6 ms·

His article was kind of skirting around where you're going now. > The internet is super powerful and a lot of global leaders realize that it is probably the mo

His article was kind of skirting around where you're going now. > The internet is super powerful and a lot of global leaders realize that it is probably the most concrete challenge to their authority, anything that has the power to stir up the masses is something to be properly feared when you're some insecure dictator. It's not just when you're "some insecure dictator". The free exchange of ideas and information is a threat to any ruler anywhere, because the longer and more widely it goes on, the more likely a random person gets exposed to ideas like: "heyyy if we had a choice, we probably wouldn't fund wars or fight in them! -what's in it for us?!" or "how is taxation different from extortion, besides that we're threatened with imprisonment instead of violence?". That's why they're stamping down on free speech everywhere, and that's why they monitor everything they possibly can. They want to establish a modern, lasting, technology-based police state before it's too late because too many people have woken up and become authority-atheists. Think it can't happen where ever you live? Think again: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150705/18174231556/spain-government-goes-full-police-state-enacts-law-forbidding-dissent-unauthorized-photography-law-enforcement.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150705/18174231556/spain... ( I wonder if I'm shadow-banned already )

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
Sophomoric. Social contract etc.
- sillygeese 11y ago
  "Sophomoric" is not an argument, and the questions I brought up are very simple, and their answers are obvious too. You'd have to be insane to think it's in your interest when your money is taken by force and used as some others somewhere see fit. There's just no way around that. The social contract is just a rationalization for our enslavement.
  - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
    It is however a description of an immature attitude, cop'd by young people growing up in a massively subsidized society, and used to justify their selfishness.
    - sillygeese 11y ago
      What is?
jacquesm 11y ago
Plenty of people believe that taxes are a necessary evil. Also, you're not shadowbanned so 'they' apparently aren't all that powerful yet. As for the funding of wars, plenty of people are prepared to fund them as long as they and their relatives don't end up fighting in them. And with drones getting better every day all-out robotic warfare is a matter of time.
- sillygeese 11y ago
  Of course they believe that. If they saw taxation for the extortion it is, they wouldn't be happy with having rulers either. They have shadowbanned me several times already, with different accounts. Plenty of people don't care about funding wars or other harmful stuff, because it simply never occurs to them what's going on. That doesn't mean everything is alright, nor that people would accept how their taxes are used if they ever really thought about it. Drone warfare? The much more worrying threat is drone-enforced tyranny. That's where they're going, of course. Think Kim Jong Un might like to have his own robot army? -So would any other ruler.
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    Taxation is used for things that I agree with and plenty of things that I disagree with. It's not extortion because I have the ability to (1) leave the country for one where the taxes are more to my liking and (2) I can lower and raise them as much as I want to by working more or less. > Plenty of people don't care about funding wars or other harmful stuff, because it simply never occurs to them what's going on. It may be true but I suspect that more people are aware of what is going on that you give them credit for. As for individual rulers setting their drone army against their own people, that's definitely a possibility but to date we have not seen that so it should not cloud your judgment about the present day situation.
    - sillygeese 11y ago
      > It's not extortion because I have the ability to (1) leave the country for one where the taxes are more to my liking So I guess a mafia's extortion is not actually extortion either, because you can leave one mafia and go get extorted by another whose extortion is more to your liking? > (2) I can lower and raise them as much as I want to by working more or less. I don't even need to tell you that this is disingenuous. > that's definitely a possibility but to date we have not seen that so it should not cloud your judgment about the present day situation How exactly is the possibility clouding my judgment?
tormeh 11y ago
Complaining about the existence of a power structure and the extortion of the common man is akin to complaining about entropy. It is possible that life would have been better off without them, but the reality is that we just have to choose the best incarnation of each. Most western democracies are perceived as legitimate and surprisingly often have your interests at heart. Look, this argument is just so tiresome. Anarcho-libertarianism or whatever it is you people want to call it is not a stable (lack of) form of governance. Let it die.
- sillygeese 11y ago
  That was such a ridiculous load of nonsense that I'll go ahead and have some fun with it. > Complaining about the existence of a power structure and the extortion of the common man is akin to complaining about entropy Complaining about someone beating you with a baseball bat is akin to complaining about entropy. Shit just happens, so you need to learn to accept it. > It is possible that life would have been better off without them It's possible that your life would be better without getting beaten with a bat, but "we" just have to choose the best incarnation of getting assaulted. > Most western democracies are perceived as legitimate and surprisingly often have your interests at heart Most assaulters are perceived as legitimate and often have your best interests at heart. That's why they assault you. Duh? > Anarcho-libertarianism or whatever it is you people want to call it is not a stable (lack of) form of governance Look, not getting beaten with a bat is not a stable form of getting beaten with a bat. Just let the idea of not being assaulted die. I rest my case.

JoeAltmaier 11y ago

Sophomoric. Social contract etc.

sillygeese 11y ago
"Sophomoric" is not an argument, and the questions I brought up are very simple, and their answers are obvious too. You'd have to be insane to think it's in your interest when your money is taken by force and used as some others somewhere see fit. There's just no way around that. The social contract is just a rationalization for our enslavement.
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  It is however a description of an immature attitude, cop'd by young people growing up in a massively subsidized society, and used to justify their selfishness.
  - sillygeese 11y ago
    What is?

jacquesm 11y ago

Plenty of people believe that taxes are a necessary evil. Also, you're not shadowbanned so 'they' apparently aren't all that powerful yet. As for the funding of wars, plenty of people are prepared to fund them as long as they and their relatives don't end up fighting in them. And with drones getting better every day all-out robotic warfare is a matter of time.

sillygeese 11y ago
Of course they believe that. If they saw taxation for the extortion it is, they wouldn't be happy with having rulers either. They have shadowbanned me several times already, with different accounts. Plenty of people don't care about funding wars or other harmful stuff, because it simply never occurs to them what's going on. That doesn't mean everything is alright, nor that people would accept how their taxes are used if they ever really thought about it. Drone warfare? The much more worrying threat is drone-enforced tyranny. That's where they're going, of course. Think Kim Jong Un might like to have his own robot army? -So would any other ruler.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  Taxation is used for things that I agree with and plenty of things that I disagree with. It's not extortion because I have the ability to (1) leave the country for one where the taxes are more to my liking and (2) I can lower and raise them as much as I want to by working more or less. > Plenty of people don't care about funding wars or other harmful stuff, because it simply never occurs to them what's going on. It may be true but I suspect that more people are aware of what is going on that you give them credit for. As for individual rulers setting their drone army against their own people, that's definitely a possibility but to date we have not seen that so it should not cloud your judgment about the present day situation.
  - sillygeese 11y ago
    > It's not extortion because I have the ability to (1) leave the country for one where the taxes are more to my liking So I guess a mafia's extortion is not actually extortion either, because you can leave one mafia and go get extorted by another whose extortion is more to your liking? > (2) I can lower and raise them as much as I want to by working more or less. I don't even need to tell you that this is disingenuous. > that's definitely a possibility but to date we have not seen that so it should not cloud your judgment about the present day situation How exactly is the possibility clouding my judgment?

tormeh 11y ago

Complaining about the existence of a power structure and the extortion of the common man is akin to complaining about entropy. It is possible that life would have been better off without them, but the reality is that we just have to choose the best incarnation of each. Most western democracies are perceived as legitimate and surprisingly often have your interests at heart. Look, this argument is just so tiresome. Anarcho-libertarianism or whatever it is you people want to call it is not a stable (lack of) form of governance. Let it die.

sillygeese 11y ago
That was such a ridiculous load of nonsense that I'll go ahead and have some fun with it. > Complaining about the existence of a power structure and the extortion of the common man is akin to complaining about entropy Complaining about someone beating you with a baseball bat is akin to complaining about entropy. Shit just happens, so you need to learn to accept it. > It is possible that life would have been better off without them It's possible that your life would be better without getting beaten with a bat, but "we" just have to choose the best incarnation of getting assaulted. > Most western democracies are perceived as legitimate and surprisingly often have your interests at heart Most assaulters are perceived as legitimate and often have your best interests at heart. That's why they assault you. Duh? > Anarcho-libertarianism or whatever it is you people want to call it is not a stable (lack of) form of governance Look, not getting beaten with a bat is not a stable form of getting beaten with a bat. Just let the idea of not being assaulted die. I rest my case.