rule

They're just trying to write words that make you click

Does baiting someone for a click have a name?
- "Mainstream journalism"?
- Depends if they’re masters at it.

You can't exist without something suffering.

Might as well make the sufferer cum

Guys, I'm suffering a lot right now.
- OOOOAAAH I'M SUFFERIIIING
That is a rather succint and straightforward argument in favour of absurdism vs nhilism.

Love how it says "your bowl of rice" not "the modern farming industry". Gotta blame the individual people, not the companies! (sarcasm)

I mean you're being sarcastic but that's explicitly the point. Turn all the attention to personal consumption choices when the real issue is systemic.

Rice is… really really no where near the top of the chain on problematic crops. It’s mostly grown for direct human consumption, unlike corn and soy, and, although quite water intensive (at least for wetland rice cultivation) most of the production is done in areas with the water resources to support it, Yangtze river, peal river, Mekong delta, Ganges river, the lower Mississippi river, ect ect.

Obviously there are some serious issues with conventional rice cultivation, but, in terms of the number of people it supports relative to the over all impact it has… it’s definitely not something the average consumer should be putting at the top of their list to cut out.

The poors should just stop eating so we can keep flying our jets.
Et cetera. I'm the etc. person now.

so. on this upsetting piece of doom and gloom i'm going to ask people to bear in mind the following

grain farming is the most intensive form of vegetation farming because of its requirements for irrigation at scale
most of the world's grain is not eaten by humans but by food animals that we then eat
based on point two, eating more rice for most people will still be a net benefit to the world because that's rice you ate instead of a cow or a sheep or a chicken that ate the rice
based on point one you should diversify the vegetarian crops you eat to include more greens, root vegetables, and fruits
there's a lot to learn about how to eat healthy from pre-colonial/pre-imperial cultures. of particular interest to me are the nomadic tribes of North America who prior to European colonization were post-colonial/post-imperial

most of the world’s grain is not eaten by humans but by food animals that we then eat
An extra bit of doom: nearly half of the corn (consuming a proportional amount of water, energy, and labour) produced by the USA is not eaten by humans or animals. It's processed into bioethanol (consuming more water and energy) and fed into cars. The process is a net negative of energy, but shutting down or even scaling back the industry would lead to a massive loss of jobs and an economic suicide.
I don't have numbers to show, so feel free to disregard.
- Which is a good point to keep in mind when people claim there isn't enough land for solar panels.
  Even by extremely optimistic assumptions, bioethanol barely helps. It's entirely a corn farming subsidy combined with oil companies pretending their product can be clean. Here's a rundown:
  https://youtu.be/F-yDKeya4SU
- The process is a net negative of energy
  This is misleading, as negative energy balance numbers are oil propaganda at worst, or very outdated at best. The current energy balance is about 3x (clean carbon neutral) energy return on (fossil) energy invested. Source. So per 1 gallon of gas invested, the equivalent energy of 3 gallons of gas is produced in ethanol form.
  Ethanol is better for the environment than the gasoline alternative and spreading outdated and misleading numbers about the energy cost to produce it plays right into the propaganda of climate denialism pushed by oil producers.
  There are certainly better crops than corn that could be used for ethanol fuel production, but let's not put down imperfect solutions.
- It’s also worth pointing out that about half of corn and soy production is not profitable, like, most people growing it are not making a living off it, they’re breaking even at best. Most farmers in the US make the majority of their household income in jobs off of the farm.
  Most farm land in the US is not cultivated to generate profit, but to maintain it’s status as “agricultural land” which excepts it from many different types of tax (or at least subjects it to a far lower rate). Making it an untaxed store of wealth. There is a reason that the largest owner of farmland in the US is bill gates. Corn and soy are grown because they are the most “hands off” crops, requiring the least amount of ongoing intervention for something that breaks even.
  In all likelihood, if we shut down the ethanol program, very few people would loose their livelihoods, but there would be an economic impact in that more people farming for tax reasons would be taking a loss on that. Many might choose to sell off their lands and move that wealth in to different asset classes, which would have knock on effects.
- Also the portion of the corn not converted into ethanol energy is still used as food for livestock, it is called Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) and is a byproduct of the ethanol production which is mostly used as animal feed.
Rice, generally speaking, is not a significant contributor to animal feed, at least the grain isn’t. Most rice is grown for human consumption.
There are plenty of crops that do need to have their cultivation scaled back as they’re mainly being used inefficiently or wastefully, but rice isn’t really high on that list.
Rice agriculture uses a lot of water and also releases methane.
- absolutely. in a lot of ways this is like how almond milk is not a sustainable alternative to milk, but a less damaging alternative to milk. rice can be part of a sustainable diet so long as you diversify your diet. our problem as a species is largely that our societies can't help but lean into monocultures.

Thank God the billionaires aren't doing anything wrong.

No, if you die you can't make people money, so just live and suffer thanks.

Literally the reason why there's a social prohibition on suicide
- Well, that and the fact that nobody wants to have to clean up your corpse.
  Like, it's littering. Put your trash away responsibly.

Food uses water to grow, extracting water uses fossil fuels. Don't grow food!

you should worry more about whether the rice itself will kill you, rice can have quite worrying levels of arsenic depending on where it's grown.

but in general just, like, think about what you're buying? if you live in europe then maybe go with pasta or potato as your main starch rather than something grown halfway across the world.

I'm always annoyed when people go "oh but rice and beans is the cheapest food possible!" removed rice is more expensive than pasta and beans are only barely cheaper than ground pork (the cheapest meat) here in sweden. The actual cheapest food here is onion stew with potatoes and peas, and as a bonus all 3 of those are grown domestic.

i mean, if we all humans die would be great for environment, but better keep that as plan B 😁

Thanks, I hate it