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In the vein of "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country": how can we help? If the government is (evidently) unable or un

In the vein of "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country": how can we help? If the government is (evidently) unable or unwilling to operate these services, it seems like it is our civil duty as Americans to take this upon ourselves and coordinate the creation and operation of a system "by the people, of the people, for the people".

drewda 6y ago
The private sector has been trying for years to reduce the National Weather Service's resources. Perhaps that's not the entire story of why NWS has IT constraints right now. But it's still pretty frustrating how Accuweather keeps trying to limit what NWS can distribute for free, because they would rather sell it to the American public. Here's an oldie but a goodie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Weather_Service_Duties_Act_of_2005 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Weather_Service_Dutie...
- throw0101a 6y ago
  John Oliver covered the topic in 2019: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGn9T37eR8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGn9T37eR8 * https://time.com/5699545/john-oliver-weather-last-week-tonight/ https://time.com/5699545/john-oliver-weather-last-week-tonig... * https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/oct/14/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-recap-national-weather-service https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/oct/14/john-oliver-...
1996 6y ago
> "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" No. You can and should ask as 1) it is at the basis of check and balances 2) it is not an connection that can not be severed if needed. If you are not willing to look at the dynamic of the relationship, you may help a country commit tyranny: if your country is not willing to help you because of your race / religion / anything else, maybe you should do nothing in return except get the fuck out and grab a bag of popcorn while watching the country go sour. I say that as I love China, but I understand and support my Gay friends who have decided to never return.
- yellowapple 6y ago
  This misses the point: that the country is what we - as the people thereof - make of it. The American government - like, I suspect, the Chinese government - has a vested interest in trying to paint itself as "the country" and thus demand said country's people to serve that government unconditionally, but that couldn't be further from the truth; governments come and go (as they have here in what we now call the US, and as they have in China) but the the people - themselves being the country - remain. That is: countries do not commit tyranny. Their governments do. And when those governments commit tyranny, or otherwise fail to serve the people, it is the right and duty of the country - i.e. the people - to bring that government to heel, or else establish a new government obedient to the will of the people (or, better yet, learn to govern themselves instead of insisting on some government to do so). Driving out the people of a country in order to appease the wishes of some government is arguably the worst-case scenario in terms of that country's identity; a country which allows a government to dictate that identity only weakens as a result - as we can see quite plainly in both the US and China. So, when it comes to weather reporting or anything else, if the government can't or won't do it, then it's on us - the people - to do it, for the sake of all of the rest of us. If any community or demographic or what have you is marginalized in our country, then it is on us - we being the country - to correct that, and to extend a hand in friendship and mutual aid. This is how patriotism is supposed to work: a commitment to one's fellow human, not to some arbitrary state. If you do indeed love China (and I'm assuming here that you're a resident of it), you might want to reflect on what you can do to improve it for all of your fellow countrymen - including those who currently feel excluded from it. If more people did the same in our respective countries, said countries - and given their global influence, the world - would be much better places than they are now.
  - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
    > it is the ... duty of the country - i.e. the people No, there is no such duty. If we look at the Soviet dissidents, plenty of them neither wanted to support the Soviet regime nor challenge it, so instead they retreated into their own private world, and that was a totally legitimate choice. Also, you suggest that the people naturally want a free country ruled by the people. Yet support among Americans for the 18th-century Lockean ideals that informed the Founding Fathers (radically free speech, division of powers, decisionmaking by the popular will instead of some recognized experts, etc.) seems to be falling on both sides of the political spectrum. In many countries, those ideals were never there in the first place.

drewda 6y ago

The private sector has been trying for years to reduce the National Weather Service's resources. Perhaps that's not the entire story of why NWS has IT constraints right now. But it's still pretty frustrating how Accuweather keeps trying to limit what NWS can distribute for free, because they would rather sell it to the American public. Here's an oldie but a goodie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Weather_Service_Duties_Act_of_2005 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Weather_Service_Dutie...

throw0101a 6y ago
John Oliver covered the topic in 2019: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGn9T37eR8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGn9T37eR8 * https://time.com/5699545/john-oliver-weather-last-week-tonight/ https://time.com/5699545/john-oliver-weather-last-week-tonig... * https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/oct/14/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-recap-national-weather-service https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/oct/14/john-oliver-...

1996 6y ago

> "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" No. You can and should ask as 1) it is at the basis of check and balances 2) it is not an connection that can not be severed if needed. If you are not willing to look at the dynamic of the relationship, you may help a country commit tyranny: if your country is not willing to help you because of your race / religion / anything else, maybe you should do nothing in return except get the fuck out and grab a bag of popcorn while watching the country go sour. I say that as I love China, but I understand and support my Gay friends who have decided to never return.

yellowapple 6y ago
This misses the point: that the country is what we - as the people thereof - make of it. The American government - like, I suspect, the Chinese government - has a vested interest in trying to paint itself as "the country" and thus demand said country's people to serve that government unconditionally, but that couldn't be further from the truth; governments come and go (as they have here in what we now call the US, and as they have in China) but the the people - themselves being the country - remain. That is: countries do not commit tyranny. Their governments do. And when those governments commit tyranny, or otherwise fail to serve the people, it is the right and duty of the country - i.e. the people - to bring that government to heel, or else establish a new government obedient to the will of the people (or, better yet, learn to govern themselves instead of insisting on some government to do so). Driving out the people of a country in order to appease the wishes of some government is arguably the worst-case scenario in terms of that country's identity; a country which allows a government to dictate that identity only weakens as a result - as we can see quite plainly in both the US and China. So, when it comes to weather reporting or anything else, if the government can't or won't do it, then it's on us - the people - to do it, for the sake of all of the rest of us. If any community or demographic or what have you is marginalized in our country, then it is on us - we being the country - to correct that, and to extend a hand in friendship and mutual aid. This is how patriotism is supposed to work: a commitment to one's fellow human, not to some arbitrary state. If you do indeed love China (and I'm assuming here that you're a resident of it), you might want to reflect on what you can do to improve it for all of your fellow countrymen - including those who currently feel excluded from it. If more people did the same in our respective countries, said countries - and given their global influence, the world - would be much better places than they are now.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  > it is the ... duty of the country - i.e. the people No, there is no such duty. If we look at the Soviet dissidents, plenty of them neither wanted to support the Soviet regime nor challenge it, so instead they retreated into their own private world, and that was a totally legitimate choice. Also, you suggest that the people naturally want a free country ruled by the people. Yet support among Americans for the 18th-century Lockean ideals that informed the Founding Fathers (radically free speech, division of powers, decisionmaking by the popular will instead of some recognized experts, etc.) seems to be falling on both sides of the political spectrum. In many countries, those ideals were never there in the first place.