Are there any left that are not evil?#EvilCompanyNames

[aimeemaroux@mastodon.social]

Are there any left that are not evil?
#EvilCompanyNames

[yuri_brainwashing_co@mastodon.triggerphra.se]

@AimeeMaroux our company is completely benign. we dont do anything nefarious, and our name reflects that. :3

[pluvialgeist@fe.disroot.org]

@AimeeMaroux@mastodon.social were there ever any that weren't evil from the start?

As constructs of an evil system that prioritizes profit over people, I find it difficult not to see evil in every for-profit business that has ever existed.

Truth be told, I wonder about many non-profits as well, since they exist within and are shaped by that same evil system.

More and more these days, "Possimism" feels like the anthem of our time . . .

[aimeemaroux@mastodon.social]

@pluvialgeist I guess you can found a company with bright ideals. Many founders don't have "make lots of money" as their driving force but to make their idea a reality. Of course, within the system, you ultimately need to make money to survive, but I've been on many small company meet-ups and the people there mainly wanted to see their idea thrive and they were ideas like sustainable t-shirts or a small publishing company.

[aimeemaroux@mastodon.social]

@yuri_brainwashing_co The name can be a bit misleading, yes

[pluvialgeist@fe.disroot.org]

@AimeeMaroux@mastodon.social I think you're probably right: many founders of small businesses don't have "make lots of money" as their primary goal when they start their business. Most, I think, probably have "make enough money to keep my business alive so that I can keep doing this thing I want to be doing with my time while also providing for my needs and the needs of my family" as their objective.

The problem I see is exactly the things that a business must do within the system to survive.

I work for a small business. The business owner is a friend, knew him long before I came to work with him. He's a good guy, and we talk a lot about the business and his goals. He doesn't want to grow the company indefinitely so that he can become a billionaire. He wants to make enough to keep the business afloat and to pay everyone well. That's it, that's the goal.

But I've seen the things he's had to do—is still doing—to ensure the business survives within this system, and it's distasteful stuff. Some of it, I would argue, is even evil stuff. Not evil with a capital "E." Just the sort of stuff that would be unethical in a just world, but considered the normal cost of doing business in this world. He agrees it's shit. He hates the system, too. But it all gets shrugged off as "we do this, or our business dissolves, and we go to work for some other shithead doing the same things or worse."

He's not wrong.

I fucking hate it.

I think about That Handsome Devil's "EVL PPL" a lot. The chorus goes:

The world is run by evil people

The world will make us evil people (Please don't leave, I need you)

The world is run by evil people

The world is full of evil people (Please don't leave, I need you)

This world makes us evil people. Again, not evil with a capital "E," not most of us; but unless we're living out in the woods, living off the land and not participating in capitalism in any way, we are all complicit, to some degree or another, in a system that can only exist upon a foundation of extraction and exploitation.

It's depressing as fuck, but I still hope to live to see the day when we smash this fucking death machine and build something better for all of us. It's a glimmer of a hope, but the capitalists of the world will have to pry it from my cold, dead hands before I let it go.