this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2024
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Jfc, it's distressing to see how many people buy in to the personal responsibility propaganda and are actively not only licking the boot that's on all our necks, but doing the corporations' dirty work for them, gleefully, ignoring the entire picture (the deliberate spending of many trillions, and holding governments in their pockets to keep us dependant on oil and having no viable alternative) except the tiny little fragment they're comfortable confronting - other individuals. It's both gross and concerning.
It is not a matter of responsibility, it is a matter of action. Being less consumerist on a grand scale would be a kick in the balls for most of these big corporations which rely on our consumption habits. They exist because we consume. %90 of the stuff Amazon sells is unlikely essential goods, yet we buy them. We eat much more meat than we should and then we get angry at deforestation. Blame them all you want, most wont exist without our over-consumption habits.
You're herding cats at that point, though. The vast majority of people will not change their ways because:
A: its exponentially harder for them to do so. Not driving in the majority of the US is flatout not viable for work and groceries, changing your diet is fucking difficult period, etc. Unless they've got a damned good reason that isn't some cosmic cataclysm they don't even fully get how it'll affect them, they're not going to change.
B: Companies are actively pumping out propaganda and lobbying to fuck over anyone attempting to change the status quo. When shown two different pieces of information, people will usually choose the one that causes less cognitive dissonance, and being told you're killing the planet by filling up your gas tank causes alot of that, so alot of people just buy into the big oil propaganda.
We need to tackle these issues locally - getting entire towns and cities to actually cooperate with climate-friendly policies ; Then States; Then Countries - if we want to make any actual meaningful headway.
Yeah but if you and 10 friends inconvenience yourselves and do it otherwise, or inconvenience yourself by showing up at 11am on a tuesday to city council meetings you can make the bus a little better, and then it makes sense for a couple more people who were on the fence, which drives more improvements. I don't really care whether you start with the council meeting or the bus ride, we need both really, one enables the other.
This is all just a false dichotomy, it's all the same shit. Phrasing it differently and fighting over it is just distracting.
I agree on its difficulty though entrenched in this very narrow local minima of a capitalist society, I presume no alternative would be much easier.
Nevertheless there are major shifts in these directions in other parts of the world. And what you are suggesting is actually adding forces to the system to push people in the direction I mentioned. Otherwise where there is over-consumption and demand, capitalism will find a way to expand again.