this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2025
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Just wanted to prove that political diversity ain't dead. Remember, don't downvote for disagreements.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)

That the dense city movement, of building up, instead of out, is ultimately ceding a huge proportion of our lives (our dwelling sizes and layouts, their materiality and designs, how the public space between them looks and feels, their maintenance and upkeep, etc. etc.) to soulless corporations trying to extract every dollar possible from us.

When we build out, people tend to have more say in the design and build of their own home, often being able to fully build it however they want because at a fundamental level a single person or couple can afford the materials it takes to build a home, and after it's built they can afford to pay a local contractor who lives nearby to make modifications to it.

What they don't have, is the up front resources to build a 20 story condo building. So instead they can buy a portion of a building that someone else has already built, which leaves them with no say in what is actually built in the first place. Ongoing possible changes and customizations are very limited by the constraints of the building itself, and the maintenance and repairs have to be farmed out to a nother corporation with the specialty knowledge and service staff to keep building systems running 24/7.

Yes, this is more efficient from an operating standpoint, but it's also more brittle, with less personal ownership, less room for individuality and beautification, and more inherent dependence on larger organizing bodies which always end up being private companies (which usually means people are being exploited).

In addition, when you expand outwards, all the space between the homes is controlled by the municipalities and your elected government, and you end up with pleasant streets and sidewalks, but when you build up with condos, you just have the tiniest dingiest never ending hallways with no soul.

And condos are the instance where you actually at least kind of own your home. In the case of many cities that densify, you end up tearing down or converting relatively dense single family homes into multi apartment units where you again put a landlord in charge, sucking as many resources out of the residents as possible. In the case of larger apartment buildings, you've effectively fully ceded a huge portion of the 'last mile' of municipal responsibilities to private corporations.

Yes, I understand all the grander environmental reasons about why we should densify, and places like Habitat 67 prove that density does not inherently have to be miserable and soulless, however, the act of densifying without changing our home ownership and development systems to be coop or publicly owned, is a huge pressure increasing the corporatization of housing.

[โ€“] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

Condos and townhouses also spawned HOAs which are yet another layer of an even pettier form of nosey neighbor government you get to live under.

Get a home outside city limits if you can, then it's just county, state, and federal... Though depending on the city, municipal government isn't as bad as HOA typically.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Abortion is sometimes the less monstrous alternative in a horrible situation, and it should never be seen as less than that.
Women should have enough social safety nets that abortion would never even cross their minds.
It is mostly Capitalism with its focus on productivity and selling youth and beauty that pressures women into it, women are "freeing" themselves into Capitalistic slavery.

From: "leftist" privileged cis het white guy, feel free to ignore or bash me

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

No sane person is going to bash you because you are privileged, cis, het, white, and male. Rather, it is being privileged (etc.) that seems to cause people to say ignorant things. Mind you, I disagree with you about abortion -- if I got pregnant by accident I'd have an abortion in a heartbeat, despite having a safety net. But I appreciate you being brave to share your dissenting view in this thread.

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[โ€“] SpiceDealer -1 points 1 day ago

I'm going to expect a lot of dislikes for this one...

Neutering/Spaying is animal abuse.

[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The phrase "we aren't free until we're all free" applies to animals as much as humans, and thinking otherwise is straight up bigotry. That so few extend leftist thought to the rest of the living world is a travesty, if you've managed to come around to leftist thinking then you've absolutely been capable of challenging your pre-conceived biases and this is just another step in that process.

All that said, I'm not one to judge people for not agreeing with this. It took me an exceptionally long time and the right circumstances to finally reassess my reasoning and to realise it was absurdly flawed, hypocritical and informed by propaganda.

[โ€“] [email protected] 13 points 2 days ago (9 children)

I like the idea that people should be able to choose their representatives based on how they live, rather than where they live.

You sign up as a "gamer," or a "farmer" or a "soccer mom." Whatever you decide for that term. Your representative then wheels and deals and votes for laws that help you.

Any group that had 0.5% of the population willing to sign up would get their voice in the Legislature.

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