BarbaraHudson's Journal: More than 18 months later

âoePlus Ãa change, plus Ãâ(TM)est la mÃme merde â" it must be slashdot!â

Going through the story comments, looks like slashdotâ(TM)s âoecommunity âoe has taken a hard turn to the alt-right.

Pretty much reflects what is f*cked up about the larger tech world in the USA - and the USA and the UK. The two predominantly English-speaking countries that are determined to go down the shitter pretty much in lock-step.

Government is broken at the very top in both countries. And in both cases, itâ(TM)s due to people getting the government they deserve - you voted for it, you wear it.

In both cases, it was people who are right-wing who are to blame. In the US, it was the fault of the DNC rigging the convention to try to force a right-wing neo-liberal down voters throats, in the UK it was conservatives putting party over governance.

Throw in global heating, private industry (Facebook, Google, etc) running surveillance capitalism that is more intrusive than the government of China, xenophobia and leaders who are clueless liars, and reality beats any novel of a dystopian future.

And tech is an integral part of the problem. And the only certainty is that tech will continue becoming more toxic. As will the people working in it.

But anything for a buck, right? Racism, homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, chemtrails, antivaxxers - the people maintaining the social media infrastructure could bring it to a halt quickly by simply refusing to enable it, but that toxicity makes their pay packets, and f*ck the rest.

No

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

"And in both cases, itâ(TM)s due to people getting the government they deserve - you voted for it, you wear it."

No, I am not getting the government I deserve.

Re:

[BarbaraHudson]

- people - is plural. I’m not referring to the individual case when I say that people get the government they deserve. The US voters chose Trump, in part because they collectively were too stupid to treat social media with the disdain it deserves, in part because they engaged in tribalism, and in part because they ignored all the warning signs over the decades of both political parties becoming home to elites who don’t give a shit about the average citizen.

The Russian troll farms gamed the vot

Re:

[fustakrakich]

Social media reveals stupidity. It doesn't cause it. The obvious solution is to create something more appealing.

Pining for the old days?

[fustakrakich]

Yeah, things were so much better in the 1870s. No social media back then. There was none of that racism, homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny stuff anywhere to be seen! No no, before September 1993 we all loved each other, Italians and Irish and Germans alike.

Sorry, the internet is not a "safe space", though you are free to create one, right here if you like, and the internet is not to blame for the choices people make. You can only lay that on each one of them personally. Popular social media is controlled by

Re:

[BarbaraHudson]

Social media has been proven to be deleterious to mental health. It’s also been proven that the echo chambers reinforce people’s antisocial tendencies. The world would be far better off without Facebook and Twitter and instagram.

Social media is not a substitute for real human interaction. It doesn’t meet humans need for interaction and, by increasingly displacing time that could be devoted to real interaction, cripples its users emotionally.

Half the population is below average intelli

Re:

[fustakrakich]

Well! Thanks for the compliment!

So... you want to outlaw social media?

Missed you

[pnutjam]

I used to follow your TomHudson account. I realized you'd moved to this account but never realized I hadn't friended it. Hi from a progressive in Indiana!

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[damn_registrars]

No, it was already there. I saw it had already moved there in 2014 when it went full-on pro-GamerGate.

You were apparently 6 years late in observing slashdot tacking to the right. As soon as Obama was elected the editorial voice here - and the voice of the majority of comments - shifted hard to the right with the constant cries to impeach him (apparently for being a "closet Muslim" or some such thing) and of how much damage he would certainly do to our country. There were countless slashdot comments telling us how everything signed by Obama was a "government takeover" and a step towards "socialism".

Misplaced conspiracy

[damn_registrars]

In the US, it was the fault of the DNC rigging the convention to try to force a right-wing neo-liberal down voters throats,

I worked in the caucuses. I saw votes counted in my district. The DNC did not rig the endorsement for Hillary, she won it by the established rules. Would I have preferred Bernie? Absolutely. But there was no rigging involved.

And for many, Hillary was the safe choice. Who could have predicted that one of the best qualified candidates in the history of the presidency would lose to the worst qualified candidate in the history of the presidency? It should have been a cake walk to defeat this half-wi

Re:

[fustakrakich]

You only know a little about your district. You do not know how the DNC counted the votes. Clinton was going to be on the ballot, no matter what. That was already decided years previous.

And when are you going to accept that she lost because a bunch of democrat voters stayed home rather than vote for just another machine politician coughed up by the party?

I am surprised as anyone of his victory, but he won it by established rules, all well documented and open to any serious challenge.

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[damn_registrars]

You do not know how the DNC counted the votes

Though unlike you I actually know firsthand how at least some votes were counted. You are making the entirety of your argument up out of nothing.

Clinton was going to be on the ballot, no matter what. That was already decided years previous.

Is that what QAnon told you, to keep her out of prison for the PizzaGate scandal? Just because Bernie supporters yelled louder doesn't mean there were more of them. A lot of primary and caucus voters were just as excited to have a role in the election of the first female president as the chance to elect Bernie. Her campaign followed the rules. If there was s

Re:

[fustakrakich]

Sanders is a democrat. He wasn't there to "challenge" anybody. He was only in the campaign to shepherd in the "liberal" money, and he did a damn good job. And it's not about "Bernie" and "females". It's all just plain old crooked politics that you choose to ignore unless it's from your opposing team.

And please, your RussiaGate is just as phony as "PizzaGate". Clinton did not need their help to lose the election.

You are still taking the theatrics as the real thing. And being a grunt for the Party does not gr

Re:

[damn_registrars]

Let's review, shall we?

Barbara posted this JE, and amongst other things she claimed that the election was "rigged".

I replied and reminded her that indeed, Hillary's endorsement followed the rules, collected more votes, and won by the rules. Hillary, Sanders, and others agreed to those rules in 2016 when they began their campaigns.

You then replied with "nuh-uh!". You essentially stated that because you love your conspiracy too much to allow facts to get in the way, that you must be the one who knows

Re:

[fustakrakich]

"followed the rules"

Can't prove either way. The rules were made by/for Clinton anyway. Past history shows the DNC should not be trusted in anything they say. The conspiracy is yours, not mine. I got history, going back to at least Humphrey. Yes, Barbara is right and you are wrong, the system is rigged by people right here in the USA, the DNC committed fraud. You don't know the truth. You work for the team, as a grunt, nothing more. If you were trusted with the truth, you wouldn't be telling it.

if you actual