I used to (and sometimes relapse) struggle a lot with always wanting to be liked by everyone. Like, to a really bad extent. A huge bunch of reasons for it, too, and just as many if not more reasons as to why that effort didn’t work out (and instead got me very disliked).

To speak anecdotally… As I’ve gotten older (and I mean legitimately older, not just “internet older”), I’ve had to accept the bitter truth that I can’t just ask to sit at every one else’s table all the time. I didn’t ask for my existence to be approved by other people. Instead, I’ve had to adopt the mindset of setting up my own table and being strict about who I allow to sit with me. It gets easier as you get older, not to assume too much here. Just… IDK a lot of the time this kind of worry stems from people who are younger.

You are you (and that’s the most awesome thing you can be regardless and including of everything that entails), and people are going to have to take it or leave it. The trash takes itself out at that point. The important thing is not letting this be an excuse to not look inwards and try to heal what can be healed. Many have used this logic to instead eternally cope rather than working with what they have going on.

IDK. I know this is almost a week after you posted this. So for all I know you probably feel different now than you did last week. But I was crawling around and saw this thread, and still figured maybe it would be worthwhile to say something. Thread sounds a lot like the Thought Cabinet in Disco Elysium, when Harry Du Bois thinks over communism.

“0.000% of Communism has been built. Evil child-murdering billionaires still rule the world with a shit-eating grin. All he has managed to do is make himself sad. He is starting to suspect Kras Mazov fucked him over personally with his socio-economic theory. It has, however, made him into a very, very smart boy with something like a university degree in Truth. Instead of building Communism, he now builds a precise model of this grotesque, duplicitous world.”

The existential, and frankly eldritch, horror of fighting against capitalism is a very real and understandable thing. You’re not alone, you are seen, and you are one of many who are building the precise model of this grotesque, duplicitous world for the sake of reverse-engineering and reconstruction. Just, not everyone who is doing so are doing so super publicly, or in spaces we necessarily inhabit. I could ramble on and on and on, in fact I had to cut what I typed here down to about half of what I wrote for the sake of not being uh, overwhelming.

Oh, well uh, thank you! Sometimes it’s hard not to feel like I’m typing like Strong Bad in one of those Spemail episodes of Homestar Runner. Do you know what model typewriter you got?! That sounds exciting!

I mentioned in another comment, it’s a 1960s Brother typewriter! :) So uh, pretty old I guess! I’m not really a super expert, mind, but it’s definitely a piece of hardware that’s much older than I am!

My husband says congrats on your vintage find! :) Have you been enjoying it?

As the other user said, yes, there is a whiteout ribbon. I’m pointing at the lever that lets you pick between the three selections here in this photo!

What I aim to do with the third reel, eventually, is to ink my own ribbon with a rainbow pattern. :3 That way we have Business Color, we have Oops I Kinda Screwed Up, and Whimsy

Edit: For those curious, this is a Brother Charger 11 from 1962. We (my partner and I) wanted an all-mechanical model specifically, and we got ours from someone on Ebay. :)

I think we have to observe what is actively happening in real time if we are to apply our science to the current time. Otherwise, we won’t be able to form strategy or adapt tactics appropriately.

Simply put, it does matter! But it matters in the sense that people in general (not just socialists) are aware that something is very very wrong and that something has to be done about it. People aren’t widely aware that there even is an alternative to capitalism (according to my talks with today’s youth, the common belief is that there will just be collapse or total annihilation…a lot of them don’t even know what communism actually is), and if they are they’re programmed to immediately identify certain shibboleths that socialists and communists use (as I’ve noted with my conversations with people older than myself who believe that this is “just how it is” and shrug, or the youth who are funneled the mental equivalent of hydrochloric acid directly into their brains by said older people). Right now is a key point in time to start actually trying to educate people in earnest, as now people’s minds are more open to “something has to change”.

Cuz everyone knows. It’s only getting more expensive to live. We all, regardless of where we are on the political map, have to stare at the same ridiculous fuel prices and the same equally ridiculous posts being made on Twitter/X that all sound exactly like the very things once only said in satire. Denial isn’t working like it used to; we can and should take advantage of this!

Only no backspace out of technicality. :) There is a backspace key, I just don’t have any whiteout to use with it. So uh, using that key just makes things mush together. You can see that on the page, actually! I make that exact mistake multiple times. x) Def its own skill ceiling though!

I think this analysis is pretty spot on, especially when considering what Capitalism itself means and how it evaluates things. A car is a form of “durable asset” much like a home is. And, in fact, I think this is the way Capitalism was intended to work from the get go when it asserts that the labor is being done by the tool rather than by the person operating the tool, and therefore by the “owner” of the tool. The Uber driver example works very well, and we can probably apply this to things like an AirBnB too! It’s not about the driver or the home owner doing the work, it’s about the car or the house doing the required work that their owner happens to be supplying for the job. There are a lot of “bring your own equipment/device” jobs like this that we can apply this to, in fact. Field technician jobs, long haul freight, even working at home can be considered under this exercise.

It’s overall a good display of how Capitalism kind of works around people rather than with people, and in my opinion it’s a good pathway to get people to understand what needs to fundamentally change. Capitalism working around people, instead of with, insinuates that the person doing the job is irrelevant. They are just a part of the machine that makes the machine do the work at that point, and if the value is being put on the device doing the job rather than the worker… then it explains the heavy emphasis on automation. Removing the pesky worker from the system so that the work can still be done is a logical thing for a Capitalist to pursue.

We can turn that upside-down, though!

A co-op is a good short-term tactic to use to work against this, and it can do good to assert “we don’t need these middle-step companies that take our money”. This is actually a super great start, and a good step to slowly acclimate people away from the reliance on things like Lyft or Uber.

But my mind drifts towards long-term, since our movement must focus on a long term in order for these tactics to amount to much.

In the long term, would it not be better for the State to supply the vehicle for a driver to drive? A bus comes to mind immediately. The State supplying the bus is responsible for the maintenance of this bus, for outlining what the route is, and for making sure that the route is safe and efficient for the worker operating it as much as it is meant to be for the passengers. The State is responsible for making sure the bus is accessible to wheelchairs, and for those who are hard of hearing or struggle to read the signs or can’t see at all. Of course, a bus is very different from a specialized cab or taxi! And in truth there will probably still be some use for that kind of specialized service… but why not make that service the State’s responsiblity too? If for some reason a bus isn’t suitable to a person’s needs, then ideally a State should be able to see to this need accordingly.

In a State such as this, Uber just… wouldn’t be a thing, would it? It wouldn’t need to be. The State already does this. And if The People, the Workers, are the ones that run this State, then it’s at its simplest… workers working for workers. Working with the State against capital, rather than working against the state. Which, if my memory is right, are exact words said in the linked video in the original post. :)

I know this was long, but I didn’t want to JUST be like “yeah that’s a good analysis!” I also wanted to tackle the question of how to end the exploitation. And it seems to me the answer to end gig worker exploitation is the same as anywhere else: seize the means by which a gig is carried out, and remove the private capital from the equation.

I can even apply all of this to concert performance and sports competition, but this response is long enough as it is and I have some uh, doubts that anyone is gonna read all of what I’ve typed out! x)

Focus on your immediate surroundings and use your knowledge of theory to subtly drop hints to people around you. Take advantage of the spaces you are forced to cohabitate with people to get the discussions going. Get people thinking and asking questions themselves. “What is all of this for?” in the break room at work. “I don’t feel like this is really giving me much helpful information for later in life, shouldn’t we be thinking and learning about this other thing instead?” in the school lunch room. “It would be kind of nice to be able to take a bus if my car breaks down, don’t you agree?” Talking to people on their level is key, and anyone can learn how to do this.

When I was working as a volunteer with Standards Not Force, something we were encouraged to do was something called “Gift Giving Mondays”. Where people were meant to do something small, the example Dr. Dillard gave was a gift card for neighbors that basically said something along the lines of “Hello neighbor, I hope this finds you well and I hope you have a great week. You are loved, you are seen, please remember that”. And the idea behind this gesture was to start cultivating a community back into neighborhoods be it suburban, rural or urban. I have since stopped working with them, but the practice I carry on into my own org as it stuck with me enough. It does work. This in itself may seem silly and small, but in fact nurturing your community into an interconnected health instead of the hyper-individualistic nature so many are in is in fact one the most important first steps to a revolution. This works in tandem with my previous paragraph to start unlearning the capitalist programming in people, without the use of the scary buzzwords that set people off. These two notes are key to any successful movement, and they are so easy that you can do these things from your very own living room.

When you focus on the area you can immediately influence, you may find yourself more powerful than you think. From there, once you get enough support, you can start talking about how you as a community can host a community center if your community lacks one. It’s all about seeing to people’s needs in your area. Giving a safety net where people obviously are truly lacking. Giving relief from the parasitic system that oppresses us now is how we give people the energy to start working together for a better tomorrow.

Edit: I know this is long, I kind of just got carried away! Hopefully this is helpful to anyone that wants to start making a difference in more than just posts on the internet. :) I’m of the belief that the sooner we abandon the internet for our cause, the better. We are surveilled here, after all, and the first rule of security culture is to be wary of any and all electronic communications. The internet is full of a lot of noise and pollution, trying to organize on it is like trying to set up a meetup in a mosh pit. Sure, you can probably do it, but most of the time there’s so much noise and bumping around that you’re more likely to drop your phone! Hence my focus on the local and in-person stuff a person can do!

Oh! Universal disarmament, when you say that do you mean globally? If so, what do you think the enforcement of the dictatorship of the proletariat would look like instead? Hopefully my questions don’t come across as nitpicking, I just like hearing the thought process behind what people have to say! :)

Unfortunately it’s to be expected, fascism tends to prey on the vulnerable and the isolated! It’s what the entirety of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” is about, in fact. It’s understandable why some people would pick it up, they’re told it would ease their pain and get them on their feet again. That’s where it’s our job to help them see it, and to give the support necessary for the trap to stop working.

I like this perspective the most! A lot of people CAN think about these things more critically and in-depth, the main thing is in letting people feel like they’ve figured it out on their own. The good ol’ Socratic method of teaching! :) Applies to inspiring people to action just as much as it does learning a song or algebra!