I feel it's one of the detriments of capitalism when something like this holds true...

DJwalrus · 1 year

what happens if I wash plastic spoons and reuse them??? Oh got you good fucker!

redrockmullet · 1 year

I feel it's one of the detriments of stupidity when people don't put any thought into their tirades. The images creator obviously did not take into account that the spoon was made from the leftovers of the refining process. The oil was drilled and shipped primarily to create usable fuels like gasoline, diesel, kerosene and etc. The spoon was made out of otherwise useless byproducts. The creater of the image fallaciously assumed that all the effort of drilling and shipping and processing was to just make spoons. By creating an object of intrinsic value the utinsel manufacturer did us the service of adding convenience out of an otherwise harmful mass of leftover sludge. Also, the spoon can be recycled... provided the person using it doesn't just toss it in the trash. I'd say its a triumph of engineering.

watermark0n · 1 year

Well, this is one of the most most oversimplified economic calculations I've ever seen.

padadiso · 1 year

That's why I take metal spoons and just dispose of them.

BurritoTime · 1 year

It's pretty amazing that our society has reached a point where the effort necessary to extract coal from the ground, truck it to a power plant, use the power to pump water hundreds of miles to cities in places without enough water to sustain the population, mix it with soap containing dozens of chemicals, and use the mixture to scrub a piece of metal...

is considered to be less effort than what it takes to just grab a new spoon out of the box.

Look! I can make condescending arguments too!

PaintballerCA · 1 year

How is this specific to capitalism?

lessplasticplease · 1 year

What a terrible argument. Downvoted.

paveln · 1 year

If I'm holding a barbecue with a large number of guests, there's no way I'm bringing out my plates/spoons/forks, using them then bringing them back inside to wash instead of just paying $5 and being done with it.

EquanimousMind · 1 year

Or.. it shows one the benefits of capitalism, that through the efficiencies gained through diversification and trade we can reach such a point of productivity that we can do these amazing things at practically pennies a pop!

Slimey79 · 1 year

Mumble mumble... something about locating sources of water, moving water, removing particulates, testing water quality, locating sources of phosphorous, processing phosphorous, testing and packaging soap, utilizing petroleum to move soap, washing spoon, and managing the resulting water...

suprmario · 1 year

Is there data out there that determines the cost of soap/water of washing each steel spoon? Hand washing vs. dishwasher?

SanitySquad · 1 year

Who says you cant wash plastic-spoons?

Brimshae · 1 year

Detriment of capitalism? No.

Laziness of people? Yes.

jmed · 1 year

I feel like that's awesome and an example of how far human ingenuity has taken us.

novelty_string · 1 year

After I masturbate I dry those damn tissues out and put them back in the box. Recycling, motherfuckers, that's how I roll.

funkah · 1 year

This is dumb and if you think it makes some kind of profound point you are also dumb.

omnilynx · 1 year

The fact that people throw cheap things away has nothing to do with capitalism. It's just human nature.

Capitalism made the spoon cheap, which is a good thing because it means that a bunch of people can afford it that couldn't before, and the money and effort that used to go into making spoons can now go into making people's lives better in other ways. That's not necessarily unique to capitalism either, by the way, but the point is that making things cheaper is good, regardless of what some people do with cheap things.

GrinningPariah · 1 year

Here's the funny part: This makes you imagine huge oil rigs and refineries, giant factory buildings, entire networks of shipping and warehouses, all for this one spoon.

BUT it's not all for that one spoon. It's for millions and millions of them, and I bet if you look all that and divided it by the number of spoons that get made, the effort for each one is less than it takes to wash the spoon.

Especially if the sink is already full of plates and shit anyways.

satiredun · 1 year

You also have to take account of the energy involved with iron extraction/refining/manufacturing as well as the water/soap comments that are elsewhere in this thread.

zyzex · 1 year

oh yeah, well I wash my plastic utensils! WHAT NOW?!

CodeandOptics · 1 year

yes, when you have a birthday party for kids, I know I always keep 50 spoons in the house for just such an occasion.

What a bunch of tripe. They aren't always used because people are lazy, they are often used because its more practical and cheaper than buying 50 metal spoons for an event.

[deleted] · 1 year

I often wonder how retarded people (like you) are and yet all work in a system that produces so much wealth.

8002reverse · 1 year

The 9/11 knee-jerk led to plastic knives on all aircraft into and out of Australia and is still current.

[deleted] · 1 year

You realize that all that effort goes towards more than one spoon right?

diplomatika · 1 year

And you support it by buying the spoon.

SwedishEngineer · 1 year

If this process had been used to produce a plastic spoon, instead of gazillions of plastic spoons, your argument would've been ... valid.

crazyfingers619 · 1 year

detriment? I think this shows a tremendous amount of affluence brought on by capitalism.

wfohts1 · 1 year

What does the scouter say about his stupid levels?

Its over 9000!!!!!1one!

obey_giant · 1 year

Yeah. Beautiful, isn't it?

tylerdurden03 · 1 year

I hate these dumb ass images more than anything else on Reddit. This is the same type of mentality that people like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin use. Barack Hussein Obama? Muslim name, therefore he is Muslim, tide goes in, tide goes out.

How about we stop taking extremely complex systems, and trying to explain them in less than 20 words.

[deleted] · 1 year

Because oil companies only go to the effort of extracting oil so they can make a fortune off plastic spoons?! This is the most shit-all-stupid leap in logic I've heard all week. Oil, and for that matter plastic, is used for a helluva lot of other things besides motherfucking spoons. Spoons is what you choose to complain about?

lurker1 · 1 year

But bringing running/waste water directly to/from your home requires 0 effort, and has 0 environmental impact? Both are futuristic voodoo only made possible within the last little while in human history.

yungbumyum · 1 year

Except people don't commonly use these utensils at home. These are used in fast food settings, where it would be completely infeasible to give out metal spoons to consumers who have no intention of returning them to the store.

hacksoncode · 1 year

Meh. The entire social cost of the spoon (modulo pollution, which I'll admit should be accounted for) is included in its price. A plastic spoon is cheap enough to produce that 100 of them can be sold for a couple dollars. If my time washing a spoon is worth more than 2 cents, it's a net win for society (or at least me) to use the plastic spoon.

I'm paid something like $120/hour, or $2/minute. If a spoon takes me more than 1 second to wash (even assuming zero cost for water, gas, and soap), it's a win to use a plastic spoon.

Vik1ng · 1 year

Are there any countries besides America that use that much disposable cutlery? Because here in Europa my experience is, that it is mostly used at fast-food restaurants, parties or camping ... I know you can arguee there too, but seriously why would you use it in a hotal or a cafeteria, where you bring back your cutlery and they have a big kitchen to clean it? I'm mean they even used paper plates at some places there ...

whut · 1 year

When you realize that this is one of the strengths of capitalism, then you'll finally understand capitalism

NeonBeige · 1 year

I have an aunt that I used to visit when I was little. She would buy paper plates and plastic silverware just so she wouldn't have to do dishes.

The amount of laziness from people who simply can't wash a dish is mind-boggling.

inappropriatehumor · 1 year

Clean water is more precious then oil.

AlexanderSalamander · 1 year

If someone else is getting paid for doing it, then obviously that will be preferable to doing it myself for free. Not saying it's 'right', but it's what happens.

ralree · 1 year

Think of all the water savings!

TankRizzo · 1 year

I HATE plastic spoons...they're too deep and just feel all wrong.

wytbyt · 1 year

Am I the only one that has washed plastic cutlery because I didn't have proper silverware?

californiarepublik · 1 year

with oil at $105/barrel, it will not remain so cheap for long, better enjoy your plastic spoons while you can

[deleted] · 1 year

....We cannot eliminate these entirely, what about parties or group gatherings? I have maybe 10-12 Spoon, forks, etc.

UrbanToiletShrimp · 1 year

GIVE ME CONVENIENCE OR GIVE ME DEATH!

shadowspawn · 1 year

I keep those. Doesn't anyone else? I just throw them in an orange bag and toss them in the dishwasher. I have a few boxes full of sterile, clean, plastic utensils.

Pooters · 1 year

Who the fuck uses plastic spoons?

minamhere · 1 year

I'm pretty sure the purpose of plastic spoons is not to avoid washing metal spoons, but to avoid throwing metal spoons away at work. All the effort to create a plastic spoon IS less effort than remembering to bring a dirty spoon home to get washed.

EtherealDragon · 1 year

There is no perfect system. Economics is a matter of the lesser of the evils. The fact that we need currency to get along in the first place is kind of a sad statement.

KombatKid · 1 year

I keep those and wash those.

/poor

erkapathy · 1 year

I would wash that and reuse it until the handle breaks. Then, I recycle.

[deleted] · 1 year

This is why I carry silverware in my backpack.

Bipolarruledout · 1 year

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction

Oh, and also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality

Which tends to cause things like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

I could go on but this is mostly due to our inability to understand:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_systems

The point is that everything has consequences which are not always immediately apparent. See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect

OptimalPirate · 1 year

Because metal spoons and soap spontaneously came into being. Yep.

[deleted] · 1 year

This is why i only use paper products!

[deleted] · 1 year

Garbage Energy:

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/garbage-energy/

Arkangyal · 1 year

Damn, I literally threw out a plastic spoon 5 seconds before looking at this post.

reedatschool · 1 year

It is amazing that anyone would defend our wastefulness. We produce more garbage here in the US on average than anywhere else in the world. We throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour but there is nothing to look at here riiight?

http://sparksgoinggreen.blogspot.com/2009/07/america-is-queen-of-trash.html

Seriously though everyone who is being sarcastic or trying to bust the posters balls needs to open their eyes and take a look around. We cannot sustain our disposable culture and it is only benefiting an extreme minority at the cost of everyones future.

nigrochinkspic · 1 year

According to who? Don't just state shit and expect everyone to agree with you. ESPECIALLY on reddit.

sundjub · 1 year

Metal spoons appear out of thin air and have no costs associated with production.

metaphase · 1 year

It's a convincing argument sure, but these are needed, not always but sometimes yes. They cost less than buying metal and can be recycled, if only a better plastic were to be used like a bio-plastic, but yes I would say these are important at times.

Lavasoup · 1 year

Our grandparents were green long before it entered the popular lexicon.Milk bottles anyone?

010011000111 · 1 year

The good thing about capitalism is that you have a choice.

Now I wonder how much energy was spent mining the metals from the ground, melting them down, shaping them, and transporting them, and how much fresh water is poured down the drain after every wash?

I understand where you are coming from, but you are not honestly offering up all the relevant variables.

jcloud240 · 1 year

amen..

Harinezumi · 1 year

Economies of scale: they work, bitches!

chazferrari · 1 year

When I have more people over to my place than I have silverware, I'm not going to go out and buy more silverware.

allocater · 1 year

after all these smart ass responses did anybody actually calculate what's the better way?!

Sky_Prodigy · 1 year

THERE IS NO SPOON

DX282 · 1 year

Anyone I see using plastic cutlery, I will punch them in the face.

ForseenSeraph · 1 year

The worst thing I have heard out of the capitalist mentality is "I don't know how to fix <repairable item>, I will just buy a new one." it's bad enough that this failing economic system has brought "planned obsolecense" to items that were once designed to last decades instead of lasting til the next upgrade or just after the crappy warranty runs out.

ullshalk · 1 year

Ctrl+F steal

Maybe it's because people steal or accidentally throw away metal spoons. This is why we can't have nice things.

dafakin · 1 year

Reusing plastic spoons? Man...I use my hands...

baddna7 · 1 year

Especially when you needed a fork.

ionracas · 1 year

I am absolutely dumbfounded at all of the comments here justifying using disposable spoons. Rage, rage against the washing of the spoons!

Seriously, America, this is why the rest of the world thinks you're wasteful idiots. You defend this. You defend living like swine in your own waste.

toastermcgee · 1 year

What free marketeers don't get is that it WILL be paid for - but by future generations. To ban plastic spoons isn't the solution. In my view, taxing "negative externalities" is the only way to fix it. A plastic spoon tax would mean that only people that really need them - and aren't just lazy - would buy them. I think of it this way... humans have poor self control, and we need measures in place that make bad behaviour hard - but not impossible (that's dangerous).

I'll explain using my "bowl of nuts theory". Imagine you're hosting a dinner party and you put a big bowl of nuts on the table before dinner. They're delicious, and everybody can't resist eating handful after handful. Now of course you don't want them to spoil their appetite, but these nuts are so damn good and they can't control their impulses. What's the solution? Rather than put the nuts away, just put them on the shelf just away from the table. So now if you really want nuts you have to get up from the table - and it's pretty unlikely that you will unless you're starving hungry.

Unfortunately free market ideology doesn't see it this way and our pricing structures all too often reward bad behaviour (ie cheap junk food, plastic spoons, ridiculously cheap petrol etc etc)

daveime · 1 year

Just wash the spoon when you're done with it.

When 1.1 billion people lack even potable drinking water, it's sanctimonious shit like this that makes my blood boil.

What about the infrastructure needed to first obtain the water, purify it (including all the chemical production, shipping and handling), transport (including enough copper and plastic pipe you could circle the Earth FSM knows how many times), pumps, motors, electricity etc etc, not to mention the chemicals and all the other shit needed to make the washing up liquid, just so you can simply "wash the spoon".

Bullshit posts like these serve no useful purpose, other than to demonstrate you are yet another armchair environmentalist, who hasn't got the thought necessary to understand the infrastructure and resources that went into the "easy half" of your comparison.

troubledparent · 1 year

It is interesting that the author does not consider the capitalism required to have the water appear in the sink. To have dishwashing soap handy for use. Or even the process necessary to have a towel available to dry the spoon. And, of course, the consumer's labor is free as well.

I consider this a shining example of why capitalism inherently succeeds while other methods of controlling the market fail.

axilmar · 1 year

While I see the point of this, the author of the picture should have in mind that all the effort he describes goes into many more products than a spoon. Plastic items like a spoon are only one of the thousands of products produced from oil. The cost of extraction, refinery etc is spread across all the product spectrum.

Furthermore, is the cost of washing the spoon really minimal or even less than the cost of producing the spoon in the first place? washing a spoon requires water and chemicals to clean it.

The chemicals used in cleaning the water come from oil too.

The water used to clean the spoon is extracted using machines that are moved by oil products. The water is also purified using chemicals that are also oil products.

cerialthriller · 1 year

so do you guys like actually pack up silverware and carry it around with you, just incase you stop for some ice cream or get take out sometime? Then carry that dirty silverware around with you all day until you get home so you can clean it and then put it back into your pocket for the next time you happen to stop somewhere?

shark615 · 1 year

right because metal spoons grow on trees in our back yards and require no mining, smelting, shipping, shaping or buying

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