Edit: Jesus Christ, people. If you buy a $150 Thinkpad made by slave labor instead of a $1,200 MacBook made by slave labor, you’re still supporting a capitalist economy based on slave labor. We all do. We have no choice. The number of smug liberals in the comments saying “well I buy a cheap used laptop” or “well I buy coffee beans and make my own coffee” are completely missing the fucking point.
Don’t tell yourself your consumption is moral. All of us make unethical choices every day because there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. Accept your shame and guilt and let it drive you to do better.
I’ve only ever seen the last panel of this, delightful.
This is really daft.
It’s possible to participate in society in such a way as to uphold our beliefs about how society ought to be.
If you want to complain about Apple’s abuse of employees, don’t buy their stuff.
If you want to abolish slavery, don’t own any slaves.
If you want to smash capitalism, buy a used thinkpad.
Sure, there are some instances where this just isn’t possible in a complete and absolute sense. For example, I despise google, have invested a lot of effort in degoogling, but there remain some google components I rely on.
However, the existence of these instances does not mean we don’t need to invest any effort in supporting the changes we want to see.
Nope sorry, there are many much less capitalistically aggressive alternatives to starbucks and apple. Slaves on the other hand literally (and not figuratively as in here) needed to keep slaving to stay alive. I would seriously feel cramps in my stomach if I walked into a starbucks with that sticker.
All your options are “capitalistically aggressive”. It’s a sign of immaturity to me that people think they’re above it all while still being totally and utterly dependent on capitalist economics. Acting like buying a fair phone makes you better than others is just laughable. It’s a drop in the bucket compared to all your other unavoidable contributions to capitalists.
Not to mention that many of these “better” options are only available to people with money, which makes the entire claim even more ironic. Many of us going this “alternate” less aggressive route can only do so because we benefit from inequality in the first place.
Your argument in no way refutes the point the comic makes.
Yep used thinkpad and some kind of Linux sounds more like it.
Buying a used Thinkpad doesn’t change the fact that it was made by slave labor. It might make you feel better to buy one, but it changes absolutely nothing. You still bought an item made in part by slaves or near-slaves. And you’re keeping the market alive for that to continue.
If you buy used, the manufacturer makes zero profit. It’s a pretty substantial difference ethically.
Also a product isn’t a bad product, just because it is produced under capitalism. A computers ability to compute does not depend on its mode of production.
“It’s okay to resist capitalism on an iPhone. The feudal lord who owned the pitchforks the peasants killed him with probably observed the irony too.” -Ben Stiller
Another point to her cause I haven’t seen in the comments -
How old is that MacBook and how many hands has it passed through? In my experience, anybody with new (any tech really but ESPECIALLY) Apple products keeps that shiz pristine. I grab a cheap laptop off CL though I’ll absolutely sticker it up.
My vote is she’s in a school program or something that requires macos stuff and grabbed it second hand off someone on the cheap.
Wow that’s some convoluted religious type excuse.
Oh, I didn’t know you needed apple products, the most monopolistic tech company to exist, to survive. That explains why their fans are so rabbid. I better switch from Linux otherwise I’ll die.
“we live in a society”.
People are pressured to align with social norms, so the word “survival” in this case is used very expansively. It means not only to continue to exist, but to continue to exist in the social strata you have managed to achieve. ANY such strata comes with standards of quality, and pressures to make choices that align with the group. There are always outliers who cross strata and reject certain things, but that does not mean all of us don’t abide in certain cases.
So no, you don’t need a Mac, but you may receive pressure from your social group, and may value conformity as a part of your “social survival”
While I accept your argument, you’re either a juvenile, or an extremely weak willed person to buy a particular brand because your “friends” pressured you to be more like them.
What a rude and uncivil comment.
I’m not discussing “friends” I’m discussing nearly every element of public adult life.
You are not free from social pressures the same way no one is immune from propaganda.
I was not referring to you personally. I was generalizing. My comment was not rude. You simply perceived it as rude.
I would ask you to speak for yourself. You do not speak for all of society. Perhaps one isn’t free from potentially being the recipient of attempted social pressure, but one is certainly free to ignore it. I’ve been doing it for most of my adult life. I do what I feel is logical. Not what others would have me do.
You’re missing the point. There’s so many pressures you don’t even perceive. Your whole perception of what’s appropriate is not free from influence.
This is an entirely subjective argument. I’ll accept this as your opinion, and perhaps your personal experience, and leave it at that.
This is a heavily studied topic in mental health, various humanities disciplines, career coaching, etc. I’m not inventing this concept.
