Slashdot Mirror
Why I'm a Defender of YouTube (vortex.com)
Lauren Weinstein writes: In a time of fascist politicians spouting simplistic slogans about race, religion, terrorism, and censorship, along with whatever other pandering platitudes they believe will win them votes, prestige, power, and control — it's worth remembering how much good the Internet brings us, and how much poorer we'd all be in so many ways for the shackling of Internet services like YouTube, in the name of such self-serving proclamations and damaging false solutions.
Sorry, who are you? YouTube is the successful product of a wealthy and powerful company. It doesn't need defending.
Interesting that this still happens...
Youtube's biggest problem isn't really the struggle that the article presents, it's that it's a monolithic entity that can be censored or manipulated by the nation-state, even if that state is limited to blocking. It's also subject to the whims of the corporation that owns it, as was demonstrated very poignantly by the integration of a social networking site and the adjustment of the way that usernames and the comments system function.
Granted, Youtube is not the sole video site on the Internet for personal content, and sometimes the huge amount of content that is acceptable to a nation-state makes it hard for them to justify blocking the whole site just to get a little bit of unacceptable content, but when one site emerges as the de facto default it becomes more likely that users don't even consider other sites or other options. Usually a competitive system is a healthy system, and this lack of competition threatens the health as it leaves the concept threatened to unilateral manipulation despite the interests of the users.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
I replied to one of these "YouTube is not a news source" groupie for HRC and it really dawned on me how important the collection, aggregation and the ability to compare and contrast news stories is - really critical if one wants to be well informed at a time when bias and outright lies are being propagated throughout the media.
will work for dragon quest localization
Newspeak for 'people I don't agree with'.
"In a time of fascist politicians spouting simplistic slogans about race, religion, terrorism, and censorship, along with whatever other pandering platitudes they believe will win them votes, prestige, power, and control..."
Which is to say *all* politicians.
Who are you?
What on earth are you talking about?
Why do you write a sentence instead of a summary?
Why the hell is that sentence so long and so difficult to read?
Even if I was interested in what you had to say, I don't know why or what you're on about. But any inkling I may have had to click that link has disappeared due to fear that I will have to spend 10 minutes attempting to understand what each poorly constructed sentence actually means.
The only time in memory that I can think of a fascist action against youtube or a youtube poster, was after the Benghazi embassy was attacked, and some guy was arrested and imprisoned for posting a video critical of Islam. I'm sure that's not the kind of Fascism that TIMMMAAAY! or Ms. Weinstein had in mind, as I'm sure they are both Obama, and Clinton supporters. They should really re-evaluate their political inclinations. Nice straw man, though.
In a time of fascist politicians spouting simplistic slogans about race, religion, terrorism, and censorship, along with whatever other pandering platitudes they believe will win them votes, prestige, power, and control — it's worth remembering how much good the Internet brings us, and how much poorer we'd all be in so many ways for the shackling of Internet services like YouTube, in the name of such self-serving proclamations and damaging false solutions.
So there are bad politicians trying to gather power. And because of that bad thing, it is somehow worth remembering that the internet is good. Furthermore without that good we would be very poor somehow in many ways without the "shackling of Internet services" ... uh what? "in the name of such self-serving proclamations..." - oh wait the politicians are self-serving and youtube has damaging false solutions? No...
Yeah so, can anyone turn that run on sentence into an actual coherent thought?
Dogs bark and bite. They are annoying and dangerous. That's why I stomp on them. When I see a dog I stomp on it. When I see more than one dog I stomp on all of them. It's what I do. I stomp on dogs. Stomp stomp stomp.
One thing has struck me recently, which is that YouTube allows us to catch out misrepresentations and media bias.
In previous years, we would *only* have the media interpretations of current events. My parents, for instance, would read the newspaper article about some incident or other, and have no way to judge whether the opinions and position were in any way correct.
Nowadays we can easily dig down to the source, and verify what we are told.
As an example that everyone knows about, we can look to some of the things said about Trump:
What he actually said:
They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.
An accurate representation of what he said was "some illegal immigrants are criminals", which is true simply by the law of averages, with the implication that if they went through a vetting procedure we could perhaps filter out the criminal portion.
This was taken so completely out of context that WaPo rephrased it as "He referred to Mexicans as “rapists.", with the implication that he insulted the entire population of another country, and a fair portion of our own citizens.
It's highly interesting to me that, as individuals, we now have the ability to find the evidence and come to our own conclusions, rather than blindly listen to the pronouncements of the elite.
And a little bit, I think that's why Trump's supporters are so immovable. When the MSM cries "but he's a *racist*!", most of the people who were at the rally think "he didn't actually say that".
It's definitely interesting the effect that YouTube has had on the political landscape.
Although the submitter chose to use his full given name of Timothy in this context, clearly he is in fact the television celebrity known as "TIMMMAAAAYYY!!!!"
Which is far more interesting than TFA's actual "summary-run-on-sentence".
YouTube opened a whole world of learning available to people. YouTube is more than just entertainment, it's educational and informative as well. It's almost the best thing to come to the Internet since the World Wide Web.
If you're going to start your post with "I AM AN IDIOT", how can you expect other people to take you seriously?
Just say stupid things hoping people will keep watching ?
Being able to control the information being fed to the population creates a tremendous of control over that population. Television and radio are loudspeakers into people's homes. And now so is the Internet. Television and radio are very strictly controlled by those that own the airwaves, and a very expensive medium on which to advertise.
Being able to control information on the Internet is a very dear goal to the powers that be, either elected or not-elected. ALL spectrums of politicians want this power, not just the ones you or I disagree with.
Why should anyone care? Random libtard thanks Youtube vloggers for distracting him from mind control fascist Trump rants. Hey buddy, I'm voting for trump
If it wasn't for YouTube, I'd never have learned that Alex Jones was a secret agent for the Knights of Malta and the Jesuits.
https://youtu.be/0ZLIoEOjNhY
I'd never have learned that the Moon was a hologram.
https://youtu.be/_3axPn65MGM
I wouldn't have learned that jet fuel can't melt steel beams.
https://youtu.be/DXRDq9nKJ0U
And most important, I'd never have learned that Jay-Z was an Illuminati time-traveler,
https://youtu.be/-lf4zco47Gc ...and possibly a clone.
https://youtu.be/AYDRHySPyDE
So don't you fucking tell me that YouTube doesn't need defending. There's no better place to learn the truth than a platform where anyone can have a voice. We don't need journalists when we can get the straight shit from other people like us.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Let's face it /. is dead. Long live lobste.rs (or atleast for the next 20 years)
The last several weeks, I've been seeing some non-tech pieces. Some even have a mild political orientation. I guess slashdot is in the slow slide, like MSNBC did. soylentnews had a rapid slide, and FOX NEWS was born down there. Mediocrity triumphs again.
This does not belong on /.
No surprise the Jew ((Weinstein))) whines about Trump. Jews can't control Trump and they're s******g their pants.
tl;dr Voting for Hitler directly isn't an improvement just because it cuts out a middle-man.
Trump isn't Hitler!!!
Hitler could paint...
I can barely concentrate on reading the blog-pretending-to-be-news post over the sound of Timothy furiously masturbating while crying and quietly murmuring "They love me. They really love me. I'm s smart,"
Feck off!
What an arrogant, self-agrandizing load of shit. You dehumanize those with whom you disagree so that you can be evil towards them.
From the Internet to the article author: Fuck you.
But hey, at least you got all that attention you were desperately seeking. I assume that's what the point of this "article" was, since there's clearly no other point. Also, most of the attention might have consisted of people telling you to fuck off, which you've certainly earned.
Not unexpected on /. But still you guys should try harder when pushing your agendas down people's throats.
Offended SlashBots...
That domain has been gone for years. How long have you been posting that without checking? Not that I can blame you for not looking.
In the mornings, when I am usually wide awake, I love to take a walk through the gardens and down by the lake, where I often see a duck and a drake and I wonder as I walk by, just what they'd say if they could speak, although I know that's an absurd thought.
Wow. Just wow. Can Slashdot get any lower?
Fascist == "Person who does not submit themselves to an elite who is accustomed to Rule Over other people, without consulting them".
Or
Fascist == "Person who does not submit himself to the idiocies of the Banksters and their assorted propaganda organs"
Yes, occasionally you find some worthy videos on YouTube and yet much of what you find is worthless fluff or self indulgent creations only meant to uplift someone's ego. Its like the badly out of tune singer who thinks stardom is just a video away. Or the person who reviews a product with no real knowledge of the product or even how to use it. It becomes worthless dribble that wastes everyone's time. No useful information, no entertainment value and in most cases wouldn't make most other venues. But for YouTube its a release factor for all those striving for their 5 minutes of fame. The rest of YouTube is awash in commercial stuff that benefits from YouTube's central format of presentation. YouTube is not something most people would ever pay for. That's how much its worth to people.
If a corrupted (by Wahabists and NY finance) candidate is again elected, EVERYBODY (including IT employees) will suffer their "brilliant" craziness.
This posting was aimed at Trump, because he promises to reign into the narcissists of NY. They are fuming, because they can no longer do whatever their sick minds are concoting.
Wahabist intelligence even ventures out to Germanic lands in order to silence people like me. So they are very pissed, too.
Weinstein is one of the useful idiots of NY and Riad. Move along, nothing to see here.
"Dogs look up to us; cats look down on us; pigs treat us as equals".
The internet is different in the sense that it is DECENTRALIZED.
If you have interesting facts and some endurance, YOU can actually influence politics.
Of course the rich, powerful and corrupt hate this.
See Clinton's comments about the internet.
Read media from all relevant political blocks:
RT.COM
economist.com
presstv.ir
bbc.com
welt.de
(some chinese outlet)
(some indian outlet)
Then correlate all what you read. Given that each party will present the "bad facts of the other parties", you will get a much better picture of what REALLY goes on. For example, they currently want to sell is the idea of "west fights ISIS", when in reality the OPPOSITE is done.
Erdogan and the Saudis and the Pakis are nasty triple-crossers who will lie you in the face without a wrinkle. The are behind ISIS and they are also coddled by America and Britain. "WMD" all over again, just with a new "approach".
Can we call her Hitlary ?
After all, we lob shit and what is good for the gander is good for the goose...
We should vote you and your corrupt NY friends into office for five more years of unchecked, unpunished finance crimes (Dick Fuld-style bookcooking, AIG "credit insurance" etc). That will enable them to completely finish off the American economy and drop almost all other countries into the bin, too.
Only the Norks and Butan will be spared of your insanity...
While we are at it, we should let the Saudis massacre more Christians, because they have bribed you, too.
Yeah, Trump is Hitler and you are our saviors. NOT.
If Clinton gets elected (thats what you want ?) then we get five more years of unchecked corruption in the NY finance system.
Do you want that ? Want to risk 1929 on steroids ?
...then come back to youtube. You will find that it has some interesting nuggets of information about many, many, many subjects.
For example, I recently followed the technological development in an important sector.
Or maybe you want to learn something about the people of Butan ?
You don't seem to realize that these candidates' supporters are also using the internet to organize their own efforts. So, if there were no internet/YouTube, then these candidates would not have the prominence that they do today. We would be looking at something more like Mondale vs Dole :-)
Terms used when people don't like something - usually they are clueless about the actual history and people involved.
youtube seems to be the only one that works without flash
Lauren Weinstein is probably a "defender" of Suckerberg's Facebook too :-)