They keep raising prices, stating that it’s due to inflation, but then they keep having record profits.
Meanwhile, the average American can barely afford rent or food nowadays.
What are we to do? Vote? I have been but that doesn’t seem to do much since I’m just voting for a representative that makes the actual decisions.
This moves me.
Thank you.
I’m so distanced from all regulatory processes that they seem literally as impossible as your vision of boycotts. And yet, I now see how pressuring regulatory bodies for the change we want is a very effective tactic.
But it look how long legalized marijuana has taken — that process started in the 70s.
Look how fast Musk was able to turn Twitter into the mouthpiece of fascism. Weeks.
This is what we are dealing with.
I want to push back on your sense of “convenience.”
I am not covetous of streaming. I have abandoned it.
I’m in charge of my media libraries.
What I’m saying is that we can do both: apply pressure on regulatory bodies WHILE abandoning crushing predatory capitalism.
I eat healthily. It does not hurt ME that I refuse to eat corporate bile.
I choose my media. It does not hurt ME that I never see ads.
Anyway — hoping that you can appreciate you have made me value the regulatory pressure argument while I still believe we are powerful.
Oh I pirate the shit out of everything – and partly it’s a boycott, but I think mostly it’s the convenience. “Owning” things and enjoying them on my terms (no Internet? No problem) is just better than subscriptions.
And I block ads, 100% for sure. I would literally give up most of the Internet rather than subject myself to ads – I’m “on the spectrum” and I have a very hard time with overstimulation and distraction, so ads substantially interrupt my ability to read (which I already have trouble with).
Like – I love lemmy and everything, but I’m here because Reddit disabled the ad-free app I used to use. I was a daily reddit user for like 13 years. if I could still use Relay, my ethical resolve against their anti-user practices, and my personal commitment to foss, probably wouldn’t have held up.
My feeling is, if I behave in a way that’s conducive with good mental health and life satisfaction, and what I do is also a political statement, then the universe is in harmony.
It’s really just the "voting with your wallet’ perspective I mean to illuminate and undercut – it’s a very tempting idea, but I would rather we (as a resistance movement) remain sane and comfortable than ascetic and underengaged.