It's always disturbed me that Roald Dahl was a member of the fascist and racist British National Party. However, if you look closely at the themes in his books, they have subtle fascist subtexts.
The good thing is that most kids reading his books have no clue, so overall, not too much damage done.
Re:Employers are *contributing* to motion from tec
on
Offshoring IT
·
· Score: 1
Becoming a suit or tradesman increasingly looks like the wiser choice
Do you really want to become a suit? I mean, honestly, when a journeyman electrician can make upwards of $35 per hour?
I never understood why people have this idea that the trades are horrible dead-end jobs. Not only can you make good money, there's a whole lot more unionization (which, for all the problems that unions have, they're really nice to have sometimes), but you also have the advantage of learning a new skill that's really useful, and meeting other people with other useful skills, whether it's electrical work, plumbing, tile, woodwork, painting, etc.
Compare that to becoming a suit, where you not only become a chump, you also meet people for whom their whole existence revolves around schmoozing and bullshitting. How many karaoke martini bars and fake smiles can you really take? And let's not even get into the whole fact that suits don't have any worthwhile skills to speak of.
No, I'd never be a suit. I'd rather work an honest job.
Let's stop it with all this racism, okay?
on
Offshoring IT
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
What we need to understand here is that tech workers have experienced in 4 years what it took 80 years for auto workers to experience.
Job starts out as highly technical skill relegated to a privileged elite of the working class.
Job gets automated and simplified, pushing skillset availability to more and more people.
Job gets outsourced to placed with cheaper labor.
It's not the fault of the Indians that our tech jobs moved there, just like it's not the fault of the US Southerners that our auto jobs first moved there from the north, or the fault of the Mexicans that they moved there, or the fault of the southeast Asians that they moved there.
This is how capital works. Whoever can be best exploited gets the contract. Do you have no labor laws, a brutal dictator that puts down unions with bullets and tanks, and a crushed, oppressed populace willing to work for pennies? Well, then, sign up, because you're ready for investment!
India is getting the US tech jobs. They won't have them for long, because they have a pretty well functioning democracy, strong labor laws, and all the things that corporations prefer not to have to deal with. Plus, these tech centers are usually run like white collar sweatshops, and as soon as people there start to organize and form unions, the outsourcing will high-tail it out of there to somewhere a little less problematic (ie, free).
That's how things go, and I'm as against free trade as anyone, but the idea that you can stop it with protectionism and a "Buy American! (tm)" attitude is ridiculous. Look at how far that got the auto industry.
The only way to change the face of outsourcing and globalization is for the AFL-CIO to get off their asses, and stop sending millions to the Democrats (who have sold them out over and over), and start investing money in union movements in the countries where the jobs are going. If corporations are going to move a job somewhere else, we need to make damn sure that the new people they employ will have a good wage, decent hours, a union, and a safe, sane working environment.
Will the mainstream unions (or tech workers for that matter) ever start supporting overseas labor movements? I hope so, but I don't have much faith. Everybody's too wrapped up in this xenophobic, protectionist BS that won't get us anywhere.
We also have to look at IT as far less "special" than we thought it was. We are not the gifted wunderkind of the world. We are not the digirati, forever sipping lattes and controling the world from our laptops at the beach. We are nothing more than skilled labor, working folks who will be screwed over by CEO's and their profits, just like everyone else.
Once we realize that, then we get out of the dream world we've been inhabiting for way too long. And that's when the real fun begins.
How many times has Sean (the straight male who started and runs the site, while pretending that it's a queer-friendly, woman run enterprise) from Suicidegirls crudely exploited Slashdot for free advertising? This is a pattern that has been happening time and time again, and it's ridiculous that the moderators here haven't realized it.
Suicidegirls is not a DIY, woman-run project. "Missy" is their PR point-person, who gives a progressive, friendly face to an otherwise pretty sleazy operation. The site is actually owned and run by a guy named Sean Suhl (public knowledge, not saying anything new here), who is not exactly the most progressive guy on the planet. His politics are solidly right-wing (although he's a neo-conservative, who are more libertarian when it comes to sex... as long as someone can make money from it). Dozens of models have quit or been kicked off the site, many of whom were basically removed for being too "opinionated".
Ultimately, Suicidegirls is the Hot Topic of alternative porn. They took an underground, DIY concept, polished it, and presented it slick and packaged back to the community that created it. You can read more about it in the SGirls community on Livejournal:
As a disclaimer, I'm not anti-porn. I'm a big fan of any porn that is sincere, DIY, and woman-oriented. There's a whole slew of sites, some of whom have been around longer than SG, such as FatalBeauty, ManicJane, VegPorn, along with DIY erotica zines such as State of Nature.
SG is not DIY, they don't challenge patriarchal standards of beauty, and they don't give a crap about the women who pose for the site. This attempt by Sean for cheap publicity is yet another example of the only thing SG really does well: Marketing.
Haliburton's burned hallowed hurtin' ballads
on
Linux in Iraq
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Wait, so you're saying that Microsoft won't be getting a no-bid contract?
And, that's dangerous, too. But on a different level. Who is more dangerous, the person who votes a certain way because they hate homosexuals?
Or the person who tirelessly devotes themselves to a political party, as an activist, a theoretician, a strategist, etc. because they hate homosexuals?
I'm drawn to libertarianism because it opposes government so I'm a dangerous person?
If the only reason (or biggest reason) you are a libertarian is because you are opposed to government, then yes, you are a dangerous person.
Listen, I'm an anarchist, I'm opposed to government on a much greater level than you are. But anarchism's opposition to the state is not what sold me on the idea.
I was sold on the idea of huge town halls filled with debate, with free education, networks of mutual aid and cooperatives, and what could only be termed an 'open source' society.
Once in a while I meet somebody who was attracted by anarchism only by virtue of what it opposes.
I distance myself from them as much as possible.
Well watch out motherfucker and that goes for whoever modded your bullshit comment "insightful".
Ah, I never should have even bothered responding to this, but I figured I should clarify a bit.
He once said that he was drawn to study the government because he "had seen government that did not work," and he was drawn to the Republican Party because of his hatred for communism.
Anybody who would be drawn to a political ideology purely based on what they oppose is, in my opinion, a dangerous person. Especially when mixed with the power, money and support that an organization like the Republican party has.
Once there, look up the nearest Australian consulate. Then, give them a call and tell them that you're furious that they would allow this kind of manipulation at the hands of the recording industry.
Be tactful, polite, but firm. Practice what you're going to say. Don't swear, and don't say anything rash or dangerous to your own freedom. (We need you out of jail, so you can join the GNU/United Front militias in the Great Copyright Civil War of 2016)
The RIAA/MPAA may have billions of dollars, and governments all over the world at their beck and call, but what we have is a whole lot stronger: We've got the Slashdot Effect.
Let me ask you this, would you trust a system like this if you lived in Iran (Fascist Theocracy)? What about if you lived in Pakistan or North Korea (Military Dictatorships)?
More importantly, what if you lived in a place like India? A democracy, yes, but India also has a large Hindu fundamentalist population who would love to get that much information about the Muslims living amongst them.
And what if you lived in America, a democracy, where there are groups of people who are very much interested in changing that? In making this system incredibly less democratic?
What happens if those people ever gain power? More importantly, what if those people gain just enough "user privilege" to have access to this information?
What if white supremacists in Utah were able to get access to the address of every ethnic and religious minority in the state? All because everything was conveniently centralized?
What if the people in power start using this information in a way you don't like?
the poor. in fact it seems to me that the last great reservoirs of racism in this country are the trailer park and the truck stop. given the fact that most racists and sexists are fairly nasty and above all STUPID people, why do people find it so easy to believe that racists or sexists can rise to a level of power where they can fire or hire within business organizations?
So, where are the last great reservoirs of classism?
However, there is such a thing as 'left libertarianism.'
Sometimes dying is a good thing.
on
United Linux Dead
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· Score: 4, Insightful
I've been involved in a lot of activist and community projects, and the one thing I've learned is that sometimes it's not a bad thing that a project ends.
The worst thing is to stay together when everybody in a bitchy mood and one person's causing trouble and the project really isn't going anywhere.
Usually it's better to quietly end the project, say your farewells, take some time off, and then start new.
Well, I never said it would be easy, but I think it's something to think about.
But yeah, we have to have an international union. One that organizes citizens along with immigrants,doesn't have ties to any specific nation, and has the kind of clout to pressure juggernauts like the CCCP.
Not an easy thing to do, but if capital is global, labor might as well be too.
Why hasn't anybody mentioned unions as an answer to all this? Seems we could really use them right now.
We could use them here, and they could use them in India. Unions with some kind of international perspective (instead of the nationalism of the AFL-CIO and others) are the only kinds of unions that can be effective in a globalized economy.
This is why we have to be concerned about the economic conditions of the third world, and need to support their right to organize. Our decent jobs are going to be much less likely to cross overseas and become sweatshop jobs if we give support to people in the third world who are trying to form unions.
I really think that it's up to the people to start non-profits and provide free wi-fi access. Hell, the whole thing could easily be run via grants, donations and volunteer labor. Especially if people could come up with a good way to scale it horizontally.
Governments and corporations be damned, the world needs free internet access. Let's stop waiting for the beauracrats or the "market" to move society along. Let's do it ourselves.
Slashdot Mirror
It's always disturbed me that Roald Dahl was a member of the fascist and racist British National Party. However, if you look closely at the themes in his books, they have subtle fascist subtexts.
The good thing is that most kids reading his books have no clue, so overall, not too much damage done.
Becoming a suit or tradesman increasingly looks like the wiser choice
Do you really want to become a suit? I mean, honestly, when a journeyman electrician can make upwards of $35 per hour?
I never understood why people have this idea that the trades are horrible dead-end jobs. Not only can you make good money, there's a whole lot more unionization (which, for all the problems that unions have, they're really nice to have sometimes), but you also have the advantage of learning a new skill that's really useful, and meeting other people with other useful skills, whether it's electrical work, plumbing, tile, woodwork, painting, etc.
Compare that to becoming a suit, where you not only become a chump, you also meet people for whom their whole existence revolves around schmoozing and bullshitting. How many karaoke martini bars and fake smiles can you really take? And let's not even get into the whole fact that suits don't have any worthwhile skills to speak of.
No, I'd never be a suit. I'd rather work an honest job.
What we need to understand here is that tech workers have experienced in 4 years what it took 80 years for auto workers to experience.
Job starts out as highly technical skill relegated to a privileged elite of the working class.
Job gets automated and simplified, pushing skillset availability to more and more people.
Job gets outsourced to placed with cheaper labor.
It's not the fault of the Indians that our tech jobs moved there, just like it's not the fault of the US Southerners that our auto jobs first moved there from the north, or the fault of the Mexicans that they moved there, or the fault of the southeast Asians that they moved there.
This is how capital works. Whoever can be best exploited gets the contract. Do you have no labor laws, a brutal dictator that puts down unions with bullets and tanks, and a crushed, oppressed populace willing to work for pennies? Well, then, sign up, because you're ready for investment!
India is getting the US tech jobs. They won't have them for long, because they have a pretty well functioning democracy, strong labor laws, and all the things that corporations prefer not to have to deal with. Plus, these tech centers are usually run like white collar sweatshops, and as soon as people there start to organize and form unions, the outsourcing will high-tail it out of there to somewhere a little less problematic (ie, free).
That's how things go, and I'm as against free trade as anyone, but the idea that you can stop it with protectionism and a "Buy American! (tm)" attitude is ridiculous. Look at how far that got the auto industry.
The only way to change the face of outsourcing and globalization is for the AFL-CIO to get off their asses, and stop sending millions to the Democrats (who have sold them out over and over), and start investing money in union movements in the countries where the jobs are going. If corporations are going to move a job somewhere else, we need to make damn sure that the new people they employ will have a good wage, decent hours, a union, and a safe, sane working environment.
Will the mainstream unions (or tech workers for that matter) ever start supporting overseas labor movements? I hope so, but I don't have much faith. Everybody's too wrapped up in this xenophobic, protectionist BS that won't get us anywhere.
We also have to look at IT as far less "special" than we thought it was. We are not the gifted wunderkind of the world. We are not the digirati, forever sipping lattes and controling the world from our laptops at the beach. We are nothing more than skilled labor, working folks who will be screwed over by CEO's and their profits, just like everyone else.
Once we realize that, then we get out of the dream world we've been inhabiting for way too long. And that's when the real fun begins.
How many times has Sean (the straight male who started and runs the site, while pretending that it's a queer-friendly, woman run enterprise) from Suicidegirls crudely exploited Slashdot for free advertising? This is a pattern that has been happening time and time again, and it's ridiculous that the moderators here haven't realized it.
Suicidegirls is not a DIY, woman-run project. "Missy" is their PR point-person, who gives a progressive, friendly face to an otherwise pretty sleazy operation. The site is actually owned and run by a guy named Sean Suhl (public knowledge, not saying anything new here), who is not exactly the most progressive guy on the planet. His politics are solidly right-wing (although he's a neo-conservative, who are more libertarian when it comes to sex... as long as someone can make money from it). Dozens of models have quit or been kicked off the site, many of whom were basically removed for being too "opinionated".
Ultimately, Suicidegirls is the Hot Topic of alternative porn. They took an underground, DIY concept, polished it, and presented it slick and packaged back to the community that created it. You can read more about it in the SGirls community on Livejournal:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sgirls
As a disclaimer, I'm not anti-porn. I'm a big fan of any porn that is sincere, DIY, and woman-oriented. There's a whole slew of sites, some of whom have been around longer than SG, such as FatalBeauty, ManicJane, VegPorn, along with DIY erotica zines such as State of Nature.
SG is not DIY, they don't challenge patriarchal standards of beauty, and they don't give a crap about the women who pose for the site. This attempt by Sean for cheap publicity is yet another example of the only thing SG really does well: Marketing.
Wait, so you're saying that Microsoft won't be getting a no-bid contract?
Riiiiiiight...
And yet you read Slashdot?
Oh, the Irony.
This has been a problem, especially since Howard Stern's demographics are at around 27% for the 4-9 market.
Because all 5 year olds want to do is listen to AM radio. No, seriously.
The majority of those guys wouldn't have a clue how to use a computer, even if you sat them down and trained them.
And the majority of computer users wouldn't have a clue how to unload the docks, either.
What was your point again?
Yes. I'm also opposed to the use of literalism and strawmen arguments.
I'm not a Democrat, buddy.
And, that's dangerous, too. But on a different level. Who is more dangerous, the person who votes a certain way because they hate homosexuals?
Or the person who tirelessly devotes themselves to a political party, as an activist, a theoretician, a strategist, etc. because they hate homosexuals?
I'm not a democrat, and I'm not exactly sure why you assumed I was.
I'm drawn to libertarianism because it opposes government so I'm a dangerous person?
If the only reason (or biggest reason) you are a libertarian is because you are opposed to government, then yes, you are a dangerous person.
Listen, I'm an anarchist, I'm opposed to government on a much greater level than you are. But anarchism's opposition to the state is not what sold me on the idea.
I was sold on the idea of huge town halls filled with debate, with free education, networks of mutual aid and cooperatives, and what could only be termed an 'open source' society.
Once in a while I meet somebody who was attracted by anarchism only by virtue of what it opposes.
I distance myself from them as much as possible.
Well watch out motherfucker and that goes for whoever modded your bullshit comment "insightful".
Ah, I never should have even bothered responding to this, but I figured I should clarify a bit.
He once said that he was drawn to study the government because he "had seen government that did not work," and he was drawn to the Republican Party because of his hatred for communism.
Anybody who would be drawn to a political ideology purely based on what they oppose is, in my opinion, a dangerous person. Especially when mixed with the power, money and support that an organization like the Republican party has.
First, go to this link: www.dfat.gov.au/missions/.
Once there, look up the nearest Australian consulate. Then, give them a call and tell them that you're furious that they would allow this kind of manipulation at the hands of the recording industry.
Be tactful, polite, but firm. Practice what you're going to say. Don't swear, and don't say anything rash or dangerous to your own freedom. (We need you out of jail, so you can join the GNU/United Front militias in the Great Copyright Civil War of 2016)
The RIAA/MPAA may have billions of dollars, and governments all over the world at their beck and call, but what we have is a whole lot stronger: We've got the Slashdot Effect.
They've got the guns, we've got the numbers.
Well, this hasn't changed my mind one bit.
Let me ask you this, would you trust a system like this if you lived in Iran (Fascist Theocracy)? What about if you lived in Pakistan or North Korea (Military Dictatorships)?
More importantly, what if you lived in a place like India? A democracy, yes, but India also has a large Hindu fundamentalist population who would love to get that much information about the Muslims living amongst them.
And what if you lived in America, a democracy, where there are groups of people who are very much interested in changing that? In making this system incredibly less democratic?
What happens if those people ever gain power? More importantly, what if those people gain just enough "user privilege" to have access to this information?
What if white supremacists in Utah were able to get access to the address of every ethnic and religious minority in the state? All because everything was conveniently centralized?
What if the people in power start using this information in a way you don't like?
Think about it.
the poor. in fact it seems to me that the last great reservoirs of racism in this country are the trailer park and the truck stop. given the fact that most racists and sexists are fairly nasty and above all STUPID people, why do people find it so easy to believe that racists or sexists can rise to a level of power where they can fire or hire within business organizations?
So, where are the last great reservoirs of classism?
However, there is such a thing as 'left libertarianism.'
I've been involved in a lot of activist and community projects, and the one thing I've learned is that sometimes it's not a bad thing that a project ends.
The worst thing is to stay together when everybody in a bitchy mood and one person's causing trouble and the project really isn't going anywhere.
Usually it's better to quietly end the project, say your farewells, take some time off, and then start new.
Food for thought.
Some friends of mine are going to school to be automechanics so that they can start a woman-run and (obviously) woman-friendly repair shop.
I'm telling you, these girls are gonna bank.
And so we have a report card that wouldn't get you accepted to a state university, by the largest, most economically endowed entity in the world.
I'm sorry, Microsoft, but you have to be held to higher standards, not lower. Open source is able to do better with infinitely less.
If a bunch of hobbiests were able to colonize the moon, would we hold back any criticism of NASA?
Or maybe we've just figured out a better way of doing things. In which case, maybe the soft spot for the dinosaurs is somewhat warranted.
Well, I never said it would be easy, but I think it's something to think about.
But yeah, we have to have an international union. One that organizes citizens along with immigrants,doesn't have ties to any specific nation, and has the kind of clout to pressure juggernauts like the CCCP.
Not an easy thing to do, but if capital is global, labor might as well be too.
Why hasn't anybody mentioned unions as an answer to all this? Seems we could really use them right now.
We could use them here, and they could use them in India. Unions with some kind of international perspective (instead of the nationalism of the AFL-CIO and others) are the only kinds of unions that can be effective in a globalized economy.
This is why we have to be concerned about the economic conditions of the third world, and need to support their right to organize. Our decent jobs are going to be much less likely to cross overseas and become sweatshop jobs if we give support to people in the third world who are trying to form unions.
just before their bedtime late Monday afternoon
Astronauts have a bedtime?!? Screw that, there's goes my plans for the future.
Yeah, you're right, through your analogy, you have proved that free internet access would never work.
And nobody would ever give away code for free.
I really think that it's up to the people to start non-profits and provide free wi-fi access. Hell, the whole thing could easily be run via grants, donations and volunteer labor. Especially if people could come up with a good way to scale it horizontally.
Governments and corporations be damned, the world needs free internet access. Let's stop waiting for the beauracrats or the "market" to move society along. Let's do it ourselves.