

Protests are good to demonstrate a movement has real numbers, but don’t just go to one to stand there. It’s a great place to find political organizations which can work to create actual change.
Protests are good to demonstrate a movement has real numbers, but don’t just go to one to stand there. It’s a great place to find political organizations which can work to create actual change.
For what it’s worth. I suspect fed-run relays have sped up the Tor network substantially. I’m really mostly using it to avoid commercial tracking and passive dragnet so it doesn’t really bother me…
but nobody can win without being slick and two-faced
And don’t forget ‘rich’, or more importantly, supported by the rich. A national-scale campaign requires resources that a typical organization can’t gather, and to win without such a campaign is miraculous in most systems.
So, you’re assuming we’re all American here.
Nah, like you said it applies to most democracies, even if America is an extreme example of these universal trends.
I don’t know what the culture is where you are, but I don’t give people money for friendly gifts. If anything, that just implies our relationship is transactional and shallow, rather than a community who care about each other more than money.
What I do is return the favor by giving them free things later, just like they did. Like buying them a drink at a pub.
Yes. So what?
Law doesn’t matter. Breaking the law is common. And if anything, Trump’s first term is all the proof we didn’t even need that laws won’t stop this.
haha thanks, I appreciate it.
Surely there’s some reward or motivation, whether it’s rational or not. Would you feel any different if you didn’t do it?
Serious question, why? Stress relief of button-pushing? Thinking it might work and that it can’t be slower than doing nothing?
I just don’t feel any urge to push the button.
I don’t have evidence, but I have heard there are also times of day when it’s automated and when it’s manual. So you might need to press it at midnight but not during rush hour. Interesting if true.
Good call, I’ll start looking out for these!
Huh, these are all common sense statements I would have assumed true. Four our of four, good work!
but they never seem to consider that it’s them that keeps electing those people.
How so?
If one doesn’t vote, a slimy politician still gets elected.
If one does vote, in most elections they can only choose from a small group of people who probably fail to represent them, and even if there is a reasonable option, they probably won’t win the vote anyway.
The system is rigged, when it comes to voting there usually* isn’t a correct option. Our political voice must exist outside of elections.
(I say usually, because a few elections are better than other, but generally speaking at a federal level, it’s slime no matter how you vote)
A key aspect is that it doesn’t even require confirmation.
What the fuck is a right-winger doing in a neoliberal cabinet?
I don’t understand what’s surprising about that. I’d expect most people in a neoliberal cabinet to be right-wing.
Maybe we should read it.
(I have and it’s short, simple, empowering and to the point, would recommend)
You wouldn’t, because you are (presumably) knowledgeable about the current AI trend and somewhat aware of political biases of the creators of these products.
Well, more because I’m knowledgeable enough about machine learning to know it’s only as good as its dataset, and knowledgeable enough about mass media and the internet to know how atrocious ‘common sense’ often is. But yes, you’re right about me speaking from a level of familiarity which I shouldn’t consider typical.
People have been strangely trusting of chat bots since ELIZA in the 1960s. My country is lucky enough to teach a small amount of bias and media literacy skills through education and some of the state broadcaster’s programs (it’s not how it sounds, I swear!), and when I look over to places like large chunks of the US, I’m reminded that basic media literacy isn’t even very common, let alone universal.
Well, it would require more than just legislation change. Truth be told, in the US, a working democracy requires some form of revolution since the people holding all the power benefit from the broken system. But on the other hand, organizations and communities (including territories of hundreds of thousands) practicing direct democracy on a smaller scale have seen success with these strategies.
Try buying Monero, it is very hard to buy.
I haven’t looked into whether that’s illegal in some jurisdictions but it’s really really easy, once you know that’s an option.
Or you could even just trade directly with anyone who owns XMR. Obviously easier for some people than others but it’s a real option.
Both of these methods don’t even require personal details like ID/name/phone number.
How do you solve the problem that half the country can’t even be bothered to participate once every four years?
I assume you’re talking about the US electoral system?? That’s very different.
but how would we get people to engage with such a system?
By empowering them.
Consider how the current electoral system disempowers people:
Some people literally cannot vote or risk jeopardizing their job taking the day off, others face voter suppression tactics
The FPTP system (esp. spoiler effect) and the present political circumstances mean that there are really only two viable options for political parties for most people, so many feel that neither option represents them, let alone their individual positions on policy
Politics is widely considered to be corrupt and break electoral promises regularly. There is little faith in either party to represent voters
But, in a system where you are able to represent yourself at will, engagement is actually rewarding and meaningful. It won’t magically make everyone care, but direct democracy alongside voter rights reform would likely make more people think it’s worth polling.
Sell it to who, Ben? Fucking Aquaman?
Good choice, no point throwing it away if it was too late for you to realize, but it’s more powerful as a platform to disavow Musk and Tesla.