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This is just yet another push by financial companies to impose on your freedom of speech. Why on earth do people keep pushing for private companies to become po

by bArray 5y ago

This is just yet another push by financial companies to impose on your freedom of speech. Why on earth do people keep pushing for private companies to become political activists? They have already come for individual bank accounts, in the UK for example an activist named 'Tommy Robinson' [1] is not allowed to open a bank account due to his politics [*]. "What business of mine is it So long they don’t take the yam From my savouring mouth?" Then they came for Trump, the former president of the United States [3]. Irrespective of your politics, do you believe that he should not be allowed to have money or do business? "What business of mine is it So long they don’t take the yam From my savouring mouth?" Now they come after sex workers on websites like OnlyFans [4], threatening the livelihoods of people doing perfectly legal business. Sure, OnlyFans did need to clean up their act - but we're talking here about the fringe, not the majority. I really also suspect PornHub were also targetted by payment processors not so long ago, but they kept more quiet about it. "What business of mine is it So long they don’t take the yam From my savouring mouth?" "And then one evening As I sat down to eat my yam A knock on the door froze my hungry hand. The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn Waiting, waiting in its usual silence." - (Interlaced poem by Niyi Osundare [5]) [*] I would suggest to hear his speech at the Oxford Union address [2], rather than a heavily biased Wikipedia entry. The first two references in the Wikipedia article are simply links to news articles calling him far-right - not evidence in the slightest of him having far-right opinions. If you even have the slightest doubt in the news media, please watch the video before casting judgement. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Robinson_%28activist%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Robinson_%28activist%29 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YQ94jFg_4A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YQ94jFg_4A [3] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-12/more-of-trump-s-banks-cut-ties-as-backlash-grows-over-violence https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-12/more-of-t... [4] https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/21/tech/onlyfans-creators-react-sexually-explicit-ban/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/21/tech/onlyfans-creators-re... [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_My_Business https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_My_Business

upearly3 5y ago
It's worth considering whether the 'far-right', which probably just means stuff-that-everyone-thought-20-years-ago, would go the same route if they had the upper hand in the West currently. Maybe it's all more just a matter of opportunity than it is belief system.
- Mountain_Skies 5y ago
  And someday they probably will have that chance. Each time one ideological group gains an edge in power, for some dumb reason they become convinced that they'll hold that edge forever. You can see this constantly here on HN with people gleefully celebrating the smiting of their ideological opponents by private corporations and their government string pullers. Each time I mention that this could be turned around on them someday, they always claim it's different this time because "we're on the right side of history" which of course is what every ideologue believes. What should scare them, and everyone else, is the distinct possibility that things won't simply swing back into a previous state but rather some new state will arise and use this power against everyone else. When the woke crowd loses power, and they will, it might not be "the alt-right" that gets power but something along a completely different axis that no one is even imagining today. And they'll have all of these tools of control and oppression ready made for their abuse.
lotsofcows 5y ago
"Tommy Robinson is not allowed to open a bank account"? What? After multiple frauds and also declaring himself bankrupt he might have difficulty finding a bank willing to take him as a customer but I'm unaware of anyway of anyone banning him from opening one.

by bArray 5y ago

upearly3 5y ago

It's worth considering whether the 'far-right', which probably just means stuff-that-everyone-thought-20-years-ago, would go the same route if they had the upper hand in the West currently. Maybe it's all more just a matter of opportunity than it is belief system.

Mountain_Skies 5y ago
And someday they probably will have that chance. Each time one ideological group gains an edge in power, for some dumb reason they become convinced that they'll hold that edge forever. You can see this constantly here on HN with people gleefully celebrating the smiting of their ideological opponents by private corporations and their government string pullers. Each time I mention that this could be turned around on them someday, they always claim it's different this time because "we're on the right side of history" which of course is what every ideologue believes. What should scare them, and everyone else, is the distinct possibility that things won't simply swing back into a previous state but rather some new state will arise and use this power against everyone else. When the woke crowd loses power, and they will, it might not be "the alt-right" that gets power but something along a completely different axis that no one is even imagining today. And they'll have all of these tools of control and oppression ready made for their abuse.

lotsofcows 5y ago

"Tommy Robinson is not allowed to open a bank account"? What? After multiple frauds and also declaring himself bankrupt he might have difficulty finding a bank willing to take him as a customer but I'm unaware of anyway of anyone banning him from opening one.