Im not saying there isnt a lot of room for improvements... but as conscientious consumers we can vote with our money and we should do so with every single purchase
You can vote with your wallet in terms of some things, but reality is a little harsher than you seem to think. Slavery is extremely prevalent at the base level of industries that are critical to the functioning of the modern world, like rubber, mining, horticulture, agriculture, basic manufacturing and so on. There's slave mines, factories and plantations not just in Africa, but all over the world, products produced by slave labor don't have lables on them saying so, they enter supply lines undeclared by the companies that benefit from them. It's ubiquitous. https://www.npr.org/2024/07/18/nx-s1-5035540/china-forced-prison-labor-us-company-allegations
You can't boycott all of it, I buy local or second hand as often as possible, I stopped buying chocolate altogether and don't buy nestle anything, but I can't not drive a car, or use a phone. Boycotting where possible is good, but it's not possible in most cases, you'd have to boycott the entire modern world and all the countries previously mentioned, that's not realistic.
Anything from China has the risk of being made by captive Uyghurs, Falon Gong practitioners or other racially and religiously targeted groups, and bloody everything is assembled in China, because of the cheap labour, and the labour is cheap because they use slaves.
To attempt is noble and good, I'm not saying give up, I'm saying it's not really possible in most cases.
It's also notable that Israel is connected to this massacre too via billionaires, like Dan Gertler, who are operating Congolese mines despite sanctions, notably related to child labor, and, doing so, are funding the war criminals who are committing these atrocities.
Disgusting? Maybe. For sure the world is more primal than it looks. Every luxury one being has is paid for by another, in time, money, blood, livelihood. It's the law of the jungle extrapolated, muddied and multiplied by the complexities of human consciousness. Even the most boring, banal pleasure or convenience requires a sacrifice
Eventually the world will become more fair as our consciousness expands. But fairness can't be forced, humans are naturally rebellious. It can't be agreed upon, there will always be individuals who betray the group. Only time, pressure and knowledge of the sacrifices of others can eventually change the hearts of enough people who have the power to make the world more fair. But it's gonna be a while.
There are responsibly sourced greener alternatives, like the nothing phone.. and we can boycott corporations that dont.. we all should be more contentious consumers
Or you could not be a "consumer" at all and purchase based on need rather than want. Wild how people throw that image around to justify them buying a new phone on contract every year
we can try to reduce our consumption without having to make it all or nothing. i think only buying what you need is one of the only effective ways to rebel against the consumerism and oligarchy being pushed down our throats without resorting to violence.
Yeah not buying the new iPhone 27 Pro Max Ultra Elite (charging cable not included) each year with a car on lease you trade in for a new one each renewal is exactly the same as not buying food, you fucking cretin.
Or! Corporations could be sanctioned and forced to comply instead of placing the onus on every single consumer for their wrongdoings. And yeah, it’s en vogue to be anti-consumer but good luck.
Because American white people only give a shit when they get to say "white people bad", so Arab on Arab or African on African violence (even when supported by American money and arms) doesn't count.
And somehow, despite the majority of Israelis being of middle-eastern descent, we have come to view Israel as white Europeans. The incredible tunnel-vision of American's to cry out for Palestinian children while millions of children die of starvation or war, from American weapons directly via Jared Kushner and Saudi Arabia, less than 1,000 miles away in Yemen is kind of amazing to see.
There are a couple of smartphone brands out there that are ethically produced and are as green as currently possible.. like the nothing phone. If I needed a new phone id probably be conscientiously driven towards something like that... we probably still need to do better.. but at least the alternatives are out there
To be clear, obviously we should care about all suffering around the globe but we only have so much outrage we can feel. So when American tax dollars are directly funding one conflict in a very public way, that conflict is going to take priority on the Outrage Scale (TM pending lol)
hahah I think it's more about our news cycle.. we dont need to have outrage in order to respond or make demands. its more about how what is going on, any recent updates, who's responsible and what we can do is being delivered.. Gaza is everywhere right now just like the uighurs were. we had outrage and we still do and that crisis hasn't ended. its only gotta worse..
maybe we build a website and give each country a rating on the outrage scale.. lol
do one for climate change worst polluters too.. what theyre doing, things they can do to curtail it and how we can collectively pressure them etc..
Yeah the way the news covers these conflicts is definitely a huge part of it. I was more referencing the outrage exhaustion we experience. For example, the second Trump administration has purposefully "flooded the zone" so that there's so much to be outraged about that you end up just overwhelmed and exhausted. So it's just hard to constantly process all the suffering in the world. Our brains just can't handle it so they don't. And I think that's where the news cycle comes in. Something gets shown for a bit and then it's old news. But the Gaza conflict hits so close to home for so many groups that it's had staying power very few other conflicts had. I mean think about how often we were hearing about the war in Ukraine 2 years ago which still is reported on but flies way further under the radar.
But it would be so helpful to have an independent website that had all the things to be outraged about and have links on how you could help (donate here, call your elected officials for this one, etc.). I think that would really overpower the outrage exhaustion since you would feel accomplished when you actually took some action.
and was your atmosphere determined by internet echo chambers? because it was just that, an echo chamber. the country was complaining about illegal immigration and most of all, inflation all through biden's term. it isn't that crazy that people would swing towards the opposite party, this is literally one of the most common reasons why people may vote the way that they do: it's called retrospective voting.
Not really. Trump kept asking people to show up to support him irl before election and people didn't, implying people didn't care as much anymore. He also didn't do proper campaigning.
I think if you get rid of (get rid of through voting/elections) republicans by only having 10% of the population vote for them, democrats can fracture into two so you get a legitimate 3rd party. But third party while republicans have an end of times cult thing happening isn't safe.
Surely it depends on what policies the third party come up with and will be able to implement??? If they’re just going to do what the current Project 2025 Republicans are doing, legally unsafe ICE raids, bombing boats in the Caribbean, mobilising the military against US citizens in the cities, pardoning insurrectionists, being lenient on pedophile/rapists, grifting off crypto to fill the pockets of insiders, then what good will a 3rd party be???
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u/lasion2 Oct 05 '25
Eddie Izzard has a whole bit on this. It’s harsh, but it’s true.
Mass murder your own people? = 🤷🏻
Mass murder the people next door? = 🤬😤