DessertStorms

Yup, can't have that!

Calling it now: any challenges to the status quo (aka holding capitalism and the christian white supremacist patriarchal ableist state and establishment responsible for creating the mess we're in for their own benefit) are going to be categorised as “putrid conspiracy theories” right along side and equally to shit like blaming the Jews for controlling and manipulating the economy, asylum seekers for stealing all the jobs and white women, trans people for grooming and turning all the kids, disabled people for draining the tax pot, and communists for anything that's left over.

The education system is far too valuable an asset to the state, they're not going to let such an important tool of indoctrination be subverted to the point where it can be used against them.

So the kids can get a little critical thinking, as a treat, but not enough to give them ideas above their station.

I really miss kbin.. 😔(no hard feelings, I genuinely wish Ernest the best and hope he makes a comeback)

I actually tried migrating my account from there before the major issues, as a backup, but realised it didn't back up my blocked lists, which are much harder for me to recreate than my subscribed list and settings are, so decided to wait and see if anyone improved the migration tools.

Then it became too late, and I had to start from scratch, and am now regretting the instance I chose, and have not yet had the brain space to check out the other kbin/mbin instances and find a new one I like. Until then I'm reluctant to participate.

If anything, the last couple of months, with kbin dying and realising how uncomfortable I am on an instance run by people who have expectations from their users I fundamentally disagree with, have made me want to start my own private kbin/mbin instance for myself so that I don't end up in either situation again, but I don't know that it's something I can take on, having no programming knowledge or any experience with anything like that.

So yes, I agree with you, for more than the reasons you've provided, and I hope we, as a general community use these developments to learn and improve.

I become a stauncher anti-capitalist every day, since capitalism and its unsustainable and literally impossible aim of infinite growth, and the greed and corruption it encourages, is why climate change is not only happening but also not being treated seriously, and abolishing it is the only hope we have of dealing with the damage climate change will bring and try and minimize it going forward (since its past the point of stopping it entirely).

The whole point of those responsible shifting blame on to individuals who have nothing to do with the decisions that got us here, nor the profits they make, is to get you to the point you're at now - hopelessness which leads to inaction, or desperation that leads to futile action (like banning straws or paying to reduce your "carbon footprint" - a term they made up for this exact purpose, and so on, all of which are there to make sure you're criticising your neighbour for their recycling habits instead of the companies that say they're recycling and get paid to but really send the garbage directly to landfill, or to a developing nation already drowning in western trash).

What you actually need to be is angry and focused, to ensure your anger is aimed at the right people and the systems they uphold that got us here. Those systems are not natural or inevitable or immutable, they are artificially created by and for the benefit of a really small group of humans, a group we could easily be rid of if we actually united to do so.

Making profit off of medication (or any other basic survival need, for that matter, and especially if they're publicly funded) is and always will be immoral.

Yeah, I wasn't really paying that much attention, and went off of OP reply's 30 x 1000 and then missed out a zero lol

But yeah, it only gets more despicable the more accurate the numbers are..

I understand they need to recoup research costs, but…

Except they don't even need to do that, because, as is with most pharmaceuticals, the research was almost fully funded by the taxpayer.

And the 30% profit is for a generic product, so the research has already been done.

So yeah, 30% profit is of course much better than 3000%, but both are still obscene profiteering off of a lifesaving product paid for by, and then essentially withheld for ransom from, the general public.

I'd also challenge "unhinged" - the oppressive systems we all live under are designed to make this shit the norm, they not only breed and encourage racism, misogyny and the rest, but reward those with the privilege and sense of entitlement it gives who do them "best", it's why people in such positions can and do say such things, and suffer absolutely zero consequences.

(to be clear, I'm not condoning the behaviour or saying it's ok in any way, just that these people are not "unhinged", they are acting exactly in the way white supremacist patriarchal capitalism normalises and encourages them to)

You're not. There has not been any room left for doubt for nearly a decade that he is anything but an opportunistic racist misogynistic queerphobic ableist christofascist grifter. Those who already support him will continue to cheer him on because he feeds directly in to their need to feel superior to "others", and no one still on the fence is going to suddenly have an epiphany..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherpa_(surname)