• shalafi@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    100 years ago, great grandpa was teaching little Appalachian boys who didn’t wear shoes except in the winter.

    82 years ago, grandad was a Torpedo Man 3rd class getting asbestos rained on his head every time my wife’s ancestors scored a close hit.

    45 years ago, at my other great grandpa’s place in Louisiana, there were black families down the road living in shacks. However you’re picturing a shack, it was worse.

    38 years ago, there was a sport called “f** bashing”. Hicks or punkers would wait for gays to come out the bar and beat the shit out of 'em.

    38 years ago, we Gen X kids casually lived under threat of global thermonuclear war. Meh. No biggie.

    Yeah, not only did efficiency go through the roof, everything got better.

    • Serinus@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      I think the big thing is that they can and should be better than this, too. We shouldn’t have to settle when we’ve made enough abundance for everyone.

      Personally, I still want people desperate enough to do shitty jobs like dealing with trash and sewage and people. But I think we have enough to pay those people good money, give them good healthcare, an otherwise comfortable financial life, let them work 32 hours a week, and let them retire at 65.

      Basically what unions would have given is if they hadn’t been gutted.

      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        You’re right, it’s the should be better that’s important. But I think we can say that about nearly every human culture in history. It’s just that now we can see how fucked up inequality is.

      • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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        16 days ago

        Basically what unions would have given is if they hadn’t been gutted.

        At this time, i wonder, whether “union” is just another term for your local friendly anarchists fighting for your rights? Because that’s how people use the term.