this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2024
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No Stupid Questions

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[–] blazeknave 2 points 13 hours ago

I think the private prison system is one of the worst institutions in the world. I think the reality of the stock market has no connection to capital reinvested into businesses vs shareholder dividends. Investments at this scale are not like giving a three person startup 2 million dollars. They're not growing their businesses by putting it all into capex.

Are you an asshole for gambling on whether Trump will keep his word, using the systems in front of you? Dare I say it? No. You're not.

[–] Etterra 37 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes. Doing so makes you a hypocrite. Don't worry through, there's no shortage of hypocrisy in America. It's practically a requirement to be at least unwittingly hypocritical. Just by drinking Coke or tipping a waiter you're contributing to a broken system designed to exploit people for maximum profit.

But here's the rub. You can't, in any practical sense, escape that crap, however, you can choose to not deliberately contribute to stuff outside your immediate wheelhouse. It's one thing to buy a chocolate bar out of a vending machine, but investing in Nestle? That's a choice, and one you could have easily skipped. You could skip the candy too, but it's very, very hard (and impractical) to refuse every corporate product ever. Everything, from the materials in your electronics to your mortgage company, to most food from lettuce to frozen chicken, exploits people. But you don't have to voluntarily make the problem worse.

And on the sliding scale of morality, investing in slavery - in this case the prison industrial complex is just greed and indifference to the cost in human suffering. Seriously research it, slavery in all but name has been part of the plan since the Reconstruction era after the Civil War. We never had a justice system; we have a punishment system that hungers for the labor of the downtrodden, especially of minorities.

So if you want to at least try and be a better person, and investing is something you want to do, look into the companies you're investing in. See what their executives are paid compared to their workers here and abroad. There are companies that you can ethically justify investing in - small companies, co-ops, credit unions, pro-union companies, companies actually trying to solve problems or make the world better, like solar manufacturing, etc.

If you want to invest in human suffering, then you're going to have to make peace with being a bad person and being judged for it. I'd advise at least trying not to. It's a hopeless battle, but fighting honorably is its own justification.

[–] lando55 3 points 15 hours ago

There are not enough hundred dollar bills in the world to wipe off the stench of being branded a doody-head by the fediverse.

Thank you for your well thought out response to what might otherwise be dismissed as a trolling attempt.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago

I don’t think it’s bad to profit from the US economy even though some of those profits would end up being by very evil means. At least in that way, you don’t really have a choice as the economy is very interconnected.

But in this scenario you do have a choice, there are plenty of ways to invest and make money without going out of your way to be extra evil.

[–] ooli 2 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Sorry about the ugly comment you are receiving. Seems people on lemmy love to enforce the godwin's law.

My opinion: be careful, all the anti immigration rhetoric is just ineffective gesticulation (like with the wall). A lot of nothing to please the racist population... and scare the illegal workers so they accept slave wage, thus enriching the owners of hotels, farms, restaurants.. etc.

The prison wont gain much , or at least not as much as some traditional business

[–] ChronosTriggerWarning 22 points 1 day ago

"I'm just trying to monetize human suffering. Am i a bad person?"

Actually no, you're not "bad." You've gone so far past bad that bad is just a dot on the horizon in your rearview mirror.

[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 day ago (4 children)

"listen. I don't WANT Hitler to commit mass genocide. But I am going to fund the company of the gas chambers he plans to use. Because I benefit from it".

It's not a one to one comparison but um. Yeah.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 day ago

“As left as they come”.

Doubt.

[–] ilinamorato 14 points 1 day ago

So first, you need to know that the definition of "genocide" is larger than you probably think.

The 1948 Genocide Convention defines genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". The acts in question include killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group.

Emphasis mine.

Second, hastily-built private prisons constructed for the purpose of keeping a group that has committed no crime in one place long enough to "dispose of" them? They also have a technical term: a concentration camp. If they're also performing work, they're a labor camp.

So what Trump wants to do with Latiné folks is a form of genocide.

Third, there are multiple levels of supporting a genocide, from being a member of the society that created the out-group, all the way up through pulling people from that out-group from their homes. Somewhere in the middle of that list is "voluntarily providing aid to those committing the genocide."

Fourth, each level of support bears a different culpability, and each individual within the levels bears a different culpability based on their knowledge and understanding of what's happening, their intentional decision to participate or not, and the amount of protest they raise at the treatment of the out-group.

So, knowing all of this, where would you put such a decision?

[–] Dorkyd68 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Fuck it, imma say it. Some questions are hella stupid

[–] [email protected] 2 points 19 hours ago

Needed to be said. I honestly thought I was in Onion territory at first…

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

I'm a bit confused as to why you would have to ask this if you truly are "as left as they come" but.... yes of course??

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yes. Regardless of the second part. Don't invest in private prisons, even if it's sums that would seem inconsequential to the industry as a whole.

Edit:If it's invest in, in the sense of, buy the stock of, I'd still say yes. It still contributes to the success of the industry, even if just minuscully so.

[–] alquicksilver 138 points 1 day ago (18 children)

Anyone voluntarily participating in the US for-profit prison system is, almost assuredly, a problematic person with questionable morals.

It's literally making money off of slavery. If you would not be proud to call yourself a slave-owner, I'd hope you would also not be proud to invest in slavery.

Royal "you," by the way. Not OP, specifically.

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[–] BowtiesAreCool 48 points 1 day ago

“I’m not a Nazi”

Said the Nazi, investing in the German military. I’m a friend to the Jews! But I might as we’ll profit off of their incarceration and death, I mean, it’s happening anyway. It’s not like I could instead of thinking only for myself in this time possibly use some of this extra capital I happen to have available to invest and actually do some good with it, but nah.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Apparently the left stops somewhere about right of centre - what a quaint political system the US has.

[–] Mango 6 points 1 day ago
[–] HootinNHollerin 30 points 1 day ago
[–] [email protected] 82 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (36 children)

What does it mean “as left as they come”? When you’re interested in profiting from current slave labour and future concentration camps.

Bad isn’t even a category here, you’re a wannabe fascist profiteer

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 day ago
[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 day ago

I mean you're straight up buying shares in plantations so yes.

[–] aesthelete 42 points 1 day ago
[–] [email protected] 65 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Short answer: Yes

Long Answer: Good lord. Yes, it would be something a bad person would do.

In effect, any gains you make will be blood money. Have fun with that on your conscience.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago

Don't do it, friend.

The better investment generally is to invest in index funds anyways, which makes your hands at least a little bit cleaner.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yes.

Investing to make money off of other's suffering is never justified.

You may as well scream "FUCK YOU, GOT MINE" a little louder.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Do you remember the part in Schindler's list where his factory's weapons and ammo were all out of spec and couldn't be used?

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"Would I be a bad person if I loaned the neighborhood pusher some money to re-up his fentanyl package?"

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[–] njm1314 30 points 1 day ago
[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 day ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Unless you got hundreds of thousands in assets to invest, you are only gambling on the suffering and slavery.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago

There are other investments that are less... morally questionable...

Like, even investing in real estate is still less morally wrong than literal prison labor.

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