Nikophos

joined 6 months ago
[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 3 points 21 hours ago

True! I know "performative" has a pretty negative connotation and can be used dismissively, but I really do believe there can be power behind simple collective actions like these. Particularly as a starting point for something more.

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

I'll highjack this comment to add my opinion - I wasn't sure if it was appropriate for the main post.

I see the profile picture as performative (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). I don't want to fall into a habit of doing performative things and feeling like it's enough action. I also recognize Clippy is a flawed choice, as one of Microsoft's mascots and it's existence as a proto-AI assistant.

All of that said, I found the solidarity in the comment section of the original video comforting. So today, I will perform (and maybe spread just a little more awareness).

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 day ago

:) happy to help! I appreciate the appreciation

 

YSK: People are switching their profile pictures to Microsoft's Clippy in protest of the unethical, immoral, anti-consumer practices by various companies. The movement was started by Louis Rossmann (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Dtmpe9qaQ) on August 7th, 2025.

@6:46 "Clippy's a symbol that what used to be considered one of the worst annoyances in our life would now not only be welcomed, but for all of his flaws, celebrated as an idol. Because for all of these things that occur right now where there is negative malice of intent, [...] Clippy just wanted to help. And if you were to turn him on today, unlike most cloud bullshit, he'd still work."

Louis hopes for this to be a show of solidarity.

@5:44 "When a company CEO logs into their Slack and sees 10,000 Clippy's looking back at them, what I hope occurs is that they intuitively understand that they no longer live in a world where they can get away with fucking over the consumer."

@5:58 "[...] that [people] are alert and they are aware of what is going on, and they are going to politely but firmly push back against it. Every single one of those 10,000 people will be an obstacle to the anti-consumer practices and the anti-ownership practices, and they will no longer be another cog in the assembly line sending us all into a dystopia."

Why YSK: I was curious about the number of Clippy avatars, and thought other people might be curious too.

@4:28 "Clippy never tried to normalize sex trafficking. He just wanted to help."

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 month ago

I was scrolling through job postings today and came across one that read like this. I was confused -> clicked the link -> saw a picture of two oil rig workers -> genuinely said "Ah, oil!" out loud -> and closed the web page.

They try to hide behind green washing and jargon. It happened to me at a university career fair a few months ago, too.

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

That's fair - I checked out a few more of their replies. If my generous interpretation was right, they do a poor job of making their point.

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago

To clarify, I agree with the comment I replied to. Just wanted to add context for the people down voting. I know immigration is a difficult topic right now and we all just want to see people treated well.

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Maybe I'm misreading, but I don't think @teppa is blaming immigrants. I think both things can be true: our politicians are taking advantage of hard working immigrants, exploiting them for cheap labour and increased housing demand/cost, which makes our GDP look better.

It's not the immigrants' fault - we need immigration badly, and benefit greatly in many ways. But not if we're taking advantage of people. We all deserve better.

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 22 points 3 months ago

Respectfully, I'm under the impression that the Conservative party has the least impactful policy for addressing climate change, particularly for carbon emissions.

I'm also not a fan of their housing plan - I'm concerned that removing federal tax on all home purchases will benefit corporations that purchase single family homes, in comparison to only helping first-time home buyers (or even better imo, the NDP's housing plans).

And to address crime, I'll admit I like their claim to target off-shore tax havens, but the Conservatives have also mentioned targeting pro-Palestinian protestors with jail time (and deportation for internationals) ... not to mention, I believe a lot of crime stems from economic and social instability. They haven't even released an economic platform, but I won't be surprised if they cut social programs while blaming Trudeau and letting the rich benefit with tax breaks. How will that make Canada safer?

To be fair, the Liberal's economic platform disappointed me, but at least they released something. Regardless of what happens, I hope Canadians remember that we're in this together, and that we need to start holding our politicians accountable. And more importantly, that change for change's sake isn't good enough - that we deserve better, not just different.

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 months ago

Whoops! That's the word I was looking for :^) thanks

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 months ago

Oh gosh, glad to hear things are somewhat better over there, healthcare-wise. I hope your recovery went/is going well!

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 14 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Just to add, for anyone curious: Canadian healthcare is provincial, not federal, so your mileage may vary depending on which province you live in.

One of the "Canadian officials" recently quoted in American news for threatening to withhold electricity is Doug Ford, the Conservative Premier (i.e. the "Senator") of Ontario. While many Canadians have supported his response to Trump's tariffs, he's been dismantling Ontario's public healthcare by withholding public funding, so he can set up a two-tiered private/public system. He's also had a fair number of scandals. And was just comfortably re-elected :^)

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

"👊🇺🇸🔥"

A screenshot of the text, "Not long after, Waltz responded with three emoji: a fist, an American flag, and fire."

175
General Strike US (generalstrikeus.com)
 

We’ve voted, we’ve protested, and still, they ignore us. Our government refuses to meet our basic needs while the billionaire class hoards wealth and power. The General Strike is a grassroots network of regular people who know our greatest power is our labor and our right to refuse it. We aim to unite every person and organization fighting for racial, economic, and environmental justice so that together, we can see real change in our lifetimes.

For transparency, I'm Canadian, but I figured I'd share.

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