this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2024
74 points (98.7% liked)

World News

39032 readers
2241 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
all 8 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Cris_Color@lemmy.world 54 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (4 children)

If you hear the term "black company", what kind of company do you imagine? As we all know, black is the darkest color, so if you pictured an evil company with a dark side then you would be on the right track. A black company (aka "black corporation" or "black business") is buraku kigyō ブラック 企業 in Japanese. In general, it is a term used to refer to an unacceptably exploitative employment system.

Now, maybe you're thinking this is a word to describe a factory somewhere in China, but you'd be wrong. The term is actually usually associated with white-collar industries rather than blue-collar ones. It was coined by young IT workers in the early 2000's and, being the IT workers that they were, spread this nickname around the internet as an internet meme. Now, thanks to its fame, it is a term that can be used for other industries that are not IT.

Context for anyone unfamiliar with the term

[–] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago

The term is a bit confusing to me as we use "black" for working in the informal economy.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 10 points 5 hours ago

At first I was like "huh. Japan has companies owned by black people? Good for them!".

Then I was like "Those companies are exploitative and abusive? That's bad, but are they really worse than companies owned by native Japanese people and white people?“

Now I'm like " Ah! That makes much more sense! Also, workers of the world unite ✊"

Thanks for the clarification 😁

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 3 points 5 hours ago

I would argue that, at least today, it is also used for more blue collar jobs. At least I've heard people use it that way.

[–] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)