When you put it that way, I guess we better hand over thousands every year to Apple for the new iPhone. Wouldn’t want a child slave to be unemployed.
Buy 10,000 disposable vapes every year while you’re at it (if you really care). Maybe a couple cents will trickle down to the children you claim to care about.
If you’re worried about these children losing their wonderful life in the mines, feel free to support them through other means.
Make it your life’s work to spread awareness, bring aid to the affected countries, and support their development - you only enslave yourself by learning to do absolutely nothing against what you see as oppressive.
And getting companies that profit off of these children to support them would likely be fair. Apple and Google can handle the hit.
Your trolling aside, we all share a personal responsibility to not buy from companies that e.g. utilize cobalt/lithium in their products - slavery/child labor is rampant in those supply chains and Apple et. al are responsible for supporting it.
If there was no demand, these children wouldn’t be forced to work in mines - it’s that simple.
You enslave others by consuming most common products on the shelves. Modern slavery (and child slavery) is more expansive than most know and third-world exploitation is rampant - western supply chains are not immune.
While you support the enslavement of others with your consumption, corporations continue to become more and more powerful.
Our produce and ingredients suck here in the US. It’s all devoid of nutrition and usually gamed to look better than it actually is. Lots of things taste funny to me, and if it’s not flavorless, it tastes like chemicals or metal. There’s simply no regulation or oversight.
When I have food that is grown or produced locally (and ethically) or food that is imported from Europe or even Canada, the difference is stark — I feel like I can actually digest and the flavor is night and day.
If I was there, if I was involved in law enforcement, if I had access to the crime scene and raw footage and evidence, I might be able to speculate. Armchair speculation is insufficient for me.
There are plenty of events that raise legitimate questions and concerns - like suspicious, high profile deaths that are immediately ruled as suicide. Everybody is free to hold their own positions and perspectives as far as I am concerned. Question on, sate your concern and curiosity, you’ll get no arguments against that from me.
Of course, a true conspiracy unfolds because the masses are unaware. The masses are gaslit if they start catching on.
But in the absence of compelling evidence, it’s pointless to wildly speculate about from my perspective.
Thanks for the response, I enjoyed reading it and our sentiment largely aligns.
I’m not making an argument for chemtrails. It’s pointless to speculate about, there is no evidence or smoking gun.
I’m just suggesting that we be kind and empathetic towards individuals that do believe these sorts of things. Is it out of character for the US government? Nah, not really.
Many of these people probably were living in or around 1969. In their lived reality, the US government was doing shit like this. Have things really gotten better?
These are the people voting Trump in, dude, you cant actually be this dense
Of course these individuals share responsibility for potentially voting for him, but we ALL share responsibility for him rising to power.
No, but I do try to make the world a less stupid place when I can
We don’t need to call out stupidity to make it a better place. Expressing yourself with clarity and confidence of thought is infinitely better.
If they’re too stupid to learn basic science then I reeeeally don’t care
You don’t need to care about any of this.
Ok? They’re also very stupid individuals, I don’t care at all what makes them believe the blatantly stupid thing, only that they refuse to accept reality
If somebody you love is frightened (in a general sense), what would you do? Calming them down and helping to see the truth would be one potential path to ease their suffering. What would making fun of them do?
You’re doing an awful lot of defending of people who are choosing to behave the way they do, it’s weird. Gonna file you in with them and call it a day, you don’t seem to be too far from them in the ol’ comprehension skill
Do what you want, I’m not going to apologize for my behavior or take it personally. If my crime is being too empathetic, guess I’m guilty.
The Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee called for using far-right candidates “as a cudgel to move the more established candidates further to the right.” Clinton’s camp insisted that Trump and other extremists should be “elevated” to “leaders of the pack” and media outlets should be told to “take them seriously.”
Hillary Clinton, the DNC, and mainstream media played a pretty big role in Trump’s rise to power. Everybody is responsible for his rise to power, but the facts are facts. They intentionally elevated him.
They’re willingly living in stupidity. If we just let people do that we get people like Trump, so Id rather avoid that
These people don’t have power over others like Trump.
Neither can I, but as I said you’re purposefully ignoring a big part of what’s being discussed: the part where they don’t ever tread back out of delusion. There’s 0 defense for that
You aren’t responsible for other’s beliefs. You are loosely reveling in their suffering, whether you realize it or not. They are very concerned and are likely vulnerable individuals.
Plenty of things happen in this world that each respective populace doesn’t consent to.
Seriously, why single them out for going a little crazy? It’s not like I haven’t pointed at somebody and laughed in the past, so no judgement here, but the whole system and world order is nuts and we need something new.
If you are worried about people holding factually incorrect or wrong beliefs, e.g. delusions, then advocate for decentralized media, unbiased news organizations, etc. Help elevate voices that help others to climb out of their delusions and fear.
Why go out of your way to disprove them, laugh at them, or name-call them? You can just empathize with them.
For me, I’d rather address why the government HAS felt it had the right to experiment on us. I can NOT blame these individuals for treading into delusion with our current system being the way it is, especially considering the history.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea-Spray
From the page:
Between 1949 and 1969, open-air tests of biological agents were conducted 239 times.
239 open-air tests of biological agents in a 20 year period. Remind me again why people have no reason to be paranoid? This wasn’t that long ago.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States
These aren’t conspiracy theories.
Is there something real behind these people’s paranoia and suspicion? Do our government, military, and our corporations inspire trust?
Can you blame them when the US government has directly experimented on the American populace in past?
e.g. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea-Spray
From the page:
Between 1949 and 1969, open-air tests of biological agents were conducted 239 times.
239 open-air tests of biological agents in a 20 year period. Many, many people are still alive from that time period. It’s not that long ago.
Or more broadly, just look at this page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States
Do those pages inspire trust in the government and military? Would you know if you were being experimented on and gaslit?
Corporations engage in similar unethical behavior, like putting ingredients that are known to be toxic or harmful to human health in products we consume or put on our bodies.
Instead of blaming or name-calling people who are paranoid or suspicious, we need a society with a greater focus on human rights — with more regulation and oversight. A society that inspires trust, with the facts, ethics, and independent review to back it up.
Please don’t hurt yourself. Not everybody here on Earth lacks hope and a determination to do the right thing and see things through. We can do this and make this all mean something for ourselves - letting our future generations inherit a world better than what we did, and universally improve the conditions for all living beings here on this planet.
I have been in a pit of despair just like you seem to be right now. I know it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s there if you seek it out. Start by controlling what you can - help yourself to feel good, get some fresh air and some sun, eat good food that nourishes your body, do fun things and expose yourself to things that uplift you - if it calls to you!
The news often stirs up fear and feelings of helplessness. It’s intentional. It gets clicks and it is exactly what those in power want us to feel - helpless and afraid - small and weak. These violations of human rights will not be able to continue much longer, public awareness is reaching critical mass. Take a break from social media and news if you can. Have a good time with the people that love you, you deserve to be happy and healthy - we all do.
The Solarpunk movement has given me a lot of hope. You can find it on reddit at reddit.com/r/solarpunk and slrpnk.net here on the fediverse. Consider reading about the movement and engaging with the community. But please take a break if there is too much doom and gloom.
We are not doomed! Don’t pay attention to the headlines and articles that reach that conclusion. Even if that is the prevailing feeling many are feeling, we are SO close to being able to expose the artificial scarcity and games of the so-called elite, and start living in balance with our planet and collectively thriving!
I was nothing but polite…? Feeling strongly about Microsoft’s behavior and the enshittification of Windows is not the same as “pushing a cult-like mentality” as I was accused of or as you accused me of - being an asshole. Disagreeing and providing reasoning for the disagreement is not being an asshole. I am not a Linux cultist, I switched in January of this year. I am happy if other people are happy, and I respect their personal choices.
In every response, I merely responded with my reasoning and ways that they could use Linux without sacrificing anything (VFIO setups are viable albeit hard to setup). I did not resort to name-calling or insisting the person switch. In the last response, I reiterated that they were free to feel the way they do (accusing me of mental gymnastics) and to disagree. Re-read my responses with a helpful tone and I’m sure you’d see - tone is often not conveyed well online.
The only thing that I said that could be implied as being an asshole to somebody is saying Windows sucks or calling people in a regular office “tech-illiterate”. I’m not insulting anybody or being an elitist, I’m sorry that came across as harsh or unfair - I’ll be more careful with my language moving forward. I love it when things simply work for people and they are not struggling. I feel bad when people have issues. I don’t take any pleasure in others having problems or think lesser than them. Technology should be easy and accessible to use for all.
Arch Linux is not a beginner distribution, I started using it myself this year and I know with even using archinstall some things do not work out of the box even when selecting a desktop environment. Like bluetooth. CachyOS would’ve gotten you setup much quicker if you need the AUR. Bazzite or Nobara (or simply Fedora) would’ve been much easier if you don’t mind the Fedora ecosystem. PopOS is shaping up with COSMIC and will be a wonderful option for creators, gamers, and regular users when it is fully released. ZorinOS is great for beginners. Ubuntu is great and so is Debian. Linux Mint is used by a lot of people, and even though it doesn’t support Wayland yet, it’s a good option for new users. Almost every option is great for Steam and also Lutris and Heroic Games Launcher, which both help you to run various games.
Wanting a so-called minimal or vanilla setup (which is something I also desire) is hard if you are picky like me. Most people aren’t so picky, a couple extra packages or a little distribution-specific customization isn’t any sweat off their back. There are times when just getting your foot in the door and getting comfortable is much easier on yourself. If there weren’t great options for beginners, I wouldn’t be suggesting Linux to anyone.
If you were to have posted for support, I would’ve gladly helped you out if I saw your post.
And I don’t think we’re fucked. I know the news cycle and current state of the world is a lot to handle. I think we need to continue pushing awareness and other positive action. I’m sorry you are stressed and are seemingly feeling bad and overwhelmed. I would do anything I could to help you - we’re all in this together.
Some people need floaties to stay afloat. Some people need a life jacket. Some people need a solid platform to dip their feet in. Some people fucking melt when they touch water. Whatever accommodation they need or whatever their situation, it’s all perfectly acceptable in my book.
We can help them to thrive without breaking a sweat with our empathy, technology, and ingenuity.
Social skills is another way of saying the abilities required to function in a society. You might as well ask why do you need to learn to swim to get in the pool.
Even if one is uninhibited socially, it’s unrealistic to expect them to be able to function how society often dictates or requires.
Last I checked, this world is pretty cruel, especially to those who are vulnerable.
If these countries were given the ingredients to be able to develop and there was no outside demand for mined materials, these children wouldn’t be in the mines.
Big if, but less of an “if” if more people are made aware. It’s absolutely sickening how much we rely on lithium considering how it is sourced.
We are collectively enabling modern slavery and child slavery. These corporations prefer to act innocent because they aren’t sending the children themselves into the mines, but they buy the materials they mine regardless (and there’s no way that they don’t know the reality). Many corporations profit off the back of these people and children and they should be required to pay significant reparations.
What is in our power to stop this? We can spread the awareness of our exploitation of third-world countries - including their children, we can develop technologies that don’t rely on rare materials or difficult to mine materials, we can employ automation to mine what we do need in first-world countries, and we can hold the corporations that profit from these supply chains accountable.
There are battery technologies (e.g. sodium-ion) that we could grasp and avoid mining altogether for energy storage. China is proving that sodium-ion batteries are a very promising technology, even in cars, and the sodium can be sourced from seawater or from the byproducts of desalination (the latter which likely needs to be very quickly scaled considering the fresh water crisis).