I want to just write lol, but that doesn’t capture my actual laughter. I am glad to be here and hope these communities continue to grow and become a stable place that is unimpeded by corporate interests, data harvesting, and invasive monetization. But seriously, here’s a rat.
The author makes several excellent points - the kind you would get from a humanities or ethnic studies course - that show how laws are enforced to target and oppress specific demographics. Initially these anti-“jaywalking” laws were put in place at the behest of the auto manufactures to remove pedestrians from the streets so cars can travel unimpeded, but as many laws in the Jim Crow era did, they targeted people of color, primarily in poorer parts of town. Removing these laws, followed by reclaiming these voids within our communities as public space, we will likely see improvements in our neighborhoods.
An interesting connection to this is community building through place-making. Streets and roads, etc. divide communities and removes what was once a common space and replaces it with a void of liminal travel lanes that pose a risk to everyone that is on it or even nearby. Removal of some roads and putting others on a kind of diet to slim them out and reduce their speeds can increase communal interactions. Increases in community interactions and development of personal connections has been shown to reduce crime and increase overall well being. That is without even touching the health benefits of reducing or eliminating car travel.
I don’t miss a thing about reddit. I was using the platform for about 9 years and the whole debacle about who gets to profit off our content resulted in me moving to something less shitty. SO far, Lemmy has proven to be what the internet was before big corporations took over and I will stay here. I just started donating to the patreon for lemmy.world (or rather mastadon.world, but same dev) and I intend on staying here. I like the engagement so far and hope that the community sticks with this platform. Thanks to reddits malarkey I was introduced to the fediverse and for that I am thankful
Spot on. The “elites” and their puppets will not face consequences because they designed the system to benefit themselves. He will continue to be a corrupt parasite and make rulings that will take rights away from people not of the moneyed class.
I’m writing a thesis that has significant support that the United States is and has, with the exception of about 30 years of progressive policy, been a plutocracy. The divisions in put country are by design. Division among racial lines, political affiliation, religious affiliation, professions, etc. are used to prevent the unification of the laboring class and dissuade us from collectively recognizing and challenging the status quo. The working people of this country have far more in common than not, but the political and moneyed class sow division via these wedge issues to prevent radical change - which would likely shift the US toward Scandinavian style social democracy.