not_IOhad this convo just yesterday 🤦‍♀️
fluffyPerfection is the enemy of good.
Most consumerism is problematic and you can blame most people for something, just take your time and you will find something: Are you drinking milk? Are you eating meat? Do you drink beer or smoke cigarettes? Do you use Social Networks like Instagram, Facebook or TikTok? Do you buy stuff on Amazon? Do you use ChatGPT? Do you drive a car even though you could travel by foot, train, bus or bike? Do you watch soccer? Do you watch porn? Congratulations, you are probably supporting something shitty.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to change things. But offending people for doing some of these things never helped. It often just achieves the opposite. Try to encourage others, show them alternatives. Etc.
Even if you do none of those it just keeps going. Coffee? Using too much plastic? Drinking 90% of soda brands?
I just like to think of it like “these things are bad, what good can I do rather than trying to cut out every bad thing?” If every HP fan supported the author by buying it, but then volunteered in a soup kitchen one time, they’ve done far more good than bad.
If every HP fan supported the author by buying it, but then volunteered in a soup kitchen one time, they’ve done far more good than bad.
Good and evil aren’t interchangeable, fungible quantities. You can’t punch 20 babies in the face and then feed 100 starving orphans and expect people to forget about one due to the other. The babies stay punched and the orphans stay fed.
With respect to HP in particular, supporting someone who actively and successfully campaigns against trans right hurts trans people. (And tells us that y’all care more about a children’s story than you do living, breathing human beings). Volunteering at a soup kitchen after donating to the exterminate trans people fund doesn’t undo the donation. It does feed some hungry people, but again doing “good” doesn’t erase having done “evil”; both acts still occured.
What people are saying here is literally “please don’t donate to the trans extermination project.”
Finally, there being no ethical consumption under capitalism is an indictment of consumption, not an absolution for any/all consumption. Just because all consumption falls short of perfect ethics doesn’t mean it’s all equalay unethical. This should be obvious.
That’s not wrong but I’m not expecting anyone to forget about the negatives. If you punch 0 babies but you are so worried about causing harm that you’re miserable all the time and doing less good as a result, the world is on the whole worse off. It’s not a math equation but I would rather someone eats meat if that means they’re working to change the industry rather than someone who doesn’t eat meat and does nothing. Someone actively working against transphobia and contacting whoever their officials are and canvassing does far more than their $20 does.
I’m just saying there’s no possible way to exist without doing harm, anything you can cut out you should, but if it’s to the point where it’s stopping you from doing good in the world, that might be the line you should stop at.