“Small comic based on the amazing words of Ursula K. Le Guin”.

author

  • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
    7•6 months ago

    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.

    • @heavy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4•6 months ago

      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.

      • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        3•6 months ago

        I don’t want kings or monopolies

        Its not really a matter of what you want. These are systemic issues, not personal choices.

        I would also argue that “we hand powers over to modern capitalist institutions without a second thought” is a pretty loaded sentence.

        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.

        It’s not like someone asked us.

        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.

        Sounds pretty dismissive to assume people are acting outside of their better interest.

        When you’re under the gun, its in your best interest for the other guy not to pull the trigger.

        • @heavy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2•6 months ago

          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.

          • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
            0•6 months ago

            you dont have any clear call to action

            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.