Re:Ask HN: Does it help moderators if we report kittens?
by salawat on Friday February 28, 2020 @12:16PM
(#22444327)
It's a nice thought, but you're trying to improve someone's life who exists in a septic tank by spraying in some air freshener. At best, you're slightly delaying the inevitable. At worst, you're making the cognitive dissonance worse and lowering the signal-to-noise ratio.
If you really want to improve these people's lives, organize a Union, and find a way to get everyone on board. Without that, no employer will take the issue seriously, as every dollar they expend on maintaining worker's will-to-live is another dollar off the bottom line. It's sad, but that's the way it works.
I know there's the overwhelming push to do something at least; I've felt it many times. Unfortunately, you have to work your way into a central point of the causal nexus to alter the overall situation, or else you're tying to plug a leaky dam with your fingers. Believe you me, down that road lies madness, heartache, self-loathing, and pain. The same thing you're trying to alleviate them of.
Save yourself the trouble and start the long journey by aiming for the right goal now. Help them organize in their own interest. It'll go leagues further than what even the rest of us can do for them.
If you really want to improve these people's lives, organize a Union, and find a way to get everyone on board. Without that, no employer will take the issue seriously, as every dollar they expend on maintaining worker's will-to-live is another dollar off the bottom line. It's sad, but that's the way it works.
I know there's the overwhelming push to do something at least; I've felt it many times. Unfortunately, you have to work your way into a central point of the causal nexus to alter the overall situation, or else you're tying to plug a leaky dam with your fingers. Believe you me, down that road lies madness, heartache, self-loathing, and pain. The same thing you're trying to alleviate them of.
Save yourself the trouble and start the long journey by aiming for the right goal now. Help them organize in their own interest. It'll go leagues further than what even the rest of us can do for them.