@lotus42 @ashfurrow that implies that they're helpless to change their circumstances, which is provably false. I don't really appreciate hearing people bitch and moan about their situation when changing it is entirely within their control. Yes, you may have a job now which uses proprietary software, but there are literally thousands of other jobs.
@sir @lotus42@mastodon.technology @ashfurrow@mastodon.technology Don't use proprietary software, go work for a more ethical company and don't use plastic straws are no different to me.
As Ben Shapiro put it "That's a you problem". It's true, closed software sucks, but we ought not get angry at each other for not being the best consumers. We should instead be angry at producers for making this mess in the first place.
Yes, we can improve our circumstances, but only in unison.
@alexesc @lotus42 @ashfurrow can we not appeal to Ben Shapiro though
@sir @lotus42@mastodon.technology @ashfurrow@mastodon.technology Yeah my use of Ben's quote is purposely inflammatory. But I think its appropriate because online FOSS activists sometimes say the same argument as conservatives.
"Its a you problem" and "You can't fix the entire world but you can fix yourself" come to mind, quotes from Ben and Jordan Peterson respectively.
IMO Foss as a movement is leftist at best but reactionary at wrost.
@sir @lotus42@mastodon.technology @ashfurrow@mastodon.technology Yep, the makers of digital injustice are sure to blame for. I think the word "users" is partly to blame, it frames us consumers as using the product. But we're not users, we're the ones being used to inflate their shareholder's fantasies.
I think the makers are to blame for to the extent that they are not makers but digital slave owners. I genuinely think it's that bad.
@alexesc @lotus42 @ashfurrow thanks for that, thought provoking for sure. I think it still leaves room to be less forgiving of people who *write* proprietary software, though, especially explicitly user-hostile stuff like DRM or tracking.