Shreds of a bizarre world

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Shreds of a bizarre world is not a diary you have to swallow newest-first. It’s an archive of scenes, satire, and arguments. Start where you’re interested:

Scenes from the world — things seen in the street
The country we deserve — Italy watched from outside and from inside
Keeping a clear head — how not to get eaten by polarization
Counter-catechism — against inherited doctrines, without swapping in new ones
Living on my own terms — work, age, pleasure, personal freedom

All posts by date are still below. Better to enter through a door, though.

Neo-slavery

February 12, 2026

I figured I wouldn't write anything about the slavery of delivery riders, because the solution is so obvious it hardly deserves much attention. But I decided to write about it precisely to get at why that solution never gets applied.

Let's start with the solution. The total cost of delivery has to include a bigger share for the rider than it does now. A much bigger one. And the person placing the order has to pay for it.
If you can't or don't want to cook for yourself and you prefer restaurant food, but you don't want to go to the restaurant, either to eat there or to pick up your meal in person, and you expect someone to bring it to your door, well, you have to pay for that service, because the person providing it is there to serve you, not to be your slave.
The restaurant owner can knock a little off the menu price, since you're not taking up space in the dining room and they don't have to wait on your table, but somebody still has to do the work of packing up and delivering your meal.
You pay for the rider, and right now that cost is too low. Even a moron can see that.

So why doesn't a problem this obvious get fixed?
Because the cause is all of us. The responsibility is spread so thin that it gets ignored, and in cases like this it's easy to look the other way. On top of that, the injured party is a weak minority, so the majority takes advantage of them shamelessly and gets away with it. Even though the sacrifice would be minimal in the end, they still decide not to make it. Even though, when the tables are turned, when it's our own paychecks at stake, we claim our rights and denounce abuses, real or not.

We're selfish and greedy, not out of malice but by nature. That's what politics and the law are for: to smooth out the natural flaws of the individual for the good of the community.
Unfortunately, politics and the law don't always do their job well. And neither do we citizens. Unlike the riders, who, in spite of all that, always get screwed, no matter what.

Drafted from Italian with Blog Translator, then revised by me.

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