i sometimes think about the people who will go “please buy indie games” or “go unionize” as if that will console the people who just got laid off.
and it makes me think these kinds of platitudes are just meant to help folks cope with the fact fans, journalists, and commentators don’t have any power against capital. they need to say something positive, something nice.
but i guess when all you have is stuff like this, it just feels like you’re telling yourself that you are trying to be an ethical consumer. nothing that helpful to the worker who lost everything.
of course, nobody likes to feel powerless and everybody hates the fact that all they can likely do is boost the workers’ portfolios and donate to fundraisers. but i do think it’s better to accept the grim reality that Capitalism is violent than say, “I’m gonna buy an indie game this time round.”
it’s okay to feel glum. there’s just no sugarcoating it. you can buy indie games if you wish, but don’t do it out of an obligation to “help” displaced workers. the worst case scenario has already happened, all we can do is watch out for each other and help out as much as we can.
There's what we say to the people affected, which is what we'd want people to say to us if it were / when it is our turn: I'm really sorry this happened. It's not a reflection on you. Layoffs are basically always someone else's fuckup.
There's what we say in public, on the streets, on this weird sort of speaking-to-the-world stage that social media hands us, to process our own grief and anxiety and anger at the injustice: all the stuff people are saying on days like today, days like (checks calendar) 26 days ago, days going back to 1886 and 1877 and before.
Then there's what we do about it: build power together outside what capital deigns to let us have, and help others do that, and support each other in the struggle.
Each of these are different. Each necessary, each demand their own moment. "Consumer behavior" is none of them, really. Be good to each other.
