186
u/Personal-Tax-2250 17h ago
is labubu capitalism's pure essence?
144
u/Sword-of-Akasha 15h ago
Basically, yeah. It's a disposable gambling blind box toy fad that will result in more trash for the landfill. They're empty aesthetic items, they don't come from series or anything with a message. They exist to be solely to be a soulless cash grab. There were people buying these for 170k while a vast number of humans can barely afford groceries. There's no ethical consumption under capitalism... but c'mon 170k?
42
u/Catsanddoges 14h ago
Lmao the essence of capitalism coming from the People's Republic will never not be funny to me
51
u/Sword-of-Akasha 14h ago
Game over, buddy. They're selling Che Guevera t-shirts. Capitalism has won. If you think China isn't capitalist then remember Deng Shao Ping, "It's Glorious to get rich".
14
u/Fischerking92 12h ago
In the words of Epic Rab Battles of History's Guy Fawkes to Che Guevara:
"As a c*mmunist it must really hurt
That your face has been cheapened, weakened, besmirched
Being plastered on posters, coasters, and shirts
Making capitalists rich off of you on merch" (Guy Fawkes vs. Che Guevara)
(What the fuck is up with this sub, that I have to censor the c-word to make this comment?)
2
9
u/happymudkipz 15h ago
Nah I think it's more a monument to flawed human psychology. Not sure who's grave it would be best to put on there though.
2
u/ThirstyWolfSpider 11h ago
Nah, that's consumerist. AI/robotics owned by capital and eliminating the need for most human labor in production is way more Capitalist … and (whenever it happens, not necessarily in this round, but probably this century) it'll eliminate the need for most Labor, therefore most of the power of Labor, therefore the peaceful power of the masses, and then we'll just have to see what happens next. Probably won't be pretty.
If Marx were watching, I'd expect "oh yeah … if Capital doesn't rely on workers, I'm going to have to write a new book".
1
u/Admirable-Safety1213 11h ago
Yes byt nit the same capitallism than Marx talked about, if somebody doesn't buy Labubus they wouldn't die, if somebody doesn't sell Labubus maybe
1
-40
u/HistoricalLoss1417 17h ago
yeah, but Karl was a moocher who lived off of his friends generosity (who were able to do so because they benefited from capitalism), so it all kinda works.
32
u/PoppingPillls 16h ago
You 100% saw a right wing YouTube video about marx and believe you know everything about him...
3
u/dewag 15h ago
You know nothing about Marx and it shows.
Read a book.
-2
u/HistoricalLoss1417 15h ago
i did. he frequently borrowed money from Engels, whos family was quite well off.
6
u/dewag 15h ago
Lol
No. You didn't.
-2
u/HistoricalLoss1417 15h ago
thats some great proof you have there. great counterpoint. you really got me.
1
u/HarleyArchibaldLeon 15h ago
"Look, dummy, sharing money was the C0mmunist vision
Engel's bank was the crank that got the revolution spinning
We gave everything to see the common people advance
I'm so down with the cause, I even pawned my own pants"
1
u/LadderMadeOfSticks 14h ago
I note with interest that you have to spell "c0mmunist" with a 0 but "capitalist" is apparently an apolitical word
110
u/leafpool2014 15h ago
Surprisely half of these are in the bible
62
u/Cabbag_ 14h ago
you're telling me "a" is not used once in the bible?
60
u/leafpool2014 14h ago
For some reason this site refuses to count certain words like a
7
u/Fischerking92 12h ago
Strangely it does count it, but only in the sentence to be compared, otherwise it would say 4 out of 7.
3
u/OldPersonName 12h ago
and god said, “let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.
11/16, doesn't see vault, said, let, water, a
I could understand the article not being programmed right but this seems kinda crappy!
2
u/ThirstyWolfSpider 11h ago
It'll be in a stopword list because matching it doesn't really give you useful information. And, yes, such things are somewhat arbitrary.
2
2
37
15
u/AtlAWSConsultant 16h ago
I think Jerry Garcia has the same head stone.
7
u/AgentCirceLuna 14h ago
There’s an Irish joke about that. Two guys are wandering through a graveyard, drunk, and see their friend’s headstone. There’s a statue of the Virgin Mary above it and one of them says the sculptor did a very bad job of representing the friend.
2
2
u/TheYo-estOne 15h ago
Gex?
1
u/Skate_faced 14h ago
A Gex headstone would be sooooo rad.
The one where he hits that badass 007 pose.
19
u/oofyeet21 15h ago
Marx if he was alive today: "Engels I need more money to buy labubus, it's critical to my analysis of capitalism"
12
u/Effective-Key-6494 15h ago
Today he would have a substack and a podcast because nobody read newspapers anymore
2
u/Hugo_Selenski 14h ago
but Karl Marx actually wrote plays. Engels wrote everything he's known for, and raised his bastard child.
4
u/ThePotatoFromIrak 13h ago
Marx was Engels' alter-ego that he created because "engelsism" sounds much worse than Marxism
8
9
u/xorporx 12h ago
When I was in Highgate I tossed a couple of pennies up on the elevated part beside his head. Now for the rest of my life I can claim to have given Marx my two cents.
If you want some more Marx-grave-related wordplay, the Trinidadian/British communit Claudia Jones advanced Marxist thought in Black feminist directions. She's buried to Marx's left and her posthumous biography is called Left of Karl Marx.
(apparently the above word is banned if it's spelled properly. capitalist isn't)
4
u/RapAngel 15h ago
I picture him in whatever variety of afterlife, labubu phasing into his hand because someone left it at his grave. He looks down at it, and in perfect English says: “What the hell is even that.”
6
6
5
u/ButWhatIfPotato 12h ago
They are using some forbidden magicks to either piss him off so much he resurrects or it's a containment spell to keep him confined to his grave. No inbetweens.
4
u/a_cheerful_panic 12h ago
This post has had me using "my lababu atop Karl Marx's grave" in a similar fashion to "albatross around my neck" and I'm the only one who gets it or finds it funny but its so good to drop in more serious conversations about capitalism or whatever
4
u/jjskellie 2h ago
I thought the OP photo was aislop because at first glance Karl Marx head seemed to be wearing dark stone sunglasses. Closer examination revealed the bust has dark cavernous eyes.
TIL early communists movement was catalyst moment for Goth look.
5
2
2
2
3
3
u/Aatheron 14h ago
I don't understand Marx at all because his writing reads like weirdly angry poetry and I await the day I'm fluent enough in 'isms' where I can understand what he was getting at exactly.
4
u/xorporx 12h ago
There are specific reasons why this style is important to the writing, it's not just a purely formal choice but actually adds to the content of the argument he's making. See the first section of the editors' introduction to the 2024 translation of Capital and also Silva's book Marx's Literary Style for more in-depth analysis.
1
u/Hugo_Selenski 14h ago
i hope someone left a beanie baby before the age of camera phones
and its just withered away by now
dust in the wiiiind
all we are in dust in the wiiiiind
1
1
u/Wishnik6502 9h ago
It being an obvious Lafufu (counterfeit Labubu) makes this even more painful somehow...
1
1
1
355
u/foosterrocket 14h ago