also i can’t help but say “look. there’s much worse things for the fucking yuppy kids to do than make art. they could go into real estate, or military advancements. every lucky baby ducky making art about how fucked the world is is a tiny victory. they should do more to make room for the rest of us, but they literally have so much privilege they don’t know how. don’t make hating them your top priority in this global system of violence”
don’t make hating them your top priority
So much this. I grew up fairly less affluent than most. I was once accused of being secretly rich because “no one would dress that poor on purpose”. And I’ve had a few less than stellar altercations with kids from rich families. Suffice it to say, I resented the fuck out of people with money/privilege; I still do. It’s a toxic mindset, and it drags you down and through the mud with no benefit. That old adage of “comparison is the thief of joy” really is true. Don’t let anyone steal your joy; especially yourself.
they literally have so much privilege they don’t know how
I’ll point you to Sam Reich, the quintessential liberal rich kid, who has been working overtime to platform dozens of shit kicker comedians and artists via Dropout.tv
I wouldn’t say they don’t know how. I’d say they try and most fail but a few don’t. And we’re all richer for the effort.
His dad’s one of the only mainstream democrats with consistently good takes (excluding previous support of Israel, but he’s at least stopped supporting them now), though. Not to take anything away from Sam Reich, but Robert Reich is literally a thought leader (worked in several presidential administrations including as secretary of labor under Clinton and was a professor for decades) in how to redistribute wealth. Sam could still have just been a shitty rich kid, and I’m glad he wasn’t (dropout is incredible), but he did have a much less awful example than most rich kids do.
The rich can afford to fail… multiple times.
I don’t understand where the altruism lies in dropout.tv
Isn’t it just another arts business startup?
Sam ran an episode of Game Changer that was barely more than “We trick LinkedIn into giving Jacob Wysocki $100k”
Also, plenty of legit good comedy from talented comics who struggle to get the time of day anywhere else. Idk if I’d call it “Altruistic”, but it’s a better use of Sam’s time than anyone in Silicon Valley or Wall Street could have spent it.
I defy the system by making art anyway.
Never let them take it from you.
The correct terminology is people want to be able to express themselves and explore the world without being judged. Finding a purpose in what they want to do in and with their life. After all, no one was chosen to be born.
An important parallel to this, especially for those of us who grew up in the US, is to remember that your hobbies and the things you build can be for your own enrichment. They do not need to be efficient or profitable. The effect of the process on your psyche is far more important than the new inanimate object you possess at the end. But that’s not how our capitalist worker bee culture taught me to see it.
The way I’ve heard this put is that our potential (skills, will, interest, gumption, etc) has been financialized.
It’s to the point where you’ll just even be day dreaming about some fun idea, and a little subroutine in your head will kick off titled but how do I monetize this?
This is ofc in large part due to the fact that you need to earn a lot of money to survive comfortably, but even that is an artificial condition that we could collectively change if we wanted.
I’m convinced that this process of self and imposed financialization ultimately costs us more joy, wellbeing, peace, and even productivity, than if we simply identified and addressed needs democratically.
a little subroutine in your head will kick off titled but how do I monetize this?
Yep, that is exactly it.
I have finally been winning the battle against that subroutine, and I still stomp that shit into the ground any time it makes a peep.
I’ve given away some cool stuff to some excited people this summer!
A parallel to this issue that still irks the shit out of me is the “huh… smart!” reaction when somebody takes the most greedy path possible. It gets to the point where generosity is a character flaw because it makes you a sucker and not a winner.
I have finally been winning the battle against that subroutine, and I still stomp that shit into the ground any time it makes a peep.
That’s great. I still hear it every now and then, and it never ends up making me feel better. It just starts turning whatever I’m doing into a job.
The only thing that’s worked for me is separating the jobs I do just for money to survive into like their own category. And then thinking of everything else (even if it’s actually very productive in non money ways) as a sort of “play” where anything is allowed, because I make the rules when I’m not on a job.
A parallel to this issue that still irks the shit out of me is the “huh… smart!” reaction when somebody takes the most greedy path possible. It gets to the point where generosity is a character flaw because it makes you a sucker and not a winner.
Omg yes, that’s its own weird societal pathology. It’s like we’ve assimilated the twisted values of the “clever” exec-sociopath type into our cultural script. That’s also part of what I’ve come to understand falls under “financialization.”
I don’t know if it’s art or just creation. Like, if I had infinite money I’d spend time on leatherworking and making little machines/programs. Both a form of creation.
Have I shown you my assorted lengths of wire?
It is creation. Humans have a knack for creating things using the gifts given from nature, as long as said humans have their basic needs met.
Same.
Like…exactly the same. Weird.
Yup. I’d probably dabble in blacksmithing, gardening, or coding apps.
I think what this alludes to is the reality that the time and resources to self-actualize are still largely the domain of the owner class.
And many to most still seem to just chase a bigger hoard rather than do that.
yeah, i’ve got a buddy who illustrates. about 350 a page for friends [edit: last i bought something a decade ago]. he can whip them out decent quality pretty fast, but it took him years of training to get to that skill.
If Republicans actually gave a shit about small businesses, they would pass Medicare for All yesterday. Healthcare being tied to employment (with orgs that offer health insurance as part of compensation) is one of the biggest barriers to entrepreneurship in the United States.
Seriously. Think of how many people would do something amazing if they could risk a gap in their employment without losing healthcare.
I disagree with the specific argument, but agree with the principle.
I think this is more palatable to Republicans:
- require businesses to offer the cash value of any benefits a business offers if the employee refuses it
- remove any tax benefits employers get for offering benefits, as well as any group discounts
- make emergency care free - ambulances, ER, airlifts, etc
- pass a negative income tax in lieu of welfare programs and Social Security - get cash up to the poverty line for no income, and the benefits drop up to some multiple of the poverty line (NIT, similar impact as UBI)
- expand medicare for those traditional insurance won’t cover for a reasonable amount (basically caps medical costs, while keeping the market competitive)
Basically, this preserves the private medical care system, strips any leverage companies have over you, and ensures everyone can afford it. Since unemployed people get cash, they can choose to try starting a business instead of being a wage slave if they can’t get a good job. The benefits would be low enough it would encourage people to work, but high enough that you’re not screwed if you can’t find work.
The goal should be for everyone to afford medical care regardless of means, not to have the government in control of medical care. I think this option is more palatable to those who want less government, and it also shouldn’t impact taxes too much.
require businesses to offer the cash value of any benefits a business offers if the employee refuses it
If you did this so many people would opt out of healthcare until their early 40s and just go to the emergency room for care more than they already do. The insurance pools would be lopsided and it would get even more expensive. And soo many less people would be doing any preventative care until things fall apart and they decide their insurance is worth it. Your also breaking the negotiation aspect of “insurance” by demanding them not be allowed to pool, meaning your insurance would cover less and less.
I am sure Republicans would love this plan, don’t let RFK see it.
The free emergency care would need some limits of course. I’m thinking they’ll merely get you stable (i.e. set bones, stop bleeding, etc), and once you’re able to consent, they’ll go through insurance or whatever. You would still very much want medical insurance.
But yes, people would go without, and I think having the option is good. If people can opt out, then insurance needs to have attractive prices. In addition, we’d need laws to ensure pricing is transparent so people can make informed decisions, instead of the current situation where you often don’t know the cost until care has already been provided.
I’m not arguing it’ll have ideal results in terms of health outcomes, only that it’ll promote small business. If UBI or something similar is designed to cover housing, food, and healthcare, and healthcare is optional, that increases cash available to entrepreneurs ant reduces mandatory cists to employ people.
But if the goal was to help small businesses, wouldn’t it make more sense to just go full public option? That way the small businesses don’t have to stress and budget for the insurance nonsense.
That depends on what you think is more helpful, paying for medical care or providing more cash. And Republicans certainly won’t go for both.
This was discovered in the US shortly after the COVID-19 lockdown thanks to The Great Resignation when furloughed workers took to hobbies during lockdown and some of them found ones lucrative enough they decided to quit their (often toxic) jobs.
In fact, there’s been a strong effort by both principal political parties and the ownership class to memory-hole what happened 2020-2022 in which ordinary people were given enough material support to define for themselves their societal role, rather than having it defined for them by major commercial interests (who want them as cheap labor).
This is also how an unconditional socialized or community-centered system would work. (We might even call them socialism or communism if those were not the worst of all slurs in the United States). People can couch-potato and binge-watch TV for about two weeks before cabin fever sets in and they either start fixing and building. Those of us (like me) who can couch potato for longer than that suffer from mental illness (and in my case, have been diagnosed since my early twenties). I stayed in bed for nine months, often without the capacity to literally lift a finger thanks to my avolition. No one wants to be that lazy.
No, the current system is a grift, a scam to force people to engage in menial labor for super-cheap while they suffer abuse by their superiors, hence the RTO mandates, and how crunching development teams in AAA game development is still a thing.
Yes, I’m bitter, but Trump’s autocratic movement may be the last gasp of neoliberalism, and either we’re going to see steps towards a new New Deal or we’re going to see our Tech-Bro oligarch masters try to fascism all of the US and the reprisal will be even more revolutionary (and more violent).
Didn’t all the government payments also kick off a bunch of inflation? Seems like a downside.
Only because they fotgave every loan to businesses. The handouts mostly went the owners.
Come on. Apply some critical thinking here. That inflation surge was in the middle of the epochal Covid-induced supply chain shocks. Moreover, there isn’t some fixed quantity of widgets we can produce. It’s easy to avoid inflation when implementing major income redistribution. You just do it gradually. The problem with Covid stimulus was that it had to be delivered all at once. But if implemented gradually, production can simply be scaled up to meet increased demand.
My inability to draw definitely isn’t related to my mortgage.
Everybody has an inability to draw until they learn how.
Not all art is drawing. Music is a big one. If you don’t know how to play music you have electronic music.
If you still want something more plastic, there are forms of graphic art that do not rely on manual drawing abilities. You can do 3d renders for instance. But also several stiles that do not requiere much ability. You can even code a piece of art through a generative algorithm in something like p5.
There’s also photography, and video.
Writing, from poetry to full novels.
Art is limitless.
Same, I’ve tried and failed way too much. I almost failed a high school drawing class that was pass/fail because I bombed my final (teacher thought I was slacking off… I’m just really slow). I tried one of those do it yourself drawing courses and gave up after a few months after making little progress. I’ve tried and it’s not for me.
I am decent at software dev though. If I have spare time, I’ll work on personal projects, but after a full time job and young kids, there just isn’t much left over. I’m in the middle of a P2P reddit alternative and a strategy game, but neither will be finished anytime soon.
I think those projects are artistic expression as well, because I’m building it not to get paid, but to add something beautiful to the world. I’m sure you have something like that as well.
Only thing I’ve been creating lately is chaos…
I’m an artist and rent is due. If I focus on one I end up homeless (again). If I focus on the other I’ll want to kill myself because my life would have no more meaning.
This is a world-building element of Heinlein’s posthumous novel, For Us the Living, where UBI allows people to do art or other low-pay trades. The UBI system in the novel enables people who don’t want to work, are tired of work, or who aren’t good at working, to live and pursue what does make them happy since their livelihood doesn’t rely on working a job. Of course, Heinlein has some libertarian nonsense to harp on in the book, but it’s wild just how long we’ve known that there is enough to take care of us all and that working to live is a detriment individually and collectively.
this is part of the reason why the blunt anti-AI movement pisses me off. It lets those of us who didn’t get to dedicate a bunch of time to mastering visual arts to get an OK representation of an idea made. Not all of us have commission money.
The greater impact, how it’s used etc are valid points of argument. But it’s nice to see some interesting ideas rendered well, and it’s nice to be able to put in stupid ideas and see them made. And not all of it is draining oceans and making people homeless.
Yeah, it’s probably best to focus on the positives. The AI box has been opened, and there’s no closing it back up, even if we wanted to.
I know how to close it, but it won’t be pretty (or easy)
Edit: it involves fried potatoes, ranch dressing & bolt cutters
I asked AI if it was Pandora’s Box and it said no.
Side note that I find hilarious: predictive text on my phone keeps suggesting “Pandora’s Door” for whatever reason
Well I’m sure it wouldn’t lie about that. What a relief!
Indeed, AI art empowers non-artists to explore areas they otherwise wouldn’t. Not everyone has the money or social connections to hire an artist every time they want to try something out.
I think that everybody has access to a pencil and paper. And if you don’t, then you have much bigger problems.
“Rich people have it too easy” is such a crabs-in-a-bucket mentality.
In what way is “everyone should be able to explore their artistic side” a “crabs-in-a-bucket mentality”?
No idea. I didn’t suggest that.
I don’t think that’s what the person you’re responding to is saying. I’m fact, I think you might actually be in agreement with each other.
Removed by mod
the money also gets them famous
