why is a toy shark a symbol for trans people anyways? (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 year ago by DADDYCHILL@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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blahaj, a stuffed animal sold by a company that is the number one consumer of wood in the world. it becomes extremely popular because of memes, more people buy it. i dont get it comrades, it seems like pandering to me. ikea isnt like boeing in terms of awfulness but its existence is resulting in increased deforestation around the world. the ikea stores act as cultural embassies for sweden, they provide a sanitized commodified disneylandesque experience of sweden which really helps their public image on the world stage when they are allowing hate crimes against muslims to occur in their country, but hey, buy the toy shark, trans rights, consume treats, all being trans is is buying useless shit with the pride flag on it from corporations that wouldnt have hired you ten years ago but now want your money. in conclusion blahaj is a class traitor, embrace neopets, i sure hope theres no weird shit going on there like a christofascist owns it and is donating money to trump, and no i didnt look up anything about neopets, im just assuming theirs something bad there too. i wonder how right i am about that?

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[-] AlicePraxis@hexbear.net 43 points 1 year ago

its existence is resulting in increased deforestation around the world

as much as I hate to defend a massive corporation, I don't think this is actually true. IKEA claims to use 99.9% FSC-certified wood, so it's coming from forests where the trees are planted at the same rate that they're harvested. it makes sense for companies to do this even from a profit-driven perspective, since it would be quite bad for their business if there weren't enough trees

the main cause of deforestation is agriculture, especially animal agriculture. 80% of de-forested land in the amazon rainforest is being used to rear cattle

[-] Frank@hexbear.net 11 points 1 year ago

My understanding is that at some point Ikea has been an important factor in the deforestation of Borneo for the production of plywood. I haven't looked up the details in years so I do not know the current situation, but that is an accusation I recall being leveraged against them. That said, I personally do not believe that consumer activism is a productive thing to worry about, but I do fully support people to decide to liberate their sharks.