. You may currently get by without buying anything from or working for a business. While it's nice how you seem to want everyone else to do the same, not everyone can miraculously get to that point this season without unnecessary suffering or death. And I'm saying this as someone unemployed eating hand-harvested food out of necessity. I still need to buy health-related supplies no one's going to otherwise give to me.
So, I don't know... we might fundamentally disagree on priorities here.
For whatever meaning my opinion might have on this: I believe you aren't wrong in focusing on revolution or whatever it is you feel is necessary for recognizing Pride— only I don't want people I care about thrown into yours or anyone else's meatgrinder of idealism.
Best wishes to you, tho.
@shadowfals it's not a meat grinder of idealism. it's about giving space where none is owed and none has been earned. rainbow capitalism has nothing to do with you getting health supplies. capitalism is a white supremacist system of exploitation. you want a death machine to be a flower, but it can only be a death machine.
why don't we invite cops? who do cops protect?
let's get those Merkavas rolling down the street on parade day, sponsored by Microsoft, so that Israel can stop bombing children. surely nobody will have a problem with that.
if you need capitalism, there's capitalism. capitalism is your "meatgrinder idealism". capitalism drags on the invasion of Ukraine. it's not anything else. you can't make it something else. it doesn't become something else because you feel like it. that's not how reality works.
@WizardOfDocs This Pride month, when all the corporations roll out their rainbow logos, remember this:
Corporations are never allies; they are _mercenaries_. They may help turn the tide, but they're only on your side while the coin flows.
Use them, but do not trust them.
@WizardOfDocs This.
Also, I like shopping with my husband. For our bed, for our bathroom, for jewelry, etc. I like all those shop staff treating us exactly like all straight couples. So – telling me that I am, while still being a customer, actually a valued customer, - same with employee - still makes a huge difference for me.
@WizardOfDocs Yeeeeeessss
I posted about this earlier. I don’t want to hear dismissive statements about rainbow capitalism. I remember what it was like *before* rainbow capitalism and wow that was shitty.
@WizardOfDocs I was just thinking the same last week. How there's always criticism for commerce to see pride as a marketing gadget. Well, I'm perfectly fine with companies doing so. The more pride flags on the street, the better. It normalises pride in the eyes of 'the common people', who might not otherwise give lgbtqia+ rights a second thought. It's not going to make me spend extra money with those companies, but I'm not going to dissuade them from adorning their marketing with rainbow flags. For whole troves of people, what their favourite brand says is important, and if their favourite brand says 'rainbows are cool', they will say 'rainbows are cool'. Win.
Sure, pride was and should still be a protest, and companies just will do everything to look good while being evil, but hey, the more pride flags the merrier. And all the while, we can still protest, right?
@WizardOfDocs per CNN, signs are that Target, et al are pulling back on #Pride just like they have on #DEI
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/02/business/brands-pride-month-trump-lgbtq
Which both makes the point that rainbow capitalism is a sham and that the alternative isn't necessarily better
@WizardOfDocs
It may not be the most perfect option, but it's a beginning. We still have a presence, even if mere, otherwise we have none at all.
As much as I despise the system and playing its game, we live it, and we sometimes don't have many choices because of that. Doesn't mean I can't complain or want better, but again, it's still a meaningful step.
@WizardOfDocs @frainz Yeah, what I always think when I hear people being negative about companies being involved in Pride:
It’s far worse to have companies _not_ want to be involved in Pride.
I grew up in the eighties so seeing big brands supporting Pride still seems impossibly wonderful to me, and I’m horrified to see things slipping backwards.
@WizardOfDocs Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons - profit, trendiness, popularity - doesn’t make an organization an ally, but it still happens to stand that *they’re still doing the right thing* at the scale of an organization, instead of nothing, or instead of pushing against the right thing.
Upaya, expedient means, whatever lever can nudge the position closer to justice - away from harm, away from overt opposition to kindness, toward imagining real welcomes to all.
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