Here's how I think that would go down: Variant 1: Bottled water companies would lobby to defund municipal water districts, resulting over time in a breakdown of overall water quality. Then have bought-and-paid-for bloggers and other political shills raise public sentiment against the government for mismanaging the water supply, while simultaneously raising public sentiment in support of bottled water as "safer, healthier than tap water, which is full of heavy metals, toxins, bacteria, and parasites". Variant 2: Starts as variant 1, except you lobby to privatize management of the water supply, which the bottled water companies handily are found more than capable of. Then they impose mandatory metering and raise the prices through the roof.
The very day after uncounted internet sites shut down to protest SOPA/PIPA (which had a profound effect), and some website gets shut down for piracy on the order of a half billion dollars? Darn, if I would've known, I would've had my popcorn and soda ready. Such theatre!
We here in the U.S. know that our politicians aren't in the least bit technologically savvy (yes, I'm painting with a broad brush when I say that). Should I be surprised or comforted to know that politicians in any number of countries are also, apparently, luddites? India doesn't seem to understand that what they're asking to do isn't technologically feasible. It would require a gigantic staff of people round-the-clock, judging each and every post and video before they're allowed to be seen by the general public. I understand that India doesn't have much of an issue with having enough workers when your population is one billion, but the cost to implement censorship on such a level? Astronomical. Seriously, if India is really that worried about "offensive" content, then maybe it's time for Google, Facebook, and whoever else they have an issue with, to just pull out and leave India to it's own devices. Or, maybe, the Indian government can get a grip and realize that their citizens aren't all little children needing a Big Brother to protect them from the entire world. The world is too small for nations to be so xenophobic, unless they want to wall themselves in like China and North Korea (and I'm sure there are other examples).
I never said there aren't any terrorists -- but the so-called "terrorists" that really triggered all this mess in 2001 may or may not have been real, or may or may not have been enabled by the U.S. in the first place.
And yet Americans continue to enjoy the same rights they've had - they travel where they want, work where they want, vote for who they want, worship or not the god of their choice, speak and write as they always have. FOR A WHILE LONGER.
There, fixed that for you. You seem to be suffering from some willful disbelief yourself, with a nice big dose of denial: Our elected representatives are not representing us anymore, they are representing the banks and corporations who paid to get them elected. Why don't you take a look at the news once in a while? The TSA is not only making everyone miserable at airports (while handily NOT stopping any so-called terrorist threats), but now they're roaming around at bus stations, and cruising the highways. The TSA is part of Homeland Security, which for all intents and purposes don't answer to anyone except the President, and can now detain anyone indefinitely without charge and without legal representation or due process by merely claiming they are a terrorism suspect. The civil rights and civil liberties that were once guaranteed by the Bill of Rights have more or less been abolished with the stroke of a pen, and no one was able to stop it from happening. So I ask you: where are our so-called "freedoms" now? There may still time to stop this shit from becoming permanent, but only if people like you get their heads out of the sand and pay attention to what's going on. Nobody is going to do it FOR you.
What was the last time you heard an average high school student say anything particularly wise or intelligent? For that matter, what "study" are you even referring to, and what makes you so convinced that it even represents the entire country as a whole, assuming the entire "study" of which you speak is even legitimate research? If so then these kids, as typical, don't really understand what they're saying, or they're just parroting what they have been told they believe, and they're not even thinking it through -- because today's public schools do not teach nor do they encourage kids to think critically, all they do is teach them to pass standardized tests, while they actually learn little to nothing at all.
Easy enough, right? Just get regular transfusions from someone young. Except nobody is going to advocate blood donations from children. Could you have your own cells harvested, reverted to stem cells, and reintroduced into your bloodstream?
To those of you who still have your heads in the sand: Do you at least begin to see now, that the so-called "war on terror" is a bad joke, because the so-called "terrorists" have already won -- and our own government are now the terrorists?
Hear, hear! All people everywhere> want the same things: To be left the hell alone! They don't want governments telling them how to live, what they can and can't speak about, how they raise their kids, etc.
If that's the way they want it, then give it to them: Have Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and YouTube terminate all services to India, immediately. Enjoy being back in the Dark Ages, India.
I don't let advertising dictate to me what I do and don't want. If there is something I need, I go looking for it. If there is something I need to accomplish, I go looking for ways to do it.
Hear, hear. I don't need a "smart" TV. I also don't need a "smart" washer, dryer, refrigerator, toaster, oven, stove, . I don't want or need everything connected to the internet. I sure as fuck don't want some company or the government monitoring my usage of appliances around my house, knowing what I personally watch, what food I buy, when I eat it, when and how often I wash and dry clothes, etc etc etc. All I need for TV is a simple monitor. Like you, I'll attach whatever else I want to attach to it, and upgrade as desired.
Lets take this to a logical extreme and see how you like it:
This just in: Supreme Court upholds legal right to require reception of online ads. Evading online ads is now a Federal offense with mandatory jailtime.
How do you like your ads now? Of course this will (likely) never happen in the real world, but the idea is repugnant at best to you isn't it? Nobody cares if Facebook is "free" or not (and by the way it is NOT free), most people don't like having ads pushed into their faces and will avoid them any way they can.
Oh, and for the record: If you personally like ads, I think you're retarded.
Don't use News Feed at all. Make a custom List with everyone you want to read on it, and use that instead. Or you can just completely delete your Facebook account and be done with it.
Unless you consider trifling little things like your Civil Rights under the Bill of Rights to be "geek issues", I suggest you re-examine your priorities.
If it's a choice between Obama again and any Republican, guess what? WE HAVE NO CHOICE. Third-party candidates are essentially throwing your vote away. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU EXPECT ME OR ANYONE ELSE TO DO!?
I'm going to assume you're a U.S. citizen: Your solution is to walk away from the country of your birth and let the fucking fascists take over? Great solution. Where do you plan to go? Do you REALLY think it's going to be better anywhere else?
If you're not willing to fight in one capacity for the country you were born in, then by all means get the fuck out because you're useless and I don't want you here. I guess the manner of your comment posting tells it all: Anonymous COWARD.
Never said there were ANY good candidates. Obama has proven to be a complete traitor by signing the NDAA. Most congresscritters are also proving to be traitors to their country by drafting and voting for legislation like it. The neo-conservatives and the dominionists are intent on not only destroying this country, but destroying the middle class, creating an uncrossable gulf betwee the rich and the poor, and more or less bringing back feudalism. The two-party system has got such a lock on everything that voting for a likely 3rd-party candidate is essentially throwing your vote away. I am at a loss for what to do, other than to raise my voice, protest what is unjust, and talk to as many people as I can so they understand what's going on, how it's going to affect them and their families, and try to get them to do the same.
But who to vote for this year? No fucking clue. In the end, we may have to back Obama for a second term, simply because handing the country over to the Republicans is guaranteeing that the U.S. we used to know will never exist again -- and there is a slightly smaller chance of that with Obama, and as previously stated no other viable options in sight. Seriously: You want Santorum? From what I hear he'd turn back the clock at least 50 years (if not further!) on civil rights alone; we'd likely have blacks forced to ride in the back of the bus again and limited to only certain water fountains. You want Romney? Seriously: You want the U.S. to become Mormonland? No, all the GOP candidates are Bringers of the Apocalypse. Obama may suck ass, but there's always a chance he won't turn the Earth into a smoldering cinder.
You have a few choices: You can be a pussy and let evil men roll right over you, make you a slave, and they'll treat you like cattle, or you can get off your ass and DO something. You and most people have been indoctrinated to believe that there is NOTHING you can do, that all authority is right, you're wrong, and that Bad Things will happen if you complain. That's all BULLSHIT. Write letters. Make phone calls. TALK to other people about it, INFORM people who don't know what's going on, make them UNDERSTAND how it will affect their own lives, urge THEM to write letters, make phone calls, and talk to other people about it, too, because this is what the bastards DON'T want: people being informed and educated. They want us ignorant and stupid, because people are more easily controlled that way!
Then you have to protest in other ways: Carpet-bomb your congressmen with letters, make sure they KNOW that you aren't going along with this, that it's WRONG, and that it MUST change. Sitting on your ass doing nothing is the same thing as giving your approval.
YOU are everything wrong with people in this country. YOU are as much responsible for the way things are as are the bastards who are actively working to destroy this country because YOU and your apathetic, me-first, don't-give-a-fuck-about-anyone-but-me attitude is EXACTLY what they want all of us to do: NOTHING. Why don't you go shoot yourself in the head, it'll be the best contribution to mankind you could possibly make!
You're assuming that your representation in the House and the Senate actually gives a flying fuck about you or anyone else who isn't a big corporation giving them truckloads of cash.
Pussy. Everyone needs to stand up for their civil rights, or no will have any civil rights anymore. The TSA thinks they're above the law, above the Bill of Rights, and they have to be proven wrong. That, and the TSA needs to be dismantled. If they're "expanding" into non-airport-related areas (train stations, bus stations, docks), how long does anyone think it'll be before they start performing traffic stops at random and committing search-and-seizure without a warrant "because they thought you acted/looked/smelled like a terrorist"?
Slashdot Mirror
Here's how I think that would go down:
Variant 1: Bottled water companies would lobby to defund municipal water districts, resulting over time in a breakdown of overall water quality. Then have bought-and-paid-for bloggers and other political shills raise public sentiment against the government for mismanaging the water supply, while simultaneously raising public sentiment in support of bottled water as "safer, healthier than tap water, which is full of heavy metals, toxins, bacteria, and parasites".
Variant 2: Starts as variant 1, except you lobby to privatize management of the water supply, which the bottled water companies handily are found more than capable of. Then they impose mandatory metering and raise the prices through the roof.
The very day after uncounted internet sites shut down to protest SOPA/PIPA (which had a profound effect), and some website gets shut down for piracy on the order of a half billion dollars? Darn, if I would've known, I would've had my popcorn and soda ready. Such theatre!
No. People are entitled to their opinions, however ignorant they might be. Ignoring their opinions, on the other hand, is perfectly OK. ;-)
We here in the U.S. know that our politicians aren't in the least bit technologically savvy (yes, I'm painting with a broad brush when I say that). Should I be surprised or comforted to know that politicians in any number of countries are also, apparently, luddites? India doesn't seem to understand that what they're asking to do isn't technologically feasible. It would require a gigantic staff of people round-the-clock, judging each and every post and video before they're allowed to be seen by the general public. I understand that India doesn't have much of an issue with having enough workers when your population is one billion, but the cost to implement censorship on such a level? Astronomical. Seriously, if India is really that worried about "offensive" content, then maybe it's time for Google, Facebook, and whoever else they have an issue with, to just pull out and leave India to it's own devices. Or, maybe, the Indian government can get a grip and realize that their citizens aren't all little children needing a Big Brother to protect them from the entire world. The world is too small for nations to be so xenophobic, unless they want to wall themselves in like China and North Korea (and I'm sure there are other examples).
STFU, you'll give them ideas.
And yet Americans continue to enjoy the same rights they've had - they travel where they want, work where they want, vote for who they want, worship or not the god of their choice, speak and write as they always have. FOR A WHILE LONGER.
There, fixed that for you.
You seem to be suffering from some willful disbelief yourself, with a nice big dose of denial: Our elected representatives are not representing us anymore, they are representing the banks and corporations who paid to get them elected. Why don't you take a look at the news once in a while? The TSA is not only making everyone miserable at airports (while handily NOT stopping any so-called terrorist threats), but now they're roaming around at bus stations, and cruising the highways. The TSA is part of Homeland Security, which for all intents and purposes don't answer to anyone except the President, and can now detain anyone indefinitely without charge and without legal representation or due process by merely claiming they are a terrorism suspect. The civil rights and civil liberties that were once guaranteed by the Bill of Rights have more or less been abolished with the stroke of a pen, and no one was able to stop it from happening. So I ask you: where are our so-called "freedoms" now? There may still time to stop this shit from becoming permanent, but only if people like you get their heads out of the sand and pay attention to what's going on. Nobody is going to do it FOR you.
What was the last time you heard an average high school student say anything particularly wise or intelligent? For that matter, what "study" are you even referring to, and what makes you so convinced that it even represents the entire country as a whole, assuming the entire "study" of which you speak is even legitimate research? If so then these kids, as typical, don't really understand what they're saying, or they're just parroting what they have been told they believe, and they're not even thinking it through -- because today's public schools do not teach nor do they encourage kids to think critically, all they do is teach them to pass standardized tests, while they actually learn little to nothing at all.
Easy enough, right? Just get regular transfusions from someone young. Except nobody is going to advocate blood donations from children. Could you have your own cells harvested, reverted to stem cells, and reintroduced into your bloodstream?
Hear, hear.
To those of you who still have your heads in the sand: Do you at least begin to see now, that the so-called "war on terror" is a bad joke, because the so-called "terrorists" have already won -- and our own government are now the terrorists?
This shit has got to stop. NOW.
Hear, hear! All people everywhere> want the same things: To be left the hell alone! They don't want governments telling them how to live, what they can and can't speak about, how they raise their kids, etc.
If that's the way they want it, then give it to them: Have Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and YouTube terminate all services to India, immediately. Enjoy being back in the Dark Ages, India.
I don't let advertising dictate to me what I do and don't want. If there is something I need, I go looking for it. If there is something I need to accomplish, I go looking for ways to do it.
Hear, hear. I don't need a "smart" TV. I also don't need a "smart" washer, dryer, refrigerator, toaster, oven, stove, . I don't want or need everything connected to the internet. I sure as fuck don't want some company or the government monitoring my usage of appliances around my house, knowing what I personally watch, what food I buy, when I eat it, when and how often I wash and dry clothes, etc etc etc. All I need for TV is a simple monitor. Like you, I'll attach whatever else I want to attach to it, and upgrade as desired.
This just in: Supreme Court upholds legal right to require reception of online ads. Evading online ads is now a Federal offense with mandatory jailtime.
How do you like your ads now? Of course this will (likely) never happen in the real world, but the idea is repugnant at best to you isn't it? Nobody cares if Facebook is "free" or not (and by the way it is NOT free), most people don't like having ads pushed into their faces and will avoid them any way they can.
Oh, and for the record: If you personally like ads, I think you're retarded.
Don't use News Feed at all. Make a custom List with everyone you want to read on it, and use that instead. Or you can just completely delete your Facebook account and be done with it.
Unless you consider trifling little things like your Civil Rights under the Bill of Rights to be "geek issues", I suggest you re-examine your priorities.
If it's a choice between Obama again and any Republican, guess what? WE HAVE NO CHOICE. Third-party candidates are essentially throwing your vote away. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU EXPECT ME OR ANYONE ELSE TO DO!?
Fuck you.
I'm going to assume you're a U.S. citizen: Your solution is to walk away from the country of your birth and let the fucking fascists take over? Great solution. Where do you plan to go? Do you REALLY think it's going to be better anywhere else?
If you're not willing to fight in one capacity for the country you were born in, then by all means get the fuck out because you're useless and I don't want you here. I guess the manner of your comment posting tells it all: Anonymous COWARD.
Never said there were ANY good candidates. Obama has proven to be a complete traitor by signing the NDAA. Most congresscritters are also proving to be traitors to their country by drafting and voting for legislation like it. The neo-conservatives and the dominionists are intent on not only destroying this country, but destroying the middle class, creating an uncrossable gulf betwee the rich and the poor, and more or less bringing back feudalism. The two-party system has got such a lock on everything that voting for a likely 3rd-party candidate is essentially throwing your vote away. I am at a loss for what to do, other than to raise my voice, protest what is unjust, and talk to as many people as I can so they understand what's going on, how it's going to affect them and their families, and try to get them to do the same.
But who to vote for this year? No fucking clue. In the end, we may have to back Obama for a second term, simply because handing the country over to the Republicans is guaranteeing that the U.S. we used to know will never exist again -- and there is a slightly smaller chance of that with Obama, and as previously stated no other viable options in sight. Seriously: You want Santorum? From what I hear he'd turn back the clock at least 50 years (if not further!) on civil rights alone; we'd likely have blacks forced to ride in the back of the bus again and limited to only certain water fountains. You want Romney? Seriously: You want the U.S. to become Mormonland? No, all the GOP candidates are Bringers of the Apocalypse. Obama may suck ass, but there's always a chance he won't turn the Earth into a smoldering cinder.
You have a few choices: You can be a pussy and let evil men roll right over you, make you a slave, and they'll treat you like cattle, or you can get off your ass and DO something. You and most people have been indoctrinated to believe that there is NOTHING you can do, that all authority is right, you're wrong, and that Bad Things will happen if you complain. That's all BULLSHIT. Write letters. Make phone calls. TALK to other people about it, INFORM people who don't know what's going on, make them UNDERSTAND how it will affect their own lives, urge THEM to write letters, make phone calls, and talk to other people about it, too, because this is what the bastards DON'T want: people being informed and educated. They want us ignorant and stupid, because people are more easily controlled that way!
Then you have to protest in other ways: Carpet-bomb your congressmen with letters, make sure they KNOW that you aren't going along with this, that it's WRONG, and that it MUST change. Sitting on your ass doing nothing is the same thing as giving your approval.
YOU are everything wrong with people in this country. YOU are as much responsible for the way things are as are the bastards who are actively working to destroy this country because YOU and your apathetic, me-first, don't-give-a-fuck-about-anyone-but-me attitude is EXACTLY what they want all of us to do: NOTHING. Why don't you go shoot yourself in the head, it'll be the best contribution to mankind you could possibly make!
You're assuming that your representation in the House and the Senate actually gives a flying fuck about you or anyone else who isn't a big corporation giving them truckloads of cash.
Vote for Ron Paul, return the U.S. to the 1940's. Or even earlier.
Pussy.
Everyone needs to stand up for their civil rights, or no will have any civil rights anymore. The TSA thinks they're above the law, above the Bill of Rights, and they have to be proven wrong. That, and the TSA needs to be dismantled. If they're "expanding" into non-airport-related areas (train stations, bus stations, docks), how long does anyone think it'll be before they start performing traffic stops at random and committing search-and-seizure without a warrant "because they thought you acted/looked/smelled like a terrorist"?