this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
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Today I Learned (TIL)

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cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4199810

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[–] [email protected] 114 points 7 months ago (5 children)

This infuriates me.

I would actually love to do more to REDUCE my carbon footprint, but it's prohibitively expensive to.

But billionaires (and millionaires) can literally greenify every aspect of their lives, even be carbon-neutral or carbon negative! But they choose not to.

I think taxing the rich just isn't enough. We need to CAP the rich. There should be no billionaires.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 7 months ago (3 children)

They can spend millions trying to reduce everyone’s carbon footprints. Like literally they can lobby for trains and shit. But no they won’t.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Its designed to infuriate you. This is not personal emissions of billionaires, its including their businesses.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

brother, that doesn't make it any better. these pieces of shit can do more pollution in 90 minutes than any of us will in a life time since it's for their business? the one which is such a massive operation of exploitation and extraction that it earns them billions of illbegotten dollars, which is why they're being talked about to begin with?

"this infuriating shit was designed to infuriate you, don't be infuriated, just accept it instead!"

this is the same stupid shit argument as "um bezos can't pay more taxes bc he doesn't actually have all the money his networth implies, that's not how networth works" as if people mad at jeff bezos or any of these other worthless rich parasites don't know that, as if we need someone like you to explain some stupid shit to us

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

A billionaire is a business themselves. One person can't even passively possess a billion dollars without tons of support staff

If you separate the direct actions of the person from the actions of the staff required to maintain and grow their wealth, you're missing most of the reason why billionaires are so harmful to society

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Either we need the figures to represent a billionaires emissions when dealing only with their personal benefit, or we offset the current figures with the benefit to society for their ventures.

Im sure their personal emissions are bad enough. We dont need to make shit up. If willful ignornace had a physical form, it would be Lemmy's mascot. Truth is the only thing that matters.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

But again, it's all for their personal benefit. A human Their money is managed to grow by any means, and that has a lot of knock on effects

They generally either put their money in funds with the highest returns (which often use unethical and illegal but accepted practices, and the best ones require large minimum deposits), or they directly own large percentages of a company and use that influence when it suits them

I see where you're coming from, but I think the line is blurry. Their direct personal actions don't capture the full extent of their actions, but this also assumes full responsibility for their ownership, where honestly it's impossible to know what level of emissions the companies would have if the billionaire's wealth machine wasn't involved

I wouldn't say this is totally unfair to say though - at the end of the day they own what they own, and letting others do your dirty work doesn't absolve you of responsibility

The fact that their life would barely be affected if they added emissions to their criteria for investment makes this worse - these are the figures the billionaires should be looking at to make decisions

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (3 children)

The line isn't blurry, it's disingenuous. Those companies hire thousands of people. They serve millions of people. Otherwise advocating against billionaires using this argument means you automatically argue against any modern solution to a problem. No stores, no supply chain, no agricultute, no medicine. Hell, you can't even go for earlier periods - Genghis Khan was a billionaire and deserves flak for the gazillion horses his army used which contributed to climate change.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

yeah we do need to bust a cap in the rich, i agree

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Carefully Autopsy their Person?
Sounds good.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Please don’t use this as an excuse for. “It doesn’t matter how much I emit then”.

Use this as motivation for grassroots and political action aiming to stop the concept of billionaire from existing.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I think I just found out I can reverse my entire life's footprint if I can manage to blow smoke in one billionaire's face.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Probably two lives, given their security will likely shoot you in the face.

ACAB.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

... billionaires' security are not cops

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

True, there's no masking in private security.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Well they both use the threat of violence to reinforce the status quo. So in my mind they are effectively the same.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I feel like that's missing the point of ACAB.

The problem with cops is that there are good cops who generally behave well and genuinely want to serve and protect their communities. The reason they're still bastards is because of the unions that they keep (and support). They have some bad apples, and not removing them from the bunch means the bunch gets spoiled.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

The problem with cops is that there are good cops who ~~generally behave well and genuinely want to serve and protect their communities~~ do not report bad cops.

They are law enforcement, enforce the law. No exceptions.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

Yes, I agree completely. I was just explaining that it's not ACAB because literally all cops are out there getting away with extrajudicial beatings. It's ACAB because they don't throw out the bad apples (aka. don't report bad cops)

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

Fuck yeah! You get it.

I'm glad you addressed this. As soon as I read the title of the post, I knew there would be people who use it as an excuse not to try to do what they can to reduce their negative affects. Which is so incredibly frustrating. Every! Little! Bit! Counts!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Also I doubt anyone in this comment section is average.

The average sits somewhere between us and the all the people in third world country who emit practically no carbon pollution

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

The only way to stop it is when we're hungry enough, and it's time to eat.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago (1 children)

There is no such thing as an innocent billionaire.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (5 children)

There are no innocent millionaires. The threshold of wealth that requires some seriously unethical behaviour is pretty low.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

What do you count as innocent? Like doesn't use products made in factories with human rights violations? I'm never gonna hit a million, but economists are saying we all need to have a Mil or three in order to retire? I know a couple million airs who seem like normal people, they're just business owners?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (5 children)

I mean there is no way to goss a million a year without directly and knowingly exploiting people on a daily basis.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Millionaire refers to total wealth or cash on hand, not annual salary. Someone making $1M a year is probably worth $100M+ if they own stocks and may be well on their way to billionaire.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

You need to be a millionaire to comfortably retire so...

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 months ago

Damn, thank god we killed plastic straws for people with sensitive mouth problems. Thank god Musk can ride his jet 24/7.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)

For perspective, that's over 400,000x as much. As in 40,000,000%.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

When no one was looking, Lex Luthor polluted forty million percent more than an average person. He polluted 40,000,000% more. That's as many as four tens (times a million)%. And that's terrible.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

wow they must be breathing really hard then

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Of course... Work hard, breath hard... A million times harder than you or me, based on income.. /s

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

At some point, things are gonna get bad enough that the masses will turn on them. That’s why they’re all buying islands and building bunkers. We should do it now, while it can make a difference.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Allowing to self exile to islands will make it easier to trap them. Simply destroy their means of leaving.

Bunkers are even easier, burying them in trash.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

But I'm the asshole for not using the public transportation my city doesn't have. Anyway, I need to get to the grocery store I should start walking now so I can be there before it closes in 2 hours.

[–] RamblingPanda 3 points 7 months ago

Don't worry, I got this. I went to the shop by foot today instead of driving.

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