• Of the Air (cele/celes)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    29·
    4 months ago

    Can we unionise it out of the control of Ikea though. If is going to belong to the trans community etc then we must actually own the rights to make and distribute it, not give more money to a corporation that likely does not care one way or the other as it likely will not help us get hormones, fight for our rights etc.

    • Commiunism@beehaw.orgEnglish
      4·
      4 months ago

      That’s literally impossible under capitalism. Blahaj is a commodity like any other, you can’t attribute ownership to a certain group of people based on their qualities (welcome back racial segregation), and trans people aren’t automatically more virtuous because of their struggles, so a trans small business owner selling Blahaj plushies for a living isn’t immune from going full Hitler and abusing their workers, PR to get as much profit as possible.

      One of the worst job application decisions you can make is working for a small business owner, given their legal exemptions in discriminatory laws, them always being on the edge of going bust causing them to take psychotic measures to increase profits, and very little infrastructure in place at the job location due to their lack of money causing safety/medical issues.

        • Commiunism@beehaw.orgEnglish
          2·
          4 months ago

          I saw that before writing the comment, and it doesn’t really change anything. If you want a blahaj of your own and got the sewing skills (from the looks of it you do need to be quite skilled), then sure but if you want to commercialize it and start sewing for others, you’re now a small business and my comment above elaborates on what usually happens with small businesses.

          • Of the Air (cele/celes)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            5·
            4 months ago

            Okay. But since it’s owned by a corporation that hates unions and doesn’t care about us (most likely) currently we wish trans and queer folks would stop promoting it as a trans and queer symbol and paying them for the privelege of owning one.

            We don’t understand why other trans folks would possibly want to give money to a corporation for a commodity they ultimately get no benefit from in the grand scheme of things.

            Edit: We personally think this is a much better symbol, especially because some of the money goes to trans artists. Sure it’s not the entire trans community, but at least a trans person gets something, unlike with blahaj.

    • azolus@slrpnk.netEnglish
      16·
      4 months ago

      Blåhaj has transcended its status as a commodity produced by an evil megacorp

      • Bad@jlai.luEnglish
        6·
        4 months ago

        I will agree with this when people stop pretending it’s not both things at once

        • azolus@slrpnk.netEnglish
          11·
          4 months ago

          You can apply this argument to basically any non “piss poor hobby artist makes this in freetime” piece of culture.

          Of course blåhaj is a commodity produced by a large corporation. And almost any sufficieny large corporation will employ anti-union tactics. This is not surprising at all since it’s a necessity for corporations to act like this under capitalism.

          I still like blåhaj because it brings some of my friends joy. That’s all.

      • Fleur_@aussie.zoneEnglish
        31·
        4 months ago

        You bought into one of the most successful viral marketing campaigns of all time. I’m sorry for your loss

        • azolus@slrpnk.netEnglish
          1·
          4 months ago

          I have not bought a single blåhaj from Ikea but I have hand-sewn and gifted away multiple ones, since they are a fun piece of queer culture and some of my friends love them.

          You’d be surprised how much of pop-culture has historically been shaped by advertisement and marketing campaigns. Feel free to completely boycott these trends, be aware however that this level of ideological purism is at best ineffectual, and at worst highly isolating.

          I for one like having fun at times and it has not changed my opinion on the necessity of abolishing capitalism in the slightest. I’m sorry for your cynicism.