• 9to5 [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    9 days ago

    Im sorry but calling coffee a treat feels like stretching the definition of the word. Feels like an essential good to millions of people around the world (Hey its even vegan). Now a cake ? thats a treat. But coffee ? Thats a core ressource for many people. One of the things that keeps them going day in and out.

    • Abracadaniel [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      28
      ·
      9 days ago

      I’d say it is a “treat” irrespective of its behavior, but we need to to chill out and stop being anxious like the ghost of UlyssesT is going to return and curse us for enjoying something that’s not fundamentally necessary for life.

      communism is not a poverty cult and a strict rohibition on “treats” is not a core communist tenet.

    • departee [none/use name]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      9 days ago

      I remember Graeber made the point that colonialism was/is often centered around stimulants: sugar, tobacco, coffee, tea, opium, coca. Its the perfect commodity for it because you can induce demand where there is none, whether at home or in the periphery (like china during the opium wars)

      • redchert@lemmygrad.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        9 days ago

        The hexbear “Protestantism is evil to Protestantism is true virtuous communism” pipeline was not on my bingo card

      • departee [none/use name]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        9 days ago

        Pre imperialism sure. They committed genocides to take control of and expand the spice trade.

        It’s kind of funny how italy gets to have the best european cuisine just by being in the imperial core so long, first during the roman empire, then during the columbian exchange. I guess the climate helped too. Compared to them northern europe took a long time to catch up. It’s crazy how much the working class diet there changed so much even over the last half century

        • redchert@lemmygrad.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          10
          ·
          9 days ago

          You know tomatos arent indigenous to italy? So the italian food you think of now was mostly made with a version of mayo not tomato sauce.

            • redchert@lemmygrad.ml
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              8 days ago

              Good, because I have seen several variants of that take where people imagine that medieval Italians ate modern day lasagna and salsa rossa.

    • prole [any, any]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      9 days ago

      This is treat revisionism. Coffee is for sure a treat, it’s even addictive. If coffee isn’t a treat then tobacco isn’t a treat.

      • 9to5 [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        9 days ago

        Well an argument could be made that tobacco is in fact a core ressource for many folks like potatoes or rice. So my point still stands. These are the things that make society run so to speak (my post wasnt meant 100% serious though)

          • 9to5 [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            9 days ago

            Im not saying they are good. Merely that you gotta cope with life under capitalism so it would feel cruel to take away tobacco and coffee from people (even if they are drugs). I still think they are basically essential goods.

            • prole [any, any]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              7
              ·
              9 days ago

              Nah, I get you. I’m just being obstinate about it for fun. I’m drinking it right now to wash down some Adderall and Wellbutrin. Later I’ll smoke some recreational weed. I love stimulants and might not even exist without them. “Treats” for me and many others are survival, for sure. No way I could work 10 hours a day for 20+ years and facing probably another 30+ years without treats

    • redchert@lemmygrad.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      9 days ago

      People ate cake even amongst peasantry. Sure they werent the fancy glazed type, but “cake” as a treat was still consumed despite great poverty and hardship.

    • trinicorn [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      9 days ago

      Even if we want to say that caffeine is an important staple for many people, there’s other sources of caffeine besides coffee, specifically saying “my specific preferred kind of coffee or tea is a staple and therefore immune from criticism” is vaguely treatler behavior

      honestly though I’m not particularly interested in passing judgement on the subject (maybe because I too am a coffee addict/self medicating with caffeine). Its kind of a dumb debate with no stakes. I’ll buy my zapatista coffee or whatever and just focus on more pressing stuff

      • 9to5 [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        9 days ago

        Oh I dont disagree with you. I was using coffee as stand in for caffeine but I feel that coffee is the most common form of caffeine intake people have. So it felt ok to use as stand in for caffeine. I think “caffeine” is SUCH a common drug that people use as simple stimulant to get through their days that to me it feels like an essential good. Like as soon as you took care of the barest essentials some form of caffein beverage would be next on my list of wants.

    • Umechan [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      9 days ago

      And calling cake a treat is acephobic. It’s insinuating that they should only have the right to be their true authentic selves on special occasions.

  • Satanic_Mills [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    9 days ago

    Treats, like all commodities are a social relation. Coffee becomes a treat by virtue of the relation between the producer(s) and the consumer, hence how the same coffee can be a relatively simple beverage in the periphery and a treat in the imperial core.