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.
Yeah, BS. If you choose to buy an apple product, new or used, you are still supporting capitalism even if in name only. The product is almost synonymous with pursuing a social cache rather than just useful and mundane functionality.
That sounds like a hard position to defend. I would love to hear what car you have.
A decade + old Honda bought used with 100k+ miles on it. There’s no social cache with that old car.
You did say new or used isn’t a deciding factor. Correct me if I’m wrong, butIt really sounded like you didn’t care how old the laptop was. A car is one of the biggest status symbols in modern society and I’d argue that my airpods on the bus laugh at your CR-V on the freeway thinking you’re the better socialist. (Sarcasm by the way, my real position is that judging people by their possessions is the real capitalist kool-aid and you’re drinking it just as much by buying into the Idea that certain brands put you on “the other team”. Also I’m the worst socialist, I can’t defend my consumerism in any area except transportation)
You’ve removed choice from the discussion when that was the point I was trying to make. The meme specified someone choosing expensive cache items and slapping an AnCap sticker on it, the point being some form of hypocrisy. My point is one has a choice to buy a trendy expensive item or a cheaper just as functional item, used or new is irrelevant. My judgment is based on what we’re discussing in this meme with the context it was presented, and it’s disingenuous for you to arbitrarily remove that context of that discussion and accuse me of drinking kool aid.
That’s not an AnCap (anarcho-capitalism) sticker it’s an anti-capitalisim sticker, but it’s obvious you knew that and just mixed up the acronyms so forgive me for being pedantic but it is important for the point I wanted to make. I don’t want you to think I forgot the context of the meme, but you shouldn’t forget the context of your comment. You have said directly that any apple product, new or used, with an anti-capitalist sticker on it would indicate hypocrisy by the owner. I said that would be a hard position to defend, and then got you to say that your car isn’t an example of hypocrisy using the fact that it’s used as support. I think that’s a solid hit on my point that your argument is difficult to defend because for some reason you get that defense and she doesn’t
On the totally separate personal values-driven argument in the context of the meme, anti-capitalist doesn’t mean “responsible and frugal capitalism”. It means anti-capitalism, and while sure, there’s probably some hypocrisy there, the idea that the brand you pick says something about you is absolutely not one of the points they as a movement are making. For hypocrisy you have to show them saying one thing and doing a contrary one. To say that certain specific brands aren’t acceptable for people against capitalism is a misunderstand of anti-capitalisim. They all get nationalized and you’re still allowed to have cool shit in Star Trek.
If you buy any product, you are supporting Capitalism. There’s very few ways to not support Capitalism at all, especially with regards to tech.