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In the US, we have a democracy, so we have at least some say in how things go: the government is us. Facebook is not us, we obviously didn't elect Zuck or anyo
by camgunz 7y ago
In the US, we have a democracy, so we have at least some say in how things go: the government is us. Facebook is not us, we obviously didn't elect Zuck or anyone else there.
This is a tired, old, fallacious comparison.
- conanbatt 7y agoI didn't select the US government. I have no ticket to that ride.
- camgunz 7y agoPlease stop freeloading on our electricity, food, sanitation, roads, police/fire/education, the US military, and thousands of other services, renounce your citizenship, and leave at your earliest convenience. The US is pretty frothy about undocumented immigrants these days, so I would advise you not to dither.
- DanBC 7y agoYou know not voting isn't a choice for some people, right?
- camgunz 7y agoOh you mean like, felon/child/etc. suffrage? I'm fully in favor of extending the franchise to every living American; I think it's a fundamental right and morally outrageous that we ever deny it. But I don't think that that means representative democracy in the US is a sham, equivalent to the level of representation I have at Facebook (again, zero). That would be a strawman.
- conanbatt 7y agoI don't live in the us so I'm not using your electricity. I'd argue the pettiness of your argument if it were at least applicable.
- camgunz 7y agoThen s/US/<your country>. It applies equally.
- p1esk 7y agoIf enough people choose to use Libra, it can eventually become a de facto (or even the only) payment method. Facebook is us: 2.4B users willingly give Zuck the power to make potentially high impact decisions like this.
- camgunz 7y agoThere's a very big difference between: "I live in and probably even vote in a country that believes I am sovereign, which thus derives its right to wield authority." and: "I signed up for Libra so I could more easily use Facebook, which I only joined to keep up with my kids, and thus I accept Mark Zuckerberg's authority over monetary policy, even considering I have no input on it whatsoever"
- p1esk 7y agoDo you have a lot of influence over US monetary policy? I live and vote in US and as soon as the majority of US residents decide to vote contrary to my wishes I have to accept the authority of whoever they elect. Frankly I don’t see much difference.
- camgunz 7y agoI have infinitely more control over it compared with anything I might have with Libra, because that's zero. I can also: - run for office - build a career in monetary policy - join a campaign - start a non profit advocacy group - lobby my representatives These only have any effect (if they're even possible otherwise) because we're a democracy with elections. Can I personally change the supply of USD? No, but that's because that kind of change affects the entire world, and there should be a serious process around it. But my point is that there _is_ a process, rooted in (if imperfectly) the fundamental liberal democratic belief in humankind's right to self- governance. Facebook has no such guarantees. It's a serious threat to those principles. There's a huge difference.
- p1esk 7y agoYou can just as easily: 1. Build a competing product (social network, cryptocurrency, etc). 2. Build a career at FB, to influence from within. 3. Join/start a campaign against/for Facebook to influence its (potential) users. 4. Lobby your representatives to change whatever you don’t like about FB. Maybe you have a point but so far it’s not very clear :)