log entry ID: i.m..a.r. 2026-02-28 23:26:45 EETThis came from last post, about capitalism.
There is an ideal held by many people in the Western world, particularly the US—an ideal of personal responsibility. The premise is that every individual should be self-reliant, able to live freely without needing to depend on anybody. This is folly, motivated by ideals similar to those motivating direct democracy, and just as wrong.
There are those who really run with it, saying everybody should be able to fix their own car, fix their own computer, do their own house repairs, and manage their own investments. They should be able to defend themselves in court. They are solely responsible for their own health. In other words, everybody is their own technician, mechanic, contractor, banker, lawyer, and doctor. Can’t fix a computer? That’s your fault. It’s a skill issue. You deserve it. Shut up and learn how the things you rely upon actually work.
Thankfully, people who think this way are few. There are many people, though, who believe something that is only a little less dumb: Everybody is responsible for paying for their own technicians, mechanics, contractors, bankers, lawyers, and doctors. Some of the logic is sound. After all, people without cars shouldn’t have to pay the repair and maintenance bills of people with cars. Other applications of the principle are anything but sound.
Regular people are not professional computer buyers. And when the market is informed by the decisions of people who have no idea what they’re doing, of course the markets are not going to respond properly. The American individualist, though, says the problem is education. Everybody should know how computers work, and what they are capable of, so that they can all make better buying decisions. This will push computer makers to make the better computers that we all want.
Well, yeah, I guess that would work. But also, what? You do realise most people don’t care how their computers work, right? Why do people need to know how their computers work? Seriously, can’t people just do what they love, and let somebody else handle the computer thing?
Well, yes, of course they can, says the American individualist, instantly forgetting that the solution was supposed to be education, moving the goalposts, and moving on. If somebody doesn’t want to learn how computer work, but still wants to make good buying decisions, all they have to do is hire a professional to take care of all of their computer needs for them. They are paid to buy the computer and to repair the computer if it breaks. They know what computer to buy, and they are strongly incentivised not to buy something that breaks often. They buy in bulk. If the whole computer market worked like this, again, the market incentives would be fixed, and computers wouldn’t suck any more.
Well, I guess paying a professional would work. But with what money? Unsurprisingly, those who suggest this are rich. Some have always been rich, take money for granted, and have simply never seriously contemplated a life without the kind of money you need to pay for this kind of thing. Some understand their privilege perfectly well, and they honestly believe poor people don’t deserve good computers that don’t break after a year. Even if one professional manages dozens of computers and people are not buying, but renting their computer as a service, most people can’t afford that, especially with the income inequality in the US.
Here is the solution that is just inconceivable to the American individualist: Computers should be well-designed for the purpose, they should be repairable, and they should last as long as they can, within reason. When you plug one in, the battery shouldn’t catch fire. And all of this is not the buyer’s responsibility. Governments hire computer experts, ask them to draw up a bunch of rules, and insist on makers to follow these rules. This is how regulations work. And this is why these American individualists hate regulations so much. Because they violate their values of personal responsibility above all else. Even though these values are irrational, inefficient, naive, callous, and misplaced.
Bad computers are annoying, especially to people like me who know how computers work, and who know how much better computers could be. But let’s be honest: I’ll live. Perhaps not so, though, when the issue is my health. I really don’t understand medicine, I really don’t care, and I am glad I live somewhere where I don’t have to care. (Finland.) I can just rely on the government. Maybe in the eyes of the rugged American individualist who don' rely on nobody fo' nuthin', that makes me weak and pathetic. Well, fuck you, I guess? Also, could you remind me real quick: who spends less per capita on medicine? Finland or the US? Finland: 1. US: 0. Who has lower infant mortality? Finland or the US? Finland: 2. US: 0. Along with every other health indicator, from diabetes to obesity. Overwhelmingly the US is a more expensive system that performs worse. Finland: N. US: 0.
In between the mild annoyance of bad computers and the critical failure of bad medicine, there is the serious issue of investment. The American individualist says that capitalism is actually maximum democracy and maximum freedom, but it can only work if everybody plays a part. It’s a matter of personal responsibility, you see. Everybody needs to own stock and be active in the community of shareholders. If you don’t want companies to do hideous fucketry X, then don’t invest in those companies. Instead, invest in the non-hideous-fucketry companies, and be active in their shareholder meetings, making it perfectly clear you will withdraw investment at the first sign of hideous fucketry. Everybody is especially responsible to own stock in the companies they work for, whose future matters to them the most. Why, with such power regular people exert on their own country, the role of government is minimal! RIGHT!?
Wrong, motherfucker. I’m not a doctor, I am not a lawyer, and I’m not an investment banker either. I don’t care. I don’t have to care. I don’t like investment, and I have other things to do all day beside manage investment portfolios.
“Well, that’s fine. You can just hire an investment banker to …” No; no; no. We’ve been here before, remember? Not everybody can afford this. Not everybody can even buy the stock in the first place! This is an open admission that only rich people deserve a say in how the world is run.
There is a cure for this too. Democracy. Real democracy. The kind where money doesn’t buy votes. That and Mitbestimmung!