Is it just me or is society just about endlessly building more elaborate piles of shit on top of the existing piles of shit? Is anybody even happy within this miserable reduction and confinement of human existence into a pointless system of largely arbitrary "norms" and expectations for the sake of alleged progress and growth, which is mostly solely quantified by what constitutes "economic" growth and doesn't even necessarily result in a better / happier life for anyone (often just the opposite)
Literally none of the "goals" of a "normal" person within this society are things that I at all want or would in any way make me happy
I would so much rather live in a world where there is never another new shitty iPhone or needlessly faster internet connection developed ever again, but every living person has clean, safe water to drink
I am never sure who counts as "normal". Every time I look into some statistics, I see that a large parts of the population seems to have a perspective on things that seems quite reasonable:
Ending hunger good, clean water good, drug legalization hell yeah why not, immigration yes but please with proper integration.
Stuff one reads in tech news and advertisements are what companies want people to think, not what they already think.
The trick is to not look at what they say, but what they do.
Everyone will say that ending world hunger is good, but hardly anyone will spend their time, let alone money to help solve that problem.
Societal priorities are in the sales data. Nobody forces them to buy millions of new iPhones, big SUVs, billions of burgers, etc. Yet they do, because these things make them feel good, until the next thing comes out, that is.
The original post was more about "goals" of a "normal person", so what people say is in that context the important question, IMHO.
Unfortunately, stuff like world hunger can't be solved just with money.
For some countries, having poor people is part of their "business plan". A way to get money from the outside. So they have an incentive to keep a lot of people poor.
And approaches like sending food in such a country just destroys the local economy, with the people already going hungry, e.g. small farmers, drawing the short straw: Not only can't they sell their produce, but the food and wares from outside never reach them, because they go to the richer parts of the country.
@topher Yes! And "fair trade" is not some exceptional thing that you have to pay extra for, it is simply how commerce is conducted - everyone along the chain has been fairly compensated.
@ahimsa_pdx @topher myeah... the way I see it, you don't pay extra for fair trade, but people pay too little for what everyone should really just know deep inside to be unfair trade. If it's cheap for you, you know someone else is paying that price.
@kmmich @topher Yes, I agree. Those costs should be built in from the start.
I was trying to say that cheap goods which rely on exploiting the labor of others should not be the norm. Fair trade, with all the costs built in, should be the rule, not the exception. I'm not always very good at explaining things.
@topher but how will we find our place in our social hierarchy if we are not able to purchase such extravagant products on a yearly basis?
@topher The reverse osmosis filter is affordable, but not everyone can afford it. Some poor people are genuinely impoverished.
@topher I grew up before iPhones or the internet came into existence. Thinking back, we had the luxury of a slower life. Snail mail and the telephone were basic communication tools. We learned to be patient and in the process often thought things through more thoroughly.
Information and news came in the form of identifiable sources held accountable for content and accuracy.
We smoked and we polluted with abandon without realizing the consequences and today we are in the process of trying to undo the damage done and trying ensure a future for our children.
There are roadblocks in the way of a sustainable existence. We know who and what they are. We have the power to overcome those roadblocks.
Let's use it.
@topher AMEN! (AND actually, technology would be more useful if it would stop changing long enough for people to master the possible uses of what we already have.)