5 ms·

I'm tired of these cutesy backronyms that they try to come up with to influence the public's perception of a law. "EARN IT"? What the fuck? It should be outrigh

by LocalH 3y ago

I'm tired of these cutesy backronyms that they try to come up with to influence the public's perception of a law. "EARN IT"? What the fuck? It should be outright illegal to pass laws whose acronyms spell words. But, of course, that'll never happen, because who would willingly give up such a juicy tool for gaming the system?

sgjohnson 3y ago
Remember the PATRIOT Act?
- LocalH 3y ago
  Yep. Or the "USA PATRIOT" Act, as it's full name spells. "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism". But by calling it "patriot", it implies that you're not a patriot if you don't support it. Never mind that modern American "patriotism" isn't anything of the sort, but is much closer to nationalism.
  - anigbrowl 3y ago
    It's blatant propaganda, but Americans continue to lie to themselves that they live in the freest country in the world.
    - somenameforme 3y ago
      I think the overwhelming majority of people are realizing a lot of the rhetoric is just cynical lies at this point. Consider the recent report [1] that only 25% of people don't think the media is deliberately misleading them - 50% think they are, 25% are undecided. The implications of that cannot be overstated, especially as the media has increasingly become little more than a proxy for the official position of the day. [1] - https://fortune.com/2023/02/15/trust-in-media-low-misinform-mislead-biased-republicans-democrats-poll-gallup/ https://fortune.com/2023/02/15/trust-in-media-low-misinform-...
    - hellojesus 3y ago
      The real problem is there isn't any better country. Zero countries currently compete with America for greater freedom. Please let me know if you know of any because I'm getting absolutely tired of working four months for free each year, knowing that my tax dollars are paying for goods and services from which I'll never be able to benefit.
      - LocalH 3y ago
        Modern governance is the problem. However, if there is no country that's, say 50% free (to put an arbitrary number on it), and even when we presume that America is 49% free and "everyone else" is less, that doesn't mean there is actual freedom. American freedom seems to largely be centered around the ability to make money, the way things are going nowadays. We were more free in the 70s and 80s. Nowadays people in some areas get child services called because they dared to allow their child to venture somewhere by themselves. America is often the worst offender in some of these areas. True patriotism is understanding that we're not the "best" country in the world, and that we could stand a lot of weeding out chaff. Taxes go to a lot more waste than would ever come out of individual benefits, when you take the end result benefit to society. "Freedom" to allow poverty to exist is "freedom for some, but not for all".
        sgjohnson 3y ago
        > American freedom seems to largely be centered around the ability to make money, the way things are going nowadays. There's also the freedom of speech, which thankfully is damn near absolute in the US. In fact it has only increased since the 70s.
        hellojesus 3y ago
        This is the real problem. I would realistically be jailed anywhere but the US for my speech.
      - Rufbdbskrufb473 3y ago
        It depends what you value most. If you don't mind corruption, then in a lot of developing countries like SE Asia, you can have a huge amount of personal freedom by paying the (relatively cheap) occasional bribe. If you're morally opposed to that, I'd recommend Singapore for its financial freedoms. After working there for a year, I was initially opposed to such an authoritarian government, but they're one of the rare ones who use their power to run their country very efficiently and keep out of the way of private enterprise.
    - cscurmudgeon 3y ago
      At least in the US we can protest, debate, and oppose these laws. https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/30/politics/what-happens-if-the-patriot-act-provisions-expire/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/30/politics/what-happens-if-the-...
  - RajT88 3y ago
    Modern American "patriotism" begins with nationalism, and gets darker and weirder from there. As an exercise, imagine someone who self-identifies as a patriot. Ask them what makes them a patriot. (If you're not American, you might not get what I am getting at, but probably Canadians get it)
    - dsfyu404ed 3y ago
      The Party(TM) must love types like you. There's a huge subset (dare I say majority) of those "patriots" you deride who don't like this stuff, don't think their goings on are any of the government's business. But of course you ignore that because they don't want what you want on meaningless social issues.
      - RajT88 3y ago
        Real patriots, in my experience: 1. Don't talk long and loud about being patriots (i.e. don't self-identify) 2. Tend to work for the government. Career govvies or military. They show their patriotism through action. > There's a huge subset (dare I say majority) of those "patriots" you deride who don't like this stuff, don't think their goings on are any of the government's business. I know the type well, as that describes one side of my family. Despite your protestations, we're saying the same thing.
        prottog 3y ago
        > Tend to work for the government. Career govvies or military. They show their patriotism through action. I just want to chime in here and say that working for the government isn't the only way to be a patriot (i.e. serve the country). Upholding American values is something anyone can do in any part of society.
        RajT88 3y ago
        That's fair enough. What's fresh in my memory is a few weeks back, I was at Quantico for the graduation of a family member from the FBI academy, where the convocation speech was delivered by Christopher Wray. I cannot imagine a more patriotic group of people - genuinely people who dedicate their whole lives to the betterment of the nation. It was really inspiring.
- monksy 3y ago
  You mean the precursor to the RESTRICT/S686 act? [That's still going on.. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686 https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686 ]
idiotsecant 3y ago
OK, monkey paw wish granted. Laws may now only be passed and officially discussed using their globally unique identifier like SB-47226 When politicians advocate for or against these laws in the public sphere they will still make up catchy names to make them stick in peoples heads. Now you still get misleading names but its twice as hard to understand what bill is what.
- sgjohnson 3y ago
  > Laws may now only be passed and officially discussed using their globally unique identifier like SB-47226 This particular globally unique identifier gets reset with every sitting. "H.R.13293 — 118th Congress" would be a globally unique one. Unless it conflicts with some of the state legislatures.
- cubefox 3y ago
  In Germany laws get boring descriptive names without any silly acronyms. E.g. the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, the "network enforcement act", which forces social networking sites to proactively delete illegal content without a court order. They didn't choose an Orwellian euphemism. I assume Americans could do the same.
gessha 3y ago
Naming things is incredibly powerful aspect of human behavior. It can be used for good and evil and I don’t see a point in banning them. Media and politicians can still give unofficial names to bills when talking about them so such a ban would do nothing.

by LocalH 3y ago

sgjohnson 3y ago

Remember the PATRIOT Act?

LocalH 3y ago
Yep. Or the "USA PATRIOT" Act, as it's full name spells. "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism". But by calling it "patriot", it implies that you're not a patriot if you don't support it. Never mind that modern American "patriotism" isn't anything of the sort, but is much closer to nationalism.
- anigbrowl 3y ago
  It's blatant propaganda, but Americans continue to lie to themselves that they live in the freest country in the world.
  - somenameforme 3y ago
    I think the overwhelming majority of people are realizing a lot of the rhetoric is just cynical lies at this point. Consider the recent report [1] that only 25% of people don't think the media is deliberately misleading them - 50% think they are, 25% are undecided. The implications of that cannot be overstated, especially as the media has increasingly become little more than a proxy for the official position of the day. [1] - https://fortune.com/2023/02/15/trust-in-media-low-misinform-mislead-biased-republicans-democrats-poll-gallup/ https://fortune.com/2023/02/15/trust-in-media-low-misinform-...
  - hellojesus 3y ago
    The real problem is there isn't any better country. Zero countries currently compete with America for greater freedom. Please let me know if you know of any because I'm getting absolutely tired of working four months for free each year, knowing that my tax dollars are paying for goods and services from which I'll never be able to benefit.
    - LocalH 3y ago
      Modern governance is the problem. However, if there is no country that's, say 50% free (to put an arbitrary number on it), and even when we presume that America is 49% free and "everyone else" is less, that doesn't mean there is actual freedom. American freedom seems to largely be centered around the ability to make money, the way things are going nowadays. We were more free in the 70s and 80s. Nowadays people in some areas get child services called because they dared to allow their child to venture somewhere by themselves. America is often the worst offender in some of these areas. True patriotism is understanding that we're not the "best" country in the world, and that we could stand a lot of weeding out chaff. Taxes go to a lot more waste than would ever come out of individual benefits, when you take the end result benefit to society. "Freedom" to allow poverty to exist is "freedom for some, but not for all".
      - sgjohnson 3y ago
        > American freedom seems to largely be centered around the ability to make money, the way things are going nowadays. There's also the freedom of speech, which thankfully is damn near absolute in the US. In fact it has only increased since the 70s.
        hellojesus 3y ago
        This is the real problem. I would realistically be jailed anywhere but the US for my speech.
    - Rufbdbskrufb473 3y ago
      It depends what you value most. If you don't mind corruption, then in a lot of developing countries like SE Asia, you can have a huge amount of personal freedom by paying the (relatively cheap) occasional bribe. If you're morally opposed to that, I'd recommend Singapore for its financial freedoms. After working there for a year, I was initially opposed to such an authoritarian government, but they're one of the rare ones who use their power to run their country very efficiently and keep out of the way of private enterprise.
  - cscurmudgeon 3y ago
    At least in the US we can protest, debate, and oppose these laws. https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/30/politics/what-happens-if-the-patriot-act-provisions-expire/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/30/politics/what-happens-if-the-...
- RajT88 3y ago
  Modern American "patriotism" begins with nationalism, and gets darker and weirder from there. As an exercise, imagine someone who self-identifies as a patriot. Ask them what makes them a patriot. (If you're not American, you might not get what I am getting at, but probably Canadians get it)
  - dsfyu404ed 3y ago
    The Party(TM) must love types like you. There's a huge subset (dare I say majority) of those "patriots" you deride who don't like this stuff, don't think their goings on are any of the government's business. But of course you ignore that because they don't want what you want on meaningless social issues.
    - RajT88 3y ago
      Real patriots, in my experience: 1. Don't talk long and loud about being patriots (i.e. don't self-identify) 2. Tend to work for the government. Career govvies or military. They show their patriotism through action. > There's a huge subset (dare I say majority) of those "patriots" you deride who don't like this stuff, don't think their goings on are any of the government's business. I know the type well, as that describes one side of my family. Despite your protestations, we're saying the same thing.
      - prottog 3y ago
        > Tend to work for the government. Career govvies or military. They show their patriotism through action. I just want to chime in here and say that working for the government isn't the only way to be a patriot (i.e. serve the country). Upholding American values is something anyone can do in any part of society.
        RajT88 3y ago
        That's fair enough. What's fresh in my memory is a few weeks back, I was at Quantico for the graduation of a family member from the FBI academy, where the convocation speech was delivered by Christopher Wray. I cannot imagine a more patriotic group of people - genuinely people who dedicate their whole lives to the betterment of the nation. It was really inspiring.
monksy 3y ago
You mean the precursor to the RESTRICT/S686 act? [That's still going on.. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686 https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686 ]

idiotsecant 3y ago

OK, monkey paw wish granted. Laws may now only be passed and officially discussed using their globally unique identifier like SB-47226 When politicians advocate for or against these laws in the public sphere they will still make up catchy names to make them stick in peoples heads. Now you still get misleading names but its twice as hard to understand what bill is what.

sgjohnson 3y ago
> Laws may now only be passed and officially discussed using their globally unique identifier like SB-47226 This particular globally unique identifier gets reset with every sitting. "H.R.13293 — 118th Congress" would be a globally unique one. Unless it conflicts with some of the state legislatures.
cubefox 3y ago
In Germany laws get boring descriptive names without any silly acronyms. E.g. the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, the "network enforcement act", which forces social networking sites to proactively delete illegal content without a court order. They didn't choose an Orwellian euphemism. I assume Americans could do the same.

gessha 3y ago

Naming things is incredibly powerful aspect of human behavior. It can be used for good and evil and I don’t see a point in banning them. Media and politicians can still give unofficial names to bills when talking about them so such a ban would do nothing.