It is my honor as a freely educated citizen to say glory to the supreme leader Mao! His great authority has bestowed great decentralized freedoms upon us. His great diktat of “weapons for all” has given him immense power. Glory to Mao!
WTF are you talking about? That’s about THE most ignorant, most historically illiterate thing I’ve ever heard🤦♂️Basically EVERY dictator in history made it a priority to crush dissent among the populace by regulating or controlling the media, which would then control the people by the use of state sponsored propaganda. Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and now TRUDEAU all use the same tactics. It’s dictator 101🤷♂️
so many things said the past two years that one would think HAD to be sarcasm ("that highway is racist" for instance) who recognizes it easily these days.
I think it needs to be distinguished between dictators in power and aspiring dictators. The first group thinks that freedom of speech is important, as long as it reflects the opinion of the current government. The second group likes to have access to new and uncontrolled media to catch rats with populistic speeches and slogans against the current government.
"An uncontrolled internet is the dream of every dictator, strongman and demogauge" wouldn't even make it past the term paper approval process in a high school. How does it get published in a professional setting??
It makes sense if the word "dictator" means somebody who Reich and his Guardian buddies don't like. They just haven't managed to change the dictionary yet.
Add that to the list of words that members of the left think are just a generic insult, like "big poopy head." Racist, fascist, authoritarian, dictator... none of them mean what they actually mean. If they did, they'd recognize that they were talking about themselves, not their opponents.
Have you not noticed that utterly absurd nonsensical language is now standard for the ruling class? i.e. "supporting the truckers is opposing democracy", "election integrity is opposing democracy", " ending vaxx mandates is against freedom".
Because he KNOWS there are millions of LIVs in America who possess defective critical thinking skills, and so they'll read those words and apply ZERO thought to them. They'll just consume them, absorb them, without question. They'll read those words, nod their empty heads in agreement.
They're the Democrat Party's and the Left's stock in trade. Low-information voters who cannot think their way out of an open paper bag. Without them, the Democrat Party would be at most a fringe element in American politics.
To be uninformed about some things is normal. But to be woefully uninformed implies, IMO, massive laziness (refusal to do the necessary work to be an informed citizen). Reagan's quote is pithy, but spot-on: It's not that Leftist assholes don't know anything; it's that everything they know is wrong.
Mr. Reich exists in a small, scary world where he doesn’t see much. The “dictators” he’s talking about are people who express an opinion he doesn’t “feel safe” about. The “strongman” he speaks of is a person he sees who goes to the gym and stands up for himself and his family. The “demagogue” is probably Donald Trump, who says things that are abrasive and doesn’t apologize.
He’s read history books, and instead of learning something useful from them, has projected the fear that they cause him into his neighbors. He is a coward and projects his own desire for power over others—which he himself has denied, you see, Mr. Reich is a “good” person, and “good” people do not want power over others—onto those within his tiny world. Now he gets to feel the power over others without feeling the guilt of it since he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it! Win win for him! Woohoo!
Oh those damnable uncontrolled ideas - without them we might be sitting reading a book (make that one of the publisher-selected books, whilst untold thousands of manuscripts were rejected as unfit for the press) rather than sitting in front of monitors and keyboards as we exchange thoughts and ideas at lightning speed with interesting, literate people from all over the world. Those pesky white supremacists who created this useless tool. Tsk.
And reading that book by candlelight and only if you were in the elite who were allowed books because printing them one at a time was time consuming and expensive.
From where I'm sitting, the dictators, strongmen and demagogues all want control over the internet. We used to make fun of 'limited internet' places like China just a few years ago!!!
and yet I’m not even kidding. several species of shellfish ( and some reindeer) emit a not small amount of methane. serious consideration given on the enviro-left for culling these animals in order to “save the planet.”
Locking people in their homes for weeks on end, and killing their pets, so they don't get the sniffles. China never met a problem that could not be cured by shitting on people's civil rights, and surely this problem can be solved if they just oppress hard enough, because oppression fixes things. Right?
see, what's weird mr igor, is that this kind of sounds like that whole "always accuse the other side of that which you are doing" thing, but that was an idea from some really bad guys who were maybe dictators and demagogues and stuff.
so probably the resemblance is just a coincidence, right?
This kind of doublespeak, language manipulation, and censorship IS, almost by definition, dictatorial. This is what Mr Reich is promoting.
Only truth is ever censored. If there is an issue, you are not sure what it is, but a certain take on it is censored, you can be pretty sure that that take is the truth.
And no, free Internet is NOT a dream of every dictator, you are 100% right here
I think this is most often unintentional, like the kleptomaniac in a state of panic because he suspects everyone is plotting to steal from him. The fear and suspicion is sincere. My good hearted collectivist father-in-law's rants about Trump and right-wing authoritarianism being a "'threat to our democracy" seems to fit this same dynamic. He sincerely believes it.
I was debating a guy in a comment section like this, in which that person called Trump an authoritarian (as one does). I commented that "Biden" was far more authoritarian than Trump, and after the requisite guffaws and personal insults directed at me for mentioning this, he asked for an example. I cited Biden's mask and vax mandates, and he told me those were public health measures that were necessary because of an ongoing emergency.
Authoritarian dictates are 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 "necessary" because of some emergency, real or imagined. It doesn't matter what the reason is, nor how justified it may seem... something that is pushed "because I say so" is authoritarian. I mentioned that... but there came no reply to my post.
I wish it was that easy/understandable. Sadly it's more like black is fishing, war is bananas, freedom is pizza, and ignorance is avocados. It's a world where nothing makes any sense.
I love the Moody Blues! My parents met at a Moody Blues concert, and I would have been named Justin if I’d been born a boy (in the days when chromosomes still counted).
Moody Blues fan here. "I'm more than that. I know I am. At least, I think I must be." Oh, and if you haven't already, check out both of the Moody Bluegrass albums. Phenomenal
Reich is a toady for WEF so I am not surprised by the endless BS he spouts. However, here's the thing...Americans are too stupid to see the fallacy in Reich's logic. If we had a more educated country...we would see that the dream of every dictator is a controlled internet. Look at North Korea.
But that is the thing. We need to take the monopoly control over education from the state. There is a reason it is “compulsory State education”. I agree 100% with you, a better understanding of the world including critical thinking skills would go a long way to helping here, but the indoctrination that takes place in government schools is POWERFUL.
Ever tried to pull your kid out of school? Maybe in some states it's practical. Hear in the peoples republic of Californicated it's nearly impossible. Sure you can "home school" but the state still controls the curriculum. Private schools? Same problem. Even if you have the financial resources it takes creativity and not a small amount of deception with a pinch of perjury.
I pulled my kid out in PA and homeschooled for six years before we moved to FL (where there is slightly less paperwork). There is a lot of paperwork in PA, but it is eminently doable. If I could go back and do first and second grade on our own, I would. And I agree with Matt (below) about HSLDA. They have lawyers who fight the bureaucrats when they try to pretend you didn't file your paperwork properly.
My kid is fluent in French and years ahead of her peers in science. We've wasted zero time on getting settled down, "putting our listening ears on" (or whatever teachers say to kids trapped at desks all day), etc.; we've taken field trips to the opera (simulcast for a tiny fraction of the price of the real deal), Shakespeare performances, and world-class art museums. And she has never internalized the cardinal rule of institutional settings, which is that following the rules is the most important thing. Matter of fact, she calls it out when she sees institutions trying to pull that trick.
There are dozens of reasons I could never live in California. I understand that people can't immediately find jobs elsewhere, so leaving immediately isn't practical. For any other state, though, homeschooling is a completely reasonable thing to do. HSLDA also has "compassion" grants to help families homeschool when the financial resources are thin.
Short of moving out of California, I encourage you to do WHATEVER you need to do to take care of YOUR children. You and only you know what is best for them. When I look up California, it appears to get around the state controls...you need to claim you are a home-based private school. I would use HSLDA to guide your decision making. They are really helpful. I am in Tennessee and we were able to get around any requirements by being affiliated with a umbrella school that managed our grades, etc.
Ancient history for me (kid is now 27) but hopefully that will help someone.
We went through several alternatives, including private schools. The problem with the private schools available in our area is that the "culture" has permeated he schools and the concept of integrity and honor has been lost even in the private schools - you pay more to be lied to more politely.
We finally found a program (through a charter school) where he could work at his own pace under a "learning contract" - a written agreement with expectations, standards, deadlines, and other unambiguous specifications. This turned out to be really good in many ways. He finished 2 years of high school in 6 months. He learned the material. He learned about schedules and deadlines, and the value of a written contract. The last being something I wish I'd learned before I left high school, but that's another tale....
I also live in Kalifornia. I am past master of deception and perjury; I consider them necessary survival skills here. These day I am channeling Scarlett in the radish patch - "As God is my witness..."
I'm originally from Hawai'i (born in the Territory) so I wasn't exactly shocked to see a place being ravaged by greed and the lust for power, just very saddened. It was indeed a wonderful state, once. The Getty oligarchy and their ilk, a bureaucracy filled with smug, unbelievably stupid apparatchiks and the vast majority of well-intended but true-blue sheeple who allow themselves to be bullied and stripped of their rights and freedoms have made it an Orwellian hellhole. A once-good and beautiful woman who has been turning for some time into a syphilitic whore. The decline of the education system is perhaps the worst thing. The exodus grows daily.
Wilson, John Dewey, Otto von Bismarck even - lots of people who pushed for nationalistic obedience and reverence, without wanting true critical thinking for “the masses”. Absolutely all related and for the purpose of a “functional” populace who can do the work - now we see them pushing UBI because many people don’t have as much work given automation...
According to Reich and The Party he speaks for, you are an insurrectionist. You've violated the oat of loyalty and are unfit for human existence because you've questioned.
It is way past batshit crazy nonesense. We passed batshit crazy in 2020.
>> According to Reich and The Party he speaks for, you are an insurrectionist. You've violated the oat of loyalty and are unfit for human existence because you've questioned.
I'll live.
When I actually swear oaths of loyalty, I damn well keep them.
If he pulls this off, Elon could be the George Washington of tech. Uses his wealth and influence to wrest power away from the oligarchs and return it to the people.
Musk is an outsider and a bit player. At most he can become a troublesome fly they haven't yet bothered to swat. The Bankster cult of Psychos has been established over a period of centuries and controls tens of $trillions in wealth, Musk tens of $billions. Only the power of a large nation state can break their hold on governance over Western nations. Or a mass uprising.
Yeah, I think he's full of crap. I'm super conspiratorial about him too. He sends libertarian vibes to keep the rabble off-balance, IMO. The free speech thing is just his South African "I can say and do what I want" schtick, which is how all South Africans are, but I doubt he cares much about free speech for the rest of us.
He does, however, fabulously troll the left, so that's fun.
Well he can produce a rocket 5x faster & 10x cheaper and reusable than big Aerospace can for a throwaway rocket. 1000X lower cost of cargo to orbit. Musk builds things. The current ruling class just steals wealth from those that build things. Parasites.
"Welfare Queen"?!? The welfare queens are all the Banks, Big Pharma, Big Agro, Big Aerospace and all the dinosaur multi-nationals. For every dollar Musk's received in Gov aid he's returned 1000X that in economic benefit. Quit trying to shoot American Greatness in the foot. Know your enemies, they don't include Musk.
Easy to make an atmosphere in an enclosed space, many people live most of their lives indoors already. Forget the neural implant, transhumanist crap. At best his neural implant might allow paraplegics to regain some rudimentary use of their limbs. And maybe a computer interface that is just a glorified keyboard, faster and easier than typing, but me I don't want a hole in my head just so I can type faster. The only transhumanism to worry about is genetic vaccines they force us to take.
They’re building neural implants to control monkeys’ behavior, not cure disease. The implants also kill 50% of them so not something we need to worry about yet.
No they're not. That's crazy talk. You watch too much sci-fi. He states the main aim is for treating spinal injury victims and many are dubious they will succeed in even being able to allow them to use their limbs in a rudimentary way. And I don't know what the death rate in monkeys are, you make stuff up, whatever it is Big Pharma will admit "how can it be that low?". They're far, far from the point that anyone but the disabled will want the implant.
My bad. He's trying to cure Parkinson's most definitely. They're not developing electric cars to limit your geographic range. And we'll all be in space in ten years. Musk is an amazing humanitarian.
Tesla's are the fastest growing in sales that's without advertising because many people love them. They don't seem to care about your range limitation, which is a minor point for most drivers (a Ford Mustang has a EPA range of 288mi vs a Tesla Model S with a 405mi range). Doesn't stop you from buying a long range vehicle. Quit trying to monopolize the market.
Tell us one major CEO who isn't your typical Disney woke & ultra-establishment all the way. Try Bezos. Bloomberg. Branson. Gates. Compare. Then get real, Elon Musk quotes & opinions:
“Wokeness wants to make comedy illegal. Do we want a humorless society that is simply rife with condemnation, and hate? At its heart, wokeness is divisive, exclusionary, and hateful. It basically gives mean people a shield to be cruel, armored in false virtue,” Musk said.
I must see, refuse NOT to see, all the potential sides of Musk. When I say " I'm torn about Elon " I absolutely mean it. If you blinker yourself from looking at the potentials of the most powerful people ? You're a fool. I try not to be foolish.
Considering Mars and atmosphere: its not JUST atmosphere- but it mainly is. You can burrow...but you cannot hide from the Sun or Plasma Physics and how it effects our local galactic neighborhood. Our magnetosphere protects us- atmosphere and geologic stability.. it is cyclical and we are having rough weather and increased geomagnetic processes (volcanic etc) because of the flood of cosmic rays getting through our weakened protection. Mars is not only not immune- it's been stripped previously.
Stupid about what? He's developed tech that our monolithic Dinosaur multi-nationals never dreamed possible. No politician on Earth has done nearly as much good for humanity. So sad.
Just about everyone I ever thought was a reasonable human being has utterly disabused me of that misconception, and a few people I'd thought were reeking untouchable corpses of humanity have surprised me to be otherwise.
Yeah, I've had some of those experiences too, and there was no need for those people to go there, there was no gun to their heads making them go that way metaphorical or otherwise. I do not know who they are now, it's like something evil crawled out of the earth and infected them and no, they haven't gotten jabbed, either.
Goes back to that mean girl clique thingy. The best cocktail parties, anything below the A-list and you can feel 'em sneering at you even in your sleep. I mean, if you're gonna sell out do it for a seaside mansion, or something.
LIke when comedians said Obama made it harder to do their jobs, because he was just so damned awesome that there was nothing to make fun of (paraphrasing mine). No comedy to be had in poking fun at those ears, or the number of times any of his speeches contained the words "I," "me," or "my," or any other such thing. Nothing to be made of the global apology tour, or Obama sitting there and being lectured about freedom by a tinhorn dictator, or "you can keep your doctor," or selling guns to Mexican drug lords, or receiving the Nobel Peace Prize right after inauguration only to start more wars just like his predecessor had...
Nah, no grounds for any jokes or sketches in any of that.
The new strategy from the leftist elites are to openly announce that they are gaslighting us and we still have to believe.
I read this post at the same time my wife was shaking her head at the very, very bulky plastic grocery bags now mandated in Washington State. To save the environment from plastics, grocery bags now must be ten times more plasticky.
Either freedom of speech is absolute, or there is no freedom of speech. Reich is using the classic trick - claiming that some speech MUST BE controlled by the government “for our protection.” Once we accept that framing of the argument, we have lost the battle for freedom of speech as the Feds will ALWAYS be able to find more and more forms of speech that MUST BE controlled “for our protection.” Speak out against masks on school kids at school board meetings? You’re a “terrorist” now and your speech controlled by threat of FBI investigation to protect liberal board members. Against sexual grooming of kindergartners? You’re a bigot and your Twitter account must be frozen for the safety of the LGBTQ lobby. Speak out against a mandatory injection of a biologic substance approved under emergency authority? Covidians’ safety is at risk and your FB account must be censored. Speak out about election integrity and the indisputable evidence of fraud? Biden voters safety is at risk and thus your LinkedIn account must be deleted. “the price of your own free speech is listening to others say things you absolutely hate. if you are not willing to do this, you neither deserve nor will you retain your own right of speech.” Useful idiots like Reich understand many of us are not willing to listen to others say things we hate and are able to trick us into framing the free speech debate around the false premise that some speech must be censored. We’ve now discovered that once we accept the premise, speech we support will be censored in the name of safety. The Feds will NEVER run out of “people to protect” from speech the Feds don’t like.
Yes. Here's the thing. The only speech that needs to be protected from censorship is speech that is controversial. Non-offensive speech intrinsically needs no protection. The Framers thought free speech needed protection; ergo, they believed that except in extraordinary circumstances (shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater), everyone should be able to say whatever they want, regardless of whether some snowflake was offended or anyone thought it racist or 'hateful' or micro-aggressive in any of myriad possible ways. They believed that the value of free expression outweighed all competing rights, except the right to be safe in one's person. "Your freedom of expression ends at the tip of my nose" for instance.
But it is helpful because it shows (once again) that the Left in America has turned against free speech, against freedom of thought and expression, and even against democracy in the sense that they obviously believe people cannot be trusted to have their own thoughts and come to their own conclusions, but must be guided and coerced by the benevolent correct-thinkers of corporate media, Big Tech and leftist academia.
It is sad to live through this but it seems that the toxic combo of Twitter and Trump have destroyed the brains and souls of American liberals and turned them into neurotic petty tyrants who cannot rest until they control every word spoken or written in every outlet in the country.
They are Big Brother in drag, or Big Mother, who wants to tell us all what to say and think so no one is harmed or has their feelings hurt or ever agrees with the "enemies of democracy" aka anyone who hasn't pledged obedience to them yet.
I'm not sure how you see the toxic combo of Twitter and Trump, I mean I think I do? I think - well I think the toxic comes from the twitter et al class detesting Trump because he represents the unwashed brute masses who believe America is individual freedoms granted by God, Liberty, Meritocracy, Family, Country and managed to get him elected. That drives them rabid outraged and tyrannical - they HATE us. The RNC HATES us,. The two militantly gay supremacist execs at the top that do the choosing and brokering can't stand our dirty "populism."
Same here. There was a time--in the misty distance of memory--when I actually thought he was smart and principled. Then he revealed himself, and I think there is no one we hate more than a person who has manipulated and fooled us only to turn out to be an unprincipled liar who serves evil incarnate.
He is not much different from any of the other fish he swims w.
The problem (among many others) is that liberals have locked themselves inside an epistemological cage for so long, where everything they say and think is Good and wise and "on the right side of history" and everyone who disagrees with them is just a backwards -phobic bigot aka Deplorable, that they have lost the ability to have a good-faith discussion or rational debate, they can only respond with tantrums and bigotry accusations or by stringing together words meant to convey "Only bad people who are enemies of Democracy (TM) disagree with me."
Twitter and Trump have destroyed their brains and induced a kind of perpetually renewing pyschosis in these people--but unfortunately they have all the power and we have to live w the results of their destructive behavior.
Every liberal outlet drags this irrelevant fool out to blah blah like the media also let’s Rick Santorum opine about .. well whatever his finger in the wind tells him.
If there is a single American who is truly deplorable, it is Robert Reich. He revels in the notion that he is smarter than everyone and that he must talk down until Americans realize they are listening to their better.
Looks it was Krugman circa 1998 who said internet will fail (because people will have nothing much to say to each other after the novelty wears off!). I just looked Reich up, didn't realize he served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration. In 2020 he said UBI "inevitable."
Elon Musk is also WEF "trained" and as much as he is shouting freedom of speech on twitter, I have little doubt that he is ultimately doing his bit to promote "their" agenda. The Russia-Ukraine war falls I to that category as well in my mind... Putin is playing his part.
The Guardian in the last two years has left the territory of being wrong and entered the realms of parody. Prior to the last two years I wouldn’t have believed that there were substantial numbers of people that would take an article like this seriously. 1984 came straight to mind for me.
Reich is an asshole, has always worked for the keeper of assholes. That said, you kid yourself if you think Musk is the savior of liberty and free speech. Personally I don’t trust Mr. neuralink as far as I could throw him. Call me a conspiracy nut.
That article pretty much says it all. I think the govt/media complex has destroyed this country’s ability to think critically, to question anything. A bunch of lemmings. Very sad.
It's in The Guardian--I won't link but here's an excerpt: "Musk has never believed that power comes with responsibility. He’s been unperturbed when his tweets cause real suffering. During his long and storied history with Twitter he has threatened journalists and tweeted reckless things. In Musk’s vision of Twitter and the internet, he’d be the wizard behind the curtain – projecting on the world’s screen a fake image of a brave new world empowering everyone."
So deplatforming and cancelling people doesn't hurt anyone? And there's no recourse when people are "threatened"?
Says the bunch who think stomping on an old women in a wheelchair with a horse is OK as is beating & jailing peaceful protestors and freezing their bank accounts.
It was the ecstatic reception Musk received from Marines last week that caught my attention. People are funny the way they can get swept away by the shiny objects and rich, powerful men who just might be here to 'help.' Swerved into this article about Musk and baby mama Grimes: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/03/grimes-cover-story-on-music-and-mars.
Idk what he plans for Twitter, but reading about eccentric billionaires can be fun. He was born in 1971, is from South Africa, college in Canada, and then UPenn. PayPal co-founder new money billionaire. Tesla CEO, Spacex founder. Baby boy named "X" and girl "Y." Creepy weird rich people.
From the VF article interview, “I like making friends with demons,” Grimes chants in her demon-baby singing voice. “You need special eyes to see ’em.” (Dig the nails.)
"About 15 minutes after we sit down ... I hear what sounds vaguely like a lone cry from an infant upstairs. I think I notice Grimes wince, but I say nothing and move on. Could be anything."....I hear it again. This time it’s multiple cries, and it’s unmistakable. I’ve got two kids. That’s a baby. And I can tell by the frozen look on my host’s face that she heard it too. So I brace myself to ask the strangest question of my career: Do you have another baby in your life, Grimes?
Her body clenches and she looks away.
“I’m not at liberty to speak on these things,” she begins, and then all in a tumble she says: “Whatever is going on with family stuff, I just feel like kids need to stay out of it, and X is just out there. I mean, I think E is really seeing him as a protégé and bringing him to everything and stuff.… X is out there. His situation is like that. But, yeah, I don’t know.”
On Musk, she says, “We keep having this conversation where E’s like, ‘Are you real? Or are we living in my memory, and you’re like a synthesized companion that was created to be my companion here?’ ”
Sorry for veering into creepy weird rich people world - but it was a fresh scoop.
So this quarter wit (he does not even rise to a half wit) is claiming freedom is for Nazi's and communist's but I repeat myself and in other news the chocolate ration will be raised from 5 grams to 3. These people have become a bad joke.
Weird how an ideology that advocates for strong protections of fundamental personal freedoms is being consistently portrayed as fascistic. It's not the first time I see such a characterization of libertarianism in recent times.
You know, Reich is sort of pulling a lose liberty for safety argument. The internet will be dangerous if we allow everyone to write what they want for all to see out there on that scary internet. That is not what Al Gore intended. No sirreee.
There seems to be more things you need to be protected against. Created problematic safety concerns IMO. More and more things of every category to watch out for. So many non existential "existential" threats. How did we get to the point where you harm someone by misidentifying their gender (for example)? I think a lot of fear is built up in people's heads. Maybe it is insulation against hurt of all kind? I am just spitballing.
I think it was here on this substack someone (maybe gato) brought up how some may not even know they are a slave because the yoke was placed on them slowly or something... I am assuredly butchering the thought. But I see a lot of young adults (and quite a few old ones these days) not wanting any risky behavior done by them or anyone around them. How can this be with young people? You are often built by the risks you take. Your life is rewarded richly with calculated and uncalculated risk. I think back on my life and the top life experiences were not found on the safe route. You don't ride motorcycles across the country, sail across oceans, have children during war or decide not to be a dentist like your dad but be a restaurateur instead. People, I would say most people now, find a life well lived not all that appealing.
Yeah. Totally a tangent. Probably not where you were going with that. : )
Robert Reich is the sort of economist who believes that no transaction must be allowed without the dead hand of the state coercing buyer, seller or both. Perhaps a schoolyard bully in his youth or the boogeyman left him psychologically unable to imagine free will, critical thinking and mutual benefit.
Whut.....? Speaking of demagogues, I once read the definition of a demagogue as being a person who wants their audience smart enough to understand what's said but too stupid to question it. Sounds like Robert Reich has this nailed!
Apparently the authoritarian left suffers from some general mental dysfunction. Their rhetoric is almost invariably nonsensical. I mostly feel sorry for them, and I for one certainly won't spend time listening to notions born of their confusion and delusion.
The authoritarian left are programmed thinkers, and sometimes they lose their programming momentarily. Tough thing when you aren't used to critical thinking.
It's commonly known that dictators long for uncontrolled populaces and speech.
jeez miss clarabelle, someone should tell china!
because it seems like maybe they're doing it wrong...
Yes and education for all with no centralized control of content!
Wasn't it chairman Mao who said that an informed population with read access to information and weapons was the easiest to control?
It is my honor as a freely educated citizen to say glory to the supreme leader Mao! His great authority has bestowed great decentralized freedoms upon us. His great diktat of “weapons for all” has given him immense power. Glory to Mao!
Hah! Exactly!
lovely sarc
Could you explain that to Christopher Campbell two below you? 😄
WTF are you talking about? That’s about THE most ignorant, most historically illiterate thing I’ve ever heard🤦♂️Basically EVERY dictator in history made it a priority to crush dissent among the populace by regulating or controlling the media, which would then control the people by the use of state sponsored propaganda. Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and now TRUDEAU all use the same tactics. It’s dictator 101🤷♂️
I think we all get that. Did you miss "sarcasm 101"? Or is this reverse sarcasm to demonstrate absurdity? Very clever!
Apparently I missed sarcasm101🤷♂️My apologies😬
It happens. Sadly, much of that which we WISH were sarcasm these days is not.
Here I think it’s called “snarcasm”?
I couldn’t agree more. I’ll try and pay better attention next time
so many things said the past two years that one would think HAD to be sarcasm ("that highway is racist" for instance) who recognizes it easily these days.
Ha! Good point, Clarabelle! So much stupidity being spoken with authority.
I too, have thought people were being sarcastic when they weren't.
We're LOSING OUR wits!!
Alas, these days sorting the absurd and sarcasm from what has become the modern discourse is not so easy.
Lol. I read recently that the internet ruined sarcasm. This is proof.
And they say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit….and THATS why it’s so funny! Lol
I'll point you to the comment two above your own.
I think it needs to be distinguished between dictators in power and aspiring dictators. The first group thinks that freedom of speech is important, as long as it reflects the opinion of the current government. The second group likes to have access to new and uncontrolled media to catch rats with populistic speeches and slogans against the current government.
Reich has always been an idiot. Why should he change now?
He's actually made a living off being an idiot, which in a way, has to be respected, only it's not so rare, is it?
Idiots like him are handsomely rewarded at places like Berkeley. It's a rat den of statist apologists and enablers.
Yes, Berkeley, the 1960’s seat of the Free Speech movement.
Consistently, am I right?
Integrity of character...
Yes??...oh, sorry...I thought you were calling me...
LOL!
(like)
"An uncontrolled internet is the dream of every dictator, strongman and demogauge" wouldn't even make it past the term paper approval process in a high school. How does it get published in a professional setting??
well, to be fair, it might in china...
It makes sense if the word "dictator" means somebody who Reich and his Guardian buddies don't like. They just haven't managed to change the dictionary yet.
Bingo! To him the 'dictators' are folks like Donald Trump, Rand Paul and Ron DeSantis.
Add that to the list of words that members of the left think are just a generic insult, like "big poopy head." Racist, fascist, authoritarian, dictator... none of them mean what they actually mean. If they did, they'd recognize that they were talking about themselves, not their opponents.
Have you not noticed that utterly absurd nonsensical language is now standard for the ruling class? i.e. "supporting the truckers is opposing democracy", "election integrity is opposing democracy", " ending vaxx mandates is against freedom".
Servitude is freedom. Arbeit macht frei. And we have always been at war with Oceania.
No kidding
And “I have a tiny penis” means “I’m Ron Jeremy “
Don't forget that you can tack this onto the end of anything: ".......is racist".
and/or homophobic which is morphing into transphobic (whether homosexual people like it or not)
Ha Ha might be here already but we don't know it yet!
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Calling something racist...is racist. Largely true these days.
News speak
When you are a mouthpiece for the approved story your blather always gets print!! Yeesh.
Because he KNOWS there are millions of LIVs in America who possess defective critical thinking skills, and so they'll read those words and apply ZERO thought to them. They'll just consume them, absorb them, without question. They'll read those words, nod their empty heads in agreement.
They're the Democrat Party's and the Left's stock in trade. Low-information voters who cannot think their way out of an open paper bag. Without them, the Democrat Party would be at most a fringe element in American politics.
Luckily, most Americans are stupid, huh? 😶🙄
Stupid or lazy. Or both.
Both, but also woefully uninformed a lot of the time.
To be uninformed about some things is normal. But to be woefully uninformed implies, IMO, massive laziness (refusal to do the necessary work to be an informed citizen). Reagan's quote is pithy, but spot-on: It's not that Leftist assholes don't know anything; it's that everything they know is wrong.
Yeah, I paraphrased the Gipper.
Well said
Mr. Reich exists in a small, scary world where he doesn’t see much. The “dictators” he’s talking about are people who express an opinion he doesn’t “feel safe” about. The “strongman” he speaks of is a person he sees who goes to the gym and stands up for himself and his family. The “demagogue” is probably Donald Trump, who says things that are abrasive and doesn’t apologize.
He’s read history books, and instead of learning something useful from them, has projected the fear that they cause him into his neighbors. He is a coward and projects his own desire for power over others—which he himself has denied, you see, Mr. Reich is a “good” person, and “good” people do not want power over others—onto those within his tiny world. Now he gets to feel the power over others without feeling the guilt of it since he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it! Win win for him! Woohoo!
Tiny world. Are you height shaming Reich? LOL
High school? Pfft, my middle school teachers wouldn't have accepted that.
That was then, this is now. I bet it'd get an A.
I suppose it depends on the profession :-)
Elon Musk's vision for the internet is dangerous nonsense, says a prominent member of the globalist elite misinformation corps.
Oh those damnable uncontrolled ideas - without them we might be sitting reading a book (make that one of the publisher-selected books, whilst untold thousands of manuscripts were rejected as unfit for the press) rather than sitting in front of monitors and keyboards as we exchange thoughts and ideas at lightning speed with interesting, literate people from all over the world. Those pesky white supremacists who created this useless tool. Tsk.
And reading that book by candlelight and only if you were in the elite who were allowed books because printing them one at a time was time consuming and expensive.
Grin.
Projection meter explodes.
Iron Law of Woke Projection never misses.
Like a battery built in China, subsidized for your purchase by Uncle Sam.
ha!
Dictators all want uncontrolled information. Makes sense, if you squint and yer drukn hell as.
From where I'm sitting, the dictators, strongmen and demagogues all want control over the internet. We used to make fun of 'limited internet' places like China just a few years ago!!!
and their masks
Opposing mask mandates is opposing freedom.
Thanks for the correction...I thought opposing mask mandates was killing baby seals. Or is it the baby seals who are opposing mask mandates?
baby seals cause climate change
and yet I’m not even kidding. several species of shellfish ( and some reindeer) emit a not small amount of methane. serious consideration given on the enviro-left for culling these animals in order to “save the planet.”
OMG Thank you
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Why does the 'like' button work for some comments but not others. Is this the uncontrolled internet at work??
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Locking people in their homes for weeks on end, and killing their pets, so they don't get the sniffles. China never met a problem that could not be cured by shitting on people's civil rights, and surely this problem can be solved if they just oppress hard enough, because oppression fixes things. Right?
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War is peace. Lies are truth. Hate is Love. Free Internet is Dream of Every Dictator. I get it
see, what's weird mr igor, is that this kind of sounds like that whole "always accuse the other side of that which you are doing" thing, but that was an idea from some really bad guys who were maybe dictators and demagogues and stuff.
so probably the resemblance is just a coincidence, right?
This kind of doublespeak, language manipulation, and censorship IS, almost by definition, dictatorial. This is what Mr Reich is promoting.
Only truth is ever censored. If there is an issue, you are not sure what it is, but a certain take on it is censored, you can be pretty sure that that take is the truth.
And no, free Internet is NOT a dream of every dictator, you are 100% right here
Truth is alive and it will survive.
I think this is most often unintentional, like the kleptomaniac in a state of panic because he suspects everyone is plotting to steal from him. The fear and suspicion is sincere. My good hearted collectivist father-in-law's rants about Trump and right-wing authoritarianism being a "'threat to our democracy" seems to fit this same dynamic. He sincerely believes it.
I was debating a guy in a comment section like this, in which that person called Trump an authoritarian (as one does). I commented that "Biden" was far more authoritarian than Trump, and after the requisite guffaws and personal insults directed at me for mentioning this, he asked for an example. I cited Biden's mask and vax mandates, and he told me those were public health measures that were necessary because of an ongoing emergency.
Authoritarian dictates are 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 "necessary" because of some emergency, real or imagined. It doesn't matter what the reason is, nor how justified it may seem... something that is pushed "because I say so" is authoritarian. I mentioned that... but there came no reply to my post.
Yes, because the war or whatever the emergency is never ends. Here's the climate change emergency lockdowns coming right at you baby!
This happens in my family too - from also my good hearted collectivist father in law!!
Subconscious projection
Oh yeah, my departed father-in-law who was a certifiable functional psychopath, same thing. OMG.
Correct.
Classic 1984 right there!
😆😂🤣
Doesn't he mean a 'controlled' internet is the dream of every dictator, strongman, and demagogue?
Oh yes, I forgot, we’re living in a world where black is white, war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength.
That's "a world where Black is white," you racist piece of literal human garbage.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Stop laughing. Right now. Wipe that smirk off your racist monster face.
I'm fucking SERIOUS.
Oh no, you're just sending me into more hysterics 😹😂😹🤣😹😆😹
MAA, I don't ever want to live in the universe where the rules say you're the bad guy. ❤
😂😱😂😱😂
Literal 🤣🤣🤣
I wish it was that easy/understandable. Sadly it's more like black is fishing, war is bananas, freedom is pizza, and ignorance is avocados. It's a world where nothing makes any sense.
I really like fishing, bananas, avocados, and pizza, though, so I'll do okay.
Oh crap, I was taking a sip of water right when I read that!
😹
😂
Don't forget that 2 + 2 = Kumquat
😆🤡🙃
amen!
'Red is grey, and yellow white... but we decide which is right, and which is an illusion...'
Moody Blues, "The Day Begins," from Days of Future Passed (1967)
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/moodyblues/thedaybegins.html
I love the Moody Blues! My parents met at a Moody Blues concert, and I would have been named Justin if I’d been born a boy (in the days when chromosomes still counted).
Moody Blues fan here. "I'm more than that. I know I am. At least, I think I must be." Oh, and if you haven't already, check out both of the Moody Bluegrass albums. Phenomenal
Of course you are, my bright little star!
brrrrrrrright
OMG, that sounds amazing! Thank you for letting me know!
Yup. I love bluegrass and these albums are insane. Wildest Dreams is actually better as a bluegrass piece if you can believe it.
When did I move into an Escher drawing?
I love my Escher home, prefer it to Bosch or Goya. I suppose that's what's coming. God help us.
Omigosh, exactly!
😆
Thanks for spotting the typo. 🙂
😆
Reich is a toady for WEF so I am not surprised by the endless BS he spouts. However, here's the thing...Americans are too stupid to see the fallacy in Reich's logic. If we had a more educated country...we would see that the dream of every dictator is a controlled internet. Look at North Korea.
But that is the thing. We need to take the monopoly control over education from the state. There is a reason it is “compulsory State education”. I agree 100% with you, a better understanding of the world including critical thinking skills would go a long way to helping here, but the indoctrination that takes place in government schools is POWERFUL.
You are right...and its up to the parents to pull their kids out. We have Rockefeller to thank for the dumbing down of our educational system.
I don't want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers.
-- John D. Rockefeller
Ever tried to pull your kid out of school? Maybe in some states it's practical. Hear in the peoples republic of Californicated it's nearly impossible. Sure you can "home school" but the state still controls the curriculum. Private schools? Same problem. Even if you have the financial resources it takes creativity and not a small amount of deception with a pinch of perjury.
I pulled my kid out in PA and homeschooled for six years before we moved to FL (where there is slightly less paperwork). There is a lot of paperwork in PA, but it is eminently doable. If I could go back and do first and second grade on our own, I would. And I agree with Matt (below) about HSLDA. They have lawyers who fight the bureaucrats when they try to pretend you didn't file your paperwork properly.
My kid is fluent in French and years ahead of her peers in science. We've wasted zero time on getting settled down, "putting our listening ears on" (or whatever teachers say to kids trapped at desks all day), etc.; we've taken field trips to the opera (simulcast for a tiny fraction of the price of the real deal), Shakespeare performances, and world-class art museums. And she has never internalized the cardinal rule of institutional settings, which is that following the rules is the most important thing. Matter of fact, she calls it out when she sees institutions trying to pull that trick.
There are dozens of reasons I could never live in California. I understand that people can't immediately find jobs elsewhere, so leaving immediately isn't practical. For any other state, though, homeschooling is a completely reasonable thing to do. HSLDA also has "compassion" grants to help families homeschool when the financial resources are thin.
It's a beautiful state, but OMG!
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Short of moving out of California, I encourage you to do WHATEVER you need to do to take care of YOUR children. You and only you know what is best for them. When I look up California, it appears to get around the state controls...you need to claim you are a home-based private school. I would use HSLDA to guide your decision making. They are really helpful. I am in Tennessee and we were able to get around any requirements by being affiliated with a umbrella school that managed our grades, etc.
https://hslda.org/post/how-to-comply-with-californias-homeschool-law
Ancient history for me (kid is now 27) but hopefully that will help someone.
We went through several alternatives, including private schools. The problem with the private schools available in our area is that the "culture" has permeated he schools and the concept of integrity and honor has been lost even in the private schools - you pay more to be lied to more politely.
We finally found a program (through a charter school) where he could work at his own pace under a "learning contract" - a written agreement with expectations, standards, deadlines, and other unambiguous specifications. This turned out to be really good in many ways. He finished 2 years of high school in 6 months. He learned the material. He learned about schedules and deadlines, and the value of a written contract. The last being something I wish I'd learned before I left high school, but that's another tale....
Sounds like you did well by your child. And YOU knew what was best and not some tenured teacher.
I also live in Kalifornia. I am past master of deception and perjury; I consider them necessary survival skills here. These day I am channeling Scarlett in the radish patch - "As God is my witness..."
I am sorry. California is a beautiful state and has wonderful people. I am not sure what happened but it is clear the govt there is tyrannical.
An example of what happens when election integrity slips away. Single Party Rule.
Study California's history carefully. If you think it can't happen in your state, you are wrong.
I'm originally from Hawai'i (born in the Territory) so I wasn't exactly shocked to see a place being ravaged by greed and the lust for power, just very saddened. It was indeed a wonderful state, once. The Getty oligarchy and their ilk, a bureaucracy filled with smug, unbelievably stupid apparatchiks and the vast majority of well-intended but true-blue sheeple who allow themselves to be bullied and stripped of their rights and freedoms have made it an Orwellian hellhole. A once-good and beautiful woman who has been turning for some time into a syphilitic whore. The decline of the education system is perhaps the worst thing. The exodus grows daily.
!!!!!!!
Wilson, John Dewey, Otto von Bismarck even - lots of people who pushed for nationalistic obedience and reverence, without wanting true critical thinking for “the masses”. Absolutely all related and for the purpose of a “functional” populace who can do the work - now we see them pushing UBI because many people don’t have as much work given automation...
yeah, but the kids haven't been that in a long time (generalizing but...)
Reclaim the schools and msm.
Look at china
I suspect that if you queried 10 random Americans most likely all 10 of them have never heard of Reich.
Indeed you are most likely right; these days it seems like only folks on Tik Tok are known.
Robert B. Reichhhhhhhhhhhhhhhuh (with the picture cropped to show just the top of his head).
Wait. Hang on.
The dream of every dictator is for a marketplace of ideas to be uncontrolled.
Let me just say that again a few times out loud to see if I'm missing something.
No, dad, I'm just testing whether I'm insane.
The dream of every dictator is for a marketplace of ideas to be uncontrolled.
Nope. This is batshit nonsense. It isn't even wrong.
According to Reich and The Party he speaks for, you are an insurrectionist. You've violated the oat of loyalty and are unfit for human existence because you've questioned.
It is way past batshit crazy nonesense. We passed batshit crazy in 2020.
>> According to Reich and The Party he speaks for, you are an insurrectionist. You've violated the oat of loyalty and are unfit for human existence because you've questioned.
I'll live.
When I actually swear oaths of loyalty, I damn well keep them.
Someone needs to tell China that they've been doing it wrong.
More seriously, who is the genius editor that allowed this article to be published? Maybe they got confused and thought it was April Fools'?
If he pulls this off, Elon could be the George Washington of tech. Uses his wealth and influence to wrest power away from the oligarchs and return it to the people.
A wealthy person using their wealth to wrest wealth and power away from the wealthy. You're joking, right? Lol.
Surrender to the smoke and mirrors, Diego! ;)
To have free speech first you need speech.
https://www.rt.com/usa/488089-elon-musk-baby-name-language/
Musk is an outsider and a bit player. At most he can become a troublesome fly they haven't yet bothered to swat. The Bankster cult of Psychos has been established over a period of centuries and controls tens of $trillions in wealth, Musk tens of $billions. Only the power of a large nation state can break their hold on governance over Western nations. Or a mass uprising.
Russia, presumably.
He’s a liar too.
I applaud Elon for his Libertarian stances! I shake my head wondering how he's going to survive on Mars with no atmosphere.
I fear his Neural Implant, transhumanist agenda...
I'm torn about Elon, tbh
Yeah, I think he's full of crap. I'm super conspiratorial about him too. He sends libertarian vibes to keep the rabble off-balance, IMO. The free speech thing is just his South African "I can say and do what I want" schtick, which is how all South Africans are, but I doubt he cares much about free speech for the rest of us.
He does, however, fabulously troll the left, so that's fun.
Here's a fun Musk meme you may enjoy. https://themariachiyears.substack.com/p/muskaren?s=w
Well he can produce a rocket 5x faster & 10x cheaper and reusable than big Aerospace can for a throwaway rocket. 1000X lower cost of cargo to orbit. Musk builds things. The current ruling class just steals wealth from those that build things. Parasites.
I think it’s cool is Musk is just playing along with the WEF crowd. But he’s a welfare queen. 👑 I guess that’s how the game is played. 🙅♀️
"Welfare Queen"?!? The welfare queens are all the Banks, Big Pharma, Big Agro, Big Aerospace and all the dinosaur multi-nationals. For every dollar Musk's received in Gov aid he's returned 1000X that in economic benefit. Quit trying to shoot American Greatness in the foot. Know your enemies, they don't include Musk.
T. R. I. G. G. E. R. E. D. 🤯
Yeah, that's a PhD level comment. They must be selling PhDs over the counter @ 7eleven nowadays.
He does like effing with people like those, lol
He claims he is "a free speech absolutist". We'll see.
Exactly. So much smoke and mirrors with this crazy dude.
Musk at times makes Gates, Harari, and Schwab sound sane.
To have free speech first you need speech. 😝
https://www.rt.com/usa/488089-elon-musk-baby-name-language/
well, as far as neural implants, he did point out they aren't working, killed the animals...
Easy to make an atmosphere in an enclosed space, many people live most of their lives indoors already. Forget the neural implant, transhumanist crap. At best his neural implant might allow paraplegics to regain some rudimentary use of their limbs. And maybe a computer interface that is just a glorified keyboard, faster and easier than typing, but me I don't want a hole in my head just so I can type faster. The only transhumanism to worry about is genetic vaccines they force us to take.
They’re building neural implants to control monkeys’ behavior, not cure disease. The implants also kill 50% of them so not something we need to worry about yet.
No they're not. That's crazy talk. You watch too much sci-fi. He states the main aim is for treating spinal injury victims and many are dubious they will succeed in even being able to allow them to use their limbs in a rudimentary way. And I don't know what the death rate in monkeys are, you make stuff up, whatever it is Big Pharma will admit "how can it be that low?". They're far, far from the point that anyone but the disabled will want the implant.
My bad. He's trying to cure Parkinson's most definitely. They're not developing electric cars to limit your geographic range. And we'll all be in space in ten years. Musk is an amazing humanitarian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpcam2IQ1h8
https://thedeepdive.ca/elon-musks-neuralink-accused-of-killing-15-of-23-test-monkeys-with-tech-research/
Tesla's are the fastest growing in sales that's without advertising because many people love them. They don't seem to care about your range limitation, which is a minor point for most drivers (a Ford Mustang has a EPA range of 288mi vs a Tesla Model S with a 405mi range). Doesn't stop you from buying a long range vehicle. Quit trying to monopolize the market.
Tell us one major CEO who isn't your typical Disney woke & ultra-establishment all the way. Try Bezos. Bloomberg. Branson. Gates. Compare. Then get real, Elon Musk quotes & opinions:
https://thehub.ca/2021-12-14/civilization-is-going-to-crumble-if-we-dont-have-more-kids/
“Wokeness wants to make comedy illegal. Do we want a humorless society that is simply rife with condemnation, and hate? At its heart, wokeness is divisive, exclusionary, and hateful. It basically gives mean people a shield to be cruel, armored in false virtue,” Musk said.
https://www.republicworld.com/science/space/spacex-ceo-elon-musk-says-mars-will-run-on-crypto-doge-or-different-currency-articleshow.html
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/02/elon-musk-compares-justin-justin-trudeau-hitler/
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/03/elon-musk-calls-us-increase-oil-gas-production-hate-say-need/
I must see, refuse NOT to see, all the potential sides of Musk. When I say " I'm torn about Elon " I absolutely mean it. If you blinker yourself from looking at the potentials of the most powerful people ? You're a fool. I try not to be foolish.
Considering Mars and atmosphere: its not JUST atmosphere- but it mainly is. You can burrow...but you cannot hide from the Sun or Plasma Physics and how it effects our local galactic neighborhood. Our magnetosphere protects us- atmosphere and geologic stability.. it is cyclical and we are having rough weather and increased geomagnetic processes (volcanic etc) because of the flood of cosmic rays getting through our weakened protection. Mars is not only not immune- it's been stripped previously.
These things have a way of accelerating beyond what people ever anticipate. I feel it’s inevitable. 🤷♂️
I agree completely. He has some very good instincts, but he has also shown himself to be pretty damn stupid about a lot of things.
Stupid about what? He's developed tech that our monolithic Dinosaur multi-nationals never dreamed possible. No politician on Earth has done nearly as much good for humanity. So sad.
Reich is in the wrong universe (belongs in bizarro world)
Just about everyone I ever thought was a reasonable human being has utterly disabused me of that misconception, and a few people I'd thought were reeking untouchable corpses of humanity have surprised me to be otherwise.
Yeah, I've had some of those experiences too, and there was no need for those people to go there, there was no gun to their heads making them go that way metaphorical or otherwise. I do not know who they are now, it's like something evil crawled out of the earth and infected them and no, they haven't gotten jabbed, either.
Goes back to that mean girl clique thingy. The best cocktail parties, anything below the A-list and you can feel 'em sneering at you even in your sleep. I mean, if you're gonna sell out do it for a seaside mansion, or something.
Turd Reich
Good one!
the real question here is why is SNL having so much trouble being funny with all this free content just flying around?
LIke when comedians said Obama made it harder to do their jobs, because he was just so damned awesome that there was nothing to make fun of (paraphrasing mine). No comedy to be had in poking fun at those ears, or the number of times any of his speeches contained the words "I," "me," or "my," or any other such thing. Nothing to be made of the global apology tour, or Obama sitting there and being lectured about freedom by a tinhorn dictator, or "you can keep your doctor," or selling guns to Mexican drug lords, or receiving the Nobel Peace Prize right after inauguration only to start more wars just like his predecessor had...
Nah, no grounds for any jokes or sketches in any of that.
💥 Boom! (mic drop!)
The new strategy from the leftist elites are to openly announce that they are gaslighting us and we still have to believe.
I read this post at the same time my wife was shaking her head at the very, very bulky plastic grocery bags now mandated in Washington State. To save the environment from plastics, grocery bags now must be ten times more plasticky.
+ 8 cents for your environmental transgression
Does WA state have any woke plans for dealing with all the mask trash everywhere?
that would make sense
so I doubt it
So far the plan seems to be littering them all over parking lots.
must be imported from China?
Either freedom of speech is absolute, or there is no freedom of speech. Reich is using the classic trick - claiming that some speech MUST BE controlled by the government “for our protection.” Once we accept that framing of the argument, we have lost the battle for freedom of speech as the Feds will ALWAYS be able to find more and more forms of speech that MUST BE controlled “for our protection.” Speak out against masks on school kids at school board meetings? You’re a “terrorist” now and your speech controlled by threat of FBI investigation to protect liberal board members. Against sexual grooming of kindergartners? You’re a bigot and your Twitter account must be frozen for the safety of the LGBTQ lobby. Speak out against a mandatory injection of a biologic substance approved under emergency authority? Covidians’ safety is at risk and your FB account must be censored. Speak out about election integrity and the indisputable evidence of fraud? Biden voters safety is at risk and thus your LinkedIn account must be deleted. “the price of your own free speech is listening to others say things you absolutely hate. if you are not willing to do this, you neither deserve nor will you retain your own right of speech.” Useful idiots like Reich understand many of us are not willing to listen to others say things we hate and are able to trick us into framing the free speech debate around the false premise that some speech must be censored. We’ve now discovered that once we accept the premise, speech we support will be censored in the name of safety. The Feds will NEVER run out of “people to protect” from speech the Feds don’t like.
Yes. Here's the thing. The only speech that needs to be protected from censorship is speech that is controversial. Non-offensive speech intrinsically needs no protection. The Framers thought free speech needed protection; ergo, they believed that except in extraordinary circumstances (shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater), everyone should be able to say whatever they want, regardless of whether some snowflake was offended or anyone thought it racist or 'hateful' or micro-aggressive in any of myriad possible ways. They believed that the value of free expression outweighed all competing rights, except the right to be safe in one's person. "Your freedom of expression ends at the tip of my nose" for instance.
Reich’s framing of the free speech debate is dangerous nonsense.
But it is helpful because it shows (once again) that the Left in America has turned against free speech, against freedom of thought and expression, and even against democracy in the sense that they obviously believe people cannot be trusted to have their own thoughts and come to their own conclusions, but must be guided and coerced by the benevolent correct-thinkers of corporate media, Big Tech and leftist academia.
It is sad to live through this but it seems that the toxic combo of Twitter and Trump have destroyed the brains and souls of American liberals and turned them into neurotic petty tyrants who cannot rest until they control every word spoken or written in every outlet in the country.
They are Big Brother in drag, or Big Mother, who wants to tell us all what to say and think so no one is harmed or has their feelings hurt or ever agrees with the "enemies of democracy" aka anyone who hasn't pledged obedience to them yet.
I'm not sure how you see the toxic combo of Twitter and Trump, I mean I think I do? I think - well I think the toxic comes from the twitter et al class detesting Trump because he represents the unwashed brute masses who believe America is individual freedoms granted by God, Liberty, Meritocracy, Family, Country and managed to get him elected. That drives them rabid outraged and tyrannical - they HATE us. The RNC HATES us,. The two militantly gay supremacist execs at the top that do the choosing and brokering can't stand our dirty "populism."
I can NOT stand Robert Reich. He is a sickening and horrible human. I feel sorry for his family, kind of.
Same here. There was a time--in the misty distance of memory--when I actually thought he was smart and principled. Then he revealed himself, and I think there is no one we hate more than a person who has manipulated and fooled us only to turn out to be an unprincipled liar who serves evil incarnate.
They seem to all feel relaxed enough to let the facade slip.
He is not much different from any of the other fish he swims w.
The problem (among many others) is that liberals have locked themselves inside an epistemological cage for so long, where everything they say and think is Good and wise and "on the right side of history" and everyone who disagrees with them is just a backwards -phobic bigot aka Deplorable, that they have lost the ability to have a good-faith discussion or rational debate, they can only respond with tantrums and bigotry accusations or by stringing together words meant to convey "Only bad people who are enemies of Democracy (TM) disagree with me."
Twitter and Trump have destroyed their brains and induced a kind of perpetually renewing pyschosis in these people--but unfortunately they have all the power and we have to live w the results of their destructive behavior.
they let him breed?! 😳
! (aghast)
WTH? Every dictator wants to control the internet. The exact opposite. What has this dude been smokin’? NewSpeak writ large.
Every liberal outlet drags this irrelevant fool out to blah blah like the media also let’s Rick Santorum opine about .. well whatever his finger in the wind tells him.
If there is a single American who is truly deplorable, it is Robert Reich. He revels in the notion that he is smarter than everyone and that he must talk down until Americans realize they are listening to their better.
Omigosh, yes. Remember that study, was it Yale? that found liberals consistently talk down to the "oppressed" they believe they are "protecting."
Noblesse oblige
Except that probably most "lesser folk" who hear him immediately tune him out.
Has Reich been right about anything in the past 25 years?
i think maybe he's been right about the intelligence of a certain bunch of people miss julie.
yikes.
wow! yes
excellent question/point
He said "I'm Robert B. Reich," and I think he may have been right about that.
Yawn.
Wasn't this the guy that said the internet was doomed to failure? Or was that Krugman?
These idiots are all the same.
two names that are very much like the other
haha
Looks it was Krugman circa 1998 who said internet will fail (because people will have nothing much to say to each other after the novelty wears off!). I just looked Reich up, didn't realize he served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration. In 2020 he said UBI "inevitable."
The progressive movement is essentially totalitarian. Robert Reich is an example. He really just wants to expunge all beliefs s variance with his.
I can't find the news journal right now, but their banner maxim is "Inside of every Progressive is a Totalitarian screaming to get out"
Elon Musk is also WEF "trained" and as much as he is shouting freedom of speech on twitter, I have little doubt that he is ultimately doing his bit to promote "their" agenda. The Russia-Ukraine war falls I to that category as well in my mind... Putin is playing his part.
I did not know Elon was WEF grad
The Guardian in the last two years has left the territory of being wrong and entered the realms of parody. Prior to the last two years I wouldn’t have believed that there were substantial numbers of people that would take an article like this seriously. 1984 came straight to mind for me.
Reich is an asshole, has always worked for the keeper of assholes. That said, you kid yourself if you think Musk is the savior of liberty and free speech. Personally I don’t trust Mr. neuralink as far as I could throw him. Call me a conspiracy nut.
Does Musk believe in speech?
That premise must be questioned. Quite literally.
People are easily distracted by these circuses.
https://www.rt.com/usa/488089-elon-musk-baby-name-language/
That article pretty much says it all. I think the govt/media complex has destroyed this country’s ability to think critically, to question anything. A bunch of lemmings. Very sad.
Uncontrolled speech is the dream of every dictator, and slavery is freedom.
Like North Korea, with Kim Jong-un's famously freewheeling public sphere.
giggle snort
Straight jacket and padded cell await Professor Reich and his cell mate will be Keith Olbermann.
hahahaha! When you said Olbermann's name I just pictured the meme. "REEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"
It's in The Guardian--I won't link but here's an excerpt: "Musk has never believed that power comes with responsibility. He’s been unperturbed when his tweets cause real suffering. During his long and storied history with Twitter he has threatened journalists and tweeted reckless things. In Musk’s vision of Twitter and the internet, he’d be the wizard behind the curtain – projecting on the world’s screen a fake image of a brave new world empowering everyone."
So deplatforming and cancelling people doesn't hurt anyone? And there's no recourse when people are "threatened"?
Says the bunch who think stomping on an old women in a wheelchair with a horse is OK as is beating & jailing peaceful protestors and freezing their bank accounts.
Looks like the Guardian.
Yes I edited once I found it, thanks.
It was the ecstatic reception Musk received from Marines last week that caught my attention. People are funny the way they can get swept away by the shiny objects and rich, powerful men who just might be here to 'help.' Swerved into this article about Musk and baby mama Grimes: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/03/grimes-cover-story-on-music-and-mars.
Idk what he plans for Twitter, but reading about eccentric billionaires can be fun. He was born in 1971, is from South Africa, college in Canada, and then UPenn. PayPal co-founder new money billionaire. Tesla CEO, Spacex founder. Baby boy named "X" and girl "Y." Creepy weird rich people.
From the VF article interview, “I like making friends with demons,” Grimes chants in her demon-baby singing voice. “You need special eyes to see ’em.” (Dig the nails.)
"About 15 minutes after we sit down ... I hear what sounds vaguely like a lone cry from an infant upstairs. I think I notice Grimes wince, but I say nothing and move on. Could be anything."....I hear it again. This time it’s multiple cries, and it’s unmistakable. I’ve got two kids. That’s a baby. And I can tell by the frozen look on my host’s face that she heard it too. So I brace myself to ask the strangest question of my career: Do you have another baby in your life, Grimes?
Her body clenches and she looks away.
“I’m not at liberty to speak on these things,” she begins, and then all in a tumble she says: “Whatever is going on with family stuff, I just feel like kids need to stay out of it, and X is just out there. I mean, I think E is really seeing him as a protégé and bringing him to everything and stuff.… X is out there. His situation is like that. But, yeah, I don’t know.”
On Musk, she says, “We keep having this conversation where E’s like, ‘Are you real? Or are we living in my memory, and you’re like a synthesized companion that was created to be my companion here?’ ”
Sorry for veering into creepy weird rich people world - but it was a fresh scoop.
my brain is limping rn
So this quarter wit (he does not even rise to a half wit) is claiming freedom is for Nazi's and communist's but I repeat myself and in other news the chocolate ration will be raised from 5 grams to 3. These people have become a bad joke.
This is about as bad as "freedom undermines democracy." An "uncontrolled" internet is the nightmare of every dictator, strongman, and demagogue.
Freedom of speech is scary. Being told what to think is far more comfortable.
There's such great security in knowing the answer to every issue without every having to really think.
Weird how an ideology that advocates for strong protections of fundamental personal freedoms is being consistently portrayed as fascistic. It's not the first time I see such a characterization of libertarianism in recent times.
Robert Reich needs an enema.
Of his brain.
yes and the south pole as well since he is full of sh**.
Thank goodness Musk has (Fuck you) money
That IS the fun of it all.
Husbandmouth: "It was so easy and he screwed it up. Why didn't he just say pedophiles?"
You know, Reich is sort of pulling a lose liberty for safety argument. The internet will be dangerous if we allow everyone to write what they want for all to see out there on that scary internet. That is not what Al Gore intended. No sirreee.
There has evolved a really weird obsession with "safety" in virtually everything for at least the last 20 years. Sorry, life isn't "safe".
yeah... is that why doctors abandoned their training and experience while chanting "safe and effective, safe and effective for everyone?"
There seems to be more things you need to be protected against. Created problematic safety concerns IMO. More and more things of every category to watch out for. So many non existential "existential" threats. How did we get to the point where you harm someone by misidentifying their gender (for example)? I think a lot of fear is built up in people's heads. Maybe it is insulation against hurt of all kind? I am just spitballing.
I think it was here on this substack someone (maybe gato) brought up how some may not even know they are a slave because the yoke was placed on them slowly or something... I am assuredly butchering the thought. But I see a lot of young adults (and quite a few old ones these days) not wanting any risky behavior done by them or anyone around them. How can this be with young people? You are often built by the risks you take. Your life is rewarded richly with calculated and uncalculated risk. I think back on my life and the top life experiences were not found on the safe route. You don't ride motorcycles across the country, sail across oceans, have children during war or decide not to be a dentist like your dad but be a restaurateur instead. People, I would say most people now, find a life well lived not all that appealing.
Yeah. Totally a tangent. Probably not where you were going with that. : )
Well, Reich is an expert in dangerous nonsense.
Robert Reich is the sort of economist who believes that no transaction must be allowed without the dead hand of the state coercing buyer, seller or both. Perhaps a schoolyard bully in his youth or the boogeyman left him psychologically unable to imagine free will, critical thinking and mutual benefit.
Confession through projection. Iron law of woke projection.
Or if you prefer the OG Gobbels "accuse you're enemy of doing what you are doing".
Never fails
Uhm… Reich might be a closet Nazi… who knew! 🤔🧐🧐
Oh, I think he outed himself on that at least by 2016.
Huh, and all these long years, I thought free speech was a good thing. 🤔🤨
Whut.....? Speaking of demagogues, I once read the definition of a demagogue as being a person who wants their audience smart enough to understand what's said but too stupid to question it. Sounds like Robert Reich has this nailed!
Apparently the authoritarian left suffers from some general mental dysfunction. Their rhetoric is almost invariably nonsensical. I mostly feel sorry for them, and I for one certainly won't spend time listening to notions born of their confusion and delusion.
The authoritarian left are programmed thinkers, and sometimes they lose their programming momentarily. Tough thing when you aren't used to critical thinking.