this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024
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Giving money to Amazon, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Google .etc

It's like, you can't have an argument for price gouging, when you're enabling them by spending. If people were smart, they'd stop giving them money 10 - 15 years ago and they'd be right now, trying to reconstruct so they can be more economically friendly than how they are now.

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[–] sit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Stop generalising groups of people.

I cannot think of a proper example rn, but I see this everywhere.

meme example

group a does x

also group a: says something contradicting x

This happens across the board, not only in political topics.

[–] rando895@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 3 hours ago

They'd stop believing people are stupid, especially those they disagree with, and realize that their differences are mostly made up by the ruling class to keep them in line.

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

A person is smart. People, not so much.

[–] goog70@lemmy.today 1 points 2 hours ago

they would stop wasting their money

[–] Mr_Blott@feddit.uk 4 points 8 hours ago

You're not getting cashback on your credit cards yous daft cunts πŸ˜‚ You're paying it in advance

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 7 points 12 hours ago (1 children)
[–] lps@social.trom.tf 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

@yogthos @NeoToasty 🀣 almost got it....just a bit farther;)

[–] Mesa@programming.dev 7 points 14 hours ago

Thinking that they have the "one simple trick" for everything when most matters are actually a complex network of issues where there isn't one answer.

[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Stop driving (pollution, deaths, cost of living etc) and remodel cities and town around PT and AT , restricted gun ownership

[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

How do people living with no PT or AT options stop driving?

Also, the working masses must remain armed to prevent even further class slavery.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I've joined three different unions and the only guns I've used were loaned to me by a representative of my country for a short period decades ago.

[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 0 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Okay I still can't go anywhere without a car tho

[–] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

OP mentioned remodeling cities around public transport, I think that also goes for more rural areas. There's a solution for every scale : metro, bus, train, shuttle, etc.

[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 1 points 1 hour ago

I agree there are solutions, I have lived in places with great options. But getting things changed here is very slow and for now you still can't walk or bike, and there are no buses or trains.

Stop. Electing. Fraudsters.

Especially when the fraudster is a convicted felon.

That we haven't learned more from history and keep making the same mistakes over and over.

[–] Vanth@reddthat.com 40 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

I'm doing better now, but 15 years ago Walmart was the only option I had for food. Local/regional grocery stores were more expensive and I was living paycheck to paycheck with growing debt.

"If people were smart they would stop buying the most cost-efficient option" is really not feasible.

"If people were smart" they would read and stop putting oligarchs in power.

[–] comfy@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

β€œIf people were smart they would stop buying the most cost-efficient option” is really not feasible.

In fact, more and more people don't have the luxury of buying more expensive options.

Of course, stealing is an option, and I think 'If people were smart' they would accept that stealing from Walmart is not an ethical or pragmatic problem, but it's a risky behavior so I wouldn't criticize people for not stealing. [edit: see Fubarberry's reply]

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 11 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Stealing from walmart also isn't sustainable if many people are doing it. For example there were a ton of walmarts and other stores in the Chicago area that recently closed due to high theft at those locations. Now whole communities there are left without convenient shopping options, which can be a big problem for people with limited transportation options.

[–] Didros@beehaw.org 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That Walmart CLAIMED were closed for high theft.

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

You can look up videos of some of the stores that were closed, they were basically being straight up looted.

I remember seeing the videos, and thinking to myself how I didn't understand how they could afford to stay in business like that. So when they announced they were closing those stores for theft, I didn't really think the given reason was ever in doubt.

[–] Didros@beehaw.org 7 points 1 day ago

"β€œThe decision to close a store is never easy,” company officials said in a statement. β€œThe simplest explanation is that collectively our Chicago stores have not been profitable since we opened the first one nearly 17 years ago.”

The stores lose tens of millions of dollars a year, according to the company, a figure that nearly doubled in the last five years despite numerous strategies to boost performance, including building smaller stores, offering local products and building a Walmart Academy training center."

https://news.wttw.com/2023/04/12/walmart-closing-4-chicago-stores-company-says-losses-have-doubled-last-5-years

Doesn't sound like theft was ever the problem here according to them?

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[–] MrSebSin@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

They would understand that socialism is not communism. Also you can have capitalism and socialism at the same time, you just have to give and take a little.

[–] comfy@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 hours ago

They would understand that socialism is not communism.

Socialism has so many definitions that this can be subjectively true or false. This isn't even some trivial gotcha, the terms were used interchangeably even by significant writers of the 1800s. For another example, a socialist mode of production and a capitalist mode of production are contradictory.

If one wants to make these kind of broad claims without starting pointless arguments, they'll need to use a more specific term than 'socialism'.

[–] AntiOutsideAktion@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

You're wrong about literally all of that.

[–] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 0 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

If you want your contribution to have any weight at all, you'll elaborate. As it is, it is just worth dismissing

[–] comfy@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

As it is, it is just worth dismissing

If we dismiss dismissals, this will go on looping forever. The person they replied to did not elaborate on some very dubious claims, and as is, are just worth dismissing.

[–] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 1 points 3 hours ago

I dismiss your answer !

[–] emmie@lemmy.ml 0 points 5 hours ago

Op probably thinks socialism == Scandinavian welfare states. Most online USA midwits don’t know the difference

[–] And009@reddthat.com 0 points 5 hours ago

Do you identify as an American per chance?

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 22 points 1 day ago

Ignoring the fact that alternative voting systems exist and there can be more then two political parties.

[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 1 day ago

Voting for fascists/not voting

[–] finderscult@lemmy.ml 22 points 1 day ago (8 children)

They'd stop doing capitalism. Entirely. If people in the US were smart, they would have been the vanguard of the communist revolution in the late 1800s when Marxist ideas were starting to spread in the us.

[–] emmie@lemmy.ml 0 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Marxism is critically flawed about surplus value and definitions of egalitarianism unfortunately so while it all sounds nice on paper it never worked in practice

[–] Kache@lemm.ee 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That depends, people can be smart but malicious, non-coorperative, or selfish.

The prisoner's dilemma shows that there are systems where individually, the "smart" individual thing to do is globally non-optimal.

Even smartness and altruism alone isn't enough. Medical professionals are smart and out to help others, but any ER doc/nurse will tell you they have limited trust in their patients (rightly so in the real world).

Does "everyone is smart" also include both "altruism and cooperative trust in others"?

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[–] Nomecks@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago

Drinking alcohol. Lots of people drink way too much and make life ruining decisions.

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 day ago

Thinking that "being smart" means shit. We need to realize that the people who run things aren't necessarily smart. Presidents aren't necessarily smart. Professors aren't necessarily smart.

And being smart doesn't mean you're good. Evil smart is a nightmare, because destroying is so much easier than building.

What would we do if we were good? Now that's a question.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Processed food and high sugar diets are killing us.

These foods are addictive, and ubiquitous. A well informed and smart american would still have a problem switching over to whole food only. (Where the ingredient label only says one thing).

[–] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] jet@hackertalks.com 2 points 1 day ago

I respectfully disagree, but in glad you have a diet that works for you

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 14 points 1 day ago (4 children)

The obvious answer is fossil fuels, right? Few people want to cook the climate, they just can't quite fathom something that abstract and slow-moving, so they do it anyway.

Less obviously, feeding all our most sensitive data to random websites and apps. Again, the threat just doesn't look enough like a sabre-tooth tiger.

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