Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
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Notes -
If you think it can only happen in China and can not happen in any other country, you are very dangerously naive. Europe (and Britain, which exited EU but somehow kept the worse parts) is well on the way to implement widespread internet controls, surveillance, universal digital ID and mandatory device lock-ups. See for example: https://reclaimthenet.org/uk-lawmakers-propose-mandatory-on-device-surveillance-and-vpn-age-verification - for the children, of course! Yes, China and India and other countries that never had traditions of freedom are further on the way but nobody really values freedom in "the liberal West" anymore, so it's only question of time.
You should want to have a seat at the table where the policies and the future of the society is decided. Or maybe not, they'd decide it anyway, whether you want the seat or not. You may not be interested in politics, but the politics is always interested in you.
For the same reason they always want it - control. More controllable population is easier to govern. If you control the information, if you control the narrative, it's easier to govern than if you do not. You can implement policies without some pesky irritating dissidents asking stupid questions. You can just order people do things, and they'd do them without you worrying about their "rights" or "freedoms". It's much easier to rule as a king than as a temporary mayor who is constantly questioned and could be deposed anytime. You are a good person who has some excellent ideas about how to govern things - imagine how much good you could do for the society if you don't have to waste your time on anything else but implementing your excellent ideas!
Saying "straw man" does not automatically refute any argument. These are real men, who pass real laws, which you can witness being passed right now. You can ignore this is happening, but it won't ignore you.
But you think that the best way to do it is to deny it's possible, in the face of all the facts, until the very last moment where it comes to your home and drags you to the lockup? I don't think it's as effective a strategy as you think it is.
No, I am not saying you are already fucked. I am saying you will be fucked, if you do not start fighting it right now. I am saying Europe is probably already fucked, because there's nobody left to fight anything there, but in the US there are still some people that care. The institutions that used to care - ACLU, EFF, free software, etc. - are falling one by one, but they are not yet all dead, and it's not too late. But it will be, pretty soon.
No, it's "they already found a way to fuck you, and here's examples where they are fucking other people the same way they're going to fuck you - you still have some, very small, timeframe where you could prevent them from fucking you in the same way they are already fucking other people". Of course, this requires, as the first step, recognizing this is actually happening, and it's a serious problem. And it's not going to be solved by "oh we'll just commit a small patch to fix it".
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