4 ms·

Downvoted Really!? What the fuck for?? Parler's app was the number one download on the app store & play store after Trump was kicked off Twitter. Then apple

Downvoted Really!? What the fuck for?? Parler's app was the number one download on the app store & play store after Trump was kicked off Twitter. Then apple and google decided that Parler was not going to be a platform Trump could use, so they kicked the app off. Then amazon decided that Parler had no place on their computing resources. Those 2 tweets were interpreted as they were, to suit the political leanings of those tech companies and their political allies. And a legitimate competitor was destroyed into the bargain. This is not reasonable and it is antithetical to the freedoms on which your great nation was founded. If you, dear HN reader, can't see the threat to your freedom in this then you are blind. The US democracy may be under stress, so to speak, but it does seem to be working. The democrats will have their man in the white house. Trump will leave. Oh, and to call that invasion of the capitol an attempted coup is a real stretch. What were they ever going to do other than get arrested??

eli_gottlieb 6y ago
>Oh, and to call that invasion of the capitol an attempted coup is a real stretch. What were they ever going to do other than get arrested?? This reminds me of far-leftists refusing to admit that Islamist terrorism should be counted as terrorism, because, after all, what was killing a few people in an LGBT nightclub going to accomplish for ISIS?
- henry_bone 6y ago
  My problem is with the description of that action as a "coup". I'm not defending those people. I'm not informed well enough to do that. But a coup? I don't think so. Coups generally rely on military support, or some sort of established basis for taking and holding political power. This was not a coup. Or it was the shittest one ever.
  - LargeWu 6y ago
    If you consider that their aim was to overturn an election by force, then yes, it was a coup attempt. I think they were counting on the military and law enforcement rank-and-file (which overwhelmingly support Trump) to join them.
naewonawonga 6y ago
|| If you, dear HN reader, can't see the threat to your freedom in this then you are blind. Forcing a private corporation to provide a platform for someone else is also a form of tyrrany. || Oh, and to call that invasion of the capitol an attempted coup is a real stretch. What were they ever going to do other than get arrested?? They were going to kill our representatives in government. That was their intent, and it's a bit odd that you're making excuses for them.
- henry_bone 6y ago
  > They were going to kill our representatives in government. That was their intent, and it's a bit odd that you're making excuses for them. Maybe so. But that's still not a coup. It's a heinous, despicable act, but not a coup.
  - naewonawonga 6y ago
    It was an attempted coup. Words have meanings.
- henry_bone 6y ago
  > Forcing a private corporation to provide a platform for someone else is also a form of tyrrany. I appreciate that. I am not sure where I stand on this anymore. I agree that they are private corporations with rights. But they are also unprecedented in history in terms of scale, wealth and power. And they just silenced a president and shutdown a competitor. Those are some implications that need to be considered carefully.
  - Jochim 6y ago
    > And they just silenced a president The President is perfectly capable of getting a message out without the use of twitter. There's even a room in his house specifically for giving press briefings. To pretend that this is "silencing" him is ridiculous. > But they are also unprecedented in history in terms of scale, wealth and power. And they just silenced a president and shutdown a competitor. Those are some implications that need to be considered carefully. Then break them up, they absolutely deserve to be, I just don't think this particular situation is an example of why they should be broken up. I would like to point out that Parler claimed to be using AWS as a regular hosting provider, so this isn't an area where the market is anywhere near as consolidated, there are thousands of other hosting providers out there who probably don't want to deal with them either.
hinkley 6y ago
Here's a thing every activist knows, from the most benign to the most toxic (by anyone's estimation): If you wait for the government to provide you every good thing in life, it'll never come. Governments like to look around at what people are already doing in several locales or regions and either stop them or give it to everybody. The courts get involved and decide whether that's allowed. If the Federal government doesn't like what the courts say, they can use more strongly worded laws so the courts have to agree. We make the last bit difficult so that we don't do it frivolously. It cuts down on overreach, but it also means bad actors tend to get to play a bit longer at the expense of everybody else. If individuals or corporations are the last word in reasonable political discourse, we will have failed. Not so spectacularly as if we never do anything until Congress says so, but failed nonetheless. To be clear, I'm not saying this should be the end of this. But someone has to get the wheels of government rolling, and this is fairly typical, if not ideal.

eli_gottlieb 6y ago

>Oh, and to call that invasion of the capitol an attempted coup is a real stretch. What were they ever going to do other than get arrested?? This reminds me of far-leftists refusing to admit that Islamist terrorism should be counted as terrorism, because, after all, what was killing a few people in an LGBT nightclub going to accomplish for ISIS?

henry_bone 6y ago
My problem is with the description of that action as a "coup". I'm not defending those people. I'm not informed well enough to do that. But a coup? I don't think so. Coups generally rely on military support, or some sort of established basis for taking and holding political power. This was not a coup. Or it was the shittest one ever.
- LargeWu 6y ago
  If you consider that their aim was to overturn an election by force, then yes, it was a coup attempt. I think they were counting on the military and law enforcement rank-and-file (which overwhelmingly support Trump) to join them.

naewonawonga 6y ago

|| If you, dear HN reader, can't see the threat to your freedom in this then you are blind. Forcing a private corporation to provide a platform for someone else is also a form of tyrrany. || Oh, and to call that invasion of the capitol an attempted coup is a real stretch. What were they ever going to do other than get arrested?? They were going to kill our representatives in government. That was their intent, and it's a bit odd that you're making excuses for them.

henry_bone 6y ago
> They were going to kill our representatives in government. That was their intent, and it's a bit odd that you're making excuses for them. Maybe so. But that's still not a coup. It's a heinous, despicable act, but not a coup.
- naewonawonga 6y ago
  It was an attempted coup. Words have meanings.
henry_bone 6y ago
> Forcing a private corporation to provide a platform for someone else is also a form of tyrrany. I appreciate that. I am not sure where I stand on this anymore. I agree that they are private corporations with rights. But they are also unprecedented in history in terms of scale, wealth and power. And they just silenced a president and shutdown a competitor. Those are some implications that need to be considered carefully.
- Jochim 6y ago
  > And they just silenced a president The President is perfectly capable of getting a message out without the use of twitter. There's even a room in his house specifically for giving press briefings. To pretend that this is "silencing" him is ridiculous. > But they are also unprecedented in history in terms of scale, wealth and power. And they just silenced a president and shutdown a competitor. Those are some implications that need to be considered carefully. Then break them up, they absolutely deserve to be, I just don't think this particular situation is an example of why they should be broken up. I would like to point out that Parler claimed to be using AWS as a regular hosting provider, so this isn't an area where the market is anywhere near as consolidated, there are thousands of other hosting providers out there who probably don't want to deal with them either.

hinkley 6y ago

Here's a thing every activist knows, from the most benign to the most toxic (by anyone's estimation): If you wait for the government to provide you every good thing in life, it'll never come. Governments like to look around at what people are already doing in several locales or regions and either stop them or give it to everybody. The courts get involved and decide whether that's allowed. If the Federal government doesn't like what the courts say, they can use more strongly worded laws so the courts have to agree. We make the last bit difficult so that we don't do it frivolously. It cuts down on overreach, but it also means bad actors tend to get to play a bit longer at the expense of everybody else. If individuals or corporations are the last word in reasonable political discourse, we will have failed. Not so spectacularly as if we never do anything until Congress says so, but failed nonetheless. To be clear, I'm not saying this should be the end of this. But someone has to get the wheels of government rolling, and this is fairly typical, if not ideal.