I'm kind of surprised that this seems to be an unpopular opinion around here, since I've always thought of Lemmy as being pretty leftist as opposed to liberal/capitalist, but there seems to be a base assumption here that voting with your dollar and trying to purchase the most "ethical" thing through the most "ethical" channels is worth the time and energy.

To me it has always seemed intuitive. I mean, what is the goal anyway? If the goal is to destroy the company you hate and replace it with the one you like (which btw you won't, for many reasons), you're doomed from the start because capitalism is gonna capitalism, and that brand you like and think is more ethical is at the end of a day, still a brand whose primary purpose is to make money, and they will put that above all else. If the goal is for the unethical company to make a smaller, more specific change, you're also doomed because the company you're silently protesting has no idea why you've stopped spending money with them, and likely doesn't care so long as others continue to spend.

To me, it seems more about making you feel good about yourself than bringing about real change. Which is further supported by the hostility that often comes with ethical consumerism towards people who don't engage with it - people who fundamentally agree with them but who apparently must be shunned for their purchasing decisions. Obviously I'm all up for humiliating Cybertruck owners or whatever, but there's a limit (looking at you, anti-Brave thread that pops up every month or so).

This brings me into the other problems with ethical consumerist rhetoric - it takes an inordinate amount of time because you have to research every company you engage with in every area to find the "most ethical" one, whatever that means, as well as the subsidiaries of those companies so you can recognize them in the wild. Many of these companies are monopolies or oligopolies and actively try to hide their subsidiaries. This time could be better spent toward much more productive activities that actually have the potential to bring about change. "More ethical" products also tend to be more expensive, and for this reason low income people typically can't engage in ethical consumerism. This money is likely also better spent donated toward organizations trying to bring about real sociopolitical/economic change.

I also draw a distinction between "vote with your dollar"/"ethical consumerist" rhetoric and well-organized boycotts with specific demands because these types of boycotts have actually been effective in the past, and it makes intuitive sense why. When you have a lot of organized people who together have lots of buying power asking for one specific thing, with the carrot of "if you do x specific thing, we will come back and start spending again," rather than the vague ethical consumerist position of "you're not ethical enough for me," all of a sudden it makes good financial sense to the company to make that specific change. The successful boycotts I've seen in the past have met both of these criteria.

Sorry this got to be so long and sorry if there are errors in it, I just kind of word vomited.

I am obviously not saying people should be exploited, I am saying given the current conditions, one shouldn't force themselves to be miserable, ashamed because they don't physically have tons of money in the bank, or owe money, or whatever -- if you are """"just making ends meet"""" [a phrase that basically means, getting an A or B on the test of paying all your necessarily bills etc], it is as though you are expected, DEMANDED to vaguely feel like shit every day you're not Wolf of Wall Street.

I am obviously not saying either that it isn't a bummer i can't buy a telescope or book a cruise right now. If you watch commercials, everyone lives in a damn magazine, and that's probably not good for the psyche to see.

I am speaking broadly of the gray shroud that regularly having <$20 in the bank feels like it casts upon us: it is literally fake. to paraphrase karl pilkington, money is just something you have in case you don't die tomorrow. your bank account is a pane in the settings screen, not a constant HUD.

Many with good intentions denote it as being a miserable, thankless, deprived way of life - and sure yeah, in a sense. I am trying to not make the boring point about 'happiness is possible anytime' 'who cares about concert tickets' 'they make it seem miserable to sell doordash' etc but -- I noticed myself just instinctively literally physically hanging my head the other day - because I was thinking about how I wanted to buy a thing. Which is insane? Why should I feel like shit about that?

The story we tell ourselves about what our currency management MEANS about ourselves -- about EVERY FIBER of EVERY MOOD, at times -- is ARTIFICIAL. I was moping around a lil tonight because, seemingly, I wasn't living in a resort. That is an INSANE standard to have for yourself. (You can shift into the lens of letting yourself feel things like you are in a resort, however.)

Hear me out here:

The Essential Phone was let down by a LOT of other factors. Camera Quality was the biggest for sure, but also the touch screen could be glitchy and in general not as responsive as it's peers. Lack of wireless charging, poor marketing, etc...

But...

As far as design goes; how it felt in the hand, the size of it, the build materials (ceramic and titanium), the screen-to-body ratio, the weight, even simply how it felt in the back pocket of your jeans. I have never met it's equal.

So much so that there is STILL a dedicated group keeping her going through projects like LineageOS and e/OS.

Heck, I still use it as my daily driver (on e/os) and ever time I think I'm going to put my sim-card into something slightly newer because the Essential doesn't have 5G, I quickly realize that I don't really need 5G that damn badly after all and I switch back.

Someday, the battery will stop holding a charge for more than a day and a half. Or someday, I'll drop it and the ultimate failure of the Ceramic back will slap me in the face. And on that day I'll be sad.

Historically, doctors used a bunch of scientifically invalid treatments. This was at the same time as the purge of proletariat medics and women healers (witch trials). With no alternative, we were at the mercy of whatever Doctors wanted to do.

Storytime: Ignaz Semmelweis was a doctor who discovered that washing hands saved lives. The medical authorities didnt appreciate it. Semmelweis was denounced, fired, kidnapped, tortured in a mental asylum, and beaten to death! This was 1865.

And if you wanna say it has changed, let me direct your attention to the fact that doctors are bribed to prescribe oxycodone. (source https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/opioids-doctors-prescriptions-payments/) which may have contributed to the opioid crisis.

So don't trust somebody just because they have a lab coat and parents who paid their way through med school.

This is referring to all the people who say I own this gun to protect against a tyrannical government. While I agree fighting a tyrannical government is noble Most of those people aren't serious about it and are just LARPing. If you are serious about fighting for your freedom then you'd know that fighting alone will get you nowhere. No revolution or civil war has ever been won by scattered armed individuals with no organization, you need to join a group to be effective.

But all the militias are full of right wing psychos

Yeah, but you won't be able to change their mind from the outside. Join one and try to educate them on true freedom from the billionaire capitalist class. Worst case scenario even if they don't respond you'll still be training and learning how to work in a group, and you can be a spy and learn their tactics and how to defeat them in the case of a civil war.

I'll just buy the gun now and join a group once shit starts going down

That's the wrong order, get organized and then buy weapons. Left wing organizations will be banned and forced underground long before guns are. There's a very high probability trump will ban armed left wing groups in the next couple years, him restricting gun purchases is far less likely. It's best to get in an organization and build trust before it goes underground because after they are banned they are rightfully more picky on who they let in for fear of informants.

Oh… you don’t need the text. Even if you are one of these folks who never holds the door for others, you know why I have chosen Unpopular Opinion for this. And if you are a person who does hold the door, you have had the door dropped in your face enough to know this is an unpopular opinion.

Yes, I was taught to always hold the door. I will hold the door for you if you are even ten, twelve or fifteen feet back. It is polite to hustle a little if you are at that fifteen foot extreme.

I like a little courtesy in our world. I like the brief hello with a complete stranger that accompanies most of these events.

It’s just a nice thing to do. It’s polite.

To the several people who dropped the door in my face today… try holding it. You won’t make a friend, but you will feel like you did something kind for a stranger.

The screenshot is there for scenarios where the original post is behind a paywall.

I (21f) am 5'5" and skinny. I recently attended a self-defense class, and there I was tought how to use a pocket knife. And as I have some male friends 6'5"+ tall, I thought that that height actually makes their belly particularly vulnerable in case of a fight (compared to a short guy/girl):

1. a short person's shoulder height is around the same level as the the tall person's belly making it easier to stab/hit;
2. a tall guy's belly is proportionally a larger target.

And in general, if a 6'5"+ guy stands in front of me with his stomach released (even if he has just a bit of a belly) it feels like having an exposed, large and squishy punching/stabbing bag right in front of me, into which, if needed, I can easily harshly and deeply plunge anything straight away.

I also practice historical fencing (rapier) and most of the times I stab tall opponents into the belly - my favorite thrusts are ducking counterattacks when I duck while they attack, go low and impale a tall guy's unprotected belly right onto my rapier.

"Old Reddit" was fine when it was all there was but the "new" UI was better and easier to follow. When I say "new" I mean circa 2020-2023 not whatever they're doing now which looks awful. And by better I mean the look, feel, and UX and ignoring the shit video player and tracking code.

Want me to stop shopping at your company? Make a crappy rewards program

Look, I’m all for people doing and participating in things that they enjoy and far be it from me to tell anyone how to spend their free time but assigning celebrities a numerical value and then determining which you want to bang or have in your harem or something equally as strange is pretty low.

If this is how you choose to spend your free time and you’re not hurting yourself or anyone else then great but there are probably better ways to be spending that time. Perhaps going outside where the real women are? Or maybe learning a new skill? Perhaps furthering your education? Who’s to say really…

It smells terribly, exposes others to negative health effects without consent and is one of the biggest causes of littering. Simply put it is a major nuisance with no benefits apart from profits for the tobacco/drug industry and addicts getting their high.

Could probably extend that to anywhere around minors in general too.

Pressing the copilot button to instantly bring up a text box where you can interact with an LLM is amazing UI/UX for productivity. LLMs are by far the best way to retrieve information(that doesnt need to be correct).

If this had been released with Agentic features that allow it to search the web, use toolscripts like fetching time/date and stuff from the OS, use recall, properly integrate with the microsoft app suite. It would be game changing.

We already have proof that this is a popular feature for users since its been integrated in every mobile phone for the past 10 years.

This is a case where even I don't like my own opinion, but I think it might be true. If it comes down to average Americans vs. the military, for example, we need as many people on board as possible. As unified a front as salvageable.

Every generation has had that one weird trend. This one's here to stay. Get over it.

You may even find it funny if you stopped being grouchy about it.

Edit: I guess this is a truly unpopular opinion. You rarely see that on this comm...

I hate nuts. I'm not allergic to them.

Everything about them is wrong, I've never had food that contained nuts that wouldn't have been significantly better without them.

Chocolate with nuts - What was wrong with just the former

Nuts on their own - Might as well eat wood

Nutbars - gross.

Food with nuts is just bad, and the sooner we move on from this dated cultural institution the better.

This was inspired by the last two posts

Inspired by the chocolate fruit post. I like brownies and I like most varieties of nuts and legumes but they're ruined when combined

I don't want some soft rocks in my smooth brownie. The chocolate flavor is so strong, you can't even really taste them. It just adds a bad mouth feel.

I do not understand why this is popular. Get em out of there!!

I feel like I'm the only one in my life who holds this opinion, but I have never tasted a combination of chocolate and fruit that wasn't significantly worse than the individual components.

• Chocolate covered raisins? Blegh.
• Chocolate dipped strawberries? I'll eat the shell then the rest.
• Raspberry bits in fancy chocolate? You've ruined it.
• Candied apple? Just plain caramel please, no chocolate.
• Chocolate fondue? I'll stick to the marshmallows and graham crackers, thanks.
• Gorp mix? I'm selecting handfuls with either raisins + peanuts or m&ms + peanuts, no blending.

Now I know taste buds are subjective, but how is it that folks will say a mixed bowl of m&ms and skittles is diabolical, yet happily chow down on other fruity chocolate combos? Give me my delicious fruit and chocolate - separately!

If you live in an apartment, just don't get one

Reasoning edit: pets, especially cats, will leave a smell all over furniture. Cleaning becomes an even worse chore due to the fur. They also require "house training" in order to not chew/claw/destroy most stuff that's lying around the house.

Isn't that very literally the point of the sub?