blarghly
@blarghly@lemmy.world
- Comment on Basically 4 days ago:
I have to say, this is a very weird take and you should really consider that you might be mistaken.
Pre-1850, most governments were autocratic in some way or another. Many of these governments lasted for hundreds or thousands of years, only toppled when another, larger autocratic government conquered them. This was true in China, Africa, the Middle East, Mexico, and Europe. Post 1850, democracy began to spread much more rapidly. These days, autocrats at least try to pretend to be elected. And meanwhile, the personal freedom and standard of living for the average person have increased dramatically since that time.
In general, the sort of revolution you are talking about where the people storm the palace gates seem to have become less common because: first of all, you are imagining them as more common than they actually were in the past. In the past, most people were slaves or semi-slaves (surfs, peasants) who lived pretty miserable lives and mostly coped via Jesus and drinking. Second of all, because for the most part people don’t want to storm the palace gates anymore because their lives are pretty good. Sure, Elon has billions while you are living paycheck to paycheck - but you still have a roof over your head, food to eat, and circuses to watch on TV. The risk of losing that and going to jail or dying is not worth the slim potential reward of having a better government in some way. Storming the palace gates and overthrowing the government is a bad thing, because it implies that the government was doing such a bad job that the people became so agitated that they tried such a desperate tactic in the first place.
I think they now really do require some sort of defection from the ruling classes
This has literally always been the case. The idea that a disorganized mob of peasants can storm the palace gates, depose the monarch, and create a utopian, egalitarian government from scratch is a fantasy - just like dragons, fairies, and anyone on Lemmy ever getting laid. A king derives his power from the accumulated power of his court, and each member of the court derives power from the power of their subordinates. As long as the court stays loyal to the king, mobs of people will be largely impotent. If the mob ever did manage to storm the gates and destroy the king, the very next day the court would appoint the king’s heir and send the military out to murder every person in the mob. Mobs succeed when the court is tired of the king’s bullshit and conveniently “forgets” to lock the palace gates.
- Comment on Basically 4 days ago:
Before that they had archers and keep walls. And after that there have been many successful protests and revolutions which created freer democracies (with varying degrees of success).
- Comment on Alternatively 4 days ago:
Yeah, those people are ridiculous. Unthinking hedonists are the worst. That’s why I only hang out with thinking hedonists. We do thorough research on the drugs we use to understand the potential downsides, risks, and benefits, and we carefully consider who to allow into our orgies based not only on looks, but also on how likely they are to have stis or cause drama. Reasonably considered hedonism is a much better way to live your life.
- Comment on 2025 be vibin' 5 days ago:
Companies hype themselves to increase stock price. Trying to drive social change via the masses could easily backfire. If a company wants to change the tax code, they usually just hire lobbyists and donate to political campaigns, and you never hear about it.
- Comment on 2025 be vibin' 5 days ago:
Often companies post jobs “to be fair”, but have already decided on an internal hire. The word is 80% of hirings never appear on job boards.
- Comment on ...📉 5 days ago:
That was informative. Thank you!
- Comment on ...📉 5 days ago:
Does DXY have inflation included in its calculation?
- Comment on ...📉 5 days ago:
… With good capitalization, spelling, and punctuation?
- Comment on A simple solution, really 5 days ago:
They definitely can take what you don’t have. That’s what debt is.
- Comment on A simple solution, really 5 days ago:
Ok. So what’s your point? Like, what do you expect any individual person to do with that information? The person who notices that “life’s little luxuries” are impacting their financial security and cuts down on them will be in a better financial position than someone who lives in denial and digs themselves into a financial hole.
- Comment on A simple solution, really 6 days ago:
It will be $600 less to make in interest payments as you gradually pay the debt down.
More poignantly, however, it would be very useful for a $600 copay. And these are significantly more common.
- Comment on A simple solution, really 6 days ago:
You need your car to get to work. Your car gets a flat. $75 for a used tire.
Without emergency fund: $75 unexpected expense goes on credit card. Since you are still drinking fancy coffee, you have no slack in your finances, and interest starts compounding on that $75 which you cannot pay off. Eventually you figure out you can pay the debt down gradually by cutting back on having someone else make you coffee. You manage to gradually pay down your debt over several months. By the time you pay it off, the tire cost you $150.
With emergency fund: you are pissed off about the flat, but shell out $75 from your emergency fund. Your fund recovers in a couple months.
- Comment on A simple solution, really 6 days ago:
A mocha pot? But then I’d still have to buy coffee beans, which are a luxury, right? Not buying a mocha pot means you don’t have to buy coffee either, thus saving even more money.
There are degrees to all things. Doesn’t mean some things aren’t better or worse. If you are getting a latte at a coffee shop every day, making them yourself is a comparable amount of luxury for significantly less money. If you are actually strapped for cash, then indeed, simply give up coffee entirely.
But if you are struggling to save even $600 in a year, you are truly in a financial emergency, and doing something about that should be at the top of your list. If you are regularly buying fancy coffee, this is obvious low hanging fruit.
And that could go for all luxuries, to the point that life is just working to be able to work.
Sure. Again, degrees, choices. But again, if you struggle to save $600, then you need to save $600. Life can just be work for a while until you are in a more stable financial situation.
And none of this would be necessary if wages were higher overall, and there was a good social safety net.
Tell government to tax the rich, instead of telling people to forego their pleasures.Okay, I’ve done those things. Now what does the financially struggling individual do once I have told the government that, and the government has ignored me? If their plan is to continue having no financial safety net while drinking cafe coffee every day, I’m just gonna say that that isn’t the best choice.
If the government turned around and did those things, that sure would be nice. But I’m not gonna count on it, and if you are struggling financially, you shouldn’t either. If you sit around waiting for the government to save you because they should, my bet is that you’re in for some disappointment. A better bet is to see that social safety nets are bad and likely to get worse, accept this fact, and the fact that you can effectively do nothing about this and other large mechanations of the world, and ask yourself what you can do to improve your own situation.
- Comment on A simple solution, really 6 days ago:
If you can barely save $600 in 2 years, then you 100% need a $600 emergency fund
- Comment on A simple solution, really 1 week ago:
Getting down voted for not being homeless. Lemmy moment.
- Comment on A simple solution, really 1 week ago:
Because then you have $600 in an emergency fund so you can use that to pay for an emergency rather than going into debt. It isn’t hard to understand that $600 is $600 more that you can use to make you life better, rather than frittering it away on coffee.
You’re literally trying to justify shooting yourself in the foot via self pity and learned helplessness. Just buy a mocha pot at the thrift store.
- Comment on A simple solution, really 1 week ago:
If you have supportive friends, a lovely partner or partners, can go on walks, and look at the moon, but think life isn’t worth living because you can’t drink a cup of coffee… Imma say that’s a you problem.
- Comment on His last pickup rolled over. 1 week ago:
The snokle isn’t for water. It’s for dust.
- Comment on I'm still not sure how to do this actually oh wait maybe... nope. 1 week ago:
This is the correct answer. The sides of the bag are held together by a static charge. Wetting your fingers allows you to dissipate the charge, so the sides come apart.
- Comment on Anon has a dream 1 week ago:
Or she’s not into you and just wants to cuddle. She’ll probably cuddle with her family members too, doesnt mean she wants to fuck them.
- Comment on Anon has a dream 1 week ago:
Also given it’s a dream, the null hypothesis should be that it is completely meaningless, a random firing of neurons that occurs as the brain conducts routine maintenance.
- Comment on What did Musk and Trump fall out over? 1 week ago:
You’re traumatized and overthinking it. They are not that smart. A good thing is happening. Enjoy it.
- Comment on Anon considers LASIK 1 week ago:
Or halos, which are just a little annoying
- Comment on Pretty lights 1 week ago:
As someone who grew up in the south - accurate.
- Comment on So it begins... 1 week ago:
Post it again for the tankies in the back!
- Comment on The joy of quitting a shit job with an asshole boss 1 week ago:
Where the fuck are you finding these jobs? I’ve signed contracts for blue collar work, white collar work, and even summer camp jobs I worked in high school.
- Comment on what is north? 1 week ago:
Eventually, yes! To find out how, read his book. It’s honestly one of the best books I’ve ever read.
- Comment on The joy of quitting a shit job with an asshole boss 1 week ago:
Really? I’ve signed a contract for every job I’ve ever worked at that spelled out the terms of my employment. It’s not like a company hires you with a firm handshake.
- Comment on Why do some people say "I wouldn't want a government to dictate what I eat"? This would mean they'd be against food safety regulations, would it not? 1 week ago:
What evidence do you have that it is unnatural? How can you tell the difference between brigading and simply lots of vegans showing up by chance? If we assume 2 out of 5 Lemmy users are vegans or think we should eat less meat to save the planet, and almost all lemmy users simply scroll the front page, then this seems like a completely expected phenomenon
- Comment on Why do some people say "I wouldn't want a government to dictate what I eat"? This would mean they'd be against food safety regulations, would it not? 1 week ago:
It definitely does not require coordination.
You are on Lemmy, which attracts leftists. Hence all the communism memes. Leftists heavily overlap with vegans. Hence, there are a disproportionate amount of vegans on Lemmy, ready and willing to spread anti-meat talking points at any given moment. This is all quite straightforward.