That seems pretty plausible to me, yeah, because it’s being attempted already and we seem to be sliding that direction. Privatizing those public services sounds like precisely the way to usher in a fresh new hell like this, completely agree.
I really wonder what that may look like too and how likely of an outcome it is. I mean we’ve seen versions of it with “banana republics”, but that wasn’t quite the modern era and wasn’t sophisticated tech companies. I also think most tech companies today would not want that responsibility, just the rewards, it’s a bit hard for me to imagine them actually attempting to provide a government. I think what we’ll see is increasingly hollowed out public institutions matched with ascending power and control of the corps, but leaving the govt in place (largely for a target people can point to when they’re mad) and stopping short of overtly seizing power. Best of both worlds for the corps.
I think you’re right. I think Netanyahu is extremely clear on what he’s doing and what outcomes he wants.
Oof, somehow this escaped me, even though I participate, while hating it, and thinking at least a bit about that fact along the way. The thing doesn’t have to even be deliberate if it’s effective - accidentally-discovered techniques often work as well as planned/sought ones.
By which I mean, of course this situation is not some deliberate “super-rich cabal” silly scenario, but damn if the levers don’t work exactly that way. My and my family’s future well-being, as a strictly mandatory goal to pursue, is turned into fuel for a machine I hate (contributing to 401k), and the hope I’ve been soft-coerced into is a hope that the hateful thing spits out enough at the end for me to keep:
The folks with the resources and “character” to enjoy, exploit, and move stocks love this. The new yachts we buy them, ridiculous “homes”, and the unbelievably fresh new whatever’s on their idiot status comparison instruments are never-before-seen and even more egregiously wasteful than their awful rivals’.
The folks doing less well than me? I mean we don’t even hear their misery, except in limited outbursts at strange times in retail and food industry settings or other such. The folks actually working themselves to death, SO many of us, are too fucking busy to even properly cry out.
For real. The big tech companies are today basically approximating and exceeding what have before been exclusively state-level capabilities. Not all of those capabilities, of course, but enough that the writing’s on the wall. Meta, Google, Amazon (and others) - they truly see themselves as above “petty” things like governments. Just obstacles to work around.
The question is what will we allow them to get away with, not how far will they try to take things. We should be clear on that.
FWIW I upvoted your comment above that got so many downvotes cuz your comment (and edits) felt super reasonable to me.
With that said - it’s been pointed out to you that the reason people are sensitive about this is because of the astroturfing going on right now and the extreme harm that will come if enough people are convinced again (like in 2016, myself hoodwinked by that episode) to not participate. We will get the worst outcome (like in 2016).
No one is mad at your point of view, I don’t think. I bet most downvoters share it, actually. But the stakes are too high, the recent campaign to disillusion voters too successful (2016), and the time remaining too short - you need to quit it, now, or you’ll be rightfully seen as an enemy to progress.
Your points are important. There are more important things right now, though. As hideously distasteful as that is, that is the situation we’re in today. It isn’t my fault or yours, but here we are.
Edit to add: there will be lots of room to push on policy in every direction once this election is over (and “settled”, woof). Any president on their first term tends to work hard, eventually, to secure a second. That’s our best hope of the changes we want, to push on the Harris/Walz administration with everything we’ve got, for round two. Shitty, but again, these are the cards in our hand. We don’t get to deal or swap them now, we only get to play our hand. If we fuck this up, we really may not get more decent hands than this for a long time (and incalculable suffering, borne by the most vulnerable, until we get there).
Thanks, I probably wouldn’t have bothered to watch it if you didn’t post it (just due to fatigue basically), and I’m glad I did. He’s a class act, a real rarity among politicians, and our nation really fucked up by keeping him sidelined.
Hmm, yes, you’re onto something. I think we’ve sniffed out a very elaborate DnD campaign…in progress!
Exciting times.
Oh, tbh I was just commenting the sort of “pithy” way to say what commenter above me was saying. I wasn’t actually commenting on the situation, screw McDonalds and Taylor both lol
Look, the image is fine. The transcription you provided, on the other hand? Just way better.
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the merely good” is one (imo important) way to state it.
My policy as well. Non-negotiable hard no. But I’m fortunate enough to have at least some choice with regard to employment.
Pretty sure Maui’s handled worse, should be good. Deer works well low and slow? I have almost no experience with it, woulda figured that’d work badly with how lean it is.
For someone who seems to really want more left leaning stuff in our politics…you just seem to have dug your heels in on this one, without knowing very much about it. Every answered question or corrected assumption produces yet another, smaller complaint. This thing they’re doing is good. Even if it’s flawed, so what. It’s good. So few things are.
I’m out, cheers.
Specifically the language seemed intended to troll such that Republicans miss the satire (not hard), get angry about the fucked up campaign finance situation, and then we can all say “yeah this has to change”. I understand skepticism about achieving that, but it’s a coherent goal and strategy, and I’m very enthusiastic that we’re getting actual real pushback from somewhere. I’m not gonna tear it down in any way, I think it’s fantastic and I want to see more clever, patriotic efforts to drag into public view the ugliness we’ve allowed to take root.
It’s satire, and it’s borderline genius. The actual campaign text would probably change your opinion, it is very deliberately telling people to tweet about how it should be illegal. They give you exact text to post about how it should be illegal. It’s the opposite of normalizing. Ostracizing? Idk
ETA: one of the many other things I like about it is they explain very succinctly how it works. Form a SuperPAC, buy the data from a data broker, act barely (but strictly) within the law. It really feels like one of the few serious pushes back I’ve seen, it’s way more positive than you’re thinking.
They aren’t, they’re calling attention to it and directly saying “this should be illegal!”. It’s not subtle, it’s a pitch to point out that this should not be allowed.
However the website with the info (https://apologize.lol) now links to their other thing and I wonder if they are working through some legal concerns, lol.
Inflation is explicitly not:
a general terms for the costs of goods and services
It’s a general term for the change in the costs of goods and services. It’s not a merely technical distinction and I think it explains the difference between your take and mine above.
Otherwise I mostly agree. I do think the president has a bit more indirect influence on inflation in particular than you’re allowing, but otherwise I think we’re basically on the same page anyway.
Oathbreaker’s Rheia is one of the most moving records I’ve ever heard, truly a masterpiece with no wasted moments, missteps, just basically flawless in my opinion. On the other side Deafheaven just hasn’t worked for me at all. Taste’s so fickle lol.
I’ll check out the third tho!
I’m becoming more aware of this lately too. Just realizing that Amazon for example has almost negative quality control, in the sense that a counterfeit product from one supplier just gets lumped in with the real ones from other suppliers, and then they sell them having lost the knowledge of who supplied the counterfeit.
And I know no one is checking for flammability of kids’ clothing / items. So I mean, who’s to say stuff made with lead or whatever the fuck else isn’t just getting hucked on down the line too?
Got any rules of thumb or heuristics you’re using? So far all I’ve really got is “nothing for kids from a store without a physical location in my country”. Just basing that on the fact there will at least be someone to sue, which usually encourages better behavior. I also generally avoid the “I can’t believe this is so cheap” products (outside legit sales) because usually something important is getting squeezed somewhere, given the already generally oversquoze situation that is “the market”.