periodic reminder that the concept of the "tragedy of the commons" (where people having unfettered access to a resource supposedly inevitably leads to its degradation and destruction) was popularized by Garrett Hardin, a white nationalist eugenicist who was using it to argue for global population controls
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miss ana vampires 🧛♀️ :vheart_fuck_yes: (ana@starlite.rodeo)'s status on Friday, 31-Oct-2025 00:07:14 JST
miss ana vampires 🧛♀️ :vheart_fuck_yes:
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Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Friday, 31-Oct-2025 00:07:13 JST
Kit Rhett Aultman
@ana whenever I hear this (about once a year on the Fediverse), I'm reminded that I never got taught the tragedy of the commons in its original form, because in my life it's always been a parable about how a commons needs its participants to get engage in some form of social dynamic with one another outside of their private use of resources (e.g. a village council, networks of trust / obligation) as a means to check bad actors from damaging the commons for others.
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Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Friday, 31-Oct-2025 00:53:42 JST
Kit Rhett Aultman
@ana I'm glad I didn't have those profs! Because, like I said, the way I'd learned the parable was as one that shows systems are at the core of keeping a commons. It was, actually, kinda a rebuke of neoliberalism the way it was taught to me.
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miss ana vampires 🧛♀️ :vheart_fuck_yes: (ana@starlite.rodeo)'s status on Friday, 31-Oct-2025 00:53:43 JST
miss ana vampires 🧛♀️ :vheart_fuck_yes:
@roadriverrail it was very popular with certain professors at uni who were using it to argue that we'd inevitably destroy the planet if left unchecked. still, this is placing the blame on the actions of individuals rather than looking at the effect of systems (capitalism)
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