• TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        social platform that unites people and builds consensus, but one that extract’s money (…)

        I mean, thats the point and to pretend that any social media was ever anything but that is to either be a historical revisionist or delusional.

        Reddit may have had a different point when Swartz was around, but anything that takes venture capitol money is eventually beholden to their moral prerogative. And that is the extraction of all possible wealth in the shortest possible timeline, even at the cost of the platform itsself. That final bit is key. and its a bummer that Reddit didn’t go public before all this fucking around, because we could be making good money off their demise.

          • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            Pretending that social media was ever meant for anything other than profiting is “revisionist”, and you are being delusional if you think otherwise.}

            There might be better ways, sure. But that was never the point. The point was always to make as much money as possible.

            And to be clear “we” aren’t “choosing” anything. You aren’t reddit, or twitter, or facebook. You have no agency in this relationship other than to not participate.

              • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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                2 years ago

                If you think profit is the only reason people set out to run companies, then you’re the one who is delusional.

                If you take VC money, you play by their rules. Its not nihilistic to be realistic about the context of things.

                And I appreciate your optimism, even if I consider it to be delusional. But to me that kind of ‘inactive hope’ is equivalent to what you accused me of doing (‘curl up and die’).

                Proceeding through this world on hopes and prayers that a system set up to do anything but exploit and destroy will do anything but that is deeply problematic and contributes significantly to the issues. Its a kind of toxic positivity that gives people the illusion that they are doing something when they aren’t. I don’t have time for that.