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Baldur Bjarnason

> You see, if somebody robs a store, it's a crime and the state is all set and ready to nab the criminal. But if somebody steals from the commons and from the future, it's seen as an entrepreneurial activity and the state cheers and gives them tax concessions rather than arresting them. We badly need an expanded concept of justice and fairness that takes mortgaging the future into account.

- Ursula M. Franklin, The Real World of Technology

5 Aug 2023 at 12:14 | Open on toot.cafe
22 comments
Caro S.

@baldur We could call it social theft, like Engels' social murder. Or social robbery ...

5 Aug 2023 at 12:17 | Open on todon.eu
devolute
Thaolin πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦

@baldur
If it is theft in the name of profit, capitalism rejoices. We are in late stage capitalism where the damage must be greater in order to achieve profits.

5 Aug 2023 at 13:41 | Open on mas.to
Occupy Journey πŸ§πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²β™’πŸŒŽ

@baldur

You see, in America, if someone breaks into a small business, cops accuse the own of trying to steal from the bank and never actually do anything to find the burglar.

5 Aug 2023 at 14:01 | Open on kolektiva.social
Frances Larina

@mahaska @baldur

Small businesses are a threat to actual Corporate Persons.

/sarc...sort of

5 Aug 2023 at 14:17 | Open on sfba.social
Occupy Journey πŸ§πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²β™’πŸŒŽ

@Frances_Larina @baldur

After they destroyed any chance of recovery, I figured that out.

5 Aug 2023 at 14:27 | Open on kolektiva.social
Frances Larina

@mahaska @baldur

From their inception here in America, cops have existed to protect the business investments of the wealthy. From a hardline Calhoun-Buchanan point of view, small businesses - especially those held by non-privileged people - are stealing from investor-owned companies.

5 Aug 2023 at 14:53 | Open on sfba.social
Frank T

@baldur It is curious how most new supposed innovation is nothing more than a dressed up version of enclosure from centuries ago. Take something that people did fine by themselves or did not pay money for and stick a business on top and charge toll. It is a reminder that most new economic activity is just rent seeking on the wider population.

5 Aug 2023 at 14:09 | Open on mas.to
Frances Larina

@baldur

The Commons was a quaint concept from before the days of capitalism, when most people were able to see that cooperation, not competition, was vital to survival.

Now thanks to generations of people living in capitalist, consumer societies, people have lost sight of that view.

It's like acceptance of capitalism was dangled like a big, huge credit card humanity could borrow against again and again until our spending habits were too big, and we reached our spending limit. But we're still the borrowers.

5 Aug 2023 at 14:59 | Open on sfba.social
Humza Kazmi (Allandaros)

@baldur Hell yes.

(I would take the rationalist/effective altruist community a lot more seriously if the discussions on "what we owe the future" centered around appropriations from the commons instead of doubling/tripling down on Skynet fears.

5 Aug 2023 at 15:26 | Open on dice.camp
Aviva Gary

@baldur True but I feel like this requires a law/cultural rewrite... currently the laws slant this view, if that were not the case... πŸ€”

5 Aug 2023 at 16:17 | Open on noc.social
Staid Winnow

@baldur

β€œThe law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.”
~ Anatole France

5 Aug 2023 at 20:41 | Open on mastodon.social
The Animal and the Machine

@baldur @gwynnion
Every single gas guzzling car, including mine, is dumping waste into the air. The air is polluted and that causes harm. The car is in effect stealing from the commons.

We have a legacy issue we need to overcome where nothing can be allowed to pollute. This sounds extreme now but in the future we’ll look back and it will just seem obvious.

Social justice is more important but who wants to be set free into a dead world. We need to do all things at all levels, all at once.

Things do domino, so if you want support for the environment, support civil rights. When people have the economic mobility not lost to health debt, they can put energy to your pollution bill. When they are not starving for any food, they can ask what’s in the food.

Mechanisms of control exist and we don’t need tear them down, we need to take them over. We need to yell at our politicians until they are worthy of our vote then we need to vote for them. πŸ—³οΈ

As we take power we need to clean it up. Remover the filibuster, change the judiciary and destroy gerrymandering.

It’s all linked and we are linked to it.

@baldur @gwynnion
Every single gas guzzling car, including mine, is dumping waste into the air. The air is polluted and that causes harm. The car is in effect stealing from the commons.

We have a legacy issue we need to overcome where nothing can be allowed to pollute. This sounds extreme now but in the future we’ll look back and it will just seem obvious.

5 Aug 2023 at 22:09 | Open on mathstodon.xyz
Inken Paper

@taatm @baldur @gwynnion you want to tear down illegitimate power by voting for it and begging it to save you? you might need to rethink that one.

5 Aug 2023 at 22:47 | Open on tsukihi.me
The Animal and the Machine

@crashglasshouses
No. I want to out vote it because enough people care and then remove the need for a super majority to do anything. We can vote in because the system does allow it. If we didn’t, the illusion for the blinkered middle would be shattered.

Once in power I don’t see why we’d need to beg for anything? You might need to rethink that one.

5 Aug 2023 at 23:02 | Open on mathstodon.xyz
Inken Paper

@taatm so, in other words, your plan is to scratch lottery tickets until you win, knowing that the house always wins, the decks are marked and stacked, and the dice are weighted against your favour?

this is not a winning strategy, and never has been. electoralism doesn't accomplish what needs doing, and gives politicians all of the power and consent to do absolutely nothing to benefit the working class.

once WHO is in power? if you think that politicians gaining power means you do too, you are a billion percent wrong.

"the blinkered middle" is part of the problem, getting rid of the neutrals isn't.

so, no, i don't need to rethink this. your idea is completely ahistorical, based on absolutely nothing. when has this ever worked, ever?

@taatm so, in other words, your plan is to scratch lottery tickets until you win, knowing that the house always wins, the decks are marked and stacked, and the dice are weighted against your favour?

this is not a winning strategy, and never has been. electoralism doesn't accomplish what needs doing, and gives politicians all of the power and consent to do absolutely nothing to benefit the working class.

6 Aug 2023 at 0:56 | Open on tsukihi.me
Rhombus Ticks
Michael Bell

@baldur
"The law locks up a man or woman,
Who steals a goose from off the Common.
But leaves the greater villain loose,
Who steals the Common from the goose"

5 Aug 2023 at 22:48 | Open on mindly.social
Selena

@baldur
The entire premise of Reagan/Tatcher economics: stealing from society and pretending that's a cool new bussiness idea.

6 Aug 2023 at 0:33 | Open on ivoor.eu
shards of tebicat

@baldur most "innovations" are just finding a way to pay people less

6 Aug 2023 at 0:56 | Open on tech.lgbt
Martha Bridegam
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