"Do not obey in advance"
From Timothy Snyder's book, "On Tyranny".
A thread on surviving and resisting authoritarianism.
How to survive the broligarchy:
20 lessons for the post-truth world
Carole Cadwalladr
Includes:
5 You have more power than you think. We’re supposed to feel powerless. That’s the strategy. But we’re not.
10 Listen to women of colour. Everything bad that happened on the internet happened to them first.
11 Think of your personal data as nude selfies.
19 Take the piss. Humour is a weapon.
When you're ready to wean yourself off the broligarchy, here is a list of digital services you can consider.
Just because they're based in Europe doesn't mean they will serve your purpose. As always, Caveat Emptor, buyer beware. And if you can use it for free, beware even more. Do your homework.
Sarah Kenzior wrote this almost exactly eight years ago, and a lot of it resonates even harder this year.
"You may be wondering why I am writing a letter to Americans in a Dutch news outlet. It is because I do not trust the US outlets to remain free, and believe that many are already compromised."
Select your news sources carefully, and
PAY FOR YOUR NEWS.
"Fortunately, not every service out there is trying to monetize your personal data, and many offerings are just as good (if not often better) as their commercial or ad-supported rivals."
More alternatives to popular apps that can help reclaim your online life from billionaires and surveillance
It's easy to remember Carole Cadwalladr's term, "broligarchy" (see upthread).
TIL it has a technical term: big tech feudalism.
Reijer Passchier of Leiden University observes that "The power of big tech companies is eclipsing the sovereignty of the state."
He says it's not a matter of "taming" Big Tech: what's required is de-feudalising.
Expect calls for a separation of tech and state, soon.
As Bernie Sanders says (yes, on Fox):
"It’s not just the billionaire ownership and control over the economy and the media that should concern us. The uber-rich are also buying our government and undermining American democracy.
Billionaires who represent just .0005% of our population accounted for 18% of total campaign spending.
That is not democracy. That is not one person, one vote. That is not what this country is supposed to stand for."
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/sen-bernie-sanders-two-americas-people-vs-billionaires
@CelloMomOnCars
The #SCOTUS has been bought and gets most ruling wrong.
They said money is speech.
Money is not speech, it is volume.
It gives a few people the power to shout down everyone else.
#democracy is more than voting!
@mral No, the SCOTUS didn't say money is speech. Yes, a lot of people repeat that misinformation, but it's counter to their rulings.
In fact, in CU they agree with you about looking at volume.
And in the CU ruling Kennedy specifically said that their ruling would COUNTER the few powerful people who are able to shout down everyone else regardless.
Supreme Court is on your side in this one. It's just that a lot of people get the rulings backwards, even though the opinions went out of their way to be clear.
@CelloMomOnCars
@volkris @CelloMomOnCars
be aware, your ignorance is showing.
I have gotten a lot less tolerant of folks who babble on like you just have. Things are way too serious now to humor these kinds of comments.
There are too many uneducated folks out there that are and have been fooled by these kind of comments.
I mean I'm citing the Supreme Court opinion, their own words. I'm citing my sources.
If you think I'm wrong, if you think I'm ignorant, please put your counter evidence on their table.
Or at least consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, you've been misled by folks looking to spread disinformation.
I have Supreme Court rulings backing me up. What do you have backing you?
