• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    2 days ago

    The fact that people can’t stop using this shitty ass marketplace is proof we are doomed.

    “Well, I don’t shop at Amazon for ethical reasons.”

    “Oh, you don’t buy any common commercial goods?”

    “No no no. I just buy them ethically.”

    “Where do you get your ethically sourced consumer goods?”

    “Target and Walmart”

    🫠

    The stupidity of humans makes us deserve this honestly.

    Bitch, I just need a mop to mop my floor so its not sticky. Where do I get a new mop? Point me to the place to buy a fucking mop that doesn’t involve some asshole on the internet heckling me over it.

    • mangobanana@discuss.online
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      13 hours ago

      Don’t you know you’re supposed to make your own rope from cotton that you’ve grown, and make your own mop with wood that you harvested from your backyard?

    • Zink@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      2 days ago

      Yeah, when I take an inventory of the businesses I frequent and follow this train of thought, it ultimately boils down into the line “No ethical consumption under capitalism” I’ve read before.

      If it’s a company we’ve heard of, it inevitably has an entire collection of rich psychopaths running and owning it. Local small businesses can be better, or they can be run by hateful bigots and/or small-time psychopaths that charge twice as much.

      I just try to find the reasonable balance between trying to reduce harm and not support the worst of the worst, while also participating in society.

    • 7101334@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 day ago

      Point me to the place to buy a fucking mop that doesn’t involve some asshole on the internet heckling me over it.

      Aliexpress.

      I have only used Amazon once in the last 2 years (it was a very specific tool that was sold literally nowhere else, even eBay, and was only like $20), Walmart a handful of times, and Target only for cat sand.

      If you can’t eliminate the harm you contribute to (which, fair, none of us can in America), you are responsible for minimizing it. Triage, sort of. Gotta choose between 3 shit companies? Evaluate which one is the least-shit and go that route.

      And that varies for everyone. The people who have a Walmart as their only source of fresh groceries within a 30 mile radius are going to need to shop at Walmart more often than I do, and that’s fine.

          • mangobanana@discuss.online
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            11 hours ago

            Well you were saying to use AliExpress instead of Amazon in order not to feed the billionaires basically is what I inferred from your comment.

            • 7101334@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              11 hours ago

              Not to feed the American billionaires who are currently actively ruining my life and the life of all those who I love. Chinese billionaires are certainly no friend of the working class, but again, “lesser evil” is the game when it comes to consumption (unless you can buy used). The CCP literally disappeared Jack Ma for a few months last time he stepped out of line lol (and the CCP is also no friend of mine, to be clear, but is also absolutely less evil than my country)

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 day ago

        Aliexpress.

        “You can’t shop at Amazon, that’s unethical”

        “Where should I shop?”

        “Chinese Amazon”.

        Okay, bro.

        • 7101334@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          6
          ·
          edit-2
          12 hours ago

          Correct, China is not currently engaged in a war of expansionism for the benefit of a genocidal apartheid occupation of land rightfully owned by the Palestinian people.

          They’re not perfect, but they’re the “lesser evil”. Don’t you liberals love that game?

          If nothing else, giving $17 to a corporation is quantifiably half as bad as giving $34. (EDIT: Not surprised at downvotes, I’ve learned Blue MAGA also hates basic math - such as “Holocaust Harris would’ve lost even if she secured every single third-party vote except those for RFK Jr”)

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 day ago

            They’re not perfect, but they’re the “lesser evil”.

            The only people I hear who keep saying “China is a lesser evil” are the same ones insisting we were right to assassinate all those Iranian politicians.

    • bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      2 days ago

      If you can’t buy a broom without using amazon, youre gonna have a hard time with life in general.

      Also in my comment I stated I don’t use Walmart. Rarely ever go to target.

      And yes. All consuming is unethical, a slave made the phone or computer you are using this moment. However, that doesn’t mean we need to use amazon and keep directly enriching billionaire scum. How is that so hard ? Are people lazier or dumber than they used to be now in that they can’t search for 2 seconds to find a broom? How about a damn garage sale ???

      Used is far better than new in a massive amount of cases. Americans are addicted to shiny new plastic because they’re brainwashed idiots that think they need new everything.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 day ago

        All consuming is unethical

        Okay, but my floor is sticky. What Do?

        Used is far better than new in a massive amount of cases.

        Who is selling used mops? What kind of business sustains itself on that kind of traffic?

        Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing the fruit- and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the smell of rot fills the country. Burn coffee for fuel in the ships. Burn corn to keep warm, it makes a hot fire. Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out. Slaughter the pigs and bury them, and let the putrescence drip down into the earth.

        Amazon’s burning approach to unsold and returned products

        This is the world we live in. It is crazy to pretend a large, open, accessible forum exists for second-hand goods when brand new shit is thrown in incinerators to keep the bottom from falling out of the retail market.

        • 7101334@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 day ago

          Who is selling used mops? What kind of business sustains itself on that kind of traffic?

          Tons of people on eBay who probably steal them from the corporations or resell from the Chinese companies which manufacture them in the first place, which is way more ethical than buying them from American oligarch-owned resellers.

          If I search “mop and bucket set” on Amazon, most results are in the $35 - $45 range, some as high as $60. Comparable mops on eBay (it seems 100% identical except it has a metal ring instead of a red plastic triangle over the mop) are $20 - $35. Then that exact same mop is $17.12 on Aliexpress (with free shipping, from a local warehouse). That’s not “used”, to be fair, but it’s a way smarter way of shopping and doesn’t support Amazon.

          Another example is that H2O2 was $8.50 on Amazon at one point, yet like $1 or $2 each at my local Walgreens. Yes, same volume bottle. That was a while ago though, when I was still using Amazon, so I can’t say that’s still the case.

          Or if you very literally want “used” for some reason, I did find one guy on Craigslist selling mop and bucket sets for $15 lol. Probably even more people on Facebook Marketplace, including some who might even be giving it away for free.

        • bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 day ago

          Yeah, ive read grapes of wrath! Excellent book.

          Your example of a mop is silly though. Like, you can totally get a used mop at a garage sale. Or just dont use amazon for it at least if you must have a new one.

          Also, have you not heard of eBay?? Yes, its full of shitty China amazon resellers too, but there’s real items there as well as tons of other sites people sell on.

          My main point is, we are addicted and brainwashed to new shit we absolutely don’t need. If people thought about reducing and reusing for 1 second we could topple corporations. But no. Must have new. More oil to make more plastic shit to go to landfills. Throw out the TV when it breaks because nothing is repairable now etc get a new phone yearly etc.