Except the part about the authoritarian regime, the US has many problems but it’s still a democracy.
Edit: I’m glad you downvote me because you never had to learn what living in a dictatorship is like, I didn’t, but my parents generation still did and I can tell you it looks nothing like the US of today. Women were only allowed to be housewives, groups of more than 2 people couldn’t talk openly in the street because that can lead to dangerous ideas spreading out, you would have to be careful what you said even at home because your neighbour could be listening to sell you out, all pieces of art and media would go through an government office to get censored, and so on, so yes, I stand with what I said, the US is a free democratic country even if you have been spoiled enough to think it is not.
Hey I was born in a country with a military dictatorship and my parents grew up under it.
That’s exactly why I believe in freedom and liberty. Freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of association. We need to uphold these principles so that the US doesn’t slowly slip into authoritarianism like most democracies tend to do over the long term.
That’s exactly why I oppose this TikTok ban with every fiber of my being. If a citizen wants to communicate on a Chinese platform, he has every right to do so under our laws. He can make the executive decision for himself about the potential risks or benefits.
That’s what it means to live in a free society. You are advocating for authoritarianism while you rail against authoritarianism. Reminds me of 1984. War is peace, right?
Not everything that’s not a dictatorship is a democracy. You’re using a strawman to argue your point.
A democracy stops when there is a severe imbalance in influence on legislation between voters and lobbyists / corporations / or voters depending on income / colour of skin.
There’s also a quasi oligarchy with freedom of speech, that’s about where western Europe is at. In the US, by now, a large part of the population has been deprived of basic human rights, as shown in unpunished police brutality and murders, and vigilante killings of people for their beliefs, opinions or identity.
Neither still qualifies for democracy. We would have to unite about two thirds of the voters behind a new party to even hope to change anything that matters (hello climate change), and that’s assuming that a hypothetical party that would actually act in the interest of restoring democratic mechanisms would be persecuted or otherwise hindered by authorities.
the US has many problems but it’s still a democracy
Given the choice between hot shit and cold shit still ends with you being covered in shit. Heads or tails between two very similar parties hardly counts as a true democracy.
Just wondering why would you want to ban anything? Does banning something solve any problem that a normal person has? I mean if the ban wave is on it would be fair to ban anything that’s not open source but I do think censorship is cancer.
I am not very comfortable with “banning” websites - let’s say outright dissolving some companies is probably the better approach, but also a double-edged sword.
However, there is sometimes a need to legally shut down some entities.
I believe that by now it should no longer be a subject of debate that social media has a very unhealthy influence on the public opinion, and that most humans do not have the intellectual capacity to critically reflect on the media they consume. That’s already a problem with some TV programs, and it has gotten worse with social media monetizing anger. As a result we get people who vote for politicians who promise them nothing short of a dictatorship. That’s incredibly dangerous, and therefore I would like to see all social media federated - centralized services give way too much power to individuals with shady motives.
The fact that the company that manages TikTok is insisting on maintaining the power structure that allows for influence by the CCP makes that claim incredibly suspicious.
First, that’s materially different. Second, yes; I think Facebook giving the government our information without a fight is bad. What, did you think I would suddenly think the dissolution of our privacy was good because it was an American company?
Except the part about the authoritarian regime, the US has many problems but it’s still a democracy.
Edit: I’m glad you downvote me because you never had to learn what living in a dictatorship is like, I didn’t, but my parents generation still did and I can tell you it looks nothing like the US of today. Women were only allowed to be housewives, groups of more than 2 people couldn’t talk openly in the street because that can lead to dangerous ideas spreading out, you would have to be careful what you said even at home because your neighbour could be listening to sell you out, all pieces of art and media would go through an government office to get censored, and so on, so yes, I stand with what I said, the US is a free democratic country even if you have been spoiled enough to think it is not.
It’s not a democracy to me.
Y’know Orwell wrote about how warping definitions was a tool of authoritarianism. Typical ML behavior, tbh.
The United States is a democracy only if oligarchies are democracies
LMAO
I feel like you only think a country is a democracy if it says it’s a people’s republic while it commits genocide.
Hey I was born in a country with a military dictatorship and my parents grew up under it.
That’s exactly why I believe in freedom and liberty. Freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of association. We need to uphold these principles so that the US doesn’t slowly slip into authoritarianism like most democracies tend to do over the long term.
That’s exactly why I oppose this TikTok ban with every fiber of my being. If a citizen wants to communicate on a Chinese platform, he has every right to do so under our laws. He can make the executive decision for himself about the potential risks or benefits.
That’s what it means to live in a free society. You are advocating for authoritarianism while you rail against authoritarianism. Reminds me of 1984. War is peace, right?
But should he? Is any one by themselves really capable? Note that I don’t really know what to think myself, purely asking.
Not everything that’s not a dictatorship is a democracy. You’re using a strawman to argue your point.
A democracy stops when there is a severe imbalance in influence on legislation between voters and lobbyists / corporations / or voters depending on income / colour of skin.
There’s also a quasi oligarchy with freedom of speech, that’s about where western Europe is at. In the US, by now, a large part of the population has been deprived of basic human rights, as shown in unpunished police brutality and murders, and vigilante killings of people for their beliefs, opinions or identity.
Neither still qualifies for democracy. We would have to unite about two thirds of the voters behind a new party to even hope to change anything that matters (hello climate change), and that’s assuming that a hypothetical party that would actually act in the interest of restoring democratic mechanisms would be persecuted or otherwise hindered by authorities.
Given the choice between hot shit and cold shit still ends with you being covered in shit. Heads or tails between two very similar parties hardly counts as a true democracy.
While the US might be hot shit, it’s still our OWN shit. Keep your cold shit on your side of the pond.
I’m not an American. By your logic, let’s ban all American social media.
That would be great. Where can I sign?
Just wondering why would you want to ban anything? Does banning something solve any problem that a normal person has? I mean if the ban wave is on it would be fair to ban anything that’s not open source but I do think censorship is cancer.
I am not very comfortable with “banning” websites - let’s say outright dissolving some companies is probably the better approach, but also a double-edged sword. However, there is sometimes a need to legally shut down some entities.
I believe that by now it should no longer be a subject of debate that social media has a very unhealthy influence on the public opinion, and that most humans do not have the intellectual capacity to critically reflect on the media they consume. That’s already a problem with some TV programs, and it has gotten worse with social media monetizing anger. As a result we get people who vote for politicians who promise them nothing short of a dictatorship. That’s incredibly dangerous, and therefore I would like to see all social media federated - centralized services give way too much power to individuals with shady motives.
TikTok is a psyops software disguised as a social media application. Facebook is bad for other reasons. But psysops are not one of them.
Facebook complies with the Cloud Act.
You’ve obviously never heard of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. That meddled in our presidential election on behalf of a hostile foreign nation.
There are also plenty of other examples of Facebook running psyop campaigns themselves on their own users. Your claim is demonstrably false.
lol I’m not british
And What does that have to do with anything? We aren’t dealing with China, we’re dealing with a corporation.
The fact that the company that manages TikTok is insisting on maintaining the power structure that allows for influence by the CCP makes that claim incredibly suspicious.
Oh no, should we ban Facebook because the US government can subpoena them for information!?!
First, that’s materially different. Second, yes; I think Facebook giving the government our information without a fight is bad. What, did you think I would suddenly think the dissolution of our privacy was good because it was an American company?
Oh that’s different than when the Chinese government serves a subpoena?
We’re not talking about subpoenas.
So we’re talking about some other official demand for documents? Like an NSA warrant?
Removed by mod
Doesn’t really matter unless you live under it. Instagram and Twitter or more dangerous to U.S. citizens.
Care to expand on that
China can’t arrest people in the U.S. The U.S. and state governments can.
Which country is this?