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My opinion is that the USA tends more towards individualism and Europe more towards collectivism which would explain the authors approach to handling issues at

by oracuk 13y ago

My opinion is that the USA tends more towards individualism and Europe more towards collectivism which would explain the authors approach to handling issues at the European level (Combined with the fact she is an MEP so is heavily invested in the European system) and probably also underlies your sensitivity to 'doublespeaky' statist approaches. I made an assumption about you there that may well be unfair. However, It would appear there is a wide spread of individualism vs collectivism across Europe http://www.eupedia.com/forum/threads/26956-Map-of-Individualism-(vs-Collectivism) http://www.eupedia.com/forum/threads/26956-Map-of-Individual... and when you dig into the comparisons the USA isn't that far from the UK or similar EU nations like the Netherlands where the author hails from http://geert-hofstede.com/united-states.html http://geert-hofstede.com/united-states.html. I have to admit the scale of the issue makes me think of collectivist approaches similarly to the author but I'd be interested to hear of individualistic approaches.

cinquemb 13y ago
No worries, your explanation of where she is coming from makes sense to me, but I see freedom in our current statist paradigm on a spectrum from freedom the state "imposes" on its people, and the freedom people give themselves. The the individualistic approach that I had in mind is for people that are deeply concerned about being able to access/share information will need to take a more proactive approach to the technology they use. There is plenty accesible technical information online that is not blocked which can enable people to help create the solutions they want instead expecting the government to be swift in protecting their interests. For me personally, because of all the issues around the state possibly mandating backdoors in consumer electronics like cellular devices, made me look for alternatives like this: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://hlt.media.mit.edu/%3Fp%3D2182&strip=1 https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http:/... I also think because individuals have much more power on the internet than over any other aspects of society (due to the lower barriers of meaningful participation, though many choose not to exercise such power over themselves do to ignorance,connivence or w/e), individuals should take some responsibility for their own interests as well. At the end of the day, even if the state mandates something, if their ability to enforce such mandate is not totalistic, organizations and individuals will find ways around to achieve their goals with the freedom they give themselves.

by oracuk 13y ago

cinquemb 13y ago

No worries, your explanation of where she is coming from makes sense to me, but I see freedom in our current statist paradigm on a spectrum from freedom the state "imposes" on its people, and the freedom people give themselves. The the individualistic approach that I had in mind is for people that are deeply concerned about being able to access/share information will need to take a more proactive approach to the technology they use. There is plenty accesible technical information online that is not blocked which can enable people to help create the solutions they want instead expecting the government to be swift in protecting their interests. For me personally, because of all the issues around the state possibly mandating backdoors in consumer electronics like cellular devices, made me look for alternatives like this: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://hlt.media.mit.edu/%3Fp%3D2182&strip=1 https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http:/... I also think because individuals have much more power on the internet than over any other aspects of society (due to the lower barriers of meaningful participation, though many choose not to exercise such power over themselves do to ignorance,connivence or w/e), individuals should take some responsibility for their own interests as well. At the end of the day, even if the state mandates something, if their ability to enforce such mandate is not totalistic, organizations and individuals will find ways around to achieve their goals with the freedom they give themselves.