On a night like tonight, how utterly stupid is it that governments and news organizations don't have their own #mastodon and #peertube servers. Instead they let tech mega corps and even cable companies stand between them and an informed public. Fucking ridiculous. #SocialWeb#Iran
I assume it's cause we're not a big enough audience yet but this kinda independence is pretty basic to their missions. they should be leading the revolution. and could if they did it together.
Once upon a time, the #Shah of #iran was a pilot. On top of speaking 4+ languages and piloting state of the art F-16s. He was a flawed leader but he was objectively better than the #IRGCTerrorists that have kept Iran captive for decades and destabilized the Middle East. #WomanLifeFreedom#eatshitraisi#raisi
wasn't he a dictator supported by the US, after we helped the UK coup their democracy cause they wouldn't be subservient to us economically (cheap oil)? I guess he was better than the current govt but responsibility for that destabilization has to laid at the hands of those who interfere in foreign countries. the ripple effects go on for decades when you don't let countries determine what works for them. either directly via coup etc or continual pressure.
Democracy is the political expression of mob rule, in which the majority group can impose its will with impunity on minority groups.
Progressives - the people whose ideology is based on lifting up minorities above all others - are coincidentally also the ones who shout the loudest about "preserving our democracy". The cognitive dissonance from this is only possible to reconcile if you either lack the ability to think about it rationally, or you have no integrity to get in the way of your double-standard.
You legally live here. You're old enough. You should also try to understand things and think critically and understand other perspectives. But you get to vote imo.
I'm not counting non citizens as living here legally.
Being a republic doesn't imply anything about who gets to decide our reps, how voting is handled or gun rights. And the Founders weren't infallible as is obvious by their change to the Constitution from the Articles of Confederation (and much else). We have a complex system that evolved over time for lots of reasons. We can and should argue over that but it's not sheep vs wolves. Everybody is both.
I know. I shouldn't trust the American people. You're very concerned re creeping commies while we don't even have universal health care and tax the wealthy less than we did in the 50s. Establishment/woke Dems say I'm not afraid enough of Russia controlling Trump, social media influence games and MAGA racists (while of course we're much better on social issues than ever). Or maybe it's Adam's witches everywhere hypothesis.
would life w/o any govt be better than life under any possible government? I don't think so. but life with no govt would be better than life under some govts.
I was not calling anybody here greedy, except to the extent we all are. we are all both selfish and empathetic. my point is that the problem is everybody's competing interests and understandings, not commies or govt or racism etc. govt exists largely to manage that. it's also hard to manage govt.
the US govt was specifically designed to allow competing interests to balance each other for the good of all. not perfect. never could be. built to be revised over time. but imo it's less broken than the wholesale alternatives I've seen proposed would be. and I think most people don't have actual alternatives but are forwarding this "broken" narrative cause they just don't want to have to play fair.
I don't think you're greedy. you're elitist. you think the lessers are fucking up the country by voting poorly. I think the fight to make our country better than it is, is fundamentally always about most people recognizing that we have more in common than we think. and that we don't get that because the very rich (who own the media etc) propagandize us so we won't recognize that the economic system could be better for most people and worse for them.
everybody thinks most people are voting poorly. I don't think they are lessers. you do and the left who thought Hillary had a point do. that's the propaganda winning imo. hate is good for your goals and ratings. but bad for DEMOCRACY.
having people around who know how to do stuff well is what the permanent state is all about (I separate them from the deep state whose oversight is severely limited). executive agencies and long term staff etc. they tend to regulate the mega corps and rich people who would fully control the world without any democratic government. but you guys hate them. me thinks you didn't come to that position naturally.
clear rules written by a well informed Congress that can work together and wants a functioning government would be great. the first two parts are not what political media wants today. the last part is opposed mostly by conservatives who want to continue to paint DC as dysfunctional, but both sides play this game when the other party is in power. it's why we must fix the media and why I want to break the duopoly w/ #RankedChoiceVoting.
For all that it did right, Mastodon made a massive unforced error not realizing that the key to social media propagation was keeping journalists happy. Instead, it alienated 90% of them with grievances and brow beatings about how they were pesky interlopers. BlueSky and Threads merely had to toss them a handful of candy, and promise them others, and it was like flipping a switch that sucked them out of here like runaway ShopVac. But I am convinced that many can be brought back.
as seen in the comments here, many don't want what you (and I) seem to want. the culture was shaped by people who didn't want the standard social media experience. they want small communities where nothing upsets them. they wanted to escape the public forum with people they don't agree with.
it's the best tech to allow everyone to interact freely and the best info, arguments and art to go viral. but for the most invested users here, letting that happen would amount to gentrification.
Molly White is one of the most thoughtful writers and thinkers on the web today. In addition to being a high functioning crypto critic, @molly0xfff is a believer and practitioner in crafting the next era of the web.
Molly believes that human connections are an inextricable part of the web and sees a bright future ahead as those connections move from walled gardens to the open web.
Check out this fantastic conversation with her on the latest episode of #DotSocial on our #PeerTube instance or wherever you get your #podcasts.
I'm looking for an open protocol for fiat transfer. to be able to set a monthly pot in my banking app and have media apps report to it how much time i spent consuming whose content. then pay them on a percentage basis.