3 ms·

My bet is she's ignorant and/or incompetent but not "evil" in the way you imply.

AnthonyMouse 3y ago
It isn't rare in politics for a politician to be opportunistic rather than incompetent. If they tell you they want to invade your privacy over internet casinos and copyright infringement, you tell them to pound sand. If they claim it's to arrest pedos then you tell them to pound sand and they accuse you of being a pedo. Then you have to accuse them of being a Nazi and reasoned debate is at a close and it becomes a popularity contest, which is the only way the people with no capacity for reasoned debate can win. That seems pretty evil.
- barbazoo 3y ago
  > It isn't rare in politics for a politician to be opportunistic rather than incompetent. What's the opportunity here though? They're not making any friends in the tech industry so it's not to secure a job, it's not popular with a lot of people, I don't get what they're gaining here.
  - Semaphor 3y ago
    She’s from the conservative/center-right party, they are the biggest fans of the surveillance state (closely followed by center-left, though). Also, it has come to light that there’s a tech-connection after all, with US tech companies lobbying for their service: https://balkaninsight.com/2023/09/25/who-benefits-inside-the-eus-fight-over-scanning-for-child-sex-content/ https://balkaninsight.com/2023/09/25/who-benefits-inside-the...
stephen_g 3y ago
Evil might be too strong a word, but when we have seen such a pattern of behaviour, I think we're well past the point where we can assume ignorance and incompetence in the case of von der Leyen. (That's not to say she's not ignorant and incompetent in many ways, because she clearly is, but I'm talking about the root of these specific behaviours, which seems pretty clearly intentional at this point).
anonzzzies 3y ago
Hanlon’s razor indeed. I believe that even some of the more historically famous evil political leaders started out that way.
Semaphor 3y ago
Back when she tried her censorship thing in Germany, people openly (this was all through the news and done by child abuse survivors, so it’s not as if she had no clue) showed her how easy it was to get CSAM removed, yet she refused to entertain even a "best effort" to get it deleted and kept saying it’s impossible to remove, only concentrating on building up a censorship infrastructure. That said, she has generally been pretty incompetent in every role, but keeps falling upwards.

It isn't rare in politics for a politician to be opportunistic rather than incompetent. If they tell you they want to invade your privacy over internet casinos and copyright infringement, you tell them to pound sand. If they claim it's to arrest pedos then you tell them to pound sand and they accuse you of being a pedo. Then you have to accuse them of being a Nazi and reasoned debate is at a close and it becomes a popularity contest, which is the only way the people with no capacity for reasoned debate can win. That seems pretty evil.

barbazoo 3y ago
> It isn't rare in politics for a politician to be opportunistic rather than incompetent. What's the opportunity here though? They're not making any friends in the tech industry so it's not to secure a job, it's not popular with a lot of people, I don't get what they're gaining here.
- Semaphor 3y ago
  She’s from the conservative/center-right party, they are the biggest fans of the surveillance state (closely followed by center-left, though). Also, it has come to light that there’s a tech-connection after all, with US tech companies lobbying for their service: https://balkaninsight.com/2023/09/25/who-benefits-inside-the-eus-fight-over-scanning-for-child-sex-content/ https://balkaninsight.com/2023/09/25/who-benefits-inside-the...

stephen_g 3y ago

Evil might be too strong a word, but when we have seen such a pattern of behaviour, I think we're well past the point where we can assume ignorance and incompetence in the case of von der Leyen. (That's not to say she's not ignorant and incompetent in many ways, because she clearly is, but I'm talking about the root of these specific behaviours, which seems pretty clearly intentional at this point).

anonzzzies 3y ago

Hanlon’s razor indeed. I believe that even some of the more historically famous evil political leaders started out that way.

Semaphor 3y ago

Back when she tried her censorship thing in Germany, people openly (this was all through the news and done by child abuse survivors, so it’s not as if she had no clue) showed her how easy it was to get CSAM removed, yet she refused to entertain even a "best effort" to get it deleted and kept saying it’s impossible to remove, only concentrating on building up a censorship infrastructure. That said, she has generally been pretty incompetent in every role, but keeps falling upwards.