Recent comments

flabberghaster wrote

Reply to A cookie for allies by twovests

I always got the vibe that the scorn was for people who were doing it just to look good but didn't actually care or were fairweather friends. Like, if you're an ally you should be doing it because it's right, not going around bragging about how good you are to those poor, benighted trans people.

On the other hand sometimes people take it a bit far and are dismissive like you say, which I can get, i understand it, I don't think anyone should be too broken up about it. But it does suck to feel like you're trying to do the right thing for someone even though they seem not to really like you very much.

It's complicated I think. It's good to express appreciation for people being with you, but at the same time you don't want to feel like someone is lording something over you.

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toasthaste wrote

Reply to A cookie for allies by twovests

I do think the borderline scorn toward allies, in addition to just like kinda sucking, was a horrible tactical move that set things back pretty badly (and like tbc I was totally on that bandwagon back in the day, I am not immune to social trends).

I think there's been a lot of nuance lost in the sense of like.... "It is not anyone's personal responsibility to praise an ally for being an ally" is true, but that is NOT the same thing as "allies should perpetually be on thin ice and shouldn't get praise for anything short of heroism and if they want to feel good about doing small good things that's proof that deep down they suck actually"

To the extent that anyone "deserves" anything, people deserve praise for doing positive things whether that's doing the dishes or deciding to stick up for marginalized people whose circumstances they might not viscerally understand. We are all just silly little monkeys made of meat and positive feedback has really consistent effects on our little monkey brains! That tiny little tickle of reward for doing the bare minimum makes people want to do the bare minimum more, and makes it easier/more appealing to take bigger steps past that bare minimum!

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devtesla wrote

Reply to I just really think the whole tech industry is going to implode soon by flabberghaster

The boom-bust cycle of tech is well known, and the AI one we're going through is one of the most clearly prepared for I've ever seen. Microsoft in particular is set to cash out once the bust goes through, the terms of their investment in OpenAI is such that when they bust they essentially get the whole company with no fuss. Meta is the only company that seems to be hugely exposed to failure once the bust happens (massive investment but little to show for it, the rest of their company is hurting very badly) but they're the only company I can see actually being hurt. And I'd be surprised if they actually disappear, I'm sad to say.

The only thing that could actually hurt these companies is if Chinese technology is allowed to flow freely into the US, and the government is going to step in before that happens. This will fuck over everyone but major tech companies.

I will always wish for consequences, but I'm not expecting them this time.

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hollyhoppet wrote

Reply to I just really think the whole tech industry is going to implode soon by flabberghaster

for what it's worth, early covid and about three years years after the start covid were kind of minor collapses, at least for some subsections of the industry

i've also started to think maybe one of the things that prevents actual collapse is the yearly mass layoffs. the financial distress of what would be a collapse is instead passed onto laborers, so we're basically having a collapse every year while businesses cruise above that with great end-of-fiscal-year numbers since they cut so much staff.

which... sucks. a big whole lot lmao

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underscores wrote

Reply to I just really think the whole tech industry is going to implode soon by flabberghaster

I'm not sure when it'll collapse, but it's definitely a giant bubble. Between the LLMs, the massive enshitification the last couple years with almost every company trying to squeeze their users and business partners at the same time, and now most of their leaders openly aligning with fascists, it's gotten really bad really fast. The fact that OpenAI said they were loosing money on their $200/month plan shows they have no clue what they're doing, and are probably just hoping it improves into AGI so they can have automated slavery.

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cowloom OP wrote (edited )

Reply to comment by rain in If you STILL aren't organizing, then you're part of the problem. by cowloom

I addressed some of these points in my reply to twovests, but I wanted to address mutual aid here. I don't know what kind of mutual aid work you're doing, so if it's not what I'm about to describe, feel free to ignore this comment. But a lot of "mutual aid" that I've seen is usually something like giving out free groceries/supplies to hungry people, along with zines. And while it's a good thing to give hungry people food, ultimately it's just charity work, not a genuinely revolutionary activity. There's a really good video that talks about the difference between "red charity" work and organizing. My organization was stuck in the red charity trap for a while, and I tried talking to them about how we weren't actually building towards anything (including showing them the above video), but it took them a while to understand. Once they pivoted to tenant organizing, then they saw the difference between treating the symptoms of capitalism and attacking the disease itself, and they wrote a self criticism of their previous "mutual aid" work.

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cowloom OP wrote

Reply to comment by twovests in If you STILL aren't organizing, then you're part of the problem. by cowloom

I appreciate your response; it seems like there were a couple of misunderstandings here that I want to clear up. I wasn't trying to say people should throw away their hobbies, far from it! Having a way to unwind and relax is healthy and needed. What I meant to say was organizing is more important than doing hobbies; so if a progressive person is spending 100% of their free time doing hobbies and 0% of it organizing, that is what I am saying is a problem. Because nothing will change if they keep hoping someone else will do the work. This post is aimed at those types.

The thing is, we can't be in every fight. You have to be in some fight, but you can't do anything if you try to be in every fight.

I agree with this, too; you can't solve all the world's problems at once. Since the post was aimed at people who aren't doing any organizing, I simply chose one example from the many problems we are facing right now, to illustrate that their "thoughts and prayers" are not materially helping. It was meant to spur them to action. I think it's very good that you are already helping out with several struggles, so don't push yourself too hard and burn out. Since you are doing what you're supposed to, the message wasn't directed at you.

If you said, "Look up your local tenants union" or "Get a pistol permit" or "Take a first aid class" or "Put money toward mutual aid rather than toward video games", then that might be something.

I mean I did say to join their local communist party (and if they're worth their salt, they will probably be doing something like tenant organizing), but I get what you're saying. Talking about what kind of organizing is the right thing to do is a whole other essay though, and I wanted to keep the message of this one simple. I guess I could've linked to this at the end, which does give some actionable first steps.

I also want to say, as far as peaceful protests go, I don't think they accomplish the goal most people think they do (i.e. persuading the government to change its mind on a certain issue). Because as long as it is peaceful, the government can simply ignore your demands. That's not to say they are completely useless, though, as they do bring together like-minded people. So they can be useful as a recruiting tool for an organization.

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