More people should say that in casual conversation
this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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Killing billionaires is good for the environment then?
I don’t think this can really be argued, the environmental impact of billionaires both directly and indirectly is catastrophic on a planetary level.
Absolutely.
If it's public, graphic, and serves as an example of what these monkeys will do to one who hordes all the bananas, and deters subsequent occurrence of banana-hording; yes.
The alternative is that we can all passively agree that all us monkeys must go extinct.
If you kill an oil executive, a new one will take their place. You've gotta go after the company instead, that'll have a more direct impact and be harder to replace, especially if paired with regulation.
That's why you keep doing it. Eventually a chilling/deterrent effect will take hold. It's not like anyone's actually passionate about oil. They can go be apple orchard execs or something idk
Yep, persistent effort over an indeterminate period. That's what got us into this problem and it is a valid way to get out.
If deterrence worked, there wouldn't be capital crimes in jurisdictions with the death penalty. Or maybe our criminal justice system is just fucked.
CEOs may be sociopaths but they have a more developed sense of self preservation than your run of the mill murderer so it might be more effective IMO. I say try it and add the death penalty for severe financial crimes like they're doing in Vietnam.
Hey, I'm all for it. Aerosmith had it right - eat the rich!
This is definitely not a hill I want to die on, but there are three axes to deterrence:
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Certainty of punishment
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Severity of punishment
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Celerity (speed) of punishment
Basically you can't just raise one axis and expect anyone to be deterred. So if you just put to death one random exec it's probably not even as effective as, like, slightly maiming a handful. Or cream pie to the face of a hundred. Or a gentle yet stern tap of the wrist of a thousand.
A very well-thought out counterpoint. Thank you. I did a spit-take on the 'cream pie to the face' at first though...
You don't mow the lawn one time then call the work done forever.
The problem is that we have a lawn, when we shouldn’t have one in the first place. Instead we really need biodiverse native gardens.
Don't just kill the corps responsible for it, we need regulation and a carbon/pollution tax.
Look, if your friends don't think the bourgeoise deserve to choke on the money they've stolen from the proletariats' pockets, they're not your friends.
I love the corporations vs. individuals climate debate. On the one hand, you've got those who count on the public's willpower to make massive lifestyle changes. On the other, you've got those who think the government can weather lobbying and public outrage and force big corpos to cut emissions (which will also mean massive lifestyle changes)
Or we can just wait until the climate catastrophe destroys our way of living.
I don't think the system works.
I say we start with the best billionaires to send a message to the worst ones that they need to change their shit. So, Taylor Swift?
I think T Swizzle would be down for that.
Exact scenario playing out in my life right now. The blade I feel I run is between my sanity from acknowledgment of the elephants and basic human interaction.
Even if she is serious, killing a CEO will only replace that CEO with a new one. This doesn't solve the climate crisis.
It reminds me of the discourse around 'x companies are the cause of x% of global emissions'.
Yes, that's true, but they're doing so to meet a demand. We can (and should) take action to regulate these companies and force more environmentally friendly methods of production, but that will have ramifications on costs. Ultimately the most efficient way may be to reduce demand for some goods and services.
I work as a transport planner, for instance, and a huge number of emissions come from cars, but also the built environment (building and maintaining transport infrastructure). If we're going to be serious about dropping emissions, we need to fundamentally change the way we plan and build transport networks, including potentially cutting demand, one way or another.
All this against a backdrop of an incredibly unequitable transport infrastructure; if you hike costs then you knacker the ability of disadvantaged groups to get around for work, but also pleasure. Poor people deserve to be able to go on holiday too.
My general point is that for every smartarse post that says "climate change is easy to stop, all we need to do is cut the head off the snake" neglects to recognise that this isn't a snake of a problem; it's a hydra.
(Blech, melodramatic, but it does wind me up).
Not with that attitude we won't
The thing is that we should keep killing those CEOs until nobody wants to work that position, unless they appease the climate fanatics.
So quirky *holds up spork*
Not to mention getting her kids put on a list before they're born.
