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Northman67 t1_itludkk wrote

Reply to comment by DeathByGoldfish in Netherlands issued 91 waivers to sanctions against Russia by MC_Transparent

Important for the common citizen to realize that their life is 100% completely worthless and anything that they've worked on their life is 100% completely worthless and could be burned to the ground at any moment if it improved value for the shareholders of the major corporations.

And let's be real this war is funded by transactions enabled by those corporations by everyone who's buying resources from Russia keeping their economy afloat which is in turn being spent on military hardware. I suppose that we should be happy for the level of sanctions that we do get. After all it's completely unbelievable that the hyperwealthy would ever care about human life more than their personal fortunes. I would just like the rest of humanity to also figure that out so we could react accordingly.

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DeathByGoldfish t1_itlwgyg wrote

I think this is a bit hyperbolic, TBH. “100% completely worthless”? I think there are some places in the world this is true, unfortunately. The Netherlands? I doubt that. The vast majority of western democracies? I think this is dubious thinking.

Just because I point out this lapse in good government oversight does not mean I don’t think the Netherlands or other western democracies aren’t doing overall good, or that they aren’t a positive force. They are, and are certainly better than the alternative.

I’m as skeptical as the next guy, but saying something like this undermines the hard work most democracies do to keep corporations and the elite from completely taking over - they would if there were not gatekeepers in government.

Most democracies these days do not suffer from external foes, as much as they suffer from constant internal power plays that must be kept under control to remain viable.

Are there injustices in western democracies? Absolutely.

Are they the exception, rather than the rule? Yep.

Is that perfect? Hell no.

Is it a start? I think so.

Trending toward goodness is a win.

EDIT (adding this): we might be saying the same thing, but I feel like there is a distinction here, at least for me.

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