Comment on It's unacceptable that people like Jeff Bezos exist.
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
The fact that people can’t stop using this shitty ass marketplace is proof we are doomed. Its NOT THAT FUCKING HARD to buy ANYWHERE ELSE . i have not used Walmart or amazon in over a decade. Never really used it before either because I knew their plan. Destroy all other businesses so there is nowhere to go, take over the entire market, then sell shit product for more while being the only employer left. Tale as old as time.
The stupidity of humans makes us deserve this honestly. Now pair this with people who won’t get off their ass to vote. To fill in a bubble on paper. 100% doomed, dont even try to fix it.
The stupidity of humans makes us deserve this honestly. Now pair this with people who won’t get off their ass to vote.
They’ve been cutting education in US for past half a century. They’ve been moving income from working class to billionaire class. They’ve propagandized the blame so well that even you blame your peers or poor people instead of the rulingnclass who have planned for this longer than you’ve been alive.
I’m not blaming poor people. If anything they are smarter about what’s happening vs the upper middle class .
I was more complaining about the stupidity of upper white rich class folks listening to fox news and Joe rogan, with zero critical thought, who got us into this shit even worse.
But yes, its 100% the billionaires fault. I see no way to undo their damage unfortunately. As you said, the lack of education and brainwashing has people firmly in their wrong beliefs and they won’t change easily, if ever.
Now we wait until the collapse
You CAN educate and improve the middle and lower classes, but you CANNOT and will not dismantle the game that was planned and set up for centuries. Rules have been there written in black and white with a highlighter, but no one wants to read them.
While I completely agree with you and I try not to use either company, lot of people who live in rural America do not have a choice. My parent well used to be parents before my dad died, does not drive and doesn’t always have someone to get deliveries for her elsewhere. Even so The only place to shop in the area she lives is Walmart. There is no other place except for grocery stores. So where do you suggest those people shop other than Amazon and Walmart? Personally I live in a place where I can go to Costco and that’s where I get most of my items but for things that are unable to be bought at Costco (for example a rare size screw but I need for a mechanical part) can sometimes only be bought at Amazon.
Yeah I get the specific use cases for it. Thats fine. They’re not the issue. Its the clueless people using it when they dont need to at all
Thats great, but perfection is the enemy of good enough. I dont think one has to eliminate it entirely, there are some niche things that are only offeres through these marketplaces. But if there is an alternative place to acquire it (starting in your community), always favor it!
All it takes is a reduction of usage by everyone to send a message. Expecting people to go cold turkey is a bridge too far right now. Kudos though for being able to do that
In most places in rural America Walmart is the only place to shop at other than a grocery store. And sometimes they don’t even have a separate grocery store. People in large metropolitan areas seem to forget there’s a whole lot of America that’s rural and nothing else is available there.
Yeah even cutting back would be good.
I haven’t been able to convince a single person of this. They’ll just keep their prime and Netflix sub’s while getting fed even more ads and paying for them. They think “this is the world” and dont even know how to change.
Coworkers were talking about their $200 or more cable+subscription bills the other day. I felt pretty good that day. People waste a lot of money.
Yep The only way I have found a combat is to share subscriptions with people. Currently I am sharing my Amazon account with my mom (and my dad before he passed away) My spouse, my aunt, My best friend, her husband, and her sister. We all use the same login and we all trust each other enough not to use each other’s credit cards. So you have to be able to have that trust in someone but at least that means Amazon is not getting six separate prime membership payments. But unfortunately I do end up having to use them for my mom who lives in a rural area
Why have any subscriptions ? You own nothing then.
I’d rather ask Patchy 🫣
It’s saddens me that everyone has an excuse — even those who recognize the problem.
Look I’m not perfect either. I’m part of this shitty system. I fuck up and buy shit I don’t need sometimes. But at least I’m trying.
If a box with a smile shows up on my door it’s because I didn’t know three seller used Amazon / their boxes.
Yeah exactly , but we are trying. The majority dont even try.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 days ago
“Well, I don’t shop at Amazon for ethical reasons.”
“Oh, you don’t buy any common commercial goods?”
“No no no. I just buy them ethically.”
“Where do you get your ethically sourced consumer goods?”
“Target and Walmart”
🫠
Bitch, I just need a mop to mop my floor so its not sticky. Where do I get a new mop? Point me to the place to buy a fucking mop that doesn’t involve some asshole on the internet heckling me over it.
Zink@programming.dev 5 days ago
Yeah, when I take an inventory of the businesses I frequent and follow this train of thought, it ultimately boils down into the line “No ethical consumption under capitalism” I’ve read before.
If it’s a company we’ve heard of, it inevitably has an entire collection of rich psychopaths running and owning it. Local small businesses can be better, or they can be run by hateful bigots and/or small-time psychopaths that charge twice as much.
I just try to find the reasonable balance between trying to reduce harm and not support the worst of the worst, while also participating in society.
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
If you can’t buy a broom without using amazon, youre gonna have a hard time with life in general.
Also in my comment I stated I don’t use Walmart. Rarely ever go to target.
And yes. All consuming is unethical, a slave made the phone or computer you are using this moment. However, that doesn’t mean we need to use amazon and keep directly enriching billionaire scum. How is that so hard ? Are people lazier or dumber than they used to be now in that they can’t search for 2 seconds to find a broom? How about a damn garage sale ???
Used is far better than new in a massive amount of cases. Americans are addicted to shiny new plastic because they’re brainwashed idiots that think they need new everything.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Okay, but my floor is sticky. What Do?
Who is selling used mops? What kind of business sustains itself on that kind of traffic?
7101334@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Tons of people on eBay who probably steal them from the corporations or resell from the Chinese companies which manufacture them in the first place, which is way more ethical than buying them from American oligarch-owned resellers.
If I search “mop and bucket set” on Amazon, most results are in the $35 - $45 range, some as high as $60. Comparable mops on eBay (it seems 100% identical except it has a metal ring instead of a red plastic triangle over the mop) are $20 - $35. Then that exact same mop is $17.12 on Aliexpress (with free shipping, from a local warehouse). That’s not “used”, to be fair, but it’s a way smarter way of shopping and doesn’t support Amazon.
Another example is that H2O2 was $8.50 on Amazon at one point, yet like $1 or $2 each at my local Walgreens. Yes, same volume bottle. That was a while ago though, when I was still using Amazon, so I can’t say that’s still the case.
Or if you very literally want “used” for some reason, I did find one guy on Craigslist selling mop and bucket sets for $15 lol. Probably even more people on Facebook Marketplace, including some who might even be giving it away for free.
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
Yeah, ive read grapes of wrath! Excellent book.
Your example of a mop is silly though. Like, you can totally get a used mop at a garage sale. Or just dont use amazon for it at least if you must have a new one.
Also, have you not heard of eBay?? Yes, its full of shitty China amazon resellers too, but there’s real items there as well as tons of other sites people sell on.
My main point is, we are addicted and brainwashed to new shit we absolutely don’t need. If people thought about reducing and reusing for 1 second we could topple corporations. But no. Must have new. More oil to make more plastic shit to go to landfills. Throw out the TV when it breaks because nothing is repairable now etc get a new phone yearly etc.
mangobanana@discuss.online 4 days ago
Don’t you know you’re supposed to make your own rope from cotton that you’ve grown, and make your own mop with wood that you harvested from your backyard?
chilicheeselies@lemmy.world 4 days ago
The grocery store. A 99cent store. Local hardware store.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 days ago
The Ethical Dollar Tree
7101334@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Aliexpress.
I have only used Amazon once in the last 2 years (it was a very specific tool that was sold literally nowhere else, even eBay, and was only like $20), Walmart a handful of times, and Target only for cat sand.
If you can’t eliminate the harm you contribute to (which, fair, none of us can in America), you are responsible for minimizing it. Triage. Gotta choose between 3 shit companies? Evaluate which one is the least-shit and go that route.
And that varies for everyone. The people who have a Walmart as their only source of fresh groceries within a 30 mile radius are going to need to shop at Walmart more often than I do, and that’s fine.
mangobanana@discuss.online 4 days ago
You don’t think aliexpress is ran by billionaires?
7101334@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Quote where I said or implied that.