this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
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[–] Infynis@midwest.social 90 points 2 years ago (6 children)

I think the implication of the last panel is supposed to be that the apple seller can't stop everyone, but if this was really an accurate satire, he'd chop down every tree, sue everyone that picked the apples, and then go back to selling his giant flavorless GMO apples for $5 a piece

[–] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 36 points 2 years ago (2 children)

The hell of it is, some people would still be happy to buy his apples. Look, I ain't got time or health insurance to be fucking around climbing an apple tree, here's some cash, apples pls. But that's not good enough for the investors, who want guaranteed 5% growth every quarter, so now we've got to pour kerosene on the extra apples and force people to go hungry.

[–] qyron@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You've read The Vines of Wrath.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It's The Grapes of Being A Bit Miffed actually

[–] VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf 7 points 2 years ago

Much better than the sequel, The Apricots of Annoyance.

The porn Adaptation, Plums of Pleasure, is a banger though, pun intended.

[–] Sotuanduso@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Fun fact: A stable company may appear to be growing by ~3% a year if you don't account for inflation.

I guess that's a silver lining because then investors don't see a stable company as stagnating.

[–] AtmaJnana@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Congratulations, you just discovered nominal value.

Are you really trying to put forth the incredibly naive proposition that the stock market is not aware of inflation?

[–] Sotuanduso@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago

I... guess so?

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

the apple seller can’t stop everyone

I bet the Once-ler wouldn't have that attitude.

[–] Assman@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago

MFer needs a super-axe-hacker. Then he could whack down four apple trees in one smacker.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Originally I thought the joke was that after chopping down the one tree, eventually he had a shitload of trees grow (from the fallen apples), but guess not.

[–] modifier@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 years ago

but if this was really an accurate satire, he'd chop down every tree, sue everyone that picked the apples, and then go back to selling his giant flavorless GMO apples for $5 a piece

Only if he couldn't figure out a way to rent apples to customers.

[–] Bipta@kbin.social -1 points 2 years ago

Yeah, I see this comic and find myself wishing we lived in such a world.

[–] Vincent@feddit.nl 30 points 2 years ago (6 children)

I feel like this is a metaphor, I'm just not sure for what yet.

[–] discusseded@programming.dev 19 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] Vincent@feddit.nl 1 points 2 years ago

What's the bottled-water equivalent of chopping down a single apple tree in a forest of apple trees though?

[–] UsernameIsTooLon@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago

The apples represent feet pics. It's a tough market so the businessman only wants his feet pics to be sold in a sea of feet pics on the internet.

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[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 16 points 2 years ago

Selling digital goods in a nutshell, when things are infinitely reproducible, you'll never run out of trees.

[–] Twinklebreeze@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

This comic makes so little sense it's underflowed back to funny for me.

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

Hell yeah, this is the free gifts of nature in a nutshell.

[...] the “free gift of Nature to capital.” Capitalist exploitation and accumulation, as Marx explains, ultimately depend on capital’s usurping of nature’s gifts for itself, thereby monopolizing the means of production and wealth in its entirety

Probably better sources, but this is the first best one I found.

[–] Lev_Astov@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

So... farming is a free gift from nature?

[–] ZOSTED@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago

Close. Farming is labour, which is what gives economic value to the free gifts. The capitalists skim excess value from this process in the form of wage theft and other fuckery.

I'm simplifying, but yeah.

[–] feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

No, natural capital is - soil particularly.

[–] ZOSTED@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

This person is correct. Land and the natural process of nature are free gifts.

[–] MadBob@feddit.nl 6 points 2 years ago

I suppose he was already grumpy because he was the only one who'd forgot about Dress Like Homer Simpson Or Peter Griffin Day at the orchard.

[–] rivvvver@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works -5 points 2 years ago (3 children)

And how many bottles of water did you buy this week?

[–] rivvvver@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 years ago

im lucky enough to have potable tap water, so none

[–] callyral@pawb.social 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

None. I just buy a big (>500ml) durable non-plastic water bottle once and use it until it stops being breaks or something. Why don't more people do this (genuine question, wondering if there are actual reasons)?

[–] stom@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Actual reasons such as not having easy, free access to safe water refills? That's the case for a lot of people.

[–] callyral@pawb.social 2 points 2 years ago

Perfectly reasonable to buy plastic water bottles in that situation. I hadn't thought of that.

[–] csm10495@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

My experience is that apple trees aren't that thick.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 years ago

Your apple mom is though, heyoo

[–] snugglebutt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

She sells sea shells down by the sea shore

[–] Robust_Mirror@aussie.zone 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

But the value of these shells will fall

[–] 100_percent_a_bot@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

I'm not 14 years old enough to get this

[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The main question around this comic that makes it hard for me to derive a message is, who planted/cared for/owns the apple trees?

I’m reminded of a speech from Gus in Better Call Saul, where technically a tree from his homeland was wild, but he was the one that made the effort to water and care for it before a critter started stealing from it.

[–] Zehzin@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I wouldn't follow ethics in business advice from a meth dealer explaining why he killed a wild animal.