A perfect visualisation of a wasteful system

You're not using your bed right now. Are you letting a homeless person sleep in it?
- That's not a contradiction. Your, my, and everyone's bed is for sleeping in. The beds in that store are for accumulation of wealth. This displays the harsh efficiencies of capitalism, because the people in the most need for a bed cannot afford to have one.
  
  I belive the beds in a store that sells beds are either to be sold or to help you choose a bed. They are not "fuck you, see how many beds i have" beds
  
  The beds in that store are for accumulation of wealth
  ...selling people beds so they have beds to sleep in. Beds that aren't riddled with bugs thanks to the store not being a homeless shelter.
  
  So beds in the store are for accumulation of wealth but then when someone buys them they're for sleeping in? Deep
  
  Who are the people in most need for a bed? Isn't that need relatively equal? I mean, I guess when I was younger I didn't really need one, but now I'm a wreck without one. I know some guys with copd that only sleep in chairs, so maybe their need is on low end.
  
  I do understand the sentiment but the thing is a lot of homelessness isn't because people don't have money not exactly. They may have support systems that they can make use of but if they have other problems they may not be inclined to use those support systems.
  You can't just blame capitalism for homelessness, not exclusively.
  
  ROFL!
  
  If anything this guy is a lot less in need of a bed than someone who hasn't trained themselves to be able to sleep in a doorway (to wit, me.)
- Is there like an Uber for this?
  
  Don't give Airbnb ideas
  
  It's a GrInD eCoNoMy oLd mAn.
  
  I think that's just called splitting rent with someone who works nights
- Why are you so intent on defending the ruling class? You aren't in their group. You're a broke ass like the rest of us and you never will achieve anywhere near enough wealth to forget that.
  
  So just because the "ruling class" is shitty and there needs to be change, we should just be allowed to make stupid, embarrassing statements that show a complete lack of understanding of society or economics?

What the fuck is with this thread being overrun with dickheads? Is this the breaking point, has Lemmy reached critical mass?
The image represents how capitalism uses the myth of scarcity. There's a bed there, and there's a human being sleeping on the ground. The lie is that there isn’t enough to go around; that somebody has to go without.
That's bullshit. We have everything.
- The message is that you deserve nothing and must earn everything, not that there isn't enough to go around.
  
  That's not the message either. There are homeless shelters, mental and health services, and affordable housing being priotized all over.
  Necessities are in large free to those who need them. Nice to haves and luxury beds are not.
  
  Well you dont deserve anything that someone else has made...
- The annoying thing is that there will very likely be a homeless shelter in this city that he's not allowed to sleep in because they have a zero tolerance drug policy.
- That's just unfaithful interpretation of the argument, and you know it. US on average has 27 empty houses per a homeless person.
  
  The scarcity isn’t primarily the beds.
  Obviously not. The existence of homelessness isn't due to scarcity at all, it's to do with a system that tolerates (even necessitates) homelessness. The image could have just as easily been someone sleeping outside an apartment with a sign advertising available units; they sleep, freeze, and starve, because our economic model rejects their basic needs in favor of commodifying them.
  It's not that hard a concept to grasp, it just seems like people have ingrained the logic of the market in their brains and can't conceptualize the issue of poverty beyond 'stuff costs money'.
  
  Bed stores are a problem. They sit there taking up space for what? To look pretty for people to try out different brands of bed because we like to not figure out a universal solution to the problem of making a comfortable healthy platform of material that we can lay upon for long term rest. On top of that, instead of supplying our nation with affordable housing and furniture, it is laughably ignored.
  All these empty locations for these corporations to advertise products and "experiences"
- Lemmy recently had a swarm of conservative sign ups and/or bot accounts in the last few days.
- Has been for a while. During the big exodus from reddit we brought with us lots of typical redditors that think being a contrarian dickhead makes them cool.
  As well as lots of the usually sad little losers from across the internet that see people enjoying themselves and get the irresistible urge to make things worse.
  
  "irresistible urge", sure, but I wouldn't give them credit for making things worse. Sure, they snicker at sticking their old gum under the desk, but it's a whole set of other issues that're burning down the building in the meantime.
- There's a ghastly number of people who are aggressively ignorant assholes.
  The point is that we don't have people sleeping on the street for a lack of... anything, really. Including beds. The point is that, when nearly everything is run for-profit, and it's even slightly more profitable to let people suffer and even die, then people will suffer and die. We do a better job selling beds than we do making sure everyone has a bed to sleep in. We could make sure everyone has access to a warm bed, shelter, food, medicine, etc., but we don't, and it's less and less acceptable to just accept the status quo just because it's the status quo. If someone thinks the status quo is defensible, it's on them to defend it.
  That doesn't mean the mattress seller is evil, or (and I can't understand the logic in one of the other comments) that wanting people to be housed makes you a hypocrite if you have your own housing. And the absolutely shameless comments that openly admit they won't (really can't) explain their position, but are going to condescend anyway.
- But there being a salespoint for bed does not take home from the homeless. The issue is them being without shelter.
  This is Symbolik, but not the issue at hand. Also turning commercial buildings into flats does not seem like a good/efficient solution to a complex issue like homelessness. (Disregarding living out of a car homelessness)
  
  The other guy said it perfectly:
  There's a bed there, and there's a human being sleeping on the ground.
  It really isn't more complicated than that. Any explaination why this person is not allowed to sleep in this bed or why this person should not be able to sleep in this bed is absolute bullshit.
  There's a bed there, and there's a human being sleeping on the ground.
- Well, bed is not necessary since you can sleep anywhere as long as you can lie down. To make bed - trees were cut, the ecosystem were damaged. The birds who had their nest in those trees lost their home. Is this worth it?? /s
- I think people's issue with it is it's just not very well thought out.
  The bed store would never under any circumstance provide the bed for homeless people to access what world would that ever happen in? The problem is the homeless person doesn't have access to shelter but that's not the fault of the bed store that's the fault of the state.
  The image seems to suggest that the bed store are holding all the beds for some kind of weird show of economic supremacy rather than you know the fact that it's a display room. No one's buying those beds they're display models.
  No one is arguing that homeless people shouldn't be held but that particular image isn't really anything.
  
  You've understood about 90% of the argument. That 10% is capitalism is the link between the bed store and the homeless person.
  BTW, let's all go hold a homeless person. Unintentional wholesomeness.
  
  Why don't we just convert all the bed stores into homeless shelters?
  That way you can try out a bed, get some feedback from actual users (the homeless sleeping on the bed), all the store profits can go to pay for housing the homeless, AND government won't have to provide public housing!
  It's a win-win, kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
- We don't have everything. But we have plenty of lazy people who don't want to contribute to the society.
  
  And what did this thought contribute to society?
  
  What does the society you dream of look like? Because at the moment, it's shit.
  
  And what do you contribute to society?
- So do you let homeless people sleep in your house with you? I'm sure you have plenty of extra space...
  
  We have more empty homes than homeless people.
  
  I have. Also sheltered illegals before. Which at one point involved me having to stare down and bluff a process server. Not a moment I would like to revisit but proud of myself for doing.
  
  Just because someone may or may not want homeless people sleeping in their house, doesn't mean that we shouldn't support social safety nets to make sure people aren't freezing to death sleeping in indignity on the streets.
- What the fuck is with this thread being overrun with ~~dickheads~~ liberals?
  Fixed.
  
  You'll shit your pants when you will learn that liberal is center right on anywhere else but the US.

I don’t get it… is that store supposed to let people in to sleep on their beds?
- Just a statement about how we have the resources readily available yet unobtainable to some.
- Lemmy. Huh. It gets tiring aftet a while.
  
  Go outside then.
- It's a critique on capitalism, where we have the technology and products to improve our quality of life but restrict access to them for a considerable percentage of humas. You're welcome.
  
  Even in a utopian communist society there would be showrooms for products, to help people select what best meets their sleep/medical needs. Those beds would be unused too.
  It is a separate issue, that the showroom is not responsible for, that resulted in a homeless person not having a bed.
  Systemic issues have systemic solutions. If you try to apply a local solution to a systemic problem, you just kicked the can. (As in, letting homeless people use the showroom beds).
- According to all the kids here, yes.
  
  "kids"
  You are not superior for not having empathy for homeless people
  
  Hey its the sole free thinker and adult on all of lemmy!!!

I've always pointed to the fact that over half the food in the US is left to rot until it ends up in a landfill yet food insecurity is rampant in the richest country in the world.
When they send police to arrest people, including homeless people and parents trying to feed their kids, for dumpster diving behind grocery stores and some grocery stores now literally shred or pour bleach on the packages of still sealed food that they throw away, maybe it's a sign that society needs a pretty major paradigm change on how goods and services should be distributed.
When police arrest people for giving homeless people food, maybe we should question who they're really here to serve and protect.
- This is a chat between my husband and I the other day and I've just felt so sad about it since then. Horrific display of wastefulness to humans AND birds
  
  Sigh, remember when small restaurants and bistros literally used to let employees take unsold food at the end of the day, and if there were still food left after going through the employees it would be set out on the counter for anyone else to take? Remember when that used to be a massive perk of working in food service?
  Apparently many large chain venues aren't even letting employees take unsold food anymore, using "safety" as an excuse even though the sellable and unsellable food are often literally minutes apart.
- It's not a war against homelessness, it's a war against THE homeless. I completely agree.
- also when it's illegal to give food to homeless people
- maybe it’s a sign that society needs a pretty major paradigm change on how goods and services should be distributed.
  The disparity in wealth just needs to continue to grow until enough people recognize they are not on the receiving end of it.

Guy can't even take a nap without being abused by propagandists.
- Yeah, we should own those dirty communist propagandists by housing every homeless person.
  The commies will be sooo owned if we do that.
  
  yes please daddy antisocialist me harder
  
  Social democrats*
  It's like communism but it works, and you don't even have to kill minorities like you do on communism.
- Here is some capitalism and oligarchy propagandist for you:

Wasteful is the wrong word. Waste implies this is some kind of poor planning, inefficiency or oversight.
Capitalism truly is all about efficiency, literally at the expense of basic humanity.
This isn't unintentional waste, this is intentional separation of the poor from resources. This is intentional artificial scarcity. The fact that many are literally separated from and thus lack a bed (or a roof, or food, etc) is what makes a bed a more valuable commodity for those with enough capital to purchase one from the private owner class through vendors like this one. If basic twin beds were publically available or subsidized, it would lower the capital value and profit potential of the swankier beds. And that is something the owners won't tolerate.
Under unrestrained market capitalism, there need to be people dying in the streets, otherwise people won't appreciate the capital value of purchasing what they need to live.
We Americans cast our sub-optimal capital batteries out to die of exposure. This is by design. If, as an American not born into wealth, you refuse or are unable to generate value for the owners directly, you will still have an important economic function you will be forced to fulfill: a capitalism scarecrow, meant to scare the wage slaves back to work on Monday, making money for the owners in exchange for minimal subsistence.
We could house and shelter all our fellow Americans, it isn't a matter of resources or space. We choose not to, and we also antagonize our powerless homeless as the villains selfishly lowering our property values by continuing to exist while destitute. We don't, because market capitalism incentivises cruelty for profit, and we refuse to reign it in for fear of slowing its self serving growth/metastasis at the expense of the society it is supposed to serve.
This is an image of our economy's and society's ~~waste~~ intential, greed incentivised cruelty. We Americans are a cruel people far more interested in getting more than our neighbors than entertaining being part of a society.
- Depends on your definition of waste. Capitalism produces a lot of waste, arguably part of what has gotten us into this pickle with climate change.
  
  Capitalism itself doesn't define that as waste. It defines the damage it inflicts on the commons, the earth, and the poor in pursuit of profit as an externality.
  Externalities of course being Orwellian double speak for "lol not my problem you fucking suckers 🤑."
- Fair point, friend.
  I upvoted you, Im sorry others didn't.
- This should have more up votes. Well said.
- In case you don't understand what "metaphor" or "visualization" means, nobody is saying that this exact store is a reason for the homelessness.

You know what's so sad about something like this?
The conservative seeing this will opt to blame the individual. This conservative will most frequently espouse themselves to be a Christian nonetheless. "Jesus-like" in aspirations and idolatry.
And yet, they'll have the knee-jerk reaction to this image that is saying, "Well they put themselves in that position."
"It wasn't the happenstance of birth locations,."
"It wasn't the culmination of external forces and externalities building to this moment."
"It wasn't the fact that their life was harder than my own."
"Or perhaps my life was hard and I'm using the survivor-bias fallacy to justify kicking the ladder out from under me."
The conservative believes there are lesser people who deserve what they get coming. It's seemingly incomprehensible to them that we humans are quite literally of the same species, and that you must come to the conclusion one of two possibilities: Either (1) We are all a blank slate from the start and thus products of our environment. Nurture comprising the vast majority of what influences us. Which means those left out on the streets; those who take drugs in an ideal state of mind don't want to be there, but are already too far broken from past experiences to reconcile their immediate choices (and need saved; protected; rehabilitated by the same outside forces that put them there in the fist place). Or (2) It is genetic, which means there is a predisposition incompatible with the inherently-flawed system we've built for ourselves. They're a circle in a square system, and it's thus just the same not their choice. And so again, the system should adapt and accommodate them just the same to promote a healthier society overall.
THAT would be more Jesus-like. Not the lazy cop-out that casts them off as degenerates. Such people lack empathy and cannot comprehend the bigger picture.
- I’d not just put it on the conservative. They are being brainwashed by a larger force that puts money as a goal above people. Eg: sackler and his punching down motion to witch hunt addicts in order to try to save the OxyContin face.
  As a result the easily influenced will go as far as see humans as subhumans if they threaten the almighty dollar. No doubt they are already in the tipping point as you said too. A perfect storm of apathy.
  
  Which would be fine, if it weren't for his third sentence.
- You know what? I was going to methodically refute each thing, but you're so wrong that I'll just say you're wrong and then this: you assuming things about people and boxing them up as your own preconceived "stereotypes" is a way more toxic trait than your street side christian hypocrisy.
  
  "I was gonna, but then I decided to just call you toxic cause I don't like the things you said, and this way I don't actually have to have a nuanced opinion or refute anything."
  but at least you got to feel morally superior for a bit after posting, right?
  
  There are two types of Christians.
  The fake ones. Ultra-conservative. Personal responsibility blah blah blah.
  The real ones. Saved by grace, not by works. These are very rare. Some churches do not have a single one.
  
  Wake me up when you have something substantive to say. Otherwise you've got nothing.

Lemmy try not to blame capitalism challenge/s
- Why? I'm not going to avoid pointing to the source of a problem just because people don't want to hear it.
- Please see image, it’s really that simple /s
- Lemmy try not to give a correct answer to a problem...chalenge for some reason
- Yeah you'd think most of our societies problems are a direct cause of late stage capitalism cresting a system where only profits matter and once its not profitable to feed or house someone then they are left to starve and go homeless or something. Haha I'm so glad that's not the case, haha.......
- You don't benefit from it, so why are you defending it? You don't think you're going to be a millionaire one day, do you?
- It gets tiring huh.
  
  Indeed, capitalism is tiring unless you're part of the owner class.
  Heck, did I lose?
  
  Now is time to upgrade to linux haha

The real capitalist crime is that a mattress sells for such ridiculous prices that they charge thousands of dollars for a chunk of foam and some springs.
Most mattress stores print money, and only need to make 4 sales a month to stay in business.
They are insanely overpriced. Why doesn't everyone just buy cheap beds from Costco and IKEA?!
- I will say that sleeping on ikea beds wreck my back. I'm not arguing that beds are over priced, but not all beds are built the same. Unfortunately I needed a pricier mattress to suit my needs.
- That's a young man's game 😔
- IKEA used to sell great mattresses, but when I had to replace my old one a few years ago they only had hard and semi-hard ones.
  And over time the mattress I ended up buying because they didn't sell the one I wanted anymore sunk in and has formed an uncomfortable indent.

Sacrificing the needs of the many for the wants of the few.

Grossly oversimplified. Dumb meme that adds nothing substantive
- Captures the spirit of society pretty well tho.
  
  Not really. Displaying something for sale instead of giving it to the homeless? What kind of argument is that?

In a wasteful system there'd be some factory churning out obsolete mattresses to fill a warehouse that nobody needs because there's a quota to be met.
Meanwhile the workers can't eat enough because resources were allocated by a bureaucrat last year who's got no personal incentive to see either system work smoothly.
- Yes, in your 100% hypothetical scenario.

- "You don't like an athrocity? But what about that other athrocity on the other side of the globe? Check, mate. I am very intelligent."

Who tf need 8 pillows of various sizes on their bed?
- 2 head pillows for some people who are restless and would keep moving in the bed, so they don't miss any pillow zone with their heads. One for hugging. One for spooning them from behind for emotional support. One for crotch support to keep male reproduction organs comfortable by giving a bit of space between legs when sleeping on the side.
  Remove one spooning or hugging pillow when having 2 people sleep in the same bed, then multiply the rest. You get 21, and that is the number of pillows you shall have.
  
  How did you get 21? 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 is 5 for one person, and even if you remove nine and multiply it by 2, I got 10
- My wife. And it annoys me because they keep getting onto my side and I need one pillow.
- I have 6
- Right? Those pillows could be used to feed the homeless.
- Why are you calling me out like this, it's a sensory thing 😔

Is'nt Capitalism about exploitation? You know, utilising under valued resources - minimising waste!
- That's an effect. Capitalism is about tying economic effects to owners, encouraging industry
- Only until making waste means people buy more stuff
  
  You are conflating Capitalism with consumerism. The former under free market conditions allows the use of all resources. The later under government has Intellectual Property which hinders re-use and recycling as well as encouraging unsound spending with inflationary currency.

"Capitalism is when stores aren't hotels"
- The point is that there are beds that nobody are using while people are forced to sleep on the ground. Because, yes, a store is unused at night.
  It's about resources not being used as efficiently as they could be, because we are looking at the situation from a capitalist ideology point of view.
  
  The point is that there are beds that nobody are using while people are forced to sleep on the ground.
  If you let a guy sleep on it, then you can't sell it. Who would buy it? The bed isn't "not being used", it's not being used as a bed.
  It's about resources not being used as efficiently as they could be
  There's nothing inefficient about this allocation of resources.
- Capitalism is when 27 empty houses per a homeless person, that are used as investments for the rich to play around with their imaginary numbers, while 99% of population struggle to survive.
  
  Communism is when made-up stats
  
  99%
  You only prove how delusional commies are
- You missed the entirety of the point.
- "I interpreted the picture overly literally to the point it loses its meaning. I'm very smart"

But the shareholders need to be able to extract a return in return for no work - we couldn't give others a shot at dignity.

The same problem exists with coffin makers and funeral services.
- In that we're all metaphorically asleep outside the final rest store?
- Could you elaborate please?

I think this post struck a nerve.
- And, why do you suppose that is?
  
  @otter
  These are the days of the empty hand
  Oh, you hold on to what you can
  And charity is a coat you wear twice a year
  This is the year of the guilty man
  Your television takes a stand
  And you find that what was over there is over here
  So you scream from behind your door
  Say what's mine is mine and not yours
  I may have too much but I'll take my chances
  'Cause God's stopped keeping score
  George Michael.

can I get the image without “capitalism” written on it?
- Sir, this is a Lemmy instance.
- Even Communism has a capital C.
  
  i don't understand what point you're making. i think the image stands well enough on its own.

This just makes me sad. I tried to donate my old foam mattress and nobody would take it. It’s fairly clean, non-smoking home, we don’t have bedbugs etc. I get why it could be a liability but still. Seems like such a waste to throw a king sized foam bed into the landfill. We only replaced it because I started having severe rib pain from sleeping on it but it’s better than nothing
- My grandmother passed away in her sleep and we didn't find her for three weeks.
  I couldn't donate that mattress either. What a world we live in.

What a stupid post

Maybe we haven't evolved to be 8 fucking billions around, and smaller communities are actually happier
- Believe me, not at all. As soon as you even a bit different, small community will shun the fuck out of you, and you have nowhere to go because other small community doesn't want outsiders in fear of becoming not a small community.
  We have evolved to pump out 12 babies and die at the ripe age of 28 while trying to pump out another one, but that's not how most of us want to organize society.
  
  Tall poppy syndrome of small communities is probably the biggest factor in why our technological progress was so slow for so long. Humans 100,000 years ago were basically the same as us and yet inventions took thousands of years.
- Fuck small towns, I grew up in one. It is borderline child abuse to raise a kid in one.
  
  You're gonna have to expand on that cause being from a small town I don't see what you mean.

glad to see Lemmy World has brought over the Reddit tradition of hating homeless people. I bet you're all also really afraid of mugging and love violent vigilante justice
- I think you misunderstood the meme. It's anticapitalist, not anti-homeless.
  
  I'm reading the comments friend. have you?

- What communism?

Society isn't created for everybody. That's by design. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, not saying I agree or disagree, just calling it how it is. If we want it to change, we have to be the ones to do it.
- Society isn’t created for everybody.
  I’m so confused, isn’t that like…the textbook definition of “society”?
  
  He means that society has winners and losers.
- But then someone else might get something that I don't think they deserve. /s
- Society isn't created for everybody.
  Counter point: Yes, it was.

I bet whoever's sleeping there is doing so because they can better pretend they're in a bedroom. It's shameful we've let things get this way.
- That's an odd bet. Personally, I'd bet whoever's sleeping there is doing so because that spot provides overhead shelter and has 3 walls that aren't exposed to the elements.
- Not necessarily, though I'm sure the irony isn't lost on them. It's an alcove doorway in a well-lit area; those are always popular if there is no hostile architecture/sprinklers/etc.