This injustice is not only happening in Mexico and not only on farms.
The same stories exist in every 'non-western' country which produces stuff for the western world.
Farms, clothing, mining, electronics...
Stuff that we throw away once we get bored of it. There's nothing particularly special about us in the western world, our only merit is having been born here.
And all this is because we've created and maintain a culture of hedonistic pleasure seeking on a massive scale. We've made 'luxury' the primary object of desire in our society, the path to happiness (it's not, but that's a different story).
A 'consumer' is a nice word for 'a person transforming natural resources into garbage'.
That's why those people are living through hardship - so we can take the resources and turn them into garbage, while obtaining some amount of pleasure (or comfort) in the process.
A person is 'successful' if he can have access to the most exclusive resources. To be successful, you have to be thinking positively, aka. learn to ignore the injustice and destruction that's happening in the world.
I know this is very unpopular, I usually get downvoted fast for talking about this, but it's the truth.
Our strive for 'success' creates major suffering around the world and we've pretty much fucked up the planet in the process.
So what should we do about it ? There's very little that can be done, really, it's the consequence of what we call 'human nature'. The only path is a radical change in our philosophy of life, in which we think as 'we' instead of 'I', some variation of the Open Source philosophy for every aspect of the economy, but I don't see that happening any time soon.
And time is a resource that this planet doesn't have too much of.
If all Westerners were exterminated these farmers lives would likely be worse. Leftist claptrap is great for self loathing. I am sorry your parents tried to make a better life for you and made you complicit in the oppression.
> If all Westerners were exterminated these farmers lives would likely be worse.
Good theory. The fact is that their lives are like they are right now and it's as bad as it can be.
With supreme arrogance we think that by 'offering' those people slave jobs, we're somehow saving them from certain death.
Has it occurred to you that these people could harvest all that food for themselves ? They have to work in those farms only because corporations own all the land and they have no other choice ?
> I am sorry your parents tried to make a better life for you and made you complicit in the oppression.
They tried, doesn't mean they succeeded. Yes, we have more possibilities to 'enjoy life' than ever, but we've destroyed the planet in the process. And this will have dire consequences on everyone. Especially on our children and grandchildren.
Global war and famine is not far away and people feel that.
And that's neither leftist or rightist, just survival instinct.
Bullshit. Human suffering has never been less than it is now. This is the best time to be alive and more so in the future. We will walk on Mars, cure diseases and you will be miserable for no good reason. Why do people wish for doom facts be damned?
> Human suffering has never been less than it is now. This is the best time to be alive and more so in the future.
Hold your horses, my friend. 80% of the world's population lives on less than $10/day. Of those, 3 billion live on less that $2.5 per day. Go tell them that.
In the last 50 years or so virtually all the planet's ecosystems have been disrupted, polluted or destroyed entirely. Most depletion graphs look like hockey sticks, that is geometric progression with very short doubling times and still accelerating.
Storms, hurricanes, flooding and droughts have become daily news, not 'freak' events like they used to be.
I won't even touch on the global financial system and what a hack that is.
Being in denial is convenient, but it doesn't stop the processes set in motion.
And if we're talking about 'never ever', then it's worth mentioning that humanity has never ever had as many weapons, including nuclear, as it has now. Not even 1% of the destructive power that awaits to be unleashed. And humanity has never ever stopped waging war.
I'm happy that 'we' will walk on Mars, but that doesn't solve any of our current issues. Maybe the offsprings of the very few who will travel to the distant, cold desert which is Mars will be able to turn it into a paradise, similar to... Earth, who knows.
However, the way things are going, it seems we will turn Earth into Mars much sooner than vice-versa.
As a parent, I really hope I'm wrong and you're right, because I want my children to live a happy life and not have to deal with the consequences of our ignorant and wasteful lifestyle.
Stuff that we throw away once we get bored of it. There's nothing particularly special about us in the western world, our only merit is having been born here.
And all this is because we've created and maintain a culture of hedonistic pleasure seeking on a massive scale. We've made 'luxury' the primary object of desire in our society, the path to happiness (it's not, but that's a different story).
A 'consumer' is a nice word for 'a person transforming natural resources into garbage'.
That's why those people are living through hardship - so we can take the resources and turn them into garbage, while obtaining some amount of pleasure (or comfort) in the process.
A person is 'successful' if he can have access to the most exclusive resources. To be successful, you have to be thinking positively, aka. learn to ignore the injustice and destruction that's happening in the world.
I know this is very unpopular, I usually get downvoted fast for talking about this, but it's the truth.
Our strive for 'success' creates major suffering around the world and we've pretty much fucked up the planet in the process.
So what should we do about it ? There's very little that can be done, really, it's the consequence of what we call 'human nature'. The only path is a radical change in our philosophy of life, in which we think as 'we' instead of 'I', some variation of the Open Source philosophy for every aspect of the economy, but I don't see that happening any time soon. And time is a resource that this planet doesn't have too much of.