What of the small business owner? you may ask. I concur that this is a slightly different matter and I would, if truly pressed, prefer not to harm the small business owner nor steal from him, but if truly, truly pressed I would say, “Fuck him, who is the petty bourgeois, for he always turns, in the end, against his fellow man and stretches his ass toward those who feed and tolerate him in their midst until they eat him, too.” When he stands by my side, hungry and cold as well, we will go steal together until there is no unjustified, unearned, immoral, say I, God-fucking-given superior being looking down on us no more.
Hahahaha I enjoyed reading this. Also archived version
He tries to frame the upper class wealthy who look down their noses at low-wage earners as “liberals”. Of course it’s the complete opposite as right-wing policies aim to facilitate corporate greed to a maximum. If you are wealthy you vote conservative to protect your wealth.
Then he fails to distinguish between the social detriment of various corporations and fixates on size alone. There is a big difference between corps like Monsanto-Bayer, Nestlé, HP, Amazon… vs. a corp like Starbucks or a b-corp.
When Republicans use the word ‘liberal,’ they mean the socially liberal, and anyone to the left of them. When socialists use the word, they use it in its original sense, to refer to market liberals, that is, people who think capital should be liberated from all restraint, especially democratic restraint. Republicans and all capitalists trace their ideological lineage from the intellectual heritage of classical liberalism.
There’s a small dictionary of words in the English language that have been corrupted by right-wing grifters in the United States. See also ‘The Libertarian Party,’ ‘Anarchism,’ and the color red.
If you’re using Starbucks as an example of a “good corporation” your neoliberalism is terminal and reading “Steal This Book” would probably give you several heart attacks.
If you require the simplicity of putting a “good” & “bad” label on things, keep in mind the label will change depending on what you’re comparing. If you are comparing Starbucks to a mom & pop shop hole-in-the-wall diner, Starbucks would get the “bad” label. If you are comparing Starbucks to a company that dumps toxic chemicals into rivers and has massive insecticide spills in India before negotiating 3 figure payouts to families of the dead (Dupont), or a company that discovered #climateChange and kept it secret (#Exxonknew), it’s safe to give Starbucks a “good” label.
The article you posted foolishly relies on company size alone as a good/bad meter.
There is a big difference between corps like Monsanto-Bayer, Nestlé, HP, Amazon… vs. a corp like Starbucks or a b-corp.
I feel like I dont really see the big difference between those? (Like maybe Starbucks is just a really unlucky example, but I dont really have a great image of Starbucks with their union busting practices.)
Atleast for me, a grocery store being organic or unionized or donating 1% of earning does not stop me from like stealing what I need or want.
Are you aware that Bayer sold poisonous gas to the nazis during ww2 and when Holocaust victims needed medicine Bayer would not sell it to them? What about Nestlé using child slaves in the Ivory Coast? Starbucks was not even an ALEC member. HP & Amazon were previously ALEC members, and the other corps I listed still are. Do you seriously think these companies are ethically comparable? Amazon workers are peeing in jars because they’re not given enough time for bathroom breaks. Consider this list of dirt on Amazon. Does Starbucks have anything on that level of detriment?
If you’re going to steal, why is it immaterial to you which company you steal from? Why wouldn’t you favor stealing from a boycott-worthy company?
Thanks for the information, some things I did not know. It still feels to me like ranking corps by their shittyness is really unnecessary. Like I can clearly see the differences, but I dont see the point to focus on those differences as much because all corps are shitty me.
If you’re going to steal, why is it immaterial to you which company you steal from? Why wouldn’t you favor stealing from a boycott-worthy company?
Those are some loaded questions do not really engage with my point. I clearly said that it does not stop me not that is has no effect on my preferences.
For just about every transaction, I decide who wins my business not based on price but on ethics. If I need a printer & have a choice between an HP printer and a Brother or Oki printer, HP does not make it to the shortlist. Corporations are never equal in their social impact, but to know that requires doing a bit of homework. I keep track of wrong doing by corps so I have a fairly good idea of who to patronize. If I need mobile phone service in the US, AT&T is by far the most evil and VZ is still far worse than T-Mobile. So T-mobile is the lesser of evils and they would win my business even if their plan is less fitting to my needs.
Some people have done a lot of this work for us. There an app called “Buycott” where you subscribe to ethical campaigns that are aligned to your values. So e.g. if you subscribe to the anti-child labor campaign then scan a chocolate bar from Nestlé or Hershey, the app will likely red-flag it. You could very well use the same app to decide what to steal (that is, steal something that you wouldn’t buy).
Shopping for insurance is extremely difficult for me because most insurance companies (or parents thereof) are ALEC members. There are a few exceptions and I end up paying double the lowest bid on premium because of it. In principle I should steal something from on the ALEC insurance companies to compensate the difference.
I once accidentally let a PS4 get stolen on my last shift at Target as I was getting dropped as a seasonal employee.
The more I think about it, the less bad I feel about it.
Your mistake probably made someones day.
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