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"Entrenched and permanent" is a bit exaggerated, as the governments of pervasive-surveillance East Germany and the Soviet Union discovered.
by pjlegato 10y ago
"Entrenched and permanent" is a bit exaggerated, as the governments of pervasive-surveillance East Germany and the Soviet Union discovered.
- fucking_tragedy 10y agoThe Stasi and KGB couldn't dream of the technology and telecommunications networks that enable today's surveillance society.
- rangibaby 10y agoThey would have considered every citizen paying money to carry around a tracking device with attached cameras and microphones and broadcasting nearly every detail of their private life to public forums fanciful science fiction.
- tmptmp 10y agoA small correction: The communists (Stasi and KGB) would have made it compulsory to not broadcast it but to unicast/multicast it to servers owned by the Party politburo. Communism is horrendously corrupt and inflicts great control on all its "lesser equal" citizens. Read this report about how Chinese communists have told microblogging sites to hire “self-discipline commissioners” [1]. [1] https://rsf.org/en/news/weibo-microblog-users-be-deducted-points-violations https://rsf.org/en/news/weibo-microblog-users-be-deducted-po...
- fucking_tragedy 10y agoTo pretend this is unique to communism ignores that this can happen in any society where rights are ignored and authority has absolute power with no accountability. I've seen forums shut down because admins got a visit from the FBI and decided that running a site that garners that much attention from the state isn't a risk they want to take. One was a comedy forum that leaned a little more left of center near the 2012 election. Memes and words might endanger national security. > The communists (Stasi and KGB) would have made it compulsory to not broadcast it but to unicast/multicast it to servers owned by the Party politburo. Today, we see our government pushing for something similar: unencrypted communication over networks they have captured to servers they can access unimpeded (Google, FB, Skype etc).
- bobwaycott 10y agoThis had nothing whatsoever to do with the ideology itself, but with those who implemented it and were in power controlling the state apparatus. Communism shouldn't have a state exerting control on citizens at all. Governments are horrendously corrupt and seek increased control over all its citizens. The ideology doesn't much matter after the initial revolutionary sentiment settles down.
- onion2k 10y agoI think "permanent" in the sense of "until the state collapses and the government, and the nation, ceases to exist" is a fair use of the word.
- pjlegato 10y agoIt's not accurate. "Permanent" means "something that lasts forever," not "something that lasts for a while, until it stops existing."
- onion2k 10y agoLanguage isn't that strict.
- pjlegato 10y agoIt is. The fact that many people use language incorrectly is beside the point.
- onion2k 10y agoNo, it isn't. I suggest you read some of Wittgenstein's work on perfectly logical languages and how they're impossible.
- pjlegato 10y agoI've read Wittgenstein, and I wasn't terribly impressed. Not everyone who disagrees with you is merely ignorant of the superior wisdom and knowledge you have attained.
- fangzhzh 10y agoI got a job, permanent role. Does it mean I will live forever?
- pjlegato 10y ago