Isn't Amazon's fear of running out of people a sign of the market correcting this?
Do you seriously and honestly believe that the market will by itself create better conditions for workers?
Jeff Bezos’ Dystopian Legacy Goes Far Beyond Amazon
271–277 of 277 posts
Re: Jeff Bezos’ Dystopian Legacy Goes Far Beyond Amazon
#272Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is the whole point of the state: that it is permitted to conduct violence for its preservation. In republics/representative democracies, the people endow the state with this power via elections. It's not a utopia, but at the end of the day the ownership of the state remains with the people, that is, a collective of individually thinking voting persons. This is in utter contrast to the monarchies and despotisms t…
> the ownership of the state remains with the people (...) in utter contrast to the monarchies and despotisms Let me strongly disagree here. Modern republics like France/USA were explicitly built against democratic ideals which were seen as dangerous "rule of the mob". Also, the executive branch has so much power that it is in fact a monarchic republic where the people at the top are entirely unaccountable both to th…
You are correct that the republic is designed to balance against a tyranny of the majority and for good reason: the rights of minority factions are threatened in such a state.
>The executive branch has so much power that it is in fact a monarchic republic
That is not true. The executive does not hold power for life, rule is not hereditary. Also, the executive branch is not a republic. What would that even mean? The executive branch is more like a dictatorship within government that is held accountable by congress, the judiciary, and the people. And the executive is ultimately held accountable by the people via the election of representatives.
To your point that democratic republics fight popular movements such as the protesting of slavery, every state has the capability to do bad. This is not surprising in the least. This is about as surprising as saying ‘humans are capable of doing bad’. The good news to my mind is that the democratic republic is the least bad option and has performed fairly well over time in response to changing social mores.
Re: Jeff Bezos’ Dystopian Legacy Goes Far Beyond Amazon
#273Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not if the alternative to working for Amazon is, well, death by starvation. People say communism falls apart once subjects stop having reasonably similar goals. Market economy is certainly more resistant to this, but is it infinitely more resistant? How far can we push inequality before that becomes an issue? Edit: That was meant as a response to the parent comment.
A radical thought: If i have the alternative to work for an dystopian megacorp or starve to death... why then not choose the third option: Go to jail while causing as much damage as possible? (Disclaimer: Only a philosophical thought)
Because your actions will then give mega corps and the governments they control a reason to reduce your freedom even more.
Re: Jeff Bezos’ Dystopian Legacy Goes Far Beyond Amazon
#274If you consider America to be a corporatocracy, it’s hard not to consider it to be an authoritarian state at this point. The company I work at recently had everyone install some advanced monitoring software on every company’s laptop. Being fully remote, this effectively gives root access to someone in my home 8 hours a day. Sure, it’s a “company laptop” and all of that, but something feels extremely invasive about it…
I think there is a great business opportunity there: software that fool surveillance software.
Re: Jeff Bezos’ Dystopian Legacy Goes Far Beyond Amazon
#275Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I find that most propaganda comes from unions as they increasingly seek a political relationship with workers rather than the economic relationship that workers want. This is probably the purest, and most direct example of the insane propaganda trying to separate economics and politics as if they weren’t inherently and inseparably tied together. “Oh, I’m so sorry that we can’t spend money on health care, or pay a l…
No.
No, you!
Re: Jeff Bezos’ Dystopian Legacy Goes Far Beyond Amazon
#276Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So how many large scale experiments with communism have we had during the last 100 years To my knowledge, only a handful. Workers self-organization in Catalonia during the Spanish revolution (1936-1937) is one, Community-oriented democracy in Chiapas (since 1994) and Rojava (since 2011) is another. The other examples you think of (unless i'm mistaken) are precisely dictatorships of the proletariat that have nothing…
> What is? Do you think free food, free housing, free education and free healthcare is too much? Do you think power to the people (not parliaments) is too much? What about libertarian communism (anarchism) disgusts you? Haha, no comment..
Because no argmuent?
Re: Jeff Bezos’ Dystopian Legacy Goes Far Beyond Amazon
#277Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What is? Do you think free food, free housing, free education and free healthcare is too much? Do you think power to the people (not parliaments) is too much? What about libertarian communism (anarchism) disgusts you? Haha, no comment..
Because no argmuent?
Because it’s stupid to respond to someone that assumes the conclusion.
There is no such thing as “free food, free healthcare, and free education” until we have robots that literally do all of those things for us without us needing to work. Speaking like communism provides free things without discussing the real cost of that (forced labor, poor quality, etc) is like pitching a religion touting the benefits of heaven. Big shocker when nobody cares to engage in an argument.