this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2024
1165 points (95.6% liked)
Comic Strips
11779 readers
2240 users here now
Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.
The rules are simple:
- The post can be a single image, an image gallery, or a link to a specific comic hosted on another site (the author's website, for instance).
- The comic must be a complete story.
- If it is an external link, it must be to a specific story, not to the root of the site.
- You may post comics from others or your own.
- If you are posting a comic of your own, a maximum of one per week is allowed (I know, your comics are great, but this rule helps avoid spam).
- The comic can be in any language, but if it's not in English, OP must include an English translation in the post's 'body' field (note: you don't need to select a specific language when posting a comic).
- Politeness.
- Adult content is not allowed. This community aims to be fun for people of all ages.
Web of links
- [email protected]: "I use Arch btw"
- [email protected]: memes (you don't say!)
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I read intense concern about the results of the next election, without seeing anything approaching the comparative concern for a private monopoly of real estate, a mass privatization of our postal and shipping system, or the horrifying prospect of a computerized administrative state run out of Microsoft's digital basement.
If you want to talk about the Divine Right of Kings, it should be noted how much of that authority was accrued through mystifying the mechanisms of authority. The modern capitalist state reinvents mysticism through contracts, borders, and advanced technologies, while working towards the same fundamental ends.
Kings and Priests would have plotzed at the power afforded by a credit card company or mortgage lender or OS vendor over one of its clients. And yet these are powers we hand over to modern capitalist institutions without a second thought.
I appreciate the perspective but nothing here says we can't be coscerbed by both positions (or all sides) of power.
I don't want kings or monopolies, or either by any other name. No need to split hairs on it.
I would also argue that "we hand powers over to modern capitalist institutions without a second thought" is a pretty loaded sentence. Who's doing that? Me? You? It's not like someone asked us. Sounds pretty dismissive to assume people are acting outside of their better interest.
Its not really a matter of what you want. These are systemic issues, not personal choices.
Its a consequence of growing up in a world that functions in a particular way. Adopting the tools of a society means putting out substantially less effort for survival than trying to cut across them. Ask any homeless vagrant how easy it is not to have a bank account or to get by without a job in a commercial business or state institution.
You work within the system because you fear the consequences of transgression. Nobody has to spell out why you can't squat in an empty apartment room or wander through a grocery store grazing out of the produce section. You pay your credit card balance and your car note because you know what happens if you miss too many payments, not because some repo man or loan shark has to spell it out for you.
When you're under the gun, its in your best interest for the other guy not to pull the trigger.
I see you're picking and choosing what to try and call out here, but you dont have any clear call to action. You're just being obtuse. If I'm wrong, by all means, spell it out, but otherwise it's not particularly helpful.
There isn't a clear path forward. It's a complex problem that is made deliberately intractable by the people who benefit from the current system.
Haha well then we're just two dudes shooting the shit 🙂