6 ms·

As a non-American, I find to hard to grasp how a country that places super high priority on access to choices and options can get stuck with just two major part

As a non-American, I find to hard to grasp how a country that places super high priority on access to choices and options can get stuck with just two major parties and just ONE ISP (in most places, that is).

workinfunk 8y ago
If the strong can't choose to shit on the weak, what's the point?
lovich 8y ago
We place super high importance on access to choices for yourself, not for others. rich people and businesses are on a higher tier as well.
sbov 8y ago
Not really. We place super high priority on freedom from government influence. It's OK for a company to fuck you over but not the government for <reasons>. Edit: I know the <reasons>, but the debate about that is not particularly relevant here.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  but not the government for <reasons>. Here ya go, precious child. Edumacate yerself. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrant 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution
  - dang 8y ago
    Personal attacks will get you banned here. We've warned you about this before, so please don't do that again. Also, could you please not post unsubstantive comments or flamewar comments of any kind? We're trying for better than that here, and need everyone's help. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- trav4225 8y ago
  We cannot escape the government. We can choose to ignore any or all companies. If I want to, I can lock myself in my house, disconnect from society, and subsist on my backyard garden. But there is no escape from the state. Even if I go completely off-grid and never leave my property, the state still comes banging on my door, demanding a rent payment for property I (supposedly) own -- i.e., property tax.
  - maxsilver 8y ago
    > We can choose to ignore any or all companies. Except you can't actually do that. There's a huge list of companies you simply can not choose to ignore. That's sort of why monopoly/oligopoly is so evil, and why strong independent antitrust action is so critical for preserving freedom. Yes, you can escape all companies if you live like a hermit in a prepper dungeon on your property (that you somehow purchased while 'ignoring all companies' with money you got ahold of by 'ignoring all companies'), That is technically one form of freedom. But most people define Freedom a bit more broadly than that.
    - trav4225 8y ago
      Thanks for commenting. I understand your position, but the extreme "hermit" case is exactly what I'm talking about. I didn't say anything about purchasing a shelter. I can hang leaves over sticks like humans have done for millennia. I am owed nothing by the world and I have no right to demand that companies provide me with anything. I agree that I probably understand "freedom" differently than most, but my definition demands nothing from my fellow citizens (which is what "companies" are made of). :)
reaperducer 8y ago
>As a non-American, I find to hard to grasp how a country that places super high priority on access to choices and options can get stuck with just two major parties and just ONE ISP (in most places, that is). Distance. America has states and even counties larger than many countries. And even where there are lots of people, population density is typically less than most other nations. Distance is a killer in last-mile applications like internet. See also: Australia.
- nxcho 8y ago
  Sweden is about the same size as California but with about one third of its population (and about 2/3 of the population density of US), still it is in the top 10 internet access list in about every metric you can think of (together with for example Norway and Iceland, neither especially densely populated) so I don't think the density argument holds.
  - ryandrake 8y ago
    Also, New Jersey is about as dense as many European countries that have great broadband and competition--yet New Jersey has crappy broadband. So, it's not due to USA's low population density.
    - rayiner 8y ago
      If New Jersey were a country, its average internet speeds would be in the top 5, right after Sweden. And far ahead of comparably dense UK. https://www.akamai.com/fr/fr/multimedia/documents/state-of-the-internet/q1-2017-state-of-the-internet-connectivity-report.pdf https://www.akamai.com/fr/fr/multimedia/documents/state-of-t...
    - briandear 8y ago
      6 years ago in Jersey City I had Fios, while across the river in Manhattan, it was very difficult to get. In my part of New Jersey in 2012, I had far better internet than I did in 2018 France — and much cheaper.
  - 8y ago

workinfunk 8y ago

If the strong can't choose to shit on the weak, what's the point?

lovich 8y ago

We place super high importance on access to choices for yourself, not for others. rich people and businesses are on a higher tier as well.

sbov 8y ago

Not really. We place super high priority on freedom from government influence. It's OK for a company to fuck you over but not the government for <reasons>. Edit: I know the <reasons>, but the debate about that is not particularly relevant here.

reaperducer 8y ago
but not the government for <reasons>. Here ya go, precious child. Edumacate yerself. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrant 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution
- dang 8y ago
  Personal attacks will get you banned here. We've warned you about this before, so please don't do that again. Also, could you please not post unsubstantive comments or flamewar comments of any kind? We're trying for better than that here, and need everyone's help. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
trav4225 8y ago
We cannot escape the government. We can choose to ignore any or all companies. If I want to, I can lock myself in my house, disconnect from society, and subsist on my backyard garden. But there is no escape from the state. Even if I go completely off-grid and never leave my property, the state still comes banging on my door, demanding a rent payment for property I (supposedly) own -- i.e., property tax.
- maxsilver 8y ago
  > We can choose to ignore any or all companies. Except you can't actually do that. There's a huge list of companies you simply can not choose to ignore. That's sort of why monopoly/oligopoly is so evil, and why strong independent antitrust action is so critical for preserving freedom. Yes, you can escape all companies if you live like a hermit in a prepper dungeon on your property (that you somehow purchased while 'ignoring all companies' with money you got ahold of by 'ignoring all companies'), That is technically one form of freedom. But most people define Freedom a bit more broadly than that.
  - trav4225 8y ago
    Thanks for commenting. I understand your position, but the extreme "hermit" case is exactly what I'm talking about. I didn't say anything about purchasing a shelter. I can hang leaves over sticks like humans have done for millennia. I am owed nothing by the world and I have no right to demand that companies provide me with anything. I agree that I probably understand "freedom" differently than most, but my definition demands nothing from my fellow citizens (which is what "companies" are made of). :)

reaperducer 8y ago

>As a non-American, I find to hard to grasp how a country that places super high priority on access to choices and options can get stuck with just two major parties and just ONE ISP (in most places, that is). Distance. America has states and even counties larger than many countries. And even where there are lots of people, population density is typically less than most other nations. Distance is a killer in last-mile applications like internet. See also: Australia.

nxcho 8y ago
Sweden is about the same size as California but with about one third of its population (and about 2/3 of the population density of US), still it is in the top 10 internet access list in about every metric you can think of (together with for example Norway and Iceland, neither especially densely populated) so I don't think the density argument holds.
- ryandrake 8y ago
  Also, New Jersey is about as dense as many European countries that have great broadband and competition--yet New Jersey has crappy broadband. So, it's not due to USA's low population density.
  - rayiner 8y ago
    If New Jersey were a country, its average internet speeds would be in the top 5, right after Sweden. And far ahead of comparably dense UK. https://www.akamai.com/fr/fr/multimedia/documents/state-of-the-internet/q1-2017-state-of-the-internet-connectivity-report.pdf https://www.akamai.com/fr/fr/multimedia/documents/state-of-t...
  - briandear 8y ago
    6 years ago in Jersey City I had Fios, while across the river in Manhattan, it was very difficult to get. In my part of New Jersey in 2012, I had far better internet than I did in 2018 France — and much cheaper.
- 8y ago