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"Tech industry tries to make up for regressive politics" Hate to say it, but there may not be a technical solution to the failings of the USA.
by bearjaws 4y ago
"Tech industry tries to make up for regressive politics"
Hate to say it, but there may not be a technical solution to the failings of the USA.
- micromacrofoot 4y agoI'd go a little further and say that tech has exacerbated the failings of the USA.
- fny 4y agoI'd be a little more accurate and say extreme neoliberalism has exacerbated the failings of the USA.
- hahaitsfunny 4y agoNeoconservatism too. Let's not forget about Bush, Blair, Powell and Iraq...
- fny 4y agoNeoliberalism is an economic philosophy. It's not tied to "progressivism" or "conservatism". In short, it promotes free-market economics without borders.
- hahaitsfunny 4y agoWhere did I mention progressivism or conservativism? Neoliberalism is intrinsically tied to politics because you can't affect economic policy without getting involved in the political system... Regardless, your implications surrounding my comment, and my intent by making it, are incorrect. Both movements have been disastrous for the United States.
- kelseyfrog 4y agoThe confusion stems from the introduction of "neoconservatism" into a thread which just before was topic-centered around neoliberalism. To a reader it looks as if it's trying to establish that neoliberalism and neoconservatism belong to the same category and together form a unity of opposing forces. It reads as if neoconservatism is a conservative form of neoliberalism (or vice versa).
- fny 4y agoNeoliberalism is entirely unrelated to neoconservatism. The "liberal" part refers entirely to free-market economics. The two philosophies are similar only in name. It is possible to be both a neoliberal and a neoconservative. For example, every Republican president from the 1980s up to Trump was a neoliberal. This includes Bush who you mention as a counterexample. Trump was the first anti-neoliberal president we have had in decades as he, unlike his predecessors, promoted tariffs.
- XorNot 4y ago
- hahaitsfunny 4y ago[flagged]
- epakai 4y agoWhat's now? This is just the same red scare hokum of the 50s.
- hahaitsfunny 4y ago[flagged]
- epakai 4y agoNeither could. Critical race theory isn't prescriptive. Black Lives Matter is, but advocates for equal outcomes (primarily in policing). This isn't Marxism, but just regular justice. The only thing Marxist about them is that the right has tried to tie them in with Marxism as part of the FUD, and some 'leaders' in the movements also advocate for Marxist solutions. Christopher Rufo was explicit in his intent to do so for Critical Race Theory. It's precisely the same red scare tactics used to punish people with different ideology in the 50s as enemies of the state.
- micromacrofoot 4y agocan you cite some examples? generally it seems like people are exercising their first amendment rights against people they don't like, which has at times been misdirected, but to my knowledge hasn't destroyed anyone
- hahaitsfunny 4y ago[flagged]
- 4y ago
- micromacrofoot 4y agoI'm not so sure. There are other neoliberal countries that aren't experiencing some of the same issues.
- ironmagma 4y agoExacerbated, or just exposed?
- hahaitsfunny 4y agoI'd go even further and say that tech is fundamental in the destruction of the fabric of American society.
- MobileVet 4y agoThis. Social Media has advanced the fiefdoms at an alarming rate. No matter how strange or out of touch your ideas, you can find similar people to reinforce them. When your only connection is with people that agree with you it becomes 'us vs them' and extremely insular. Throw in 'click bait' news and you have a growing level of fear and uncertainty that adds to the comfort of staying within your tribe. Civil society takes work and we aren't doing that work in the US right now. No one wants to discuss things, they just want to yell down the other person. We need to get out on the front porch and talk instead of posting from our basements.
- odessacubbage 4y agoi mean, if that is the case then it happened in the 18th century when the industrial revolution caused the undoing of the jeffersonian ideal and the supremacy of the yeoman farmer. i tend to gather that most of this site's users are not planters, candlestick makers or slave owners. if anything destroyed the fabric of communities in post-new-deal-industrial-world-superpower-america, it was financialization and trade agreements.
- hahaitsfunny 4y agoWe might as well go back to the social contract then. My comment written to open up some historical debate about when the downfall of America started, but to point out that big tech is a fundamental contributor to the destruction of the fabric of America. I never claimed there were no other contributors or that it started with the advent of big tech.
- testbjjl 4y agoNot all tech. There are specific actors and business models.
- adamc 4y agoThat comment needs expansion and amplification.
- micromacrofoot 4y agoUnfortunately the tech with the most power.
- zaptheimpaler 4y agoYeah its getting tiring watching the increasingly convoluted mental gymnastics to make companies and individuals responsible for completely failed lawmaking and rabid dog enforcement agencies. Literally in the article: “Be smart: Congress won't save us, or these companies, from this battle. … But long efforts by legislators to pass a national privacy law — an effort many companies support — remain stalemated this summer, as they have been for years.” No, your fucking government is unable or unwilling to act in the interests of its people. What is a government that is unaccountable to its citizens (whether due to gridlock or malice) called? National privacy laws would apply to all companies, present and future and to all cases of overreach. Instead, we are all supposed to fight the current big tech cos and fiddle with Google settings to delete location data and buy pinephones and gmail alternatives and drop facebook and use Signal and don’t buy a smart TV and don’t use Github and on and on? Maybe we need to invest more energy into fixing a dead government instead of tech.