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Re: Current Events Thread
At any rate, corporations are acting more communistic than Australia, imo.
Had our constitution not been written the way it was, we would be up shits creek. If there was a silver lining with Trump, it's that corporations don't have the power everyone thinks. In Florida, Disney acts as its own little government. Thank god they have federal oversight.
Re: Current Events Thread
Imo it's not the Constitution but Americans. Our Constitution is the second oldest in the world (after yours) and it was inspired by the American Revolution. But our politicians just ignore it when they feel like it. American politicians try to do the same and sometimes succeed, but the legal culture is much stronger with you than it is with us. Probably because you got it by rebellion while we did not.
They say Australia was made up of convicts, but the real reason is not the convicts, it's all the prison guards they descend from.
Re: Current Events Thread
It was the foresight of our founding fathers. Honestly, in the last two years it's really proven how brilliant they were. They put the power in American's hands with the first amendment, protected by the second (which is why it's so damn important, and why most countries don't understand it)...So many countries don't share the rights we have and it shows.
We have our issues, but we are really lucky.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: Current Events Thread
American media has completely abandoned any semblance of objectivity when it comes to the claims of US funded/managed bio labs in the Ukraine. I have no idea what the truth is, but I'm greatly alarmed that Republicans and Democrats whom are equally as ignorant as I am are declaring any suggestion that maybe the US was a tad naughty is tantamount to treason.
We know through congressional statements that the US was funding "research" on deadly pathogens in Ukraine in the same way the US was funding "research" on Corona viruses in Wuhan. I don't say "research" to imply malicious or devious intent, but to aptly recognize the ambiguity of the term. Of course I support understanding dangerous pathogens in an attempt to minimize their threat in the 21st century. I doubt anyone here has more vaccines than I have - how many of you are vaccinated against Hep A and B, Anthrax and small pox? But where is the line between studying how a pathogen functions and how to mitigate it, and the knowledge of how to enhance and weaponize it?
I guess what surprises me most is how quickly the media parrots politician's talking points and pushes the treason narrative. We saw this in the early 21st century when American media denounced anyone who questioned the early days of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. You'd think the aftermath of that would be enough to give everyone pause and the intellect to call bullshit when propaganda machines start accusing dissenters of treason. And you'd think after the Russiagate charade was exposed to be false through Mueller and subsequent investigations people would be even less likely to hop on the treason bandwagon, but here we are once again.
Make no mistake, I'm team America and would sign my life away again to protect this nation and its constitution. But this anti-intellectualism combined with reinforced group think is truly the true risk to American and Western exceptionalism. Western media, particularly American media, used to the the bastion of objective reporting. Now I struggle to make a distinction between what is coming out of Fox or CNN and what Russia Today is spouting.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: Current Events Thread
It was the foresight of our founding fathers. Honestly, in the last two years it's really proven how brilliant they were. They put the power in American's hands with the first amendment, protected by the second (which is why it's so damn important, and why most countries don't understand it)...So many countries don't share the rights we have and it shows.
We have our issues, but we are really lucky.
Because they believed in it. Jefferson was first and foremost a philosopher and he believed in the notion of individual autonomy and agency free from authoritarian power. The founders knew what it was like to have "jack booted thugs" an arm's length away that could kill you or take everything you owned because the God King decreed it. We now live in an era where the average person has never known hunger or violence.
You'll get clowns who post an Aaron Sorkin video laughing at American freedoms, but at least our citizens aren't arrested for teaching their dog to give a nazi salute, calling a biological male a man, and posting the demographic information of rapists and murderers...yet.
The true irony is progressive group think is their opinion and statements on the second amendment. Biden used his SOTU speech to attack owning semi-automatic firearms with "do ya think the deer are wearing bullet proof vests" meanwhile paying lip service to Ukraine who is largely resisting Russian occupation solely through the use of the very firearms he was attacking. How successful would the German or Australian population be if the Russian military appeared within their borders? Protesting and screaming about "my rights" isn't going to stop enemy combatants from occupying your territory. Bullets sure will though. That 80 year old double barrel 12 gauge with bird shot isn't going to be very useful though.
If ever there was an example for the pros of having an armed populace, Ukraine is one hell of an example.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Current Events Thread
Interesting post Randall.....
I agree with a lot of your points but I feel like there's a distinction between communism and reasons why capitalism requires competition to avoid monopolies from ruining it.
I feel like most of the concerns you raise relate to misuse of monopolistic power, for example if Spotify decided to pull all music by white people, in theory we should be able to go to dozens of other providers who don't. Sadly in the tech sphere it hasn't gone that way as a handful of businesses control everything.
In theory we have anti-trust/competition laws to prevent monopolies from getting out of hand, but I think in practise it hasn't worked.
Anyway, what I'm saying is that identifying something as bad because it is a monopoly that is capable of abuse doesn't mean it's communism even when communism has monopolies.
Yes, 80 years ago the US did this. Our courts have since ruled it was unconstitutional and those harmed by them have been compensated as much as people can be compensated for a violation of personal autonomy. But your nation didn't allow non-whites to immigrate until the late 1970s and is locking up its citizens in camps at this very moment. Isn't there an island your nation maintains where it keeps all would-be economic migrants from entering the mainland? Weird that an act from nearly a century ago is your go to example rather than the current and much more recent actions of your own nation.
I didn't list this example to give shit to the USA, I'm quite fond of the USA.
My point is that governments do stuff sometimes that is against the wider values of the community or against the general ideas of the nation (eg later deemed to be unconstitutional) and this does not there is a global conspiracy by the elites to enslave us or end democracy or create a one world government or anything else. They are just isolated incidents where someone did something less than ideal.
But more than anything it shows how weak your population is if they allow government agents to force them into quarantine camps for having an illness
This isn't really something that's happening in the way you make it sound. Like during the height of the pandemic we closed state borders in an attempt to control the spread which was partially successful but of course destructive to the economy. Now that the majority of the population has been vaccinated (which reduces the severity) and the omicron version has been determined to be harder to stop and often more mild we've taken the approach of dropping most restrictions and opening up borders for travel.
Re: Current Events Thread
So they're officially admitting the Hunter Biden laptop story is true. This meant nothing to me, nor if he was banging his teenage niece, tbh, but Twitter and Facebook were squashing the story to the point of suspending journalists who posted the Posts' story. They were in cahoots with main stream media outlets like the New York Times and the White House. Last week it was leaked that the WH was working with social media influencers to spread propaganda that gas prices were the fault of Putin and Republicans.
Not only does social media companies need regulation, the white house needs to pay a price. Trump was impeached for less.
Re: Current Events Thread
I loathe Twitter...all social media really....only been checking Twitter for news on the war.
I almost fell out of my chair when I saw this today....
The (former) CEO of Twitter
https://www.twitter.com/jack/status/1510314535671922689
These types rarely make such admissions.
They turned the internet into a monster. Young people of today don't understand how amazing (and different) the internet was back in the 90s. It was not meant to be what it eventually became.
Is it even fixable?
His tweet reminded me of those few big tech honchos years ago admitting how awful social media really is and they wouldn't allow their own children to use it.
