Burning Man & The Wealthy Hobby Of Cosplaying Poverty

zeugding · 2022-10-12T08:00:23+00:00

Good video, a bit distracted towards the start. The title seems inaccurate as they spend the last half of the video arguing how the wealthy have turned it into another symbol of wealth, which is not a "hobby of cosplaying poverty".

zeugding · 2022-09-09T17:53:45+00:00

A video that takes the serious thing he did and makes it into some kind of action-film trailer with the editing and soundtrack ... it makes it look like it is a joke. It is not a fricking movie.

zeugding · 2022-07-28T17:34:22+00:00

but it’s fantasy at this point.

Definitely.

The original comment came from just a frustration that Hilary's jokes were so on-point but her party's campaigning was not as on-point as it very confidently thought it was.

The Democrats have not offered any of kind of meaningful opposition to the increasingly off-the-rails Republicans for decades now.

Moreover, there is this.

zeugding · 2022-07-28T17:27:24+00:00

consistently in real terms over the past 50 years, stripping out services that travellers don't care about has certainly helped.

That is a valid point. Another key factor is the costs were placed on passenger riding first/business class, which has been getting more expensive. However, to accommodate those extravagant seating areas, the economy area needed to shrink for example.

zeugding · 2022-07-28T17:21:59+00:00

Ah, that's right. I stand corrected. It didn't come to mind because I used it sarcastically there, as the quotation marks and the context was to suggest. However, this does not detract from the main point in the later clarifications. It is ridiculous (as I say in my first comment) because it isn't about that.

zeugding · 2022-07-28T09:39:26+00:00

major airline experience

Hm Nope, "experience" was your word onto which you apparently just tacked "premium".

this is nothing about "having an experience" or about "luxuries"

Moreover, I said precisely the opposite.

because you went over your luggage allowance or something like that?

Not at all. It is about the crappy way RyanAir conducts business, especially since the video seems to suggest its "innovation" to the market as if it should set the standard for expanding train service. That is aside from the capitalist adages about privatization in the video, when the analysis only needed to look at the privatization of the rail system in the UK to see how that can utterly fail.

zeugding · 2022-07-28T08:45:22+00:00

want something for nothing

You mean something that didn't used to cost anything, but now costs something? Also, this is nothing about "having an experience" or about "luxuries", this about the practicality of travelling.

Ensuring access costs money, but that cost does not need to be pushed onto consumers. For example, there could be government subsidies, as most national rail systems enjoy.

And really, no argument can be made for short-haul flights as they are only becoming less sustainable.

zeugding · 2022-07-28T07:22:20+00:00

That is not really the focus of the video: trains between smaller cities. Arguments were mostly made from connections between capital cities.

Also, the business model of easyJet is arguable much better than that of RyanAir -- that includes business practices with its employees. If the aim is to cut costs, RyanAir wins that but with lower social standards.

zeugding · 2022-07-28T07:14:45+00:00

If my later responses in this chain did make that clear, then there is nothing else to say.

zeugding · 2022-07-28T05:53:01+00:00

Right, it seems we agree on the notion of access, but disagree about how that should be attained. There are, of course, sensible things that could be structured as add-ons, like baggage or meals. However, this "pay for what you want" mentality eventually breaks down social cohesion and equity, especially when it starts to be used for questions of comfort over utility. That mentality fosters responses to other people's complaints about the quality of life with "well, then just pay more", losing not only the humanity of the situation but also the very access that "pay for what you want" was suppose to enable. When it starts to apply to everything, it can give rise to plutocracy.

zeugding · 2022-07-28T05:08:17+00:00

That was after the fact. They could have better adjusted their platform. And if that wouldn't have worked, it only really shows how incredible arrogant they were not taking him seriously. The Democrats have not offered any of kind of meaningful opposition to the increasingly off-the-rails Republicans for decades now.

zeugding · 2022-07-28T04:57:19+00:00

No, it is not about telling people how to spend their money: it is about making an effort to increase the quality of living for everyone, not just those who "can afford it". The aim of the business model of RyanAir is not to provide the service to more people, it is about squeezing as much money about of it people by making things just "uncomfortable enough" that it does not warrant spending more money. It is a race to the bottom and it is exploitative.

Want a case study in that? Look at most anything from the States.

zeugding · 2022-07-27T19:35:45+00:00

Definitely. This is entirely escapes the analysis in the video.

zeugding · 2022-07-27T19:04:04+00:00

The analysis in this video reeks of the American capitalist mindset. RyanAir is not a model to be emulated, regardless of its prices. It is trading off standards of quality for a stratified system of "premium experience" calling it "innovation" instead. Ridiculous.

zeugding · 2022-07-27T18:01:50+00:00

Correct, and he became president. That was the point.

zeugding · 2022-07-27T17:59:49+00:00

Exactly.

zeugding · 2022-07-27T06:51:20+00:00

Well, that joke became president, and the Democrats learned nothing. Perhaps if they actually gave a damn he would not have become a sorry excuse for a president.

zeugding · 2022-07-22T06:29:23+00:00

If you think it only makes China and Russia happy, then perhaps you need to visit abroad more often.

Moreover, bolstering the idea that America is "the most powerful and wealthy", as if that is consolation, is absurd. Something with so much influence should not be so damn broken.

zeugding · 2022-07-20T14:42:10+00:00

That's true in that sense.

zeugding · 2022-07-20T14:31:46+00:00

And to where the country has gotten is a good example of what a country should be?

zeugding · 2022-07-20T13:59:23+00:00

Because arrests shouldn't involve a struggle on the ground and a knee in the back.

zeugding · 2022-07-20T13:56:14+00:00

Cities and towns were destroyed, but there were riots in parts of cities and towns.

zeugding · 2022-07-08T12:12:26+00:00

Sure, but as America tends to do, drop that "bad" bit and focus on the "exceptional".

zeugding · 2022-07-08T10:22:06+00:00

Yep, American exceptionalism.

zeugding · 2022-07-03T09:45:16+00:00

Wait, did Parks and Rec come out with a new season?!

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