this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2024

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Wall Street is to blame, why are we suffering? (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Ok, so obviously no one here has done anything to make this world what it is. Wall Street, corporations, and racist social structures are why the world is how it is, and that is just the truth.

I don't understand why I should feel bad about anything when obviously all of these rich assholes and structures of oppression exist. I didn't make them.

Until the corporations and wealthy people change, why should I feel guilty or bad about things. This literally isn't my fault, they did this, so I just feel like I should be able to live my life and not have to worry about all this. Why can't I?

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The corporations and wealthy people won't change by themselves, only large groups of people can overthrow these types of centralized power systems.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago

Who's saying you should feel guilty about what specifically?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

so I just feel like I should be able to live my life and not have to worry about all this. Why can’t I?

Are you seeking permission or explanation?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This question is very expansive, so it's hard to say exactly why you feel what you do. Instead, let's analyze the structure of modern society from a proletarian perspective. The people in power are placed there through an oligarchy-controlled democratic system, i.e. the democratically elected individuals are undemocratically selected by people that control the means of production to run the show, so all elected members in both established parties in the political class are chosen to be beneficial to the ones with money. The liberal right party (republicans) are increasingly beholden to merging the political class and the economic class together, i.e. fascism.

The other party is torn between liberal progressivism and don't want to cede too much power to corporations, though they still believe that free market capitalism is the most efficient method of distributing resources so they still cede substantial power to an unelected oligarchy. The positive aspect is that this liberal left is dogshit at messaging and pretty much everything else that would give them an advantage. This presents a solution actually. Through external pressure and internal realignment, the liberal left can be pushed into a progressive left position due to the hands-off nature of the oligarchy.

You should feel bad about the current politico-economic system because it's inherently cruel. But that human touch also pushes progress forward and encouges sympathetic progressive individuals to get active, realigning the liberal left into a progressive left. We also need to know about the right time to take action, which is why we need to stay informed.

It's tiring, seeing everything in the world happening, and knowing that we as individuals can't do much. But we can still do something, and when the time is right we can be massively influential. Don't lose hope, and don't forget that we always need to push for a more just society.

[+] [email protected] -12 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I thought progress was a myth that killed the Indians?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It depends on the type of progress we're talking about. I'm talking about political progress, i.e. leftism, socialism, etc. The "progress" of the native American genocide was an inherently right wing, genocidal ideology with the belief that colonial settlers were given the supreme right to control all the land between both oceans. Real progress would be creating a landback framework for native Americans in a true 2 state solution that gives total autonomy to tribes.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

What wing is the policy where you live on and benefit from occupied Indigenous lands that the "right wing, genocidal policy" gave you, and then you talk about a two-state solution, like Europeans twice descended are somehow now Israelites that were lost in the desert but now understand themselves as deserving of equal national consideration because they checks notes made a nation-state 250 years ago amongst tribal nations that well predate the United States. What "wing" is that?

It's so progressive that you think the Peoples the land was stolen from should get to have some of it back based on how you decide it. Tell me more about this "Progress." It sounds fascinating.

All of Marx's "insights" for how he thought things could be were anthropological descriptions of extant Indigenous political and social structures. He published them as "discoveries." Fun!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I believe it's the wing that acknowledges that any temporary or permanent governmental structure that tries to give all US land back to the Indigenous tribes would probably be beheaded before the ink on the paper could dry, and that much like guns some cats can't be put back in the bag. I think the point of a two state solution would be to return as much land as possible without getting overthrown yourself and allowing these Indigenous peoples to have sovereignty and self-determination, the likes of which they were promised and never got to fully realize. Whether or not they trust that is a different matter, and an equally important one. A true solution would require complete integration of these native peoples into the decision making process to create an equitable solution for everyone where we could hopefully begin to move forward and start the multi-century, multi-generational healing process for these disenfranchised communities. We can't undo the mistakes of the past and we can't instantly remediate things in the present, so we hope to build a better, more equitable and egalitarian future that benefits everyone and does not require sacrifices to our necessities in the name of capitalism.

And I agree that many leftist political and social ideologies resemble many indigenous and aboriginal political and social structures, however in a very different (but still uncannily similar) context. I cannot comment on how much of these writings and ideologies were directly stolen from indigenous or aboriginal peoples, nor what the impact of that is as I am not well-enough versed in every aspect of this. However what I will say is that if we do not take action soon, then our opportunities to prevent further irreversible harm and damage will dwindle.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I guess it's a mixture of a lot of things.

First of all, there's simply a lot of propaganda. It's difficult to see the truth when you're bombarded with propaganda all the time.

Secondly, it takes a lot of patience to figure out the right thing to do. Lots of people today simply don't have that patience.

Then there is a lot of environmental problems.

It all adds up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Secondly, it takes a lot of patience to figure out the right thing to do.

Seems pretty simple to me. Align yourself against the oppressors.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

I don't think anyone's saying that you're to blame. It's just that you might be persuaded to help clean up this mess.

[+] [email protected] -12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Ok, so obviously no one here has done anything

But of course you have.

to make this world what it is. Wall Street, corporations, and racist social structures are why the world is how it is,

You are the society. You have chosen who owns you.

You have voted for the ones who made the rules. You have taken all their baits to make them even more powerful.

You have decided (and still do it every day) to use Big Tech's tech and make them rich. You are paying all their fees and rents daily to make them even richer.

obviously no one here has done anything

And of course you can still decide to stay in The Matrix, because it's comfy here :-)

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

No I agree with the OP.

I don't accept responsibility for this world. You say we can vote, but that's meaningless when all candidates are picked by the establishment, and when they are powerless to change the world.

You also can't say we are choosing to use big tech, since they own everything. It's not a real choice to not use them. You can't have a car or a phone or a computer without supporting big tech. Living in the stone age means you have no voice, so that's not a solution.

The game is rigged. People growing up today have no choice. It's not their fault. In my opinion.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's not a real choice to not use them.

It's not one big choice but many smaller choices.

Some of them are harder than others, and I fully agree that some of them may even seem impossible for some reason or other.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Well I think it's more about the game being rigged.

If you don't give the population meaningful choices to affect our daily lives, it's all pointless to try and do something.

It's not that the choices are hard, it's that they have no real meaning for the world. You can choose to not have a car, which makes your life difficult. And it's also pointless because corporation transports pollute the air every day a billion times more than private cars do.

If the world wanted to have a clean environment, all they need to do is put extreamly expensive fines on all of that. But they don't, since money is what matters, not clean air.