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I was hanging out with my pharmacist friend and he mentioned that a decade his friend invited him to go into business opening up a pain clinic but it was pretty
by wefarrell 4y ago
I was hanging out with my pharmacist friend and he mentioned that a decade his friend invited him to go into business opening up a pain clinic but it was pretty obvious it was a pill mill and he told his friend no thanks. His friend went on to make multiple millions of dollars very quickly and will never face consequences.
It got me thinking that there were probably tens of thousands of people who each made millions of dollars knowing full well what they were doing was killing people and they will never face any consequences for their actions.
- dghlsakjg 4y agoI recommend reading “empire of pain” it’s mostly a history of the Sackler family (the family that owned OxyContin). It does a good job of showing how thoroughly rotten and knowledgeably harmful the actions of the owners, lawyers, sales execs, sales reps, docs and government were. The line that stuck with me was about the CEO at the launch party for oxy comparing confetti to a “blizzard of prescriptions”.
- gsatic 4y agoConsequences are only for Julian Assange and Snowden. The mil complex, pill complex, big tech-advertistng-attention capture complex, wall street market manipulation crypto bs complex have all gotten away with taking advantage of the weakness in the population, exploiting the bottom of the food chain at scale, for so long that there is no fear at all. I really don't know how the situation is going to change in the US..
- AussieWog93 4y ago>I really don't know how the situation is going to change in the US.. As an Aussie, I've always found this strange. You've got the second amendment. At any point in time, you've got hundreds of thousands of people with a shed full of assault rifles and a prognosis that gives them less than 6 months to live. Yet rather than going after Wall Street or Big Pharma, every single violent rampage seems to target school kids or just random members of the public.
- markus_zhang 4y agoThe fantasy and education of "individual values" as well as "superhero" pretty much proofs the mind of US people to work on meaningful organized resistance. There is also high tech surveillance.
- MrBuddyCasino 4y ago> every single violent rampage seems to target school kids or just random members of the public Which, ironically, might be connected to SSRI‘s.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- drdaeman 4y agoThey're civilized, normal, rational people - guess they don't see violence as a solution. Not like those mentally unstable, radicalized and frequently immature shooters.
- Guthur 4y agoGlad we're in agreement that the government is neither, civilised, normal or rational.
- themitigating 4y agoThe government is just a set of people that changes over time not some singular entity that has distinct behavior compared to humans. Speaking about it as like you do makes no sense
- TheFreim 4y agoI don't think "the government" is /just/ a set of people that changes over time. Government, based on the people who were previously in it and incentive structures, change/enable the people who are in the government to varying degrees.
- 4y ago
- fortuna86 4y agoAs I told every college freshman who just took poli sci 101, if you have a better system than capitalism, we're all ears.
- tclancy 4y agoThey are all around us, no one wants to admit they bought the lie though.
- nemothekid 4y agoI know it feels very self-righteous to dunk on college students but this reasoning is kind of like traveling back to the middle ages and telling a knight "if you have a better system than feudalism, we're all ears". Just like a King is going to do anything in their vast amount of power to uphold the monarchy; so does capitalism. In both cases, the current powers that be will always seem entrenched
- bryanrasmussen 4y agounless you have traveled back from a future in which a better solution exists, then not really.
- nemothekid 4y agoYou could make that same argument to the hypothetical knight. Capitalism in the modern sense has only been around for 200 years. Just because you are unable to imagine a different future doesn't mean that one doesn't exist. What you are doing is no different than an appeal to tradition. You are sacrificing the virgin to the mountain god every year for reasons you can't fully grasp.
- bryanrasmussen 4y agoyou're right that I have not imagined a different and better future syste,, but in the hypothetical someone does know of a different and better future system (assuming that we agree capitalism is better than feudalism), goes back to the past, and lies and says there is not a better system. Second of all I admit I don't know of a different better system, I do not say I like the present system especially, although I get the feeling you must think that I do not being able to think of a better one. >You are sacrificing the virgin to the mountain god every year for reasons you can't fully grasp. and you are evidently good at insulting people and feeling superior when they admit they don't know of a better way without providing any concrete arguments for a better system. Must be nice.
- submeta 4y agoThings can change though. For decades rich disgusting guys were abusing young girls and women, without repurcussions, until the #metoo movement sent the Weinsteins, the R‘Kellys, the Epsteins and their helpers and others to jail.
- newsclues 4y agoIF things change, which clients of convicted sex trafficker Maxwell we’re also charged and convicted after being named in the public courtroom that the world is watching instead of celebrity court?
- ihm 4y agoThose are all limited hang outs. Abuse is endemic in Hollywood, Weinstein and Bill Cosby were scapegoats. I’m sure things have continued as they did before a few people went to jail. Similarly with Epstein. Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Trump, Gates. None of them will ever face consequences.
- atoav 4y ago> None of them will ever face consequences. If this is how we decided it is, they will not. Sadly an awful lot of people already decided that this is an unchangable law of nature — and by doing so they are complicit.
- bdangubic 4y agoIf #metoo movement really brought up meaningful changes who would be in jail is clinton, trump, gates, not weinstein and rkelly…
- themitigating 4y agoWhat would Clinton, Gates, and Trump be guily of related to metoo?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- humaniania 4y ago"Consequences are only for Julian Assange and Snowden." wtf kind of bizarre comment from a new account
- avgcorrection 4y agoWhat’s with the value judgement? People who had accidents and get addicted to pain killers are “weak” and “at the bottom of the food chain”? And “food chain” implies that humans are supposed to prey on each other, which would make what those people are doing OK.
- cascom 4y agoThose same people are now in the rehab business bilking the healthcare system for money
- pm90 4y agoAnd the cycle of wealth extraction continues.
- ianschmitz 4y agoDopesick is a great series. Worth a watch!
- paganel 4y agoThe same applies to online betting and most of the mobile-game industry of today (which is basically also betting). Outside of FAANG-like companies there’s where lots of money is when it comes to being a programmer/IT person, I would personally not touch that industry for almost anything in the world, but there are many amongst us (programmers/IT people) who don’t have those scruples.
- BrianOnHN 4y agoI wouldn't touch a FAANG-like company and more than an online casino. In fact, FAANG developers are worse because they're ignorant to the harm they do. The high salaries are there so you don't look any deeper!
- Crabber 4y agoI think one of the most egregious examples of this is Snapchat Inc's official mission statement being: We contribute to human progress by empowering people to live in the moment From my own observations of how snapchat makes people behave in the moment I couldn't think of a statement any more ironic
- Hellbanevil 4y agoI have found very few people have morals when it comes to money. I would gander 1 out of 100 refuses to do something when faced with loosing money. Psychiatrists=Most know antidepressants don't work, but they still prescribe them. (Irving Kirsch) Lawyers=Happliy take that retainer knowing you will be found guilty. Chiropractors/Osteopaths=Subluxation does not exist, unless in a bone bending accident. Religious Leaders=Most mouth the words, and collet the money. My point is most people can't afford to have morals. If it's not illegial; 99% of you will follow along the money trail. Who ever speaks up at a FANG that isn't independently wealthy when they see something slimey. How many people spoke up over the NSA?
- kwhitefoot 4y ago> most people can't afford to have morals Your examples suggest the opposite, all of those people could very much afford to take the moral high ground. Let's not excuse people's greed by pretending that they would otherwise starve.
- Caligatio 4y agoI actually served on a Federal jury (as an alternate) for a trial against a pill mill doctor. I wasn't there for the deliberations but the doctor ended up being found guilty and sentenced to jail. From testimony, the owners were nailed as well as support staff like nurses. It was eye opening how blatant this was, the doctor was starting people on 160 mg/day of oxycodone which is absolutely insane.