I mean… https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/old-man-yells-at-cloud

Wouldn’t be surprised if this bullshit goes all the way to the SCROTUS and gets the fascist rubber stamp.

…and if you do, hoooooo boy. I hope you like a coup, because you are going to get a coup.… or sanctions… or a blockade… or all three.

It’s because politics are dominated by the priorities of the wealthy. It’s by design. Successful candidates of the people are a literal political rebellion against the way the system is supposed to work, at least according to those in power.

In retrospect, my point was slightly tangential. I was lamenting the fact that the system itself is designed in such a way that anyone who wants to run for office is incentivized to seek funds from those with wealth - they must kiss the ring. It’s meant to ensure that only capital-approved candidates ever make it onto the ballots. Only massive organizing efforts can push through that barrier. If you piss enough people off, they’ll overcome such barriers and that scares the ever-loving shit out of the rich who know what’s up.

They’ve made it so you have to kiss the ring in order to participate in democracy.

That’s honestly how it has been, since the writing of the constitution, for the entire country…

The ring belonging to the rich, of course.

one of his colleagues, the Democratic senator Cory Booker, offered his “thoughts and prayers” to the former Republican majority leader, but added: “This is just unfortunately an issue of politics in general: people don’t know when to gracefully step aside.”

Fucking lol. It’s been time for the vast majority of Congress to step aside and let actual representatives of the people take power. That goes double for most Democrats, who put up more of a fight against the “radical left extremists” then they do against literal fucking fascists and genocidal Nazis tearing this country apart. I’m frankly surprised Booker managed to get Netanyahu’s cock out of his mouth long enough to give such a lengthy statement.

“Things used to be worse” is, in no way, helpful to me. I’m not selling fear. I’m living in it. Am I starving, am I being raped by a feudal lord, or am I being tortured by a king? No, and I’m aware I’m not.

This changes very little about everything happening right now… and frankly, it’s ignorant of you to assume that runaway technofascism or a decade or two of runaway climate change, the effects of which we are only theorizing about, won’t leave us in a world just as hostile as humans have faced in the past.

In my mind the ideal product maintainer for an Lemmy approved product has to be part of the LBTQ+ community, has to be some people of color, atheist, vegan and must subscribe to the EXACT same flavour of leftism the individual Lemmy user has sold his soul to.

Maybe I’m in the minority here, but as long as the maintainer isn’t a hateful person championing movements I consider grossly immoral (fascism, racism, lgbtq+ hate, hypercapitalism, etc.) or committing acts I consider to be grossly immoral (abuse, rape, torture, human trafficking, etc) I’m happy to support a good product.

most stuff they use was created by people that they would absolutely hate in person.

This is largely true. If it’s a personality thing I don’t mind, but deeply held beliefs and actions are another thing entirely. I’m trying to change where my money, time, and effort gets spent to avoid enriching or benefiting fascists that want to immiserate, harm, or eliminate from existence me or those I care about. Unfortunately, I sometimes have to pick my battles… which is kind of fucked up when you think about it.

To be fair, I also hate to be left alone with my own thoughts for even 1 minute… I’m just considerate enough to use headphones.

Obviously their part of BLM… because… <gestures broadly> you know …and that’s basically ANTIFA!

I would be absolutely shocked if these cameras had any actual impact on these kinds of experiences. They’re more likely to use it to track “ANTIFA terrorists” (aka, progressives) with it than improve the quality of your business ride.

The OP said:

Pretty much every company I’ve been in or know of values a vertical trajectory instead of a horizontal one for its employees i.e becoming a manager nearly always means a faster salary progression than becoming an expert in one or multiple fields.

Why is expertise valued less?

I simply explained what someone might have meant regarding seizing the means of production being a potential solution to expertise being valued less than being manager.

You still need leadership in any system.

Eve your argument “seize the means of production” only happens with leadership.

I didn’t say we don’t need leaders. An owner or a manager may be in charge but that doesn’t make them a leader.

The structure and values of the underlying society revolve around individuals amassing power and wealth for their own benefit rather than any kind of collective good. Often the boss, the owner, the one in charge leans on their wealth and power. They were born with resources or hoarded them and feel that the most valuable contribution anyone could make is risking their own wealth (investing). As such, they themselves deserve most of the control of the organization (company) and deserve to be rewarded with most of the fruits of their worker’s labor. They control the means of production.

If you have good social skills and exude confidence - this comforts the boss. Now the boss likes you and you get promoted and more money. If you are capable of doing great work but don’t know how to kiss the boss’s ass or don’t make the boss believe you know what you are doing - you aren’t as obviously valuable to the boss because the boss doesn’t understand all that technical stuff. Toss in some Dunning-Kruger for good measure too.

Get rid of the boss and decide how to do things democratically among your peers? Now you’ve seized the means of production.

I drive by a school with those signs on my way to work. I slow down because, obviously, kids. The cars behind me get enraged that I’m not going 40 and then they pull into the school and drop off their kids.

Do your police exist to harvest revenue from the population in order to support their budgets, or do you have a logical, reasonable method of funding law enforcement?

Going by the official/intended definition of enshittification, it’s not “how shitty is the product” for consumers, that’s just a part of it. It’s a whole process:

1. Capture consumer clients by offering great service to users at low cost or free
2. Capture business client market by abusing captured users in favor of business clients
3. Fuck over captured business clients and consumer users for maximum profit/power.

Seeing as how the governments would qualify as a type of business client… the process is likely to, in the end, involve the government getting fucked.

The actions of the state of Israel definitely work, intentionally or unintentionally, to increase antisemitism across the globe. Equating criticism of Isreal, which is actively committing Genocide, among other illegal atrocities in the region, with antisemitism is absurd. Using that logic to shield their actions from criticism is, frankly, a crime against Jewish people everywhere as it reduces the seriousness and sincerity of any legitimate claims of actual antisemitism.

However, I don’t think that’s particularly relevant to my comment. Ashkenazi is an ancestry - not a state, not a religion, not a tradition. It conveys no information beyond who your parents are and who their parents were and where they all came from. Discrimination based on such things is just racism.

Trust me - I’m not the guy who brings this up very often - but Ashkenazi or Jewish does not mean Zionist or Israeli. I get that it’s a cute joke but that actually feels more antisemitic to me than simply critical of the state of Israel or Zionists.

Prison/slave labor, usually. Rotten, maggoty food ain’t free y’know and you don’t want them getting comfortable lazing around or they might not self deport.

GEO Group’s Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, runs on immigrant labor. Detainees cook, clean, and repair the facility for as little as $1 a day and sometimes for nothing at all.

• The American Prospect