PaulT 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (29334)

• On the post: Meta Finally Launches Default End-To-End Encryption In Messenger

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2023 @ 02:11pm

  Most people who use Whatsapp or Messenger neither understand encryption nor would demand it if it made using the app more difficult. So, making it a default is still a good move, even if there are many better ones for people who understand tech or value privacy.

• On the post: Supporting Free Speech Means Supporting Victims Of SLAPP Suits, Even If You Disagree With The Speakers

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2023 @ 01:56pm

  I know that, I just like poking to see if they'll realise it or at least offer a reasonable retort. One of the common themes of the last few years is a claim of knowledge and evidence, but the inability to provide them. I know they're not arguing in good faith, but I like to make that clear to anyone who might be passively watching.

• On the post: Supporting Free Speech Means Supporting Victims Of SLAPP Suits, Even If You Disagree With The Speakers

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2023 @ 01:07pm

  "Media matters lied, in very material ways"

  Maybe one day you people will let us know what those were. The problem with the likes of you is that you'll claim to have more knowledge than others, but never go as far as to share said knowledge. Usually because you know it'll be torn to shreds the second you supply something verifiable or falsifiable.

• On the post: Supporting Free Speech Means Supporting Victims Of SLAPP Suits, Even If You Disagree With The Speakers

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2023 @ 01:05pm

  Free speech is when you support someone else's ability to say something you disagree with. It's also when you support the targets of that speech to react, with more speech or by refusing to associate with those people. The problem is some people forget that second part. You're free to be a dick. Everyone else is free to tell you that you're a dick and to GFTO of their space.

• On the post: Meta Finally Launches Default End-To-End Encryption In Messenger

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2023 @ 01:02pm

  "I think they briefly kept people from sharing the Biden laptop link?"

  If you're referring to the time that Twitter briefly prevented a single NYP story from being shared, then congrats, you are so stupid that you don't even remember who you're being told to be angry at. Which is ironic, given that most reliable evidence suggests that Facebook's bias was towards your side.

• On the post: State Of Iowa Sued By Pretty Much Everyone After Codifying Hatred With A LGBTQ-Targeting Book Ban

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2023 @ 12:57pm

  "Is AIDS not a communicable disease?"

  It is, but it's not one solely transmitted but sex, not solely transmitted by the LGBTQ+ community, and prevented by decent education that admits that contraception is a thing.

  "The law removes a requirement that AIDS be talked about. It doesn’t prohibit talking about it"

  Last time I checked, the places that teach "abstinence" are the places with higher rates of teen pregnancy and STDs, and those places are also driving out teachers who dare admit that contraception exists. So, making it optional ensures that some kids will never be taught what they need to avoid the problems. The irony of people who oppose kids being taught about safe sex is that they doom a portion of their child population to the problems they claim to wish to avoid.

• On the post: State Of Iowa Sued By Pretty Much Everyone After Codifying Hatred With A LGBTQ-Targeting Book Ban

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2023 @ 05:28pm

  "those who are preventing any discussion of sexuality other than heterosexuality"

  I'm unclear about the US, but do these exist? I'm aware of idiots who think that saying that gay people exist, or that women don't need to procreate to have value, is a problem. But, I'm unaware of any documented proof that anything's happening other than "your classmate Billy has 2 Moms and that's not a problem". I'm aware of a procession of "youth pastors" and Republicans who keep getting caught sexually abusing children or in gay relationships after hypocritically opposing them in public. But, I'm unaware of this mythical "don't be straight" thing you're told to be afraid of. Any examples?

• On the post: State Of Iowa Sued By Pretty Much Everyone After Codifying Hatred With A LGBTQ-Targeting Book Ban

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2023 @ 05:22pm

  I agree with what you're saying. Of course, you're too stupid to realise that what you're saying is that the original Nazi propaganda is still so potent that the gay and trans communities they started exterminating when they got power are in danger, and that the rest of us need to be very wary when you repeat the same things. That the rest of us are right to oppose you, because you're so programmed to hate those different from you that you don't understand that's what you're doing. But, I agree.

• On the post: Elon, After Personally Driving Away Advertisers, Tells Them To Go Fuck Themselves (Repeatedly), And Says ‘Earth’ Will ‘Judge’ Them For Killing ExTwitter

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2023 @ 04:49pm

  " Do what I say or I go elsewhere."

  Yeah, that's usually how it works.... one dickhead causes problems for everyone else, you kick the dickhead out rather than forcing dozens of people to change to accommodate them.

  " And musk made his opinion of that approach clear."

  His opinion means exactly nothing to people who don't use the services he provides.

• On the post: Elon, After Personally Driving Away Advertisers, Tells Them To Go Fuck Themselves (Repeatedly), And Says ‘Earth’ Will ‘Judge’ Them For Killing ExTwitter

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2023 @ 04:46pm

  If you're going to try to argue absolutes, maybe a scenario in which you can understand and explain several caveats upfront isn't the best choice...

• On the post: Elon, After Personally Driving Away Advertisers, Tells Them To Go Fuck Themselves (Repeatedly), And Says ‘Earth’ Will ‘Judge’ Them For Killing ExTwitter

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2023 @ 04:44pm

  "A brick or stone building is less flammable than a wood building."

  Which is why so many places build houses with those materials. The hilarious thing in these arguments is how the tides have turned. When the satanic panic happened and people tried banning movies, music, books, etc. that they disliked, it was claimed to be their right under free speech. Yet, people try banning bigotry, it's anti-free speech. In the same period, boycotting companies that performed certain activities was the "free market", yet now it's "cancel culture". Indeed, a company deciding that it's no longer commercially viable to pay someone else is now "blackmail".

  "Many people far smarter than any of us here have linked our social repression of both sex and overt sexuality to such a degree it breeds explosive aggression."

  It's still the rapist at fault, you know? Whatever social or cultural things you talk about, it's still the weak assed rapist who is at fault if they don't agree with consent...

• On the post: Yes, The First Amendment Protects Displaying The ‘Thin Blue Line’ Flag Even In Publicly Owned Buildings

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2023 @ 04:30pm

  "The sane world produced a vaccine that the donald world rejected"

  Whichever side you're on, I hope that the myth of "A" vaccine dies. There were multiple vaccines developed though various methods, some using mRNA and some not. Most of which were relatively mature because even though the novel coronvirus was unknown, people has been working on coronaviruses for decades. Trump and his cult deserve many criticisms for their actions, especially when they believe it was mainly a blue state problem, but let's not fall into the trap of claiming there was a single vaccine. There were several, and even if you thought the mRNA versions would turn you into a frog, others were available. The only thing was that there wasn't a vaccine against ignorance.

• On the post: Elon Musk Says Only Those Who Pay Him Deserve Free Speech

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2023 @ 02:19pm

  It's sad when you can not only see that someone is not arguing in good faith, but you can see exactly where they got the scripts for their arguments from. Doubly so when there might be a decent argument to be had with certain points, but you already announced you're not worth engaging with.

• On the post: Yes, The First Amendment Protects Displaying The ‘Thin Blue Line’ Flag Even In Publicly Owned Buildings

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2023 @ 02:16pm

  "Why do you think this?"

  Because they don't believe the ridiculous nonsense that you went on to spout, and understand that the Democratic party is a centre-right party that would barely pass as conservative in most other first world countries? I'd suggest you re-read your own words. You just suggested that people need to be murdered because they have opinions other than your own. That used to be the excuse you gave for fighting the cold war, to protect the people who faced that risk.

• On the post: Yes, The First Amendment Protects Displaying The ‘Thin Blue Line’ Flag Even In Publicly Owned Buildings

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2023 @ 02:09pm

  You're right, people who don't know what words mean should be ignored.

• On the post: Yes, The First Amendment Protects Displaying The ‘Thin Blue Line’ Flag Even In Publicly Owned Buildings

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2023 @ 04:10pm

  That was my general understanding. The idea of the "thin blue line" standing between society and chaos is a fairly old one, and one that's been questioned many times, but the flag itself seems to have been popularised when people started to stand up against that idea and pushed back on the BLM movement.

• On the post: Musk’s Faulty Vision Of ‘Free Speech’ Is Driving Speech Off ExTwitter

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2023 @ 03:19pm

  "He’s spreadsheet jockey."

  No, that would imply competence in several fields he's failed at. He's just another narcissistic con artist who managed to ride high on other peoples money seeded by a privileged start. He just managed to get involved with people who could deliver on what he tried to promise while working on ideas important enough to do so, until he went for something trivial that gave everyone a direct view on who he really was. People would put up with him when he was promising revolutions in transport and space travel, not so much when he just wants to chat with other edgelords.

• On the post: Musk’s Faulty Vision Of ‘Free Speech’ Is Driving Speech Off ExTwitter

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2023 @ 03:14pm

  Yeah, those hallucinations sure are idiots.

• On the post: Musk’s Faulty Vision Of ‘Free Speech’ Is Driving Speech Off ExTwitter

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2023 @ 02:59pm

  That is indeed the way this guy operates, and why these people rarely supply citations when asked. If you can pin them down on any claim, it's usually either completely made up or easily debunked, so they'll usually say "do your own research" (which usually means "do the same Google search I did and believe the first result that agrees") and run away.

• On the post: FCC To Vote On New Rules Cracking Down On Shitty Cable TV Fees

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2023 @ 02:43pm

  "Which means that the telecom companies are going to push higher prices onto everyone, which means that those of us who can live up to the contract pay more."

  Which means you can also cancel and use a competitor who has more reasonable pricing. If you find that difficult, maybe the problem you have is with local monopolies, not with the fact that some people might be able to get out of being locked into unfair contracts?

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