Can kpop fans be considered full fledged capitalists?

Quote from amalyas

I think our generation in general has a lot of contradictions.

We tend to strongly dislike capitalism, but we are full-fledged consumerists. Not only in kpop but in everything else ( clothes, phones etc... )

We are the 'green' generation, yet we travel by plane way more than our parents and are the ones eating fast and processed food.

We go crazy for human rights issues, yet we still support brands that are clearly NOT good.

So yeah, I don't think it's about kpop fans. It's a more global issue.

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In a capitalist society would not the companies change the way they act if the consumers changed the way they consumed?

The market is based off the choices of the consumers, if we choose to act in a different way then the companies would change to accommodate.

Quote from Yseki

In a capitalist society would not the companies change the way they act if the consumers changed the way they consumed?

The market is based off the choices of the consumers, if we choose to act in a different way then the companies would change to accommodate.

Partly true, but it's not that easy. In a capitalist society, if you have no money, you have no power.

If you are on minimum wage, chances are you probably won't be able to afford bio food, or clothes that aren't the product of child/unsafe labor. We are buying cheap stuff that won't last long anyway, but it's okay because companies' goal is to have you consume as much as possible.

For example, we all know how terrible Amazon's working conditions are, and how little they care about their workers. Yet, I had to use Amazon this year. I didn't have any other choice in that case, and I know a lot of people were in that situation.

If the only choice you have to eat, dress yourself etc... is to support unethical companies... what can we do ?

Change usually from people who aren't at the bottom - this is why you see so much 'healthy' and 'vegan' food popping up. Because these people who are asking for these changes are ready to pay for them to happen. These people might or might not be against wealth inequality, but they are usually not personally concerned with it.

Quote from godkingteshub

Corporations have a lot more power to influence people. Why do you think even kids want certain expensive things despite having parents that them them otherwise since birth. They have influence over the media, they invest in studies that figure out how to direct people's attentions and preferences in ways that benefit them. So while the consumer has its advantage in numbers, they can be controlled by "influencers" (in the wider meaning, not just Instagram types), especially those with billion dollar backing behind them.

And do you want to give control of companies to an even more powerful institution that can change habits even more so than companies?

To have everything controlled by one big institution. A regulatory state that answers not to individuals and people (but they would give the pretense that they do) but to the ever-growing bureaucratic appendices in which power is delegated to experts and agencies and out of elected bodies?

Quote from amalyas

Partly true, but it's not that easy. In a capitalist society, if you have no money, you have no power.

If you are on minimum wage, chances are you probably won't be able to afford bio food, or clothes that aren't the product of child/unsafe labor. We are buying cheap stuff that won't last long anyway, but it's okay because companies' goal is to have you consume as much as possible.

For example, we all know how terrible Amazon's working conditions are, and how little they care about their workers. Yet, I had to use Amazon this year. I didn't have any other choice in that case, and I know a lot of people were in that situation.

If the only choice you have to eat, dress yourself etc... is to support unethical companies... what can we do ?

Change usually from people who aren't at the bottom - this is why you see so much 'healthy' and 'vegan' food popping up. Because these people who are asking for these changes are ready to pay for them to happen. These people might or might not be against wealth inequality, but they are usually not personally concerned with it.

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If you have skills you can acquire money and work in positions you are valued. The problem probably lies more with things such as our broken education system.

Quote from Yseki

If you have skills you can acquire money and work in positions you are valued. The problem probably lies more with things such as our broken education system.

I definitely agree that if every children were given the same chance at education, this could already be a good step. That said, you will always have children whose parents can help for homeworks and send them to bed at 8PM, and the child whose mom is working two jobs and have to cook their own meals.

Of course, success isn't always school-related, so helping these children to find their own way to succeed is important. I feel like sometimes people forget that you don't need to go to uni to succeed or earn money.

Children education should be equal AND personnalized at the same time to be really, really good.

Quote from godkingteshub

But it seems quite opposite to the anti-Darwinian sentiment a lot of kpop fans carry. Obviously kpop is just for entertainment but since they support kpop more than they support social equality, they shouldn't be surprised why kpop has become a multi-billion business yet very little progress gets made on other fronts.

No one cares, class struggle is over. Now is all about race, gender and religion. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is an afterthought. The climate is f**cked anyway so whatever. We're all doomed anyway!