5 ms·

Before he was president or even running for office he'd call into a fox news show and say something stupid and other news outlets would pick it up and I remembe

Before he was president or even running for office he'd call into a fox news show and say something stupid and other news outlets would pick it up and I remember being annoyed and thinking "why is this news?!" now he's president and everything he says is news and it hurts my soul. Anyway we live in a free country and the government can't dictate what kind of news a search engine should surface. It's ironic though that newspapers are actually entertaining this nonsense and not outright debunking the notion and highlighting how dangerous it is.

sp332 8y ago
We live in such a country now but that could change at any time. If the government starts dictating search results then we will not be a free country. Unfortunately causality doesn't go the other way.
- 18pfsmt 8y ago
  As a republic, governed by the US Constitution, the 1st Amendment is clearly written to prevent such stupidity. I can't believe this is even being entertained on HN.
  - sp332 8y ago
    The first amendment is just a piece of paper unless someone enforces it. When the head of the executive branch of government starts talking openly about violating it, it's (past) time to take the threat seriously.
    - mikeash 8y ago
      Especially when the one body empowered to remove him sits idly by and does nothing.
  - mikeash 8y ago
    The constitutions of the USSR and Nazi Germany had similar provisions. The constitution of China still does. These things aren’t magic, and authoritarians find ways around them.
maxxxxx 8y ago
Before he was president he proclaimed that the unemployment stats are a fraud. Now that he is president the same stats suddenly show a "Trump boom". I am surprised that anyone is still listening to that guy.
jklinger410 8y ago
>Anyway we live in a free country and the government can't dictate what kind of news a social media site should surface. But we're doing this one.
- econ4all 8y ago
  The US government is doing that?
  - adventured 8y ago
    Yes, by failing to act against the block of monopolies that entirely control social media, search, etc. So long as the government fails to act, they're supporting the monopolies in question. So long as those monopolies exist, what they're doing is called censorship. As monopolies they have the direct sanction of the state. Bring on the trust-busting.
  - jklinger410 8y ago
    Why else did we have Zuckerberg waste all of his time talking to those know-nothing congress people?
googlenator2 8y ago
When a company has a near-monopoly market position and is using it to harm the public and restrain trade, the government absolutely can dictate a number of things to a business, according to antitrust law.

sp332 8y ago

We live in such a country now but that could change at any time. If the government starts dictating search results then we will not be a free country. Unfortunately causality doesn't go the other way.

18pfsmt 8y ago
As a republic, governed by the US Constitution, the 1st Amendment is clearly written to prevent such stupidity. I can't believe this is even being entertained on HN.
- sp332 8y ago
  The first amendment is just a piece of paper unless someone enforces it. When the head of the executive branch of government starts talking openly about violating it, it's (past) time to take the threat seriously.
  - mikeash 8y ago
    Especially when the one body empowered to remove him sits idly by and does nothing.
- mikeash 8y ago
  The constitutions of the USSR and Nazi Germany had similar provisions. The constitution of China still does. These things aren’t magic, and authoritarians find ways around them.

maxxxxx 8y ago

Before he was president he proclaimed that the unemployment stats are a fraud. Now that he is president the same stats suddenly show a "Trump boom". I am surprised that anyone is still listening to that guy.

jklinger410 8y ago

>Anyway we live in a free country and the government can't dictate what kind of news a social media site should surface. But we're doing this one.

econ4all 8y ago
The US government is doing that?
- adventured 8y ago
  Yes, by failing to act against the block of monopolies that entirely control social media, search, etc. So long as the government fails to act, they're supporting the monopolies in question. So long as those monopolies exist, what they're doing is called censorship. As monopolies they have the direct sanction of the state. Bring on the trust-busting.
- jklinger410 8y ago
  Why else did we have Zuckerberg waste all of his time talking to those know-nothing congress people?

googlenator2 8y ago

When a company has a near-monopoly market position and is using it to harm the public and restrain trade, the government absolutely can dictate a number of things to a business, according to antitrust law.