Do you live in the same country as OP? Because if they’re in the US it’s highly unlikely that’s available to them.

In an open marketplace I’m afraid that is a competitive disadvantage Especially with a 1 in 3 approval rating.

What’s a better term?

So a fascist. Not suprising.

If you use your truck as a truck often that’s fair. My ire is more directed at those that fall into the categories below (and I know several people that do, some of whom are upper middle class and seven figure salary folk who just want the appearance of ruggedness).

According to Edwards’ data, 75 percent of truck owners use their truck for towing one time a year or less (meaning, never). Nearly 70 percent of truck owners go off-road one time a year or less. And a full 35 percent of truck owners use their truck for hauling—putting something in the bed, its ostensible raison d’être—once a year or less.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/26907/you-dont-need-a-full-size-pickup-truck-you-need-a-cowboy-costume

Its a good yoke but coming at a South Asian person for the anglicized spelling of a South Asian word is the sugar syrup on the Gulab Jamun.

Honestly it’s pretty embarrassing for 6’1 55 year old too.

Western masculinity can be so fragile that some think consumerism is the only out of it.

Basically if you’re using a pickup as a commuter vehicle…you probably don’t make good life choices.

Disagree strongly. Some cultures value sustainability more than others, especially more than Western cultures.

I’ve seen the noble savage trope used too often by pro-colonists seeking to support their materialism, resource hoarding and genocidal behavior with the same argument you’re using ie. All people are essentially the same across time and cultures and you all would have done the same with what we had if it were you.

No. Western culture has set us on a path to extinction via climate change the likes of which we have never seen before. Western culture financializes and monetizes everything (even that which sacred, spiritually meaningful or has mostly artistic value) by worshipping at the altar of open markets and free trade. Its why so many people in the West have disproportionate wealth but aren’t really happy. Its why chronic illness has exploded in the past decade. Its a culture that often takes the life out of living and tries to fill the void with hedonistic consumerism and materialism. Its a culture that does not penalize or discincentivize waste and celebrates / promotes excess consumption.

Not to be too antagonistic, there are many positives it has brought about also.

But there is no question our ancestors did one thing much better than we do ie. sustainability. Climate change is all the proof you need for this.

Don’t need to go back to it entirely to adopt some of the wisdom. Like not taking more from the land than you need.

Western nations really need to teach their kids about colonialism. There needs to be an honest appraisal of the harm that went into creating the global imbalance we see today. Without it, the average person ends up cognitively deficient in discussions of global geopolitics (there are far too many that fit this bill).

I still meet too many people that hold onto a colonialism happened because we’re awesome attitude with a profound knowledge deficit on the number of genocides that went into the process.

They argue on a Western technological advantage which can be a reasonable assertion but also Western moral superiority which is so laughably misinformed they might as well have not gone to grade school.

I think the problem is that the antitrust ship has already sailed.

I don’t think a government run grocery store would be looking to compete on the open market. It would be more along the lines of subsidized food for lower income households on food stamps, practically speaking. That is much more sutainable than one that’s open to the general public.

If a government run grocery store could provide a fair price for items we are currently being gouged on, I doubt they would be able to keep up with consumer demand. Essentially middle class and above will have to keep putting up with commercial prices.

Collective hedonism is an abstract ideal that has not quite had any real world application. I have met quite a few hedonistic individuals but have yet to see a successfully and consistently hedonistic group. It’s hard to get a large group to agree on what is meaningfully pleasurable. For the purposes of this discussion it’s too abstract to be relevant and even if it was I’m still not quite sure why it would be ‘badass’ as doing the pleasurable thing often does not coincide with doing the right thing.

Collective pleasure does not exist with any degree of permanence but collective prevention of harm absolutely does, and often requires sacrifice / hardship, which is what I would define as “badass”

Price gouging has been a major problem at Canadian grocers since COVID. Basically prices went up with supply chain issues / inflation but have not been adjusted for improvements in inflation since then.

These are for profit entities. They would steal a quarter from the poor and hungry if they could.

That’s the fundamental flaw to capitalism - not that it concentrates wealth and power (because that is perhaps human nature) but that it celebrates it.

It conditions us to think that concentrating wealth is not only morally right but something we should all aspire to. That competing is morally superior to sharing.

Ultimately, if capitalists accrue so much wealth and power that they can buy out the interests that would seek to regulate them through democratic will, we then relinquish our democracy for feudalism.

The reason why it isn’t badass is it prioritizies self over others. Under a hedonistic worldview, your own pleasure matters more than another living beings pain.

It aligns well with capitalism and its inventivization of personal enrichment even if at an expense to others.

In my view being “badass” is taking care of each other, even the supposed “least” amongst us (if we are to believe in such hierarchies), as our superheros and religious figures are written.

There’s a reason we have immortalized such figures and I would describe exactly none of them as hedonistic. Rather they often take on incredible personal pain to bring safety and security to others. That is what I would call badass.

A lot of what we define as pleasurable in this part of the world is driven by consumerism or other environmentally unsustainably/harmful activity. If your pleasurable activities account for your impact on all living things then by all means knock yourself out. Most hedonists I’ve known do not demonstrate this degree of introspection and often are looking for fleeting pleasures to mask trauma or other mental health challenges.

Sounds more like the musings of a hedonist than a badass. The incoordination and head trauma are not as far off brand as he thinks it is.

A disproportionate number of MAGA folk are descendants of European settlers who do not beleive in egalitarianism. They never believed in it. White supremacy was the cultural norm just a few short generations ago and in many ways it still is the implicit norm.

Real progress was being made in challenging this but the Nazis aren’t going to have it so… What’s it going to take for ‘the good ones’ to step up?

For context, every wealthy nation has work visas like this. It is not unique to H1bs. Dubai was essentially built on this framework with the added aspect of confiscating passports.

It can be used well in some cases, especially in attracting a workforce to an underserved area. For example, immigrant doctors and nurses make a up a huge proportion of the hospital workforce throughout the US (upwards of 1 in 3 in some urban areas) but even moreso in rural areas.

The problem is when it’s misused, especially in the tech sector.

So… Nukes.

This survey seems to suggest otherwise.

Many, including myself, see Trumps wins as backlash by legacy European settler descendants for to a part African man serving two terms as president.