Notices by Theodore Painsworth (itty53@mstdn.social)

@inthehands @weilawei

Yes. This, what Paul said.

I assumed already that FVEY nations shared data. Why wouldn't allies share data? The misuse of that is a government problem of overstep, but that's pretty par for the course.

Marketplaces mean the power dynamic shifts to private hands, up to the highest bidder. That's a very different thing.

@weilawei @inthehands

Those aren't purchases though, that's just sharing between governments. Purchases are from private companies, which means it's more of a marketplace anyone can buy from. FVEY isn't sharing their data with Iran, for instance. But Iran can buy the data all the same, in theory anyway.

@venitamathias @mekkaokereke @mmlvx @valthonis

Every metropolitan state is like that. California here, it's no different. I live in the central valley apart from the major cities on the coast, it's as red as Texas out here.

Edit, this isn't an invitation to discuss how elections should work, this is an observation about individuals you're likely to find in any given region of America. More rural = more conservative. That's the pattern everywhere. Of course trees aren't conservative.

@inthehands

How data is formatted, context.

How data is processed, controller.

So... you're describing a ContextController.

My gut reaction anyway.

@inthehands

Actually rather a ControllerContext. Maybe.

God love em but this one is worth saving. "Quite extremist", "Mentally unstable". You can't make this shit up.

@roadriverrail @RickiTarr @no1lion99

God, Amen to that. Totally went through that. Cynicism is the root of defeatism and therefore, the most common cause of self fulfilling prophecy. We taught entire generations that all politicians, all of them, were liars by default. We taught that. Is it any wonder then why people believe it today?

Unfortunately the next generation's answer to that was irony and irony had its own problems.

Fortunately though, zoomers aren't about irony.

They're angry.

@RickiTarr @no1lion99

I'm a nutshell yeah. Imagine if you will: you're a loser. No one talks to you. You have no friends. You've spent the last decade in school telling people you're better than them and then suddenly you're not in school and realize you're not better than the rest of the world.

What's a loser to do? Human brains NEED interaction, they go fucking nuts without it. Social media is where they go. Zero consequences for being a loser here.

@RickiTarr @no1lion99

That's the thing. You DON'T have to. There's no one who's gonna stop you from being a loser your whole life.

I used to say it in my twenties and now almost into my 40s I'm even more confident about it: lots of people, maybe even MOST people, never hit that phase of self awareness that those of us who do recognize as "growing up". How many retired men are actually just old, gray, worn down, scared little boys afraid of being seen as weak by their peers?

@BethanyBlack

Please tell me he wrote Spiderman.

@BethanyBlack

I've read theories that put Spidey as the single most powerful superhero in the marvel universe. Citing that, even. I might be misremembering but it may have even originated from Stan Lee himself. I'll have to go dig and find it..

@HistoPol @drakakis

My wife thought for the longest time that I was only liking Taylor Swift ironically. Nah, girl has serious talent. As a songwriter. Her Folklore album was hands down, best album I'd heard in years. And I'm a music snob too.

@HabsFan @aral

Surveillance capitalism is just capitalism now. Every store, every mid to large product, is built to extract your information. That information is sold to data brokers. Governments buy it to circumvent surveillance laws.

Your car? That company that made it isn't an automotive company. Their profits come more from data it collects and sells, they are surveillance capitalists. When Target asks for your phone number? Same thing. Your records are all being sold.

@aral

Simply keeping reminded of that exact pattern of events is helpful to avoid sliding into the existential dread side.

I also think it's really important that when you find yourself right there on that edge, pulling your hair out? Stop what you're doing. Walk away for a couple hours. Come back fresh minded. I refer to that as "letting it stew in my brain", and I tell my coworkers and managers that. It emphasizes that my value isn't just the lines of code, but the level of thought too.

@inthehands

Just wanted to pause this morning and express how much I love reading your posts.

@trashpanda_x @pluralistic @j_kloiber

Oh Adam Smith is like Jesus to them. He's just a powerful and respected name, they don't care what he actually said. Economic theory is only useful when it leads to their continually climbing profits. "We read Adam Smith and we've read between his lines", as it were. Again, same thing they do with Jesus.

@Eddiethebulldog @foser

Now? Nazism started out exactly like that. It was always presenting itself as such.

In its earliest days the party called itself "the third way", explicitly saying "both extent sides are equally bad, therefore we need a third option". There's literally a far right Nazi party called The Third Way that's active today. They were the original enlightened centrists. That phrase third way has been used since before WW2 to describe what boiled down to Nazi ideology.

@therobburgessshow

Radio friendly country music has been explicitly propaganda since the days of George W Bush. When they stopped playing Garth Brooks, Reba, the Dixie Chicks, etc. Dixie Chicks really were the big, loud turning point but it was earlier than them.

I really wish an experienced documentary maker would tackle the subject because it feels so, so heavily coordinated. Right wing political operatives co-opted country music the same way they did the churches before.