falcunculus

You don't need a selfie there, just use the Gimp.

Lol this is brillant

I wonder the same, my theory is that this gesture is used both as a loyalty test and a way to further polarize society.

Making this gesture draws clear lines in society: those who say it was fine, those who say it wasn't, those who don't take a stance (ie the media calling it a "controversial gesture" or similar). So Musk & al now have a clearer idea of who stand where. It also cleaves those "for" and those "against" further away, solidifying their base.

Another explanation is this is part of the normalization of extreme rethoric and symbols. I doubt he could have gotten away with it ten years ago; who knows what they'll be able to do and say in 2035?

Yet another possibility, he did it on a whim and the neo-nazis like Bannon are now seizing the opportunity. It's unclear how planned this was and how intentional the consequences were.

(And all might be true at once)

Just curious, do you get 10¢ for every metaphor you write or something?

I certainly could have made myself clearer to begin with.

It is your opinion town centres are dying from not enough parking space?

This used to be the mainstream opinion back in the sixties, but nowadays basically any "revitalisation" programme will be removing asphalt, because small business health has been shown to be correlated with how well connected the area is to public transport, and how pleasant it is to loiter in.

The way I read it, this post complains about "wokization" more than enshittification.

Else why would it point out "African or Indian last names", reviews using the word "brave", or "books about Trump gathering dust"? Those are all right-wing memes.

This greentext is literally just right-wingers convincing each other their already-held stereotypes are true.

You seem to be getting emotional over a joke cartoon and your own preconceptions.

The truth is everyone around the world sucks about the same, and drawing broad generalities about millions based on memes and confirmation bias is ill-advised.

Agree with all your points, but I think our world being bigger and more interconnected does blunt strikes: not only are corporations bigger and have better access to capital (helping wait out the strike), but also alternatives are more readily available if a worker stops producing.

What I mean is back in the day if the coal mine stopped then all local industry, heating, cooking, etc. would stop, so there would be immense social pressure on ending the strike. But nowadays downstream consumers would just switch to an other source. In fact it is an argument often used: "if the local steel mill workers strike, they'll just close it down and move production to China, and they'll be worse off".

Also police and media handling of strikes is much smarter, the media is more effective at vilifying them and police riot control can effectively disperse them without so much violence that it would only increase anger and make public opinion sympathetic, like would happen a century ago when policemen would open fire instead of using rubber bullets, CS gas, water cannons and such.

I'm not saying strikes didn't bring results, only that today they are less useful than they used to be. (perhaps largely as a result of their past effectiveness)

What will a million peaceful demonstrators achieve? Mostly nothing, or at best the lukewarming of a controversial law. Nowadays demonstrations are means of expression more than action, useful as a morale boost and social gathering for the movement mostly.

Over the past century and a half, capital has largely defanged demonstrations and strikes. Just because it worked a century ago doesn't mean it is relevant today (and even then it was insufficient, given we still live in capitalism).

My city hosts a number of cruise ships, and it was explained to me they can't be connected to the city grid, so they instead keep their diesel engines running the entire time.

It's a local air quality issue, and the bigger the ship the more it pollutes locally, even though it might be more efficient on a global level.