The head of a gold mine in South Africa says a group of miners from an unregistered, rival union are holding hundreds of colleagues underground for the second day over a union dispute.
The head of a gold mine in South Africa says a group of miners from an unregistered, rival union are holding hundreds of colleagues underground for the second day over a union dispute.
I beg to disagree, but why don’t we discuss that further from the comfort of a nearby underground mine whose entrances I control?
Yes, yes. All unions are bad, all corporations are good. Now sign up for Columbian unions fighting for workers of Coca Cola plants. I’m sure you won’t be disappeared- I mean disappointed.
Fortunately for us, Colombia is the world’s #1 emerald producer. They’ve quite literally dug their own graves!
(Now that I’ve crossed the line from crass implication to veiled threat, I will disclaim that I am joking and in no way condone violence against labor organizers. Particularly in the case of highly exploited countries, unions serve as an incredibly important means of furthering national growth & economic independence.)
Yeah, I kind of find joking about this stuff in very bad taste, including my own contribution.
I get your point though, in that it’s a one sided negotiation where freedoms are being withheld, which is absolutely horrid, but - still…
Making light of any of this is something we should ween ourselves off.
Agree to disagree, I suppose. Humor is how we talk about the unspeakable things. It may be crass and imperfect, but so am I
Everyone’s imperfect. That doesn’t mean you need to be crass.
In fact, I put it to you the reason why civil discourse is the way it is and why disinformation so readily spreads is because people justify being crass, cynical and dismissive. Then suddenly everything devolves into a glorified pissing contest, like with most “debates”, where it’s all about one-upsmanship, social games and not really about merits or demerits.
Our inability to be serious about anything shows our lack of respect for situations that merit respect, and then we can easily and readily dismiss it and say “it was just a joke”.
But there is always intent.
I wonder: Did I not effectively communicate my point through my first joke? Would you consider anything I’ve said up until this point to have been instigating a pissing contest? Indeed… was it even I who initiated this conversation that we are currently having? A conversation which now feels – to me – so much more like a pissing contest for having now abandoned any pretense of good humor?
My point, if you wanted to confirm, was that ideals often mean little in the face of violence. An inherently cynical and dismissive opinion – seemingly a good fit for a cynical and dismissive joke. I’m no comedy expert, but in my opinion the fact that the literal text was written as a joke actually enhanced the intended meaning rather than obfuscating it.
And… by the way, the way you phrased this is patronizing:
I wasn’t asking for your permission to change. Condescension rarely cultivates civil discourse. Practice what you preach and meet people where they are. Or don’t! It’s really none of my business, after all.