I'm allergic to lemonenes ('citrus/orange smell'), the oil in the shell of citrus fruits. It's in everything. Deodorant, soap, detergent, various cleaners etc.
Every time there's some sort of "better smell" somewhere, where it's just "nice to have" I think: why? Why have this as well on top of everything?
We all gotta eat and doing something "meaningful" often seems like the worst possible way to try to keep a roof over your head. Doing something seemingly trivial that you imagine won't be controversial and that will be a "nice to have" for enough people to pay your own bills probably seems to some people like the best way to get by in this world.
And they probably didn't think anyone was allergic to something so seemingly trivial and didn't think it could be a big deal in that way.
Edit: I'm on your side if that's not clear. I spend a lot of time wondering how we solve this and my hypothesis is we first understand why this crap happens and I think "we all gotta eat" is, unfortunately, a root cause of a lot of ills in the world today and I don't know how we fix it.
> "we all gotta eat" is […] root cause of a lot of ills in the world today
hits the nail quite well I think. People are forced to generate income, even when that is to the detriment of other people or the environment. Natural resources are exploited without restraint, factories keep producing incompatible, low quality electronics and online services that harm mental health but create a profit are pushed onto markets with great vigor.
But with the advent of machines of human-level ability (physical & cognitive), within the next decade, human labour will not be competitive any more. This provides us a unique opportunity to overcome the traditional compulsions of our current growth-fixated economic framework and transition to a steady-state, cooperative economy (aka RBE) instead. That means leaving behind barter trade and local optimization for individual or company profit, paving the way to a good life for all, without time pressure and compulsory work.
We (Open Source Ecology Germany) are actually working on getting funding (via PrototypeFund.de) for a cooperative economy simulation game.. To make it easier for people to imagine a post-capitalist economy and to start working on rules and organisational mechanisms for such a society. HN is invited oc ; )
Every time there's some sort of "better smell" somewhere, where it's just "nice to have" I think: why? Why have this as well on top of everything?