Even in a best case scenario where Trump authoritarianism is destroyed, I’m highly doubtful that, in a country this corrupt, the incentive will ever exist to fully restore regulatory autonomy.
This is the one part of this essay that I doubt. If American history is any guide here, the next administration (or Democratic government) will very likely have a mandate to restore the federal regulatory landscape. It has happened before. It will likely happen again. And expressing that much doubt before the fight to restore it has even begun might as well be complying in advance (admittedly to corruption rather than fascism.)
As far as I can tell the North Carolina State Supreme Court election result has not been thrown out, so stop talking like it has. A good chunk of everything else you have written is catastrophizing. Organized protest is important for building further support, it's not at all clear that the military would go through with enforcement of martial law if declared, and even if some of it did, that's not a guarantee that elements of the military loyal to Trump would win the resulting violent ferment.
You wouldn't comply in the moment, so stop complying in advance by granting fascists victories in battles that have yet to even start.
To be clear: he's not the next Democratic candidate by a long shot, as that election is still just under 4 years out. He's merely a contender to be one, and there are plenty of others, not all of whom are spineless weasels like him.
Are you saying that Westerners equate political power with knowledge?
as well as
What are you trying to say here? Are you saying that poor people can’t aspire to anything and lack agency? Are you conflating economic opportunity within the system with aspiration in general (which is extremely misleading)?
in regards to you saying "As far as aspiration goes, it seems increasingly in danger of becoming the preserve of the wealthy."
These are questions about what you are saying. Answer them. Don't deflect from clarifying with "look at humanity's historical track record". That's not what is being asked about, and you know it.
Western civilization, unfortunately, does not link knowledge and morality but rather, it connects knowledge and power and makes them equivalent.
Are you saying that Westerners equate political power with knowledge? Because that's not universal at all, even in the US, and certainly not outside it in other parts of the West. Some people in the US equate money with expertise, but Elon Musk is if anything serving as a highly visible counterexample to that.
As far as aspiration goes, it seems increasingly in danger of becoming the preserve of the wealthy.
What are you trying to say here? Are you saying that poor people can't aspire to anything and lack agency? Are you conflating economic opportunity within the system with aspiration in general (which is extremely misleading)?
Actually it's the first line of hope I have. People don't like what the administration is doing as is, and I expect that to rapidly get more and more intense.
And Cathy Gellis is correct in her views on the subject.
NGL I really wish Techdirt would start talking more about ways to get engaged and resist.
I know it should be obvious and that one should be able to find it online oneself, but a lot of people in this comment section clearly need a pointer despite that, because they think acting like spectators in all this is the only option they have.
And many of you have already been clear you demand the latter.
I don't. You don't. Established users here don't. And talking about American ideals as if they aren't worth fighting for anymore just because the guy who lied to enough people to be elected president and his henchmen don't believe them is cowardice.
The fact that people fail at being moral isn't a reason to accept it as "a fact of life". What is the case historically is not a good argument for what we should accept.
Societies has improved before from that baseline, and acting like we should "accept" our society being crap is immoral and enabling of the awful people responsible. Calling aspirations of social improvement "delusions" is the exact same shit one sees from sellouts like Chris Hedges.
We liberals, leftists, and all other non-MAGAs in the US should be channeling this rage we feel about what MAGA into resistance on a massive scale. Mass protests, general strikes, collective action, etc. etc. We are seeing the genesis of that right now, and have been for some time; but we need this to swell and escalate, and every voice doing that matters.
I particularly admire Karl Bode and Cathy Gellis, whose words here and on BlueSky spurred me to take that route. I love Tim's reporting as well, but I would also love to see him express the same sentiment Bode and Gellis have given to me: one of defiant, angry resistance, of refusal to accept what is going on as inevitable, and of a strong drive to defeat the societal cancer that is fascism.
looks at very silly commentlooks at Stephen T. Stone's wonderful rebuttalboth are insightfulsees Techdirt comment sections have finally become complete shitlooks outside to make sure that fireballs and four horsemen aren't flying around the sky
I've stopped speaking in future tense myself, and started speaking in the conditional. I refuse to accept this as the inevitable outcome, and increasingly, so do the people I know.
All I can expect or predict with any certainty is protests as the weather warms up over the coming months, because people aren't taking this lying down and they will direct their anger at those in charge. It's possible these could be larger than the George Floyd protests. It's not hard to see those protests getting violent if their demands aren't met, and it's also not hard to see underpaid military members siding with the protesters rather than the Trump Administration.
I have issues with Brock's analysis here, but dismissing him as a "deranged, hysterical shitlib" is insane.
I don't think the AI-controlled government he's talking about is technically feasible, now or in the near future, regardless of what Musk or the gaggle of clueless people under him think. An AI capable of that level of control does not exist, and it's certainly not going to be Grok or some other LLM.
That doesn't mean Musk won't try to replace human expertise with AI or automation, probably simply out of sheer stupidity. Whatever he does place won't be a godlike dictator-aiding machine, but it will almost certainly be incredibly flawed and easily exploited. ("Infinite Money Glitch: Social Security Check Edition" is not going to end well.) It also doesn't negate the fact that the current Trump administration is a threat to democracy in the US as we know it, and one that needs to be countered.
Stop trolling people as a performative "leftist" and grow the fuck up.
Yep.
Also, I am really sick of listening to defeatists like Ehud. I get things are dark --- that's fucking obvious --- but every person who talks like that is a disappointment to their ancestors from the 1920s-1940s.
To be clear, I'm talking about a broader trend I've noticed, and I'm not criticizing Bode for having that emotion.
I'm trying to give him assurance and encouragement to fight despite that emotion. His work is important, and the last thing I want to see is him giving up on it.
At this point, we should just shut down OCR, admit failure, and give up on any possibility of keeping personal data private.
As a 32 year old with my life ahead of me, even with the troubles I've had so far: please stop with the "let's just give up on fixing things" line. It's never gotten anyone anywhere and is poisonous to society at scale, and I'm done with choosing to tolerate it when I can call it out.
Agree with pretty much everything Bode said until I came here, and while I don't disagree, I also feel like I should comment on it because I've noticed a trend.
At which point the biggest companies in America will get together to ghost write a useless modern privacy law primarily focused on legalizing incompetence, and making life harder on smaller competitors.
I've noticed a thin, faint current of despair trickling into Bode's writing on Techdirt and on BlueSky as of late. It's completely understandable given the current moment --- I've had my share and so have many of my friends --- but I hope Bode is aware of it. He's the very last person I ever want to see give up the fight.
In the US, passing this would raise constitutional challenges, and even the current SCOTUS isn't on board with this nonsense. Even the House GOP leadership is aware that passing KOSA would be a bad thing for them the moment a Democratic administration came into power.
Here's hoping our luck on that front continues.
I suspect some of it is saber rattling, and I suspect that he will still be thwarted by the bureaucracy on some things.
He's got less constraints this time around though, so he will do more damage than last time. In any case, I'm not taking chances. I'm preparing for the worst regardless of my hunches. I advise everyone to do the same.
As far as I can tell the North Carolina State Supreme Court election result has not been thrown out, so stop talking like it has. A good chunk of everything else you have written is catastrophizing. Organized protest is important for building further support, it's not at all clear that the military would go through with enforcement of martial law if declared, and even if some of it did, that's not a guarantee that elements of the military loyal to Trump would win the resulting violent ferment. You wouldn't comply in the moment, so stop complying in advance by granting fascists victories in battles that have yet to even start.
To be clear: he's not the next Democratic candidate by a long shot, as that election is still just under 4 years out. He's merely a contender to be one, and there are plenty of others, not all of whom are spineless weasels like him.
I asked
as well as in regards to you saying "As far as aspiration goes, it seems increasingly in danger of becoming the preserve of the wealthy." These are questions about what you are saying. Answer them. Don't deflect from clarifying with "look at humanity's historical track record". That's not what is being asked about, and you know it.Actually it's the first line of hope I have. People don't like what the administration is doing as is, and I expect that to rapidly get more and more intense. And Cathy Gellis is correct in her views on the subject.
NGL I really wish Techdirt would start talking more about ways to get engaged and resist. I know it should be obvious and that one should be able to find it online oneself, but a lot of people in this comment section clearly need a pointer despite that, because they think acting like spectators in all this is the only option they have.
The fact that people fail at being moral isn't a reason to accept it as "a fact of life". What is the case historically is not a good argument for what we should accept. Societies has improved before from that baseline, and acting like we should "accept" our society being crap is immoral and enabling of the awful people responsible. Calling aspirations of social improvement "delusions" is the exact same shit one sees from sellouts like Chris Hedges.
We liberals, leftists, and all other non-MAGAs in the US should be channeling this rage we feel about what MAGA into resistance on a massive scale. Mass protests, general strikes, collective action, etc. etc. We are seeing the genesis of that right now, and have been for some time; but we need this to swell and escalate, and every voice doing that matters. I particularly admire Karl Bode and Cathy Gellis, whose words here and on BlueSky spurred me to take that route. I love Tim's reporting as well, but I would also love to see him express the same sentiment Bode and Gellis have given to me: one of defiant, angry resistance, of refusal to accept what is going on as inevitable, and of a strong drive to defeat the societal cancer that is fascism.
looks at very silly comment looks at Stephen T. Stone's wonderful rebuttal both are insightful sees Techdirt comment sections have finally become complete shit looks outside to make sure that fireballs and four horsemen aren't flying around the sky
I've stopped speaking in future tense myself, and started speaking in the conditional. I refuse to accept this as the inevitable outcome, and increasingly, so do the people I know. All I can expect or predict with any certainty is protests as the weather warms up over the coming months, because people aren't taking this lying down and they will direct their anger at those in charge. It's possible these could be larger than the George Floyd protests. It's not hard to see those protests getting violent if their demands aren't met, and it's also not hard to see underpaid military members siding with the protesters rather than the Trump Administration.
I have issues with Brock's analysis here, but dismissing him as a "deranged, hysterical shitlib" is insane. I don't think the AI-controlled government he's talking about is technically feasible, now or in the near future, regardless of what Musk or the gaggle of clueless people under him think. An AI capable of that level of control does not exist, and it's certainly not going to be Grok or some other LLM. That doesn't mean Musk won't try to replace human expertise with AI or automation, probably simply out of sheer stupidity. Whatever he does place won't be a godlike dictator-aiding machine, but it will almost certainly be incredibly flawed and easily exploited. ("Infinite Money Glitch: Social Security Check Edition" is not going to end well.) It also doesn't negate the fact that the current Trump administration is a threat to democracy in the US as we know it, and one that needs to be countered. Stop trolling people as a performative "leftist" and grow the fuck up.
Yep. Also, I am really sick of listening to defeatists like Ehud. I get things are dark --- that's fucking obvious --- but every person who talks like that is a disappointment to their ancestors from the 1920s-1940s.
How am I defeatist? I'm trying to tell Bode that he shouldn't give up the good fight! I thought that was clear from what I said!
To be clear, I'm talking about a broader trend I've noticed, and I'm not criticizing Bode for having that emotion. I'm trying to give him assurance and encouragement to fight despite that emotion. His work is important, and the last thing I want to see is him giving up on it.
I agree with pretty much everything here, except:
As a 32 year old with my life ahead of me, even with the troubles I've had so far: please stop with the "let's just give up on fixing things" line. It's never gotten anyone anywhere and is poisonous to society at scale, and I'm done with choosing to tolerate it when I can call it out.Agree with pretty much everything Bode said until I came here, and while I don't disagree, I also feel like I should comment on it because I've noticed a trend.
I've noticed a thin, faint current of despair trickling into Bode's writing on Techdirt and on BlueSky as of late. It's completely understandable given the current moment --- I've had my share and so have many of my friends --- but I hope Bode is aware of it. He's the very last person I ever want to see give up the fight.In the US, passing this would raise constitutional challenges, and even the current SCOTUS isn't on board with this nonsense. Even the House GOP leadership is aware that passing KOSA would be a bad thing for them the moment a Democratic administration came into power. Here's hoping our luck on that front continues.
I suspect some of it is saber rattling, and I suspect that he will still be thwarted by the bureaucracy on some things. He's got less constraints this time around though, so he will do more damage than last time. In any case, I'm not taking chances. I'm preparing for the worst regardless of my hunches. I advise everyone to do the same.