Michael

Capitalism is when people die of preventable causes, such as dying from heat exposure or complications from it, because allowing them the resources to cool their houses (that they likely don’t own and are privileged to have at all) is communism.

Well considering that I live in a rural area where warehouses (Amazon or otherwise) are literally the only jobs that pay much of anything outside of trades and the medical industry, I think they do have a choice.

It isn’t a fair choice and again, we agree there. But this example I can relate with personally.

I am somebody who has an option to be employed by Amazon, I am in need of funds, but I am sickly and I won’t contribute to an out-of-control system. I feel like doing so would accelerate my illness.

I feel like people with warehouse jobs are better off than me by a large margin, even if they are functionally trapped. I recognize the struggle. Truly.

I still choose to tread my own path. My path has been filled with thorns that even the people closest to me struggle to believe. I was raped and tortured repeatedly for around 2 years by a family member two years younger than me. That’s the tip of the iceberg. I have experienced so many tough situations that no adult intervened in or believed me about.

I am moving forward and the thorns aren’t going to prick me, because my heart is stronger and so is my will.

Are you this harsh with food and hardware from companies?

Selective would be a better word.

I just buy different things or shop at companies that are doing things differently. I love it when companies I support make significant progress to be better for themselves, for their customers, and for humanity as a whole.

(And yes, I am aware of greenwashing and it still bothers me to support some companies, regardless of the good that I recognize that they do.)

Are you selective about the chocolate you consume? I am. I don’t support child slavery.

Funnily enough, the workers of the megacorps you mentioned likely have more choice than most to tread their own path. They very likely have significant financial reserves (at least compared to a poor and sickly person like me).

When there is a mass exodus of NVIDIA/etc. workers, I will be chipping in to support them directly.

I am read up. Krafton has shown their bad faith and has not sufficiently given me reason to believe that they will change moving forward.

If I started a business and had to give up 100% of my business to keep it afloat, I’d recognize that I messed up and move on.

If you like the product, go buy it. Help them reach the milestone.

I am speaking for myself. I know it’s a good product, but I have a policy to not support early access titles unless they meet specific criteria.

I have been burned far too many times with early access titles that stay in limbo or don’t deliver on release, especially by studios under hostile publishers (who are very greedy).

I am poor and my health isn’t very good, so I feel it’s imperative that I make good decisions with my limited resources.

Subnautica 2 isn’t a bad product in its current state and it will likely release in an even better state, but I feel the whole thing is tainted for me.

Questions like, “What if Unknown Worlds stayed independent?”, or, “What if Krafton were more ethical?”, would ring through my mind constantly while playing. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the experience.

With some exceptions, we all have a choice in the first-world. Chains can be external and internal. In your example, the chains are mostly internal even if there is some degree of external chains. If you’re living in SF and are a game developer, chances are you aren’t doing terribly.

As for exploited and poor third-world countries or those who lack citizenship in first-world countries (i.e. undocumented immigrants), I’m inclined to say that is modern slavery. It sometimes literally is slavery, even child slavery.

Here in the first-world, we presently benefit from child slavery and third-world exploitation in the products we consume. It’s not uncommon either.

I believe people have to choose differently if they want different. Be the change you seek, that whole jazz.

Well, we agree.

As for myself? I chose to not be a slave and I’m sticking with that.

You can hate mega corporations, CEOs and board members

I don’t agree with their decision to move forward with Krafton. They obviously wouldn’t retain sovereignty by letting a publisher buy them completely out for $500 million. What transpired after the acquisition was something anybody with business sense could’ve foreseen to some degree.

but most of the lower lever employees are not there by choice.

This is a design lead speaking as far as I know. All employees are there by choice - even if it’s not their first choice, it’s their choice…as much as it pains me to admit (as somebody who isn’t a fan of the exploitation dynamics that run our society).

Krafton won’t be getting my money. I’m not rewarding them for their unethical behavior.

“Thanks for pirating a game that I’ve spent years working on,” game design lead Anthony Gallegos replied to one such self-reported pirate. “I’m disappointed that you’d do that when it’s kind of how we make our living. I hope you rethink your life choices.”

Thanks for working for a studio that sold their soul to a foreign publisher for $500 million and a $250 million bonus.

(And no, I’m not pirating the game.)

Ah, I see now. Thanks for clearing this up and for the link.

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We just need to give those who commit crimes the tools to heal and learn from the hurt they caused. We don’t generally, and various unideal things happen after people are released from humiliating, degrading, dehumanizing, and exploitative conditions.

Not getting caught when they do their next crime or hurt the next person is likely on a lot of people’s minds. It’s happened with my sibling who just continued to escalate their behavior after every incarceration. They never learned their lesson. They never got offered real help. Their life is a revolving door of hurting others and losing their freedom for brief spells. They have no starting point to begin to understand the hurt that they routinely cause. They can’t get a job and participate in society even if they wanted to get better and do things right because they face discrimination in hiring and their opportunities are limited.

Personally, I feel that punishment just amplifies the violence and dysfunction, especially in the horrid conditions of the US prison system and forced labor camps like the story we are discussing. Being discriminated against in employment/not being offered opportunities/given a chance by society locks them into crime and destitution. I just can’t honestly imagine that brings the good out of many people…

The spoiler is he won’t learn the lessons he needs to learn from a labor camp. Even in the most idealized form of a labor camp.

Respectfully, saying, “what they were being told on social media was not just one-sided, it was pure propaganda.” is what makes this denial. It’s fine if you disagree.

Hillary is free to acknowledge what’s happened from a neutral perspective and prove me wrong. But thus far, has she?

I suggest you re-read the article/listen to her speak because she is clearly taking a side. What she’s speaking to is not limited to that day, to the best of my knowledge. If you disagree with the coverage or find it inaccurate, feel free to point out the inconsistencies or distortions.

It’s pretty clear that this is a denial, I suggest you listen to her speak.

From the article:

“It’s not just the usual suspects. It’s a lot of young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand,” she claimed, adding, “A lot of the challenge is with younger people. More than 50% of young people in America get their news from social media.”

Clinton complained that when she tried to talk to young people “to engage in some kind of reasonable discussion, it was very difficult because they did not know history, they had very little context, and what they were being told on social media was not just one-sided, it was pure propaganda.”

The former first lady concluded, “So just pause on that for a second. They are seeing short-form videos, some of them totally made up, some of them not at all representing what they claim to be showing, and that’s where they get their information.”

If that’s not a denial, what is? Even if there is some amount of propaganda, it’s undeniable the horrors that have occurred. It’s not pure propaganda and she failed to speak to what actually has occurred.

This is literally the same thing as holocaust denial. She’s claiming to be an authority of the history of the region, when in reality the history doesn’t invalidate or excuse what has occurred for over two years against an occupied people.

If somebody was denying the holocaust and making this point in the context of that denial, would you respond the same way and say it’s a totally fair point?

Thanks for your response and engagement. I appreciated hearing your perspective as a German/European in contrast to my perspective as an American.