Dark_Arc

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago (edited 28 days ago)

I think it just correlates with leftism in the US and Lemmy was leftist before the Reddit exodus increased the population. I say this as a US center-left liberal (and I get annoyed with it myself).

The leftist movement is very anti-establishment, very pessimistic about their future under capitalism, very pessimistic about the US political establishment, very pessimistic about climate change, very pessimistic about the Israel-Hamas situation, very pessimistic about police, very pessimistic about health care, very pessimistic about both Biden and Temp, very pessimistic about … pretty much every major issue (except maybe weed).

Edit: I don’t mean to “rage against the leftist” either, I think y’all have some good points from time to time and there are definitely things I agree with you on (e.g. the health care system needs major changes). Some of y’all give a real “you must be fun at parties” kind of vibe though and some are about as bad as the Trump supporters in terms of using personal attacks.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

You being personally attacked for being an (evidently) leftist does not invalidate the numerous personal attacks that leftist have made against me on this platform and others.

youtube.com/shorts/vHfbUIQeW_A?si=_PnjDToAzRXzERP…

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

This isn’t some both parties crap, get out of here.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

If that’s what you thought I did, have a nice day.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago (edited 28 days ago)

There is a point where persistent criticism of any and every action (even actions that align with stated goals like tackling the climate crisis) rises past the point of criticism to outright pessimism, negativity, or even the more recently coined “doomerism” term.

Edit: Here’s are some examples:

• lemmy.world/comment/2950617
• lemmy.world/comment/2239194
• lemmy.world/comment/1847620
• lemmy.world/comment/1851530

They’re really not hard to find.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

and some are about as bad as the Trump supporters

vs

One party calls everybody libtards and pedophiles, the other does not. The personal attacks are not on the same level.

You drew the comparison

Not that comparison.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

I was expecting it to be at least a little subtle. I don’t know how the heck you tape an iPhone to the seat and don’t have the next person to enter the bathroom go “what the heck?”

Evidently he got away with this before though…?! I’m just so confused.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

I’m actually thinking more Michael Hall in Dexter.

resizing.flixster.com/…/p7892396_b_v8_ab.jpg

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

Yeah, honestly … this is just brain dead.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

m.youtube.com/watch?v=wh2spkbaARA

Just … jump to some random parts of that video. Or this…

m.youtube.com/watch?v=3WPNj3IuOOE

Or even this…

m.youtube.com/watch?v=863aE25HQ5M

It’s because plenty of people in the general public lie, take advantage, abuse any angle they can.

I don’t agree with officers delaying CPR and pulse checks, they absolutely should be looking for genuine signs of distress or injury… But, I get why their faith in humanity is trashed to the point they don’t actually expect to find anything.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago (edited 28 days ago)

They really don’t. My cousin married a cop, my brother is a volunteer fire fighter that regularly has to interact with them, a good friend of mine is an ex-cop turned IT guy, the guy who lives across the street from me is a cop, I’ve also had interactions with random officers at coffee shops here in Akron and at a few events.

My hot take is most of them would rather live and let live unless you’re doing something monumentally stupid or they get a call.

And yeah, I’ve also met some douchebags on power trips, but “ACAB” is a failed and ridiculously confrontational movement. You’re never going to get anywhere near the reforms we need to see in policing with the ACAB or “fuck the police” mentality.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago (edited 28 days ago)

I hate lynch mobs. ACAB and “fuck the police” are lynch mobs based on broad generalizations.

There is scientific data and statistics to show that black people and others are disproportionately targeted by the police. It’s immediately obvious the police unions protects their own including some folks they likely shouldn’t.

These are problems we should strive to understand and fix.

There is not scientific data showing that all cops (or even more than a minority of cops) are bullies out to treat everyone as a suspect or fetishize their next opportunity to beat the crap out of someone. That is an opinion and one that immediately shuts down any hope of a reasonable discussion about how two parties might move forward. Show me one scientific study where someone went “you’re a bastard and you can go fuck yourself” and then got a constructive response… It doesn’t exist, because people do not like being put into groups and told what their own individual opinions must be.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

I can get behind attacking the police unions and demanding they be reformed (particularly the ones that have a history of protecting abuse of power and excessive force serial offenders). That is more constructive but less catchy (as constructive points usually are).

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

I think Elon might just do that based on what I’ve been reading.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/…/677806/

It’s less about communism and more about authoritarianism. Even historically, communism was (IMO) just the trigger word associated with a slide into authoritarianism … which is what seemingly happened in countries that had a communist uprising to overthrow the government and broader “owning class.”

China seemed like they were on course to be a friendly communist country at one point, but they’ve slid back into authoritarianism under Xi.

I fully expect more hostility towards Chinese exports. Part of the reason for that is going to be that China is happy to use government money to subsidize certain industries to help gain dominance (Sherrod Brown - D Ohio) was recently speaking out about the risk Chinese subsidized EVs pose to the US auto industry domestically and internationally.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

A part of me genuinely would like to see communism work.

Another part of my looks at the past century and sees the same pattern of well meaning revolution to communism, that results in a corrupt government that owns and controls everything.

I don’t think the Russian people that got the ball rolling for the USSR were stupid or evil, but I also don’t think it worked out like they wanted… and I think that’s true of every other case of communism that’s been tried in practice.

Part of the problem is without ownership, you don’t own the situation. Which house is taken better care of, the one that’s rented or the one that’s owned?

Another social mind game, are you better off getting into an accident with 1 person around to call for help or 20? It’s been shown that when people can put off responsibility/assume someone else is going to “own” the situation, they do.

I think capitalism with regulation to keep money out of politics, mixed with more social programs (particularly socializing the insurance industry) makes the most sense.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago (edited 28 days ago)

I agree with your last paragraph in particular, I think if we ever want to have a hope of capitalism, communism, or socialism it starts with teaching people “the cheapest option isn’t the best.”

I am fortunate to have a well paying job. I do not buy cheap third world or authoritarian made products unless I absolutely have to. I go out of my way to find products made in democracies that have stronger labor and environmental laws. A recent example, I could’ve gotten cheap placemats for my table or a cheap table off of Amazon or at a department store.

Instead, I paid local Amish carpenters to build me a table and bought placemats from a company in Indiana. I also encourage anyone and everyone who has the means to do the same. Try and look at the product beyond “what it does” and “what it costs you.” If nobody was willing to buy an iPhone made with slave labor, the gears at Apple would turn very very quickly.

Edit: And yes, it’s awful how we’ve treated our neighbors to the south.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

I think these are image based static ads, not video ads

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

The mad part is based on a comparison of my grandpa’s cable and unpaid YouTube, unpaid YouTube is still less loaded up with ads.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

I pay for it. It gets rid of the ads when I need a video of how to do XYZ thing. It lets me watch channels that I care about without interruptions. The main thing for me though is when a friend or family member sends me a YouTube video, I don’t have to watch ads.

It’s weird to me that folks are so hostile towards paying for things they use on the Internet. I mean, I get that venture capital fueled a seemingly endless “free lunch” of new services with small amounts of advertising… but it had to end at some point. It costs a lot of money to run a “YouTube.”

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

It’s not about data. It’s about broadcast content curation (i.e. the TikTok algorithm and how it might be used to change US policy by presenting a very pro-China narrative).

Citizens of the United States have a right to free speech and curation of speech within the United States. Foreign governments do not have this right and having foreign governments directly control the dissemination of information poses a real and active risk (networkcontagion.us/…/A-Tik-Tok-ing-Timebomb_12.2…).

This is a principle that’s been applied to traditional broadcast media for decades. It just hasn’t applied to the Internet.

Data privacy laws would be great and we should be worried about how data is being used but, writing good data privacy laws wouldn’t resolve the major issue here.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago (edited 28 days ago)

You should read this www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/…/677806/

Again, this is not a new concept. The Montana ban was stopped but even in that case, AFAIK the appeal isn’t settled. This was also not something heard by the Montana supreme court or the US supreme court.

The national ban has also presumably been crafted by much more experienced lawyers and lawmakers than the Montana ban. Presumably folks that understand the law better than either of us.

IMO comparing a TikTok ban to some major infringement even remotely close to an authoritarian country … it’s just wrong. Freedom of association has its limits and always has. Associating with a hostile foreign power, for instance the confederate states, was not ever to my knowledge protected. The only entity that folks are being prevented from associating with here is the Chinese government.

Calling a TikTok ban an assault on the right of association is like calling Twitter moderation an assault on the right of free speech. There are other options available. Your argument would be much stronger if TikTok was a truly unique technology or platform, but it isn’t. It’s not even an original idea, it’s a ripoff of vine that (originally) added music to the videos, made them a bit longer, and generally suffers from a lot of the same issues in terms of monetization.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

If you can’t separate the CCP from the Chinese people, there’s something very wrong with your moral compass.

It’s right up there with calling someone antisemitic for criticizing Israel.

I’m done with this conversation. I can’t take you seriously after that xenophobia comment.

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

I do not know anything about AirVPN specifically.

Proton does provide port forwarding these days FYI.

I think “run by nerds not marketers” is a good thing … though I don’t know if a site looking old really means it’s run by nerds lol

Dark_Arc, 28 days ago

Yeah that’s fair. It can definitely go both ways though. Like your sign over your shop can look old because you’re still getting growth/a really nice cash flow without updating the sign or it can look old because you stopped caring a long time ago and you’re just milking what you can from the remaining customers.

I had a friend who’s ISP was very much in the latter category about a decade ago, charging like $90/mo for 10Mbps (IIRC with a data cap).