Maybe, but as I recall, it was a Civil Rights protest. I had to look it up. Back in 1963:

https://sandersinstitute.org/event/bernie-sanders-arrest-at-chicago-civil-rights-protest

Edit: maybe the most based human being alive at this point.

I did this once. Only way to get rid of it was to sell my house.

Heaven only works for them if they imagine that they will be able to look down and see hell.

See, this is the part I can’t get behind. An eternity of that disparity with even the smallest scrap of empathy would eventually be unending torment. Every day is just more “oh yeah, hell is a thing and I can’t do anything about it…”

How do I join the MGU (MacGyver Union)? I have to cobble together some kind of device that hacks me in, don’t I?

I agree. The environment in which this must function is corrosive to the very idea, hence why I’m asking it openly here. It’s a pretty dense minefield.

I’m no lawyer, but I’ve mused a lot about some kind of legal “dead man switch” that somehow renders the company value-less if it deviated from the intended path. Something built into the company’s charter and founding documents, not unlike some kind of constitution.

Oh wow. If there was ever a Japanese take on something like RICO, “you have brought shame on your organization so all of your associates get punished” is probably the most Japanese one possible.

Real question here: is it possible to walk all this back from the edge with more ethical companies? I’m thinking co-ops, Mondragon corps, union shops, etc. Basically build businesses that have motivations other than deepening the pockets of VC’s and the like, yet have some kind of growth trajectory (or federate with other corps) to gradually subsume the market.

I get that massive funding makes certain things possible, like disrupting the market, or aggressively buying your competitors. And yes, the company charter would have to be bulletproof against hostile takeover, buyouts, and enshitification, in order to go the distance. But is that really all it takes, or am I missing something huge here?

Yup. This is classic narcissism. The role of the abused in this relationship is to perpetually make the abuser feel happy, whole, and loved; the abuser cannot do this for themself. By breaking with this pattern, the victim is living a life that doesn’t feed back into Elon’s, which is verboten in the eyes of the abuser. So, we get the hate-train turned pitty-parade reaction on Xitter, potentially drawing in more people to feed this bottomless pit of an ego. It’s also textbook to not be able to self-assess, so he’s totally unaware of the dissonance around claiming to be the victim while hating on your own kid and a whole social movement.

BTW, if this sounds like vampirisim, it basically is. Go watch Renfield for a playful, over-the-top, and yet informative, take on all that.

Slight tangent here: it’s important for everyone to recognize how any organizational structure or bureaucracy contributes to the diffusion of responsibility. At best it’s accidental, but at worst, it’s used to protect those in power while ensuring the little guy is left holding the bag. At the same time, it helps everyone involved do their part since their individual role is usually very small and only slightly outside the moral bounds of the individual (if at all). You (anyone) may be in an organization that has the same patterns at play, * right now.*

This is also why RICO lawsuits are a thing, since it was nearly impossible to nail mob bosses to the wall without it. IMO, we still need something stronger as applied to the misdeeds of corporations, but I suspect that’ll be a long time coming.

I was in the “gifted/advanced” track too. Teachers saw this one of two ways. Half of them got the memo: you got extra interesting stuff to noodle through because we’re all under-stimulated in a typical class. The others decided to just double your homework load and call it a day. At least the teachers in the first group had some interesting takes on brain teasers and reading material.

And on that note: I must have thought about Flowers for Algernon every week since I read it. Since the 90’s. I’m tired, boss.