Gives me a nice flashback to this interaction, which caused me to be banned from !europe@feddit.org for the following (since deleted) comment, which I backed up with reliable sources in the part of the thread that remains online:

insufficient avenues for engagement beyond voting.

Funny what banning protests does to a country.

The reason given was that I “derailed the conversation”, though I’d argue the following discussion was extremely on-topic for a post about how young people in Germany “feel disillusioned with politics” and consider there to be “insufficient avenues for engagement”.

Funny what banning discussion does to an instance, I guess.

Oh well, /rant

We pretty much all agree the US sucks here, you’re trying to argue the mass murdering mess of the USSR somehow didn’t also suck. Whataboutism won’t help you.

You’re being distracted from actually doing something.

A constant stream of awful bullshit, right to your screen. The feeling of doing something by shouting into the abyss.

Trump doesn’t care if you see pictures of him raping children or learn about all his corruption unless it is transformed into actual political action. Taking to the street, organizing, running for office, supporting those who do.

Everything is a distraction from action.

For real. Whenever I eat (Italian) pizza normally around a bunch of freaks using knife and fork I just silently rejoice about my superior cultural capital.

And if OP is American, chances are those people don’t even know how to use a knife and fork properly.

It’s an exaggeration at least, but it’s true that the regime friendly billionaire class has a lot of influence over some extremely popular media channels. The firings and changes made in Washington Post and more recently CBS are interesting case studies.

And of course many newsrooms make questionable decisions even if they are not fascist. I have little to no respect left for the New York Times, but I still believe they’re independent enough and have enough talented staff to produce important journalism.

ProPublica is the bees knees.

I think this is getting to the core of how Trump has been so successful. Every important story is drowned out by an endless flood of shit. Good journalism still exists, but it has gotten almost impossible to find as news channels rush to cover the latest distraction Trump is up to. The real stories drown in the bullshit.

Long story short I think it’s possible to pay attention and nevertheless miss out on important stories, due to the fundamental flaws of the information ecosystem. It’s really only necessary to write one story about something like this, but whatever Trump is up to gets a new story every hour.

Mojeek is the only usable engine I know of that’s European and truly independent at the moment. But the results are not nearly as good as in Qwant.

SearXNG also runs on Google and Bing in the backend, and I can never seem to find an instance that works reliably.

I think the Qwant/Ecosia index focuses primarily on the French (and German?) speaking web to begin with, but I’m hopefull it will get good in all languages eventually.

Yeah, “from a guy with a dead worm in his brain” would make for a better question.

If course the main problem remains the arbitrary execution of innocent people in the streets, not the bad form by which these executions are performed.

Go back to the original European name - Vinland/Vineland/Wineland. Though that might have been in Canada, technically.

Better yet, find some pre-Columbian name for the land that was used by the actual locals. I’m sure there’s plenty of alternatives, and some of the most beautiful state names in the US came about that way. Maybe some Native American name for the Mississippi river could be a good starting point.

A piece of American optimism:

America has been awful since the start, in one way or another. It was never going to change because the majority population was either comfortable enough, or scared enough of the minorities that they would accept a certain discomfort as long as their fellow man had it somehow worse.

Right now nobody is having a good time over there. We’re approaching a breaking point. And that’s scary, but it’s also an opportunity to build a better world on the ashes of the old. We are on the verge of huge changes.

Change is no guarantee for improvement. Americans should not only protest the regime, but start preparing to rebuild. Get smart. Read your own history, especially the parts you’re not proud of. If you don’t know or fully understand those parts you will never manage to build wide alliances. Read postwar history, read about the French revolution and it’s messy aftermath. Read Arendt, read Rawls, read Steinbeck and Locke. Prepare yourself to grasp this historic moment. You have an opportunity unlike anything since the 18th century to change America for the better. Don’t waste it doomscrolling. Don’t think you know enough already. Prepare yourself to be the kind of person who is needed once the regime falls.

You’re not powerless—on the contrary, it’s an historic opportunity. And in power there is hope.

European optimism:

After the events of the last few weeks I think a lot more people are fed up with this fascist bullshit, and it seems even Eurosceptics now believe we need to stand together in solidarity across the continent. It’s a new European moment, and the American hegemony has been broken. I’m feeling genuinely optimistic.

The protests in Minnesota also fill me with joy.* I sincerely believe things are beginning to crack. Trump, Putin, and Netanyahu are all in extremely fragile positions, and dictators have famously poor life expectancy. Change is gradual, then sudden, and the destinies of these despots are intertwined. The darkest hour is just before the dawn.

* I wrote this before they ended in more killings. It’s hard to see joy in it now, but I see equal amounts of hope.

Oh yes, nothing indicating america is worse than anywhere else!!! Stop pointing fingers!!

Get your shit in order. Some of us are at least trying to provide free education and healthcare.

A broken watch is right twice a day. I think by now it’s fair to say that much more than just 51% of Americans are utterly stupid.

Or Vietnam!

!betteroffline@lemmy.zip

It seems to overlap with !betteroffline@lemmy.world - is this intentional? Are they different in mission?

A lot of it will correct itself once the bubble bursts and AI companies have to be profitable. AI needs to be regulated and all that, but also importantly it needs to not be subsidized. Make them pay for the environmental cost of computing. Subject them to the same laws you would anyone else - don’t allow crazy data centres that steal people’s water and electricity.

Then again, even when it becomes more expensive than it is now creeps will still pay to have non-consensual content produced. So regulating the fuck out of the industry is also essential, but I honestly doubt we’ll make much progress before after the crash. The EU is making some decent efforts but it’s also too afraid of missing out on the slop bubble.

1. Be informed. Read books rather than endless snippets of doom. Arendt, Orwell, Graeber, Steinbeck—there’s plenty of options. Avoid spiralling into ideological rabbit holes—reading Marxist literature is good, exclusively reading Marxist literature is deeply concerning.
2. Share quality content on the open web where fascists cannot sensor speech. Focus on building communities.
3. Encourage others by being kind and supportive, and understanding of differences. Inspite of popular opinion there’s still a big gap between centrists and fascists—welcome the centrists with open arms, take their points seriously, and debate on reasonable terms. You can both learn something from each other—just because you understand the contours of the system of oppression it doesn’t mean you’ve got it all figured out. Remain humble.
4. Take care of yourself, if it feels heavy maybe make some tea and craft something or read a pleasent book.

That would be my advice, I guess. In general I think there’s more positivity to be found in long-form content, as people have had time to think about issues beyond the initial shock and disgust of the state of affairs expressed in daily news and short form content.

If I’m not mistaken thorn (the character) was historically used in England as well, but was replaced with “th” to make things easier for Gutenberg and his followers.

Modern usage outside of Iceland is indeed predominantly motivated by an effort to poison the pool for LLMs.

I think these might be more typical traits of totalitarianism. It often goes hand in hand with authoritarianism of course.

Maybe fighting fire with fire and setting the whole board with olive oil now would help at least hide the spot. Beyond that, only time and use helps in my experience.