This isn’t a fucking meme. It’s a great quote, but doesn’t belong here.
Almost no modern “memes” are actually memes anymore.
What do you think a meme is?
How isn’t it a meme? It’s an idea that’s been repeated and passed through many people, surviving in its distilled but still exploitable form.
So, I looked up the term on Wikipedia. It sais: “An Internet meme, or meme ([/miːm/], [MEEM]), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through social media platforms]. Internet memes manifest in a variety of formats, including images, videos, GIFs], and other viral content. Key characteristics of memes include their tendency to be parodied, their use of intertextuality, their viral dissemination, and their continual evolution. The term meme was originally introduced by Richard Dawkins in 1972 to describe the concept of cultural transmission.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme
I’ll let you be the judge of whether this fits that definition or not. (And whether it’s worth your time arguing about something being a meme).
mods, MOOODS! take’m otta here 🏃♂️🚨👮♀️👮♂️
Sometimes people will only see things through certain avenues. In this case, a not-so-accurate category.
“I know, but I wanted people to see it”
This type of behaviour is bannable on platforms with functioning moderation
Thank god this place doesnt have functioning “moderation”. The fediverse is literally the last place on earth where billinaires dont tell you what to do.
Moderation is not bad in itself, it is curating of content to keep topics on track and quality above a certain limit. It has absolutely nothing to do with billionaires or their desires. A lot of subs on different instances are really shitty because of lacking moderation. Leaving subs completely unmoderated is a recipe for a disaster shitpile.
The good old forum days also had a lot of moderation to keep them from turning to shit.
Nuance. As you can see in my comment, i wrote it “moderation” which is supposed to mean the form of moderation that antisocial media is up to.
Nothing in the other persons comment suggests that type of moderation though
That one is called context. The commenter rants about in their eyes unfitting content would be removed if this place had functioning moderation. This is figuratively the exact opposite what lemmy is about.
(User was born after the last BB forum was shut down)
Guess what? This user has been avidly online since the BBS days and really … posters such as yourself were very annoying back then, too.
Language changes. “Meme” used to mean an idea that has taken hold and become part of culture. Now it’s any composition of images and/or words posted online.
Yeah, maybe. It certainly is a tragedy. I miss it when memes were just dumb shit which a person with an inane, absurdist sense of humor could appreciate. Politics are everywhere now.
poltiical memes are the original memes lol
For a time I lived awakened by the birds and a purring kittty and the golden dawn.
I would evacuate and then make a pot of French press and sit and and enjoy a cigarette and caffeine while my kitty and I watched hummingbirds flit among them flowers.
I would sleep when my work was done and I was tired. I’d bathe before bed and curl up with the kitty purring at my feet.
Minutes are a human construct. Rebel against them.
Cool. How’d you monetize this, exactly, and how well did it pay?
Magic and pushing buttons in the right order.
The order is the fiddly bit
Sounds absolutely lovely, alas unsustainable in the current world and at least my current region.
Yes, people are the worst.
I have never been more motivated by the complete absence of a social safety-net, than each day I have spent unemployed.
As Americans, perhaps we behave this way largely to do normalization and indoctrination. And maybe some are tacitly aware of the fragility of this arrangement. But for those of us that have stared into the financial and classist chasm that sits beneath us all, it vastly exceeds any unease you might feel from not keeping up with your peers.
My state has stripped unemployment down to 12 weeks, after that went by after my layoff at Christmas, I got so desperate and depressed and a little bit crazy. As the day is ticked closer to my first missed mortgage payment and car payment, And the thought of homelessness for me and my animals became a sobering reality, I started taking every interview I could possibly find, no preparation, just winging it until something worked.
During that whole process, I saw what the endgame is, we are slaves, but there is no slave master anymore, we do that part ourselves to avoid dying on the street.
So I am very motivated to start my own niche company and get the fuck away from this whole system at this point. Especially since I will have to work until I die, 401ks have all been cashed out during crises.
My endgame is to pull the rug on the whole thing by offering, in a capricious way, something better
My condolences on both the awful realizations and the exhaustion of your retirement funds. I feel you on the self-incorporation front. That one keeps coming up for me, especially when times are tough.
Yeah turns out usa didn’t reinvent the wheel super good or something. You have all been scammed under the pretense of liberty.
Now go fix it.
6:30 am? In my city, the streets are already packed with working class people at 6:00 am.
Starting work at 6am? Luxury! In my day we started our day’s work the day before, and didn’t finish until two days after!
Sarcasm is kind of offensive in some situations. My point is there are people who start their working hours at 7:00 am, but there are cities so big and chaotic that is not rare people need over an hour to get to their workplaces. Millions of people can’t wake up as late as 6:30 am. It’s a privilege.
Ah, thank you. Wasn’t quite clear it was a quote from the Month Pythons, no less.
In my burb, workers have to race to the bus, in order to get their bikes into one of two racks.
We never got rid of slavery, we just made them responsible for their own food and housing.
That’s quite disrespectful to compare what we have today to actual slavery.
That exact response prevents us from properly evaluating our situation.
Wage slavery is slavery
yes, not every slavery, even historically, has been chattel slavery
It’s slavery with gaming qualities and objectives, like kids at a summer camp. Maybe if I get a few more tokens, I can buy a tshirt.
Hmmmm. Sounds like something UBI could solve.
Except there are a lot of people who believe that the homelessness and suffering is natural, correct, and deserved.
Maybe in America, but in most other places homelessness isn’t demonised nearly as much (also America is probably the only place that will make you homeless if you get seriously ill).
I think somewhere in the Nordic states, they’ve trialled UBI in an area and I think with success.
Edit: So the results are a mixed bag, as you would expect, but generally people were much happier with UBI.
Right up until the point it happens to them.
Those people:
Easy. Money. Pay me well and I’ll do it.
Best we can do is $3.50.
What do you MEAN no??? People just don’t want to work these days!!!
We need to do something about that. We’ve built this neat “factility” here where you will “live” so you stop breaking the law. Yes, you will have to work there and your windows have bars. What do you mean forced labour? You broke the law by not working!
90% of this is just good hygiene.
A lot of people skip the fighting traffic part of their hygiene routines and it shows smh
It’s not about being forced to do all that, it’s about being forced to do all that so early in the morning in such a rush when most people would rather be sleeping. I hate mornings when I am at the office, but the WFH days are infinitely better because I get a lot more sleep and get to move at my own pace and do things at my convenience. I still have breakfast and brush my teeth, I just don’t have to do everything in 30 minutes.
we live in a culture where the value of your life is measured by how much money you have
we live in a culture where the value of your life is measured by how much money you
havecan make for your ownerCalvin Candie: Your boss looks a little green around the gills.
Django: He just ain’t used to seein’ a man ripped apart by dogs is all.
Calvin Candie: But you are used to it?
Django: I’m just a little more used to Americans than he is.
Ain’t that the truth.
Imagine life as a video game where you must find the way through a maze, discover keys and find treasures in order to win.
For example, you must find a way to sustain yourself (a maze), find the key to health (power) and avoid the beasts (corporate control).
People spend thousands of hours playing all sorts of games but neglect to properly play the game of life, instead they accept what they are offered by the power players.The difference is that in video games there are rules that you have to follow and you’re actually allowed to win.
Real life the winners already won and wrote the rules
The cheat code is unionization.
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
— Buckminster Fuller
Wildcat strikes. Unions can be infiltrated.
Shit game, I’m gonna hit reset.
This has triggered a vague memory of a joke by someone (I think Douglas Adams?). But I can’t remember the full quote so putting this out there in case someone knows it.
Basically humanity was smarter than other animals because we didn’t adapt ourselves to the environment, but adapted the environment to suit us. So now instead of having to adapt we just have to… wake up at 6:45 am when the alarm goes off, drive to work at 7 30 am etc.
Does anyone know it or was I having some kind of fever dream?
I think this is in the movie “The gods must be crazy” : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_Must_Be_Crazy
That’s it! Thank you, that was really bugging me. No idea why I thought it was Douglas Adams 🤦♂️
But if you do all this self employed its suddenly fine?
If you do it because you do it for yourself (and presumably want to), it’s much better, yes.
If you are self employed, why are you making lots of money for somebody else?
Person you replied to is drunk on the Kool aid, explaining what they couldn’t see in the first place won’t help.
there is no ethical consumption
because you also make money for yourself
which allows you to buy things
and not live off the state
you are also (given the motivation) also capable of working your way up the chain and making more money for yourself which allows you to put it towards not working at all and still not living off the state
“Spend less than you earn—invest the surplus—avoid debt. Do simply this and you’ll wind up rich.”[7]
It’s a good thing that separation of corp and state is an inherent part of wage slavery.
Could you imagine if you thought you were making an honest living parasitising some poor business owner with your wages only to find out you were actually living off the state the whole time?
Embarrassing.
I would recommend people opt out of consumerism as much as possible and focus on sustainable living.
Don’t chase the carrot needlessly.
Yeah agreed, I’ve always tried to follow minimalist living:
Q: What is minimalist living?
A: It’s simply getting rid of things you do not use or need, leaving an uncluttered, simple environment and an uncluttered, simple life. It’s living without an obsession with material things or an obsession with doing everything and doing too much. It’s using simple tools, having a simple wardrobe, carrying little and living lightly.
Agreed. Reading and learning about Indigenous / precivilization world views can also help achieve this in a more holistic way. One thing that the Western / dominant world view only sparingly concerns itself with is sustainability. If we all thought about sustainable living as much as we did keeping up with the Joneses, I’d imagine many people would be happier, healthier and more fulfilled (compared to living a life serving capital).
Complete misunderstanding and delusion of how capitalism functions
Care to elaborate on your understanding and reality of how capitalism functions?
The whole point of capitalism is voluntary monarchy. Where peasants have to waste their time doing random things to extract productivity from other peasants for the benefit of the select few. And when things go bad for the business, guess who is not getting made redundant?
who doesn’t get made redundant?
People making company driving decisions, aka CEOs
ceos lose their jobs all the time
This year has seen significant changes in CEO turnover. In the first quarter alone of 2024, outplacement and career transitioning firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that 622 chief executives announced their resignations. This represents a 50% increase compared to the first quarter of 2023, which was already a record year for CEO exits.
The surge in departures seen earlier this year can be attributed to the evolving business landscape, retirement of Baby Boomers and increased pressure on CEOs to navigate complex issues, including inflation, supply chain disruptions, and environmental, social and governance concerns.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2024/08/19/ceos-facing-job-insecurity-like-workers/
Drop in the ocean, Microsoft alone is letting go of 6,000 people https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-layoffs-d1f2de54ebad6f099deac8fbd3375835
CEOs packages mean they don’t need to worry about actually how to pay their rent/mortgage. What do workers get? Few months severance for decade of work. Wake up and see the numbers.
Please read actual books. It helps understanding why that is untrue.
Here’s a lengthy book presentation from a german institute (in english). Its not as harsh as i would have written it but its a start.
The answer is maturity. Structure does not hurt if it is chosen voluntarily. It feels good to do things exactly as intended.
Waking up at 6:30 doesn’t hurt if sleep started early and without being drunk.
The big tragedy is that society does everything to keep as many people as possible in a state of disarray. People to whom life is as described above don’t have the will to leave bad employment situations behind.
Well, nothing is that simple, in fact one of the biggest problems in society is that each of us has their own biological clock, with preferred activity and sleep hours, yet we are forced to align our schedules to the same universal standard. Of course, it is absolutely vital for the way our current society functions (because we, as a society, work together, take classes together, commute together, socialise together, celebrate together, and so on), but it definitely has been hurting billions of people for the past thousands of years and we should look for a way to eliminate this system as soon as possible.
It’s one vote away. Every bigger city can have one school for early birds and one for night owls. Then parents can start work whenever they want. For that, companies can have flexible starting times. If they work in shifts, allow people to trade shifts so that some do all the early and some do all the late shifts.
Without artificial light, there were no sleep problems because more than enough hours were darkness. People took breaks from sleep.
by an alarm clock,
Sounds like a personal choice. Im up before 630 every day without an alarm clock. Try going to bed earlier?
leap out of bed,
Or just, get out of bed. Like every person on the planet.
dress,
Would you rather be nude?
force-feed,
You mean eat? Somebody forcing you? Youre bitching about breakfast?
shit, piss, brush teeth and hair,
If pooping/peeing are upsetting to you, you have bigger issues.
and fight traffic to get to a place where
Why fight the traffic? You are the traffic. Fighting it is a personal choice.
essentially you made lots of money for somebody else
Your company is successful, is that a problem? You’re getting paid too, right?
and were asked to be grateful for the opportunity to do so?
Who’s asking/telling you how to feel about it?
Dude needs therapy
Y’all are missing the forrest for the trees
God forbid someone add a bit of literary sugar to their argument, else they be picked apart by pedants.
Your company is successful, is that a problem? You’re getting paid too, right?
Not getting paid commensurate to your contribution to the success of the company
Who’s asking/telling you how to feel about it?
The news, society at large, people like you online posting replies like this very one
Dude needs therapy
Too bad it’s unaffordable. Maybe you need to look at the state of society
Not getting paid commensurate to your contribution to the success of the company
He doesn’t mention how much he is being paid. His complaint is that someone else is making lots of money.
The news, society at large, people like you online posting replies like this very one
I didn’t say he should be grateful, or how he should feel. I read the news, live in society, can’t recall ever hearing that I should be grateful for my job. You?
Too bad it’s unaffordable. Maybe you need to look at the state of society
You think that’s the problem here? He couldn’t afford some help for whatever is going on with him? Or (since you charged me with being part of the problem), could his problems be exacerbated by folks like you, commiserating, raging against the machine of such horrors as waking up, eating breakfast, having a job.
I read the news, live in society, can’t recall ever hearing that I should be grateful for my job. You?
Yes, very often actually. I live in the US. This is pretty much the attitude of all conservatives when talking about minorities making minimum wage or less. I’m a white male and have been told I should be grateful i have a job by my boss too. One of my friends I used to work with didn’t receive a raise when almost everyone else did. He is Latino, and our white boss told him he was privileged to be working there at all. I’m happy for you for never having to experience that, but it is unfortunately all too common.
You’re reply is disingenuous in the extreme, because nobody is this subtext illeteriate.
His complaint is that someone else is making lots of money.
He said he is making lots of money for someone else. He is making the money, therefore it is his money, not the money if the other person. It’s like the “taxation is theft” people are unable to apply the same logic on the owners of the boots they lick.
I didn’t say he should be grateful
You absolutely said he should be grateful for his job, you just didn’t use those words. You mocked him for complaining about his job. Those two things are a distinction without meaning difference.
This messaging is all over the media. If you’re trying to say it isn’t then you’re either lying or you’re tragically media illeteriate.You think that’s the problem here
You’re the one complaining about his mental health.
But no you’re right, it’s people like me online in 2025 who affected the mental health of the author of the [checks notes] 1975 book, causing him to use [gasp in horror] a literary flourish. Great job there, detective, you cracked the case!
Thank god you didn’t embarrass yourself at all!He said he is making lots of money for someone else. He is making the money, therefore it is his money, not the money if the other person. It’s like the “taxation is theft” people are unable to apply the same logic on the owners of the boots they lick.
I don’t understand. You don’t believe in hiring, paying wages? Like if you hire me to help you build a website, i should keep the profits of what you sell? Or, more directly, if you later sell the website, that money is mine?
I was questioning all his complaints, including having to shit and piss, and said that indicates bigger problems and needs therapy. You hear mocking and “you should be grateful”? Disingenuous in the extreme, nobody is this subtext delusional!
The message is all over the media that I should be grateful, im sorry I literally can’t think of a time I came across that. I hear people suggesting gratitude practice as a way of feeling joy, or maybe would expect “you should feel grateful” at church or some religious context, but, I dunno, maybe im very selective about the media i consume?
You’re right, you don’t understand, and you’re embarrassing yourself
Cool thanks for contributing to the convo.
More than you contributed, taking rhetorical flourish as literal in bad faith 🤷
Or just, get out of bed. Like every person on the planet.
Look videos of apes to undrstand why that’s not how it should work.
Your wiki lists being denser than a black hole as your superpower.
says Charles Bukowski needs therapy is a small understatement.