#Capital for Social Good

[ilona-mushroom]

Not socialist in a “I won’t have to work” type of way but socialist in a “I’ll still be working but I won’t be worried I won’t make the rent” type of way. In a “billions won’t be hoarded by one person” type of way. In a “janitors, fast-food workers, child care workers, preschool teachers, hotel clerks, personal care and home health aides, and grocery store cashiers, will live comfortably” type of way. In a “the sick and elderly will be cared for” type of way. In a “no child should work” type of way.

[a-gay-poptart]

I have found the best ally

Straight and cis people will say that they are allies, but you will NEVER measure up to my dentist.

Me: "Hey, is it ok if I can change my name on my info from [DEADNAME] to Sai?"

Random woman that I wasn't even talking to in the chair next to me: "Honey, if that's the name you had at birth, [DEADNAME] is your only name."

My dentist, very slowly turning her rolley chair towards the woman: "Shush."

Random woman: "Excuse me?"

Destist: *closes privacy curtain while staring bullets at the lady*

Me: *pissing myself laughing*

My dentist while changing my name in my info (reminder that English is not her first language, she immigrated from Russia): "There, Sai, you have pretty boy teeth. Smile and make all girls swoon."

Me not having the heart to tell her I'm not transmasc but I'm Agender, and still pissing myself laughing: "Thank you [DENTIST NAME]."

[secondbeatsongs]

for anyone too young to know this: watching The Truman Show is a vastly different experience now, compared to how it was before youtube and social media influencers became normal

before it was like, "what a horrifying thing to do to a human being! to take away their autonomy and privacy, all for the sake of profits! to create fake scenarios for them to react to, just to retain viewership! to ruin their happiness just so some corporate entity could harvest money from their very humanity! how could anyone do something so evil?"

and now it's like, "ah, yeah. this is still deeply fucked up, but it's pretty much what every influencer has been doing to their kids for a decade now. probably bad that we've normalized this experience"

[johnbrace]

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (14th October 2022) Part 2 of 2

[lgbtlunaverse]

Life as a JGY stan is so hard because sometimes I want to make posts about the ways his very justified paranoia turns against him sometimes, rare moments where I think being more trusting or vulnerable would have helped but he felt like it couldnt, or talk about how his brutal survival instinct intersects with society's existing bigotries in a such a way that most of his violence is actually aimed at people lower on the ladder than him, with people like Jin Guangshan being the exception not the rule. Because he's a fascinating character and these parts of him are interesting!

But when I do that I have to live in perpetual fear of the moment that it escapes its target audience and someone takes it to go "Yeah he's a monster who fucked over everyone and is incapable of love! I wish he was killed earlier and his death was a thousand times more painful 🤪"

I mean, take my last example. Due to existing hierarchies it is, at any point, easier and safer for jgy to harm people less powerful than him instead of more powerful than him, even if the more powerful are the ones threatening his safety in the first place. Even knowing how it harms him and while working against it, Jin Guangyao is not immune to internalizing the mindset of the world he lives in. Even when killing Jin Guangshan- one man- it ends up costing the lives of 20 sex workers. You think I can bring up the sex workers in this fucking fandom? You think that will go over peacefully? The well has been so thoroughly poisoned here it feels like any conversation around morality automatically turns into a courtroom to determine a sentence for this fictional fucking character who's already dead.

[kiraleighart]

me explaining how online works so y'all can be gay do crimes fuck corporate:

Business wants to flatten human-online engagement for business aims. This is the algorithm's prime function—not delivering you the content you want, when you want it.

So, the solution is to up the ante. Send backwash chaotic metrics. Do big loud gay throttle. You can literally choose to go against the online grain anytime you want.

Example: You love tea. OK. Identify indie tea brand that's super ethics. Put them on blast as hard possible online and in search. Get 5 friends (who get 5 friends) to do this. This helps them.

But also, bidnid ppl do competitive analysis. big shitty tea brand says "huh, why is trending?" big tea brand go "how can i do that. wait."

and if you picked the right indie tea brand, only logical answer for bigboi is "consumer like ethical tea. i...oops." and when big brand tries to only LOOK like tiny tea brand, you call bullshit no buy

you do not give social media signals to big bad mean tea brand. you screencap if you gotta and use asterisk or whatever. all the while, applying pressure to uplift cool indie tea brand and cool little guys like them.

this is legit how online commerce and digital analytics works.

1 person uplifting cool indie ethical brand becomes 2. then 10. then 100. then 1000. then 100,000 until big bidnid fucks have to go "and i oop." if they want market share, they will have to evolve or you will ignore them like an annoying bug.

pls prove to me that normies are able to grasp what im saying: you have all the power. you're just not using it.

[robsheridan]

I kept thinking about Gladis and her crew, and felt inspired to make some new shirts. Many different style/color combos available now at Glitch Goods and they all benefit Oceana to help the very mistreated home of our vengeful sea comrades.

[sciderman]

How do you feel about the increase in really weird NSFW ads on here (advertising panels that look like sexual encounters, and AI art apps that pride themselves on porn) but will take down NSFW posts from their users, even if it isn't technically sexual.

i hate all social media and it's consistent prioritising the advertisers over the users and the internet simply was a better place before capitalism sunk its hooks into it

[guiltyidealist]

Ethics PSA

"Morally/ethically right" means you are OBLIGATED to do it. NOT doing it is WRONG

Amoral means it is fine, permissible, as it has no moral bearing-- it carries no moral weight

"Morally/ethically wrong" or "immoral/unethical" means you are obligated NOT to do it. NOT doing it is RIGHT

Supererogatory behavior is above and beyond moral expectations, like charging into a fire to save a baby; you aren't REQUIRED or OBLIGATED to do it, but doing so is heroic and morally positive!

You probably didn't mean that people have an ethical obligation to steal from corporations, when you said "stealing from corporations is morally right," but that's what the language conveys in philosophy.

Even Robin-hooding isn't "morally right", because we don't hold people to a standard that they MUST do it* in order to be good, ethical citizens. Robin-hooding is supererogatory behavior*-- no one HAS to do it, but it is an outstanding act of heroism which reflects positively upon your character should you do it.

A corporation's actions are unethical*. They are abusive, coercive, deceitful, forceful, and everything in between. They violate autonomy and the right to live, and that's wrong.

Drawing a dog is amoral, just not connected to your character. Neither "the right" nor "the wrong" thing to do.

Side note: also, morality and ethics are not the same but, since they are very close, I regularly use them interchangeably to reduce excessive repetition

[mueritos]

Hey Matteo, is there anyway I can be an anarchist from home? I dont have the means to do things like leave the house for too long so no protests. I know theres donating to certain places but I dont feel like Im doing enough

hi friend! first of all, being an anarchist doesn't necessarily mean youre gonna be out on the front lines throwing molotov cocktails or creating communes. being an anarchist, to me, is living life in the most anarchist way of de-centering hierarchy in your interpersonal and intrapersonal life/relationships, of honoring people's autonomy (and even their autonomy to make bad decisions or decisions we don't like), holding ourselves and our communities in transformative accountability, and to just live life as authentically as you can.

there is of course the political action aspect, but you must understand that everyone is at different points of their lives. when you're in community with people, you pick up the pieces people have left behind, you pick people up when they fall behind, and you shield them from harm and retaliation by fulfilling their needs. You can read as much theory as you want--from adrienne maree brown to karl marx--but you need lived experience and community to see how these theories play out and are informed by life. you can't be an anarchist without a community of folks who are willing to love you, protect you, and keep you accountable.

at the same time, i'm not here to shame anyone. i have certain thoughts about everything and how "allies" have been pushing marginalized communities to speak up. frankly, what I will say is I will never shame anyone for how they survive in this fucked up capitalistic white supremacist world. you are suffering daily oppression from all sides, I can't blame you for not doing much to inform yourself about daily atrocities because you can barely make your rent. but if you have the capacity and are willing to want to do more, just know that you are holding endless knowledge and historical memory of these moments that the world wants us to erase from history. do not forget. donate, share information, talk with your friends, and hold your marginalized communities closer than ever, but the best thing you can do is never forget.

at the same time, this goes for everyone really, but im not intent on pushing the most marginalized voices (BIPOC but especially Black voices) to speak on every atrocity ever when they're already struggling through their own. i've seen far too many BIPOC communities and advocates online be pushed into speaking when they're not ready or when theyre genuinely protecting their BIPOC folks from MORE zionist/white supremacist hate by making sure they respect their decisions to not speak pubicly. again, I don't intend to shame anyone for doing what they can to survive, ESPECIALLY BIPOC communities. It's atrocious that even now racism is still being used to villify BIPOC voices that are speaking in drafts, still processing their grief and emotions, and for pushing BIPOC voices who aren't even okay with speaking publicly due to fear of retailiation (because thats fucking happening!) at the same time, i do think white folk need to pick up the slack as usual and just get off of BIPOC folks' backs.

i hope this helped. long story short, don't shame people for surviving under oppression, do what you can with the capacity that you have, and hold your people close. I hope that helped and im happy to expand on more.

and as always, the anarchist library is the best resource around.

[cometrose]

Queen of Tears is so interesting cause i've never dealt with two really complex leads like this in romcom (i mean it is funny)

i've said it before but Haein and Hyunwoo know each other very well but don't know each other at all (i don't know if i've ever seen communication issues this bad).

Losing the baby clearly drove them apart. She blamed herself and put up high walls. He wears his heart on his sleeve and cried over it. We can argue that he should've comforted her in that moment but at the same time she clearly knew he was upset so why didn't she go to him? Haein thought she had no right to grieve and consequently Hyunwoo thought she didn't grieve at all. The moment where they needed each other more than ever- the moment they should've been together they both fucked up.

The core of the issue is that they can't read each other's mind, this is literally said at the beginning of 6- they love each other dearly but also tripping over each in the process.

Outside of Hyunwoo jumping up and down at her diagnosis and faking his way into her will (which was painfully cruel and soooo funny) It's very clear that this is a two person game. Although I always interpreted Hyunwoo's joy as the same as the mistress of a wealthy man who is just waiting for him to die so she can get the money, (it's mean but most times the master either sucks or he's naive as hell and she has no reason to mourn) and at that point Hyunwoo's in the same situation.

Why didn't Haein defend him in front of her relatives? Why scold him publicly in front of the employees? She does a lot of things behind the scenes but good intentions can only go so far if object of those affections is ignorant of the full story. The same thing happens in episode 6, she is trying to protect Hyunwoo from her family but without telling him so he is ignorant of the big picture. Why wasn't Hyunwoo honest with his feelings? Why is he always assuming the worst when she never explicitly says something? We see he tries to talk to her (it fails) but his fear of upsetting her leads him to do otherwise cruel things to keep her happy.

Which is also why the divorce paper is so interesting. That paper was one of the best things he’s done. He was completely justified in writing that. It breaks Haein's heart but severing ties like that was way healthier than him forcing himself to stay in this marriage and pamper her with fake love.

One thing I will admire this piece for is the role reversal, like i'm seeing so many typical fl tropes on Hyunwoo and ml tropes on Haein. You ever read one those isekai or time reverse manwha's were the fl goes back in time to get a divorce but falls in love with her partner again? yeah this is the same exact thing.

[mckitterick]

Let the Platforms Burn

Tumblr is seeing massive growth thanks to the implosion of Twitter and Reddit. but migrating here or elsewhere means starting all over from the beginning, which is why users so seldom make the leap away from much-despised platforms (can you say "Facebook")

in his important new piece, Cory Doctorow argues that we need to fundamentally change the way social media and other user-content platforms operate, and give users the power to easily migrate their content and connections from site to site

he argues we need to let bad platforms burn (using the metaphor of healthy fires that clear out dangerous underbrush, preventing destructive wildfires) to make room for new, better ones without punishing users for escaping social-media prison

full piece (and podcast version) here: X

a few choice excerpts:

Today's tech giants run "walled gardens" that are actually walled prisons that entrap their billions of users by imposing high switching costs on them. How did that happen? How did tech become "five giant websites filled with screenshots from the other four?"

The answer lies in the fact that tech was born as antitrust was dying. Reagan hit the campaign trail the same year the Apple ][+ hit shelves. With every presidency since, tech has grown more powerful and antitrust has grown weaker (the Biden administration has halted this decay, but it must repair 40 years' worth of sabotage).

This allowed tech to "merge to monopoly." Google built a single successful product – a search engine – and then conquered the web by buying other peoples' companies, even as their own internal product development process produced a nearly unbroken string of flops. Apple buys 90 companies a year – Tim Cook brings home a new company more often than you bring home a bag of groceries.

When Facebook was threatened by an upstart called Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg sent a middle-of-the-night email to his CFO defending his plan to pay $1b for the then-tiny company, insisting that the only way to secure eternal dominance was to eliminate competitors – by buying them out, not by being better than them. As Zuckerberg says, "It is better to buy than compete"

it's great that we're seeing such a reinvigorment of Tumblr, but this site's delight could evaporate overnight with some bad updates (presaged in recent corporate messages). better than hoping Tumblr might stay good forever is ensuring we can leave without losing everything - and knowing we can leave would help prevent the enshittification of our beloved Hellsite

[uglyfruit]

what’s aba

ABA stands for applied behavior analysis. It’s a super common and pervasive “treatment”/“intervention” for autistic children-- because they're showing "disruptive" distress behaviors, because their autistic traits are seen as needing to be assimilated to fit into capitalist society, because it's just seen as the thing you do with autistic kids

Basically it tries to change someone’s outward behavior using rewards or punishments. When it was first invented (by the guy also involved in creating conversion therapy!), these included slaps and electric shocks. Today, most of the methods have been made much “friendlier”, but still arguably work to make an autistic child’s behavior easier to deal with, more “normal”, more compliant.

While it often /is/ effective in changing outward behaviors, that says nothing of its potential to teach shame, masking of autistic traits, reliance upon prompts/rewards to do things, teaching that you must always obey authority figures, that your internal feelings are unimportant, the trauma of potentially aversive punishments, the fact that kids as young as 2 get recommended to spend up to 40hours a week in intensive ABA, the fact that it rarely addresses (or even worsens) the actual issues underlying distress behaviors…. and ultimately the message is that disabled people must be changed to fit into abled society, rather than abled society changing.

As that post I reblogged said, it's important to nuance to the discussion beyond "ABA=abuse", especially regarding how so many social forces shape the reality and power and experience of ABA, incl the absence of better types of care.

[mdr-reikas]

Isn't it crazy how under capitalism you can say "a society in which a human can't survive because they can't afford food or housing even though there is enough of both, is a failed society", and people will actually argue with you?

[greenhorizonblog]

Hope

Your apathy only perpetuates your suffering

Progress is not about perfect, it's about just a bit better

A little better every day

Brick by boring brick

We build a better world together

Having hope is a radical act

For hope is the seed of progress

[alpaca-clouds]

So anarchism is kinda sorta like communism/socialism, just less totalitarian? Doesn't sound bad to me!

Also Hobie totally makes Mayday a little battle jacket with "ACAB" on the back spelled out in toy blocks, you can't convince me otherwise on this. And when he babysits, he reads to her. "The cow says moo! The butterfly don't say nothing. The pig says you have the right to remain silent."

Basically it is like this: Communism/socialism are economic systems. They basically just say how the economy is run. They are not a political system.

Overly simplified, what happened so far went kinda like this. The Leninists basically said: "The only way to do communism, is to do an authoriterianism first, because people do not know what is best for them." With the general idea to go over to a proper democracy once a communist system had been established. But then some people got too used to having absolute power and also Stalin happened.

The basic issue is that a lot of socialist regimes to not trust their own people - and hence steer towards authoritarianism, which is why it always goes wrong.

Meanwhile anarchism is a political ideology. So, while communism says "this is how the economy should be done", anarchism is one of the "this is how politics should be run" models. And the big thing about anarchism is that anarchists believe people to be actually good and intelligent and can be trusted to properly govern themselves.

Because of the entire "no hierarchies" rule, most anarchists then also support socialism/communism as an economical system. So both goes hand in hand.

The tl;dr of the entire communism thing is:

Capitalism = Private ownership of the means of productions. Meaning, that the means of production are held by some private entities, with only few people usually having a say on how those means should be used. Because they own all of that, they also get to decide what happens to the profits that might occur, most often just keeping them.

Socialism = The means of productions are in the hand of some centralized power structure (most often the state and ideally, though not necessarily, this power structure is under some sort of democratic control). Meaning, that this centralized power will decide what will be done with the means of production and what happens to the profits. Ideally those get shared between the people the power structure governs. (But this is also why originally socialist structures so easily fall into state capitalism, like it is happening in China.)

Communism = The means of production are in the hands of the workers/people. This can either mean: You work at a company? Well, you get an equal say what happens with the means of production that are part of a company. Aka what are they going to produce this year. You also get an equal share in the profits. But can also mean: Everyone within a country gets an equal say what is produced within the country and an equal share of all the produced goods and profits.

And quick note: Means of production is basically the sort of equipment used to produce value. So, lands that might be used to cultivate crops are means of production. The equipment the farmer would use to harvest the crops are means of production. A weaving machine also would be means of production. And in the modern society those big servers an IT company would use are also means of production.

And also: Oh, yes, Hobie totally would. And I need a picture of Mayday in that ACAB jacket. That would be so adorable.