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The main character energy required to think you’d end slavery but can’t even skip a video game is wild.
This is exactly what we’ve been conditioned to be. We can’t even bother to do the most basic of tasks to put up an actual fight against the constant upward growth of the billionaire class, but we think we’re so strong that nobody would mess with us. We think that showing up to a protest with a sign is fighting back because we think we’re intimidating enough to scare people into following our orders, but really we’re a tiny dog yapping at an intruder who doesn’t even care enough to shut it up.
We were raised specifically to have so much confidence in ourselves that we continue thinking that we would fight back - and win handily - if we ever needed to, while ignoring all the little things we could be doing, since there’s no point in doing them if we’ll win the fight when it comes to that, but also ignoring the fact that the fight should’ve started years ago.
Violence is the only tool that works, we used to take managers out of their houses and beat them to get our point across. We need a return to that form, where if we have grievances with the company or the manager we don’t go to HR, we organize.
The organizers still have to go to HR in the end. Union contracts need to be continually renegotiated and they can’t actually make the employer do anything.
The employer will reconsider that attitude if the union decides to leverage their power and announce a work stoppage until demands are met. People tend to listen when the entire company freezes in its tracks and annual revenue is suddenly on the line.
No, you force the top to negotiate, you don’t negotiate with underlings. You tell the boss to his face this is what we need.
“The boss” stares back at you with a blank expression and has no idea WTF you’re talking about. Moreover, they don’t care. Unless you have money or a sale for them, you can just keep on walking.
CEOs couldn’t manage to fill out a comment card anyway, never mind negotiate a union contract without a CFO and HR there to actually know what’s going on.If I had a nickel for every time people tried to go up the chain thinking they’re clever only have to get kicked back down it again (after waiting longer, by the way) to people who actually know what they’re talking about, I could probably stop working and stop having to deal with them.
Removed by mod
Can’t even get some people to stop using Twitter when using it supports literal Nazis.
And all they have to do is just… Not go to the site.
And perfectly viable and in fact superior alternatives available for free.
There’s still slavery in the US, as it is still allowed when incarcerated. No one fights back.
That’s one of craziest things about USA for me. They fought a war with million casualties to end slavery and in the end, when politicians sat down to decide what to do after they won someone went “but do we really want end all slavery?”.
And turns out no, they didn’t actually want to end all slavery. Some slavery was ok even with the north.
Slavery never ended. It was deregulated and rebranded away from public eye.
It wasn’t though. Slavery is still literally in the constitution. They just added a condition to it: incarceration.
excellent point
I do think they should have some kind of purpose in life. No one does well just sitting idly in a room. 90% of them will be out on the street again. It’s our choice whether they come out completely broken and vengeful or maybe partially humanized.
If they all were criminals who were convicted with a fair trial, yeah maybe, if they have a choice to work or not. But they still should get some compensation for their work. Just keep them outside of society. But many are not criminals. Many are forced into it, by life. Or wrongfully convicted.
Next to that, I believe re-education and reintegration in society should be centered during incarceration, instead of punishment. Look at Norway, 15% of inmates return back into prison while in the US it’s 85%.
But the judiciary system in the US is fucked up and corrupt. It’s racist and the whole jury system works on charms and not on facts. When charisma needs to be a part of the skillset of your lawyer and punishments for colored people are more harsh, there’s something seriously fucked up. And I’m not even talking about the chance of getting arrested when you’re colored. Because that’s also extremily fucked up.
A purpose they can choose willingly, yes. Not forced labour so that government and/or private prisons can squeeze some revenue out of them.
In the US? It’s not about prisoner rehabilitation and never has been.
Incarcerated workers are under the complete control of their employers, and they have been stripped of even the most minimal protections against labor exploitation and abuse.
Nationally, incarcerated workers produce more than $2 billion per year in goods and more than $9 billion per year in services for the maintenance of the prisons. https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/captive-labor-exploitation-of-incarcerated-workers
I agree that prisoners should be kept active, given opportunities to develop skills, and that setting them up for continued employment after incarceration is a good idea too, but there are better ways than what we’re doing right now.
Aren’t most of us wage slaves?
Kinda, but the US constitution amendment abolishing slavery has a side note saying “except when incarcerated” which caused mass incarceration of black people for bullshit reasons to continue slavery. And to this day there are states where incarcerated people are forced to work without pay or risk punishment when they refuse, in a form which is considered torture by the UN and human rights watch.
So I get it that people feel slaves of society, but I’m talking about actual slavery.
Fair point. Thank you for taking the time to explain
I couldn’t believe how many people bought that Harry Potter game that came out like 2 years ago. Not only was the game shitty looking ubishlock, but also we’ve known for years just how f***ed up jk rowling is as a person.
Having said that, as I child I remember protesting against the school trying to encourage me to buy Harry Potter at the school book faire. I get now that they were only trying to encourage me to read by suggesting a popular book, but I really didn’t like the cult-like obsession around this book even as a kid, so I’ve had bad vibes around the book series since the very-late 90s lol.
I got a copy for free, but also, it was actually a pretty fun game, gameplay wise. The absurd schizm between being a student with rules while also being a game character who can transform people into exploding barrels and throw them at their friends was also incredibly wild.
What’d you think of all the antisemitic references to goblins being Jews?
Besides the obvious ones like the dates of various goblin rebellions lining up with attempted genocides and ethnic cleansings of Jews during the medieval period in Europe, there were some real deep cuts in there like the “goblin war horn” that looked like a Jewish ritual horn that was described as “being used for war and to annoy wizards” and stuffed full with one of the like 3 non-kosher cheeses in the world. Gorgonzola, IIRC.
The devs really did their research. At least, they did before the lead dev stepped down when it was discovered that they ran a white supremacist YouTube channel. But, as they said when they announced their resignation, they really felt like they were among like-minded people on the team, so, good for them.
And the number people you get to murder while blaming the bad guy for it.
Yeah, meanwhile you can get your friend put in jail for just one murder.
It would have been cool quest line if you started hearing rumors about a serial killer in the forest and all your investigating just took you in circles, until you decide to focus on the big-bad guy assuming the killing will stop with him.
At the end of the story, once you’re in “post-story” free play mode, you learn the killings have picked up and become more brutal, sending you in more circles trying to track your self down.
That would have been pretty funny.
I also liked how, near the end, your mentor says something about using your anchient magic for good. And you can tell him you want to be evil.
Something like that (its been a bit).
Meh, my wife got it for so little money that it wouldn’t give more than maybe 2p to Rowling. It looked to be a reasonably enjoyable game, and she played a genderqueer character since that was doable.
Oh , she only donated 2p to a transphobic hate group? What a wonderful person
saying this as an aussie is hilarious. we could play that game all day
That 2p is gonna do so much damage dontcha know
For someone who was a big Potter fan to have spent only 5€ on anything related to the franchise from the moment the first transphobic tweet dropped?
I think no that shows a level of restraint most people lack, TBH
Mate, i used to be a massive kenshin fan. You’re pussies.
You’re still allowed to like it, you know
Someone from a story in 1898 was a transphobe? I’m shocked
The author turned out to be a mega grade pedo
Ah ok, I’d never heard of it before your comment so I only read the first line of the wikipedia entry
yeah but despite the devs being allies some of the money still goes to JKR who has made it very clear that she will use it to support anti-trans lobbying. not that the 2p would do a lot, just as a comment to the genderqueer thing
I agree, and she also said she would never have paid full price for it. Back in the day she was a big Harry Potter fan, but now it’s tailed off a lot because of the horribleness of Rowling … which is a plus for me, I didn’t have to sit through any of the Amazing Beasts stuff
Seriously. That and Tesla.I live in a progressive city and the number of teslas makes me angry. Some of them have the apology stickers but most don’t.
To be fair the average car on the road in America is ten years old (which means several are much older.) I don’t think people who own a 2016 Tesla are complicit, and I can’t tell a 2016 Tesla from a newer one.
Now, if it’s a god damn CYBERTRUCK, fuck yeah I think they’re a fascist. There is no excuse for owning a Cybertruck.
I judge every single person that drives swastacars in 2026. Cybercucks get the finger.
Fuck fascists.
The cars are one thing, but that horrible excuse for a truck gets all the aggression and hatred I can muster on the roads that won’t lead me to prison. Those things only started to be sold once the Republican’s favorite South African went full mask off. No excuse for owning one of those.
In LA the amount of them is so incredibly cringe inducing. They never, ever stop looking like shit, no matter what crappy wraps or vanity plates with reddit tier puns they put on it.
I saw one the other day that had a plate with “BLMLESS”. That either says “blameless” which, no, or it means “Black Lives Matter -less”.
At the time I bought my Tesla, it was the only viable long range EV. Nowadays there is no excuse, there are better, cheaper EVs available.
Not many sadly on the US. Basically everything from a legacy automaker is the same shit they made before, but with the gas tank and engine replaced with a battery and electric motors.
The only real alternatives that actually take advantage of EVs to give new functionality and convenience, are the ones that didn’t make gas vehicles. Companies like Lucid, Polestar, and Rivian.
For those coming from a gas car, there’s not much to miss. But coming from a Tesla, the missing functionality is extremely apparent. Simple things like the ability to leave climate on when you go into a store, working phone keys with automatic proximity unlock and relocking. So many legacy automakers, even the ones often mentioned as “good” EV alternatives miss easy to add functionality like that. They leave in unnecessary crap like having you press an Engine Start/Stop button even though the car never really is fully “off”.
I don’t really think minor conveniences like that really matter all that much, especially because with them comes all the other absolutely insane design decisions Tesla made on fundamental things, like not having real door handles.
Coming from a Tesla since 2018 through late last year… All of that makes a difference when you use dit daily and no longer have it. But it all depends where you are, you think it’s a minor inconvenience, but I’d bet you also don’t currently have that capability.
In real world every day use, the door handles made zero difference for me. I don’t live in a cold area where ice buildup is an issue. I live in a desert, so being able to leave climate on while I head into a store is something I used nearly every day. I never even considered it as something I wanted until I had it and suddenly found out at virtually no legacy automaker EVs do it for whatever reason. That capability missing is a massive downgrade in capability for no reason other than laziness from the manufacturers to do as little as possible with their EVs.
I literally own a Tesla, I do have that capability. And I live in one of the hottest places in the US.
The door handles are a fundamental safety concern. The lack of physical knobs in favor of a touch screen are safety concerns. The fact I have to jump through a layered menu to turn on and off various features while driving is crazy.
I’m not saying the good features aren’t nice, just that the asinine design decisions greatly overshadow them.
What is everyone adjusting while driving all the time?
For example, windshield wiper speed, seat warmers, front/rear defog, AC fan direction.
The door handles are a fundamental safety concern.
Possibly, but Tesla was by no means the first to use flush handles, electric locks, or frameless windows. They’re just mentioned in the news more because it gets views. People get trapped in their ICE cars all the fucking time, glass breaker and seatbelt cutting tools have existed for decades for a reason. If you’re lookt at fire risk specifically… there are nearly 200k car fires every year in the US alone, almost all of those are ICE vehicles. Even if you break it down by engine type per 100k, you end up with hybrid vehicles at 3,475 per 100k vehicles, ICE at 1,530 per 100k, and EVs at 25 per 100k.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/business/electric-vehicle-safety.htmlThe lack of physical knobs in favor of a touch screen are safety concerns.
Maybe, but in reality I think this is blown way out of proportion. I see people mention this, but what are you actually needing knobs for? I see people mention stuff like media, but media controls are on the wheel, you don’t even need to reach at all. And climate I rarely need to adjust while driving, you just set the temp you want and from my experience the Tesla was way better than any other vehicle I’ve driven before or since with making the right adjustments on the Auto setting. And that doesn’t get into the possibility of using the voice activation system to make those changes either.
The fact I have to jump through a layered menu to turn on and off various features while driving is crazy.
The only thing I ever needed to use any sort of menu for while driving was adjusting the windshield wiper speed manually. What are you having to go in and out of menus for all the time?
VW and Hyundai are producing great EVs.
I replaced my VW TDI with a Tesla. I just keep picking them, don’t I?
The model 3 has always been a good buy on its merits as a car, so long as you don’t mind doing everything on the screen, so I don’t think you have a problem there…
You can fix that with a mask, a bat, a change of clothes, preplanned routes that you never repeat, and not currently having any other hobbies.
This is a bad idea for the same reason the death sentence is
What, bashing out some headlights?
… what did you think I was implying, breaking into Tesla owners homes and beating them to death?
The death penalty is a bad idea, because you cannot be certain that someone is guilty. There have been cases with sufficient doubt, where people have been executed.
You cannot be certain that the owner of a car deserves to have it vandalized.
I’ve seen waaaay too many cyber trucks in my city.
Yep its ableist and privileged to argue against slavery when some people rely on their slaves to support their family. /s
A man made this very argument regarding “the war of Northern Aggression.” He said to the black man in the crowd he was arguing with “my family was poor and had to work for everything they had. Do you know how much people cost back then?!” Everyone was like :-0
I’ve unironically heard that argument from people I know. Texas is a garbage state >:(
If you want to abolish slavery you’re a liberal. Real leftists use their slaves to fight capitalism. /s
HOLY SHIT THIS ANALOGY IS PERFECT
so many people live in an insanely priveledged, comfort and convience addicted, emotionally stunted, personalized bubble, and have no idea how much stronger and capable they are, how little they settle for and little they expect, and how awful and impactful being this way is, and there are endless forms of mental gymnastics and logistifying each one of them will do to dilute themselves from understanding this shit and taking any reasponsability for being passive beneficiaries to empire and the violence and suffering that it requires to operate. it is so frustrating and i am fed up and dont care who i offend, i have seen and experienced too much of the horror, your feelings are not more important than peoples lives.
Now I’m curious what the original said. Cracker Barrel? Papa John’s?
The chicken sandwich place
I stopped boycotting it when every gay person I knew kept going there /shrug
Maybe we’re all bad but that was enough for me
You what is sad… they only fought slavery because they needed more consumers for the forming industry, it was corporate interests of the north. It wasn’t a selfless movement.
Who is “they?”
Last I checked, John Brown wasn’t hung because of his love for Northern factory owners. But maybe the story has changed a bit since 1859?
Hanged.
Hung… Might mean something else.
I’ll allow it. You don’t know he wasn’t.
Who the hell are you? The hung jury?
Corporate interests were fighting slavery… because they needed more customers? WAT?
Now I have no knowledge of American history but are you really claiming they had an excess of farming capacity and decided the best answer was to grow their customer base by slashing their free labour??
I think he meant the industry that was forming in the north, not farming industry.
A motivation as old as time. Money. Period. It’s always money. That said, blaming the north for slavery… eh…
