this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2025
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Political Memes

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77
Ethical consumption, 1860 (jlai.lu)
submitted 1 month ago by Bad@jlai.lu to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

[orange character is smiling smugly, doing a finger gun, in front of the “1860 WEEKLY SLAVE MARKET” in which a crowd of people are browsing slaves, while some slaves ask “please help…”]

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism bro, everything is equally bad

I won’t stop buying slaves until the state compels me not to, until then to each their own and let’s agree to disagree and I’ll have you know my family needs their labor

It’s great that you can live without slaves though, keep being an anti-slavery activist it’s awesome!

You’re the best!

https://thebad.website/comic/no_ethical_consumption

top 16 comments
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[–] tomiant@piefed.social 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I have said for years, the argument "vote with your wallets, folks!" is bad because:

"Hey if you don't like slavery, just don't buy slaves! Then everyone gets what they want."

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 month ago (3 children)

"Vote with your wallet" is valid and often effective, but it's not enough on its own. Also vote with your voice, your democratic power, and when all else fails, bricks.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Breaking windows got women the right to vote and everyone the right to unionize.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Also in GB, it got the common man the right to vote at the same time, since they were fighting WWI at the time and the parliament couldn't really argue against it anymore.

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Lesson: angry women get what they want.

/s

[–] null@piefed.nullspace.lol 7 points 1 month ago

The classic 4 boxes of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo.

[–] lauha@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Do we have to have trillionaires before we get to vote with our guillotines?

[–] Bad@jlai.lu 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Historical usage of the guillotine mostly targeted nobles who were in the way of the bourgeoisie, leftist revolutionaries, and proletarian criminals.

As much as we romanticize the guillotine, strikes, sabotages, and bricks are the tools of the working class. They have a pretty good track record.

Although I can't lie, I always smile when protesters bring out a mini guillotine and the ruling class media starts panicking :)

[–] lauha@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Guillotine is just a humorous reference. I am not imagining seriously toppling western oligarchy by rolling a guillotine on wall street.

[–] sorrybookbroke@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

You are using technology. Technology uses lithium and cobalt from conflict zones and areas using slave labor.

You are a hypocrit.

No moral consumption means that it's impossible to interact with this society without supporting some awful shit. It doesn't mean do whatever lol doesn't matter haha

Owning slaves wouldn't count. That's pretty direct harm.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Based on their past work, OP/the artist is not a hypocrit, they're intentionally making the character sound like an asshole.

[–] null@piefed.nullspace.lol 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, this misses the mark for sure. "No ethical consumption under capitalism" is the response to someone calling you a hypocrite for being critical of capitalism while still necessarily engaging in it. Which the OP is doing, as you pointed out.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 7 points 1 month ago

The point is that just because there's no ethical consumption under capitalism doesn't mean we should drop all pretense of trying, because there are still levels of unethicality.

[–] Kobibi@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

The better analogy would be a 19th C American using products derived from cotton picked by slaves

Or the other way round, in the modern day the slave owners are the owners of the cobalt mines or whatever

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

TBF it would be really hard to compete in a market where your competition relies on slave labor, unless you have a lot of ethically-minded consumers who can afford to pay more for ethically produced goods. Though I honestly don't know how big the price difference would have been, it's not like agricultural workers would have gotten high wages ...

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

This perfectly describes how YES, these systemic issues will never ever ever change until there are systemic changes.

Legal chattel slavery ended in the US because of systemic changes.

The same types of systemic changes is what will actually work with other trends today that we shame individuals about instead of forcing systemic changes.

[–] jbloggs777@discuss.tchncs.de -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I'm sure gulags / laogai / reeducation / forced labor camps are much more ethical... /s