Learning to do repairs has never been easier thanks to YouTube. There’s also a ton of sources for replacement parts online these days, many of which provided repair videos for the more common parts. My dishwasher broke a few months ago; $60 for a new intake pump and a few hours of my time and it’s working as if it’s brand new. My TV died out a little over a year ago; $35 for a new power supply (probably could’ve repaired it for a few bucks if I had just replaced a capacitor or two) and less than an hour of my time and it’s right as rain. Most repair jobs are a lot less daunting than people assume they are.
Comment on What is an average person living in the US supposed to do about corporations raising prices?
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Voting is necessary but not sufficient.
The big other thing is to build external power. That’s not like militias per se (though with the rising fascism it’s not a bad idea), but rather stuff like gardening, learning to do repairs, and practicing mutual aid. Reduce your and your community’s dependence on the corporations. And make it an issue people around you care about.
superduperenigma@lemmy.world 11 months ago
SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
But big daddy government says guns are so bad and only they should have them!!! (jk)
Learning skills like sewing, planting and keeping extra food, and knowing how to use a gun safely isn’t something for crazy preppers or the Amish. It’s skills that my grandparents knew. It makes you more resilient and capable especially in an emergency (that’s why the preppers do it), and I think that’s a good place to start.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Yeah I have mixed feelings about guns because on one hand an armed proletariat is more able to resist, but on the other hand sure seems like easy access to weapons is helping fascists more than anyone else and fuck am I just exhausted by the constant and unyielding gun violence in my country as well as the fact that any weapons that are effective against a larger force on shared turf are illegal for anyone but cops and troops. But antifascists and workers demonstrating our capacity to organize as a militia may make fascists rethink action.
But yeah aside from my rambling as a tired American, these skills aren’t even just for emergencies. Gardening is a hobby that gives food and sometimes drugs as a reward. And it’s healthier stuff, with the added benefit of being in season. Repair skills not only save money, they save the planet and they make you feel more comfortable and capable.
My girlfriend is an Appalachian leftist who does a lot of the prepper stuff because growing up impoverished in a place where that was normal and it’s just useful even now that she’s middle class and out of all that. When you get comfortable with repairs and making stuff you can just turn other people’s stuff they want to get rid of into things you want. You can just make furniture if you have the tools. And yeah it may not look as polished, but it’s often sturdier because you’re not going to use particleboard to build your bed, but companies sure will
PersonalDevKit@aussie.zone 11 months ago
As a non American the gun argument for being able to rebel seems like such an empty argument. Assuming you mod your rifle to full automatic fire you are going up against tanks, jets, drones, artillery, the entire armed forces of one of the strongest military forces on this planet. Ak47s didn’t work out so well for Iraq why do you think you will be different?
SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
There is an interesting podcast from a few years ago called (if I remember right) “It Could Happen Here: The Second American Civil War”. A war correspondant with experience covering the Syrian civil war takes what he observed there as a thought experiment on what modern civil war might be like on American soil. This was released around 2019.
Basically what you see there is riflemen with drones and improvised explosives make a very effective fighting force when paired with smart gurilla tactics.
Vietnam and Afghanistan were not won by the US. The Soviets didn’t win the Afghan war in the 80s.
In America rural citizens have weapons and experience using them (war, hunting etc) and can easily disrupt logistics to make life hell for an enemy force. Military vehicles are notorious gas hogs and expensive aircraft can be easily destroyed if caught on the ground. Advanced weaponry can be scrounged.
I love my country and also see the flaws of it. I hate the very idea of any war here under any circumstances. But as the journalist put it, if it came to that we would be “one ass kicker of an insurgency”
But for the record what I was meaning in my initual statement is more for home defense, hunting and so on. Not going against the government but having the capablity to be okay if they can’t get help to you in time. Even the best trained police officer is of little use when they are 10 minutes away from a home invasion.
AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Unions! Rising prices are irrelevant when workers are paid fairly.
phillaholic@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Giving everyone more money will not fix the price of housing, It’ll do the opposite.
chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
It will partially fix it because part of the problem is wealth inequality; housing is a form of wealth and becomes more out of reach as wealth concentrates away from people. Giving everyone money serves as redistribution.
phillaholic@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Think about it. If everyone has more money that means so do the other people bidding against you. It’s like the college tuition problem. Everyone can get student loans, so colleges have no incentive to keep costs reasonable. Giving college students more money doesn’t fix the problem of college being too expensive.
Linkerbaan@lemmy.world 11 months ago
No the price of housing is caused by low interest rates and the money printer. This makes companies take out cheap loans and buy all the houses, thus driving up the pricing even more.
phillaholic@lemm.ee 11 months ago
You’re kidding yourself if you think everyone having more money is going to do anything but increase bidding on housing right now though. I’m not blaming housing prices on people having money, I’m saying it’s not going to fix those underlying issues.