4 ms·
> This seems to be true, but the curious thing is that I’m never involved. The government commits a crime, the New York Times prints it on the front page, the p
by rcarr 3y ago
> This seems to be true, but the curious thing is that I’m never involved. The government commits a crime, the New York Times prints it on the front page, the people on the cable chat shows foam at the mouth about it, the government apologizes and commits the crime more subtly. It’s a valuable system — I certainly support the government being more subtle about committing crimes (well, for the sake of argument, at least) — but you notice how it never involves me? It seems like the whole thing would work just as well even if nobody ever read the Times or watched the cable chat shows. It’s a closed system.
This is just blatantly wrong. Actions have consequences and many politicians have lost their job after a story got out.
Unfortunately, this type of thinking is what happens when you live in a stable country. You get too comfortable and start thinking you can just ignore what's going on elsewhere. Who knows, maybe he'll get away with it. I'd wager it was the Russians and Ukrainians who read the news that managed to get out in time before they got drafted and I'd wager back in the 1930s that it was mostly the Jews who read the news who managed to escape Nazi Germany and not get shipped off to a camp.
I'd say there's a strong similarity between the news and martial arts training. 99.9999% of the time you might not need it but you'll be damn fucking grateful the 0.0001% of the time that you do.
- majkinetor 3y agoThe observation may not be relevant for extreme situations like those mentioned. However, even then, most people around you will know, so unless you live in a cave you will get the information on time. Comparison with martial arts is inapropriate. Also, there are other things you could do to protect (and inform) yourself that do not demand payment with your most scarce resource.
- rcarr 3y ago> However, even then, most people around you will know, so unless you live in a cave you will get the information on time. Some people are just tuned out regardless. My mother is perpetually outraged/shocked that her mortgage is going up every month despite me telling her for months that yes, that is what happens when the central bank raises interest rates. She is 100% one of the people who would fail to see the writing on the wall or do anything until the bombs were dropping.
- KennyBlanken 3y agoThis right here is why I hate the pedestal Swartz has been put on since his suicide. His "hot take" is just straight-up trash you'd expect from any random 20-something techbro libertarian off the street. How did he not fall over from the irony of being a Jewish man and saying "well nothing in the news today doesn't directly concern me, so I don't care about the news ever"? How would you know if the news concerned you if you didn't read it?