#wizardpirate

[revretch]

wizardpirate reblogged your photo:Walter has taken to sitting in Jonathan’s beanbag...

I for one look forward to Walter’s articles. “Bread: spooky?”

Jonathan *is* doing a review series about spooky bread. I wonder....

[bogleech]

Also, the people who demand proof for little stuff are often the people who say it never mattered when you actually give it to them. They try to shame you for caring enough to go get the source for something.

Yeah I’ve seldom encountered someone who really wanted to be taught something anyway, unless the entire conversation was a friendly one about just a “fun” topic, like animals.If it’s a difference in belief or opinion, it’s always hopeless.

[slowspinningredemption]

That person is very misinformed. In terms of sheer human misery, clothing is the most evil industry. Farming as a whole is pretty bad, especially for the people who raise chickens, but it pales in comparison to clothing sweat shops that produce basically everything.

oh yeah, definitely. personally I don’t think their points are any less valid because other industries might be objectively worse – after all, ideally I’d like all mistreatment and exploitation to stop – but you raise a point that illustrates something that’s important to remember, and that’s the fact that with this in mind, none of us are ideologically pure. to stop all this and root it out from all the corners of society it’s crawled into, we need to work together and change the entire system. 

not buying Apple phones, going vegan, and avoiding companies that outsource their clothing is good for putting your money where your mouth is, but a) it’s not possible for everyone and b) in the large scheme of things it does nothing to change the initial problem. it’s simply treating the symptom of the disease. ideally we should be able to have everything we need and be able to enjoy things without hurting anyone to get it, but the idea is to change the entire system so this is possible, not guilt people into giving up what’s essentially a small piece of a massive and evil machine.

[slowspinningredemption]

About that Wendy's thing, it is honestly terrifying that we have all started to humanize companies the way we do.

oh yeah, without a doubt. it sucks, because some of the twitter threads I've seen have been pretty humorous and it's a shame that they're not what they seem. it's annoying and frustrating to see something that at first glance is harmless fun, but deep down is just another shallow marketing scheme. they don't want to make us laugh; they just want to establish a "cool", "hip" relationship with millenials to try and tap into that brand loyalty we all lack.

it's disturbing because like I said, a huge part of today's societal issues are because big companies are treated too much like individuals. we can't humanise companies and act like they're their own solid personality. they are businesses that exist first and foremost to create money, and often, they do so through terrible treatment of their workers, and exploitation of the poor. when we reblog or retweet their light-hearted jokes and bickering between other companies, we're essentially saying we're willing to overlook these facts because they made us laugh.

[slowspinningredemption]

I love that bill gates give in their name. Great guy. Richest guy gives more than anyone else. That's how it should be

exactly! Bill Gates always gives amazing gifts for Reddit Secret Santa and honestly he’s so thoughtful about them too? it’s not just big flashy gifts, he goes through the person’s post history and gets things they’re interested in/passionate about. 

this year the lady who he got was big into cat welfare; she wants to open up a no kill shelter and obviously adores cats, so Bill Gates got her a bunch of cute cat stuff like a massive 30lb Pusheen, a commissioned cross stitch of him and her and her cats, and made a load of donations in her name to cat welfare charities and shelters. I wish every rich person was more like him tbh like it wouldn’t solve the problems but it would at least restore my faith in humanity a little bit.

[slowspinningredemption]

Yeah, I really agree that searching for ideological purity is really just distracting from actual issues

truly tbh. when it comes to socialism specifically, my boyfriend and I have a running joke/“joke” that when everyone is classless and equal, ideological purity is the only way for assholes to feel better than everyone.

[slowspinningredemption]

Hey, I'm trying to read different books, do you have any recommendations? Right now I almost exclusively read fantasy books and I'm trying to get a bit more variety. You seem to have decent taste in books.

thank you! I have… so many books that I’d recommend tbh, so to make this more concise I would say there’s lots on my previously read page to choose from!

if I had to choose just a few from there though I would recommend A Perfect Spy, The Secret History, and Cloud Atlas.