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[-] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago

Well it's really not that simple. I assume you're referring to things like climate change and privacy concerns and general de-evolution of government.

Just to boil down a very complex subject into a lazy comment:

Let's take climate change for instance. Do corporations and government do almost nothing to curb climate change? Yes. Do they actively lie to people about climate change? Yes.

Does the public still know that climate change is a real thing? At least some of them.

Do a ridiculous proportion of people still buy gas-guzzling SUVs and plastic water bottles and use plastic bags at the grocery store unnecessarily? Yes.

Do some people have full access to the information to educate themselves very quickly on the science, and yet choose to ignore that and instead actually actively promote what they want to believe instead? Absolutely

The reality is that "blame" is seldom simple and we all carry some amount of responsibility.

Personally I view this as a sliding scale. And while I do take personal responsibility in driving an efficient vehicle and refusing plastic bags and bottles (even though people look at me like some kind of crazy hippie and mock me accordingly), I also refuse to live in a yurt in the forest. When more people move down the scale toward me, it will make it easier for me to move even further down the scale.

[-] greenskye@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago

Do a ridiculous proportion of people still buy gas-guzzling SUVs and plastic water bottles and use plastic bags at the grocery store unnecessarily? Yes

It's not that this doesn't matter, it does. But almost every time it's mentioned is alongside industrial climate impacts as if they were at all in a similar scale.

They aren't even close. People doing the 'well actually' thing for individual climate impacts are inadvertently being patsies for corporations to continue to deflect scrutiny away from the absolutely ridiculous levels of climate impacts they have. And while consumers are trying to move to metal straws, corporations have basically not even started trying to address low hanging fruit ways to mitigate climate change, let alone anything slightly tricky.

[-] Querk@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, but expecting corporations to do it on their own is silly. They operate in a competitive environment so game theory should tell us what's going to usually happen. The laws and regulations exist, and a lot more are needed, but it's also not as simple because costs of enforcement also range from inexpensive to infeasible. In the end, it's people making self-interested decisions, whether on behalf of themselves or on behalf of corporations. I don't know of any easy solutions - my feeling is that those don't exist - so the best bet is to steer society towards better and more effective politics. More distributed and less concentrated power structures, checks and balances, enforcement, novel, effective, and efficient systems through science based analysis, as well as lots of trials and errors and fast iterative improvements based on rapid feedback loops. In short, the world nowadays moves faster than the current government systems and it's a losing battle until governing adaptability can increase in speed.

[-] dx1@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

What is the "'well actually' thing"? Claiming to correct something that's wrong? Is that not allowed?

[-] blazeknave@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

I get your point and it's fair. Only those with the power to shift opinion can be held responsible in 2023. The consolidation of power and bullhorn should not be taken for granted. People are just people. Trillions are spent into making their decisions for them. You missed the forest for the trees in OPs sentiment imho.

[-] HughJanus@lemmy.ml -3 points 1 year ago

Only those with the power to shift opinion can be held responsible in 2023

We all have that power.

You missed the forest for the trees in OPs sentiment imho.

I didn't miss anything, I just disagree.

[-] blazeknave@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

You do NOT have the power to change minds that e.g. a Koch brother has. That's not an opinion.

[-] over_clox@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Sorry to say, but many can barely afford rent and the bills, let alone even imagine trying to go out of their way to fix the climate.

Buy an electric car you say? Hell, can't even afford a new tire for the old car to get to work, you gotta be out of your mind to think poor people can afford to buy a new EV because fOSsiL FUeL bAd...

Yes, clearly fossil fuel is bad, but how you expect the vast number of people living week to week and can barely afford new shoes to buy an EV?

It's not a choice to live in poverty when the billionaires literally milk most of the population of every penny they can get away with while not even paying their employees a fair living wage.

[-] HughJanus@lemmy.ml -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sorry to say, but many can barely afford rent and the bills, let alone even imagine trying to go out of their way to fix the climate.

There are many things you can do to "fix the climate" while not spending more money. Often times it even costs less money.

Buy an electric car you say?

No I did not say. But you could buy something that's NOT unnecessarily large and inefficient, and it would SAVE you money, but many poor people still seem to find money for gas guzzling trucks and SUVs.

You could also ride a bike or ebikes or any number of new e-mobility solutions, or even use the 2 feet you were born with (depending on your exact circumstances).

this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
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