Invisible Censorship and Books · 8:24pm Sep 14th, 2019
I made an interesting and alarming discovery a few weeks ago.
Like most authors, I happen to love reading books as well. Between my local library, the occasional purchase, and my Kindle, I go through a good number of them every year. I have my entire life. Sands, in my small-town library, if I happened to be around the librarians would sometimes ask me if I knew a book a patron was asking about. I read a lot.
So, naturally, I gravitate to places online that talk about books. Forums that offer book reviews, or book chats, etc etc.
It was on one of these forums that I discovered an extremely disturbing trend.
Let me catch you up. One of the book places I hung out at quite regularly—or did, before this discovery, which all but killed my interest in it—was a place for book recommendations. It was pretty simple and straightforward: One person posts what they’re looking for, be it a historical romance with specific traits, or just something like what they’d already read and enjoyed, like Dune. Then, participants could post replies listing, detailing, or talking about other books that the poster might be interested in.
Good idea, right? I sure thought so. And so I went to it. It was fun dredging my brain sometimes for lesser-known authors or books that someone might have missed, or thinking “Oh, what was the name of that book!” and digging back several years through my Goodreads list to find it.
It was pretty good … Or so I thought.
It happens just about everywhere, its terrifying frankly.
As a conservative, my voice gets silenced a lot on social media, but no one should exist in an echo chamber of their own ideas. We should all be able to discuss a topic, whatever it may be, openly, honestly and without reservation or fear of censorship.
It should never come down to a small group of people deciding who gets to speak about what. Not in politics, religion, books, movies, games the list is quite literally endless. You should be able to discuss anything you like without fear of either retribution or censorship, because frankly, we need to hear other opinions.
There is a word for only hearing your own opinion and always assuming that because you never hear a dissenting voice, you are always right. Its hubris. Pure and unadulterated arrogance.
There is another word for being the victim of this echo chamber censorship...terrifying. it's gaslighting in it's most horrible form, telling people that since there is no evidence of the other positions voice that there IS no other position. People usually mask this in arguments of "I'm on the right side of history" or "how can you possibly believe "insert topic" is anything but the greatest thing ever" this last one is usually coupled with violence, either verbal, physical, or in most cases character assassination on a grand scale, all while backed with either no evidence to support their claims or piles of it AGAINST.
I'm done ranting, sorry to hijack things.
TL:DR. I agree that it is terrifying and incredibly shitty. I'm sorry you had to deal with that in any way much less that one.
My sweet summer child, this has already been going on for everything everywhere, not just books on your old forum. Reddit is full of it. A non-trivial number of blogs on FiMfic are full of it (though not automated). The 2016 DNC did it. The freaking FCC's RFC on "net neutrality" did it. The search engines and social media companies are doing it right now for anything remotely political or ideological. Welcome to the world of the future, where "it's $CurrentYear" is all the reason anyone needs to do this sort of thing, and you can't do anything about it because "it's a private company!" (Of course, you could #BuildYourOwn, but we all know how that one goes...)
Wow, that’s horrifying to hear.
That said,
5121042
What conservative views of yours are being censored?
5121112
Not just mine, but Facebook routinely bans conservative viewpoint groups, News organizations, even humor groups. I've seen groups like antifa recruiting, boasting about their acts of violence, and even doxing people who disagree with them get free passes while opposing groups like the Proud Boys get banned both as a group and when possible individuals.
It is a glaring double standard when a second amendment group gets shut down but a group calling for the deaths of Trump supporters gets a free pass.
Personally I've made comments that within minutes randomly disappear even though the rest of the post hasn't changed. Hell that happened just today on a friends page when I commented on something he posted.
5121120
That doesn’t answer my question. What specific views of yours are being censored?
Also the Proud Boys are a hate group who have attacked some of my IRL friends.
5121131
That's just it. Those are views I share.
I'm not getting into in depth political discussions on someone else's post. I will say this, I dont agree with either antifa or the proud boys both should be labeled as domestic terror groups. However that having been said, if you ban one group for violence and hateful speech and actions, then both should be banned. Not one labeled as a heroic movement and the other treated as some subhuman sect. This is exactly what viking was speaking about, unwritten rules and double standards. Banning the viewpoint of any group while allowing the other side of the argument free reign is wrong and should be frowned upon. Idk if it should be made illegal, but it certainly is shady and underhanded.
If you are looking to parse my personal views on politics then I'm not rising to the bait. Let me be very clear on this. I am for small government, the second amendment, fewer/no taxes, personal responsibility, and the privacy to do what I wish within the law without government breathing down my friggin neck. With very few exceptions I'm a very typical conservative. I'm not Christian, I'm not straight, I'm for marijuana legalization and other wise I want to be left the hell alone.
Perfect example is the affordable care act, insurance is a choice to have or not to have, if you cannot afford it, then you must make the choice not to until such a time as that changes. Hopefully because you improved your situation. I should not have to pay a fine of over 700 dollars per person in my family because the government suddenly decided to intrude further upon my life and make a financial decision mandatory.
This has strayed very far from my original post and I apologize to Viking for that.
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What I’m hearing is “poor people deserve to suffer or die if they get ill and can’t afford treatment because they’re poor.”, which you have the right to hold as a belief, but is a monstrous belief especially considering you watch a show about building a better, kinder society. But yes, I do agree with you that the affordable care act sucks and should be replaced with universal healthcare like every other industrialized society on earth has.
One is reactionary, misogynist, islamiphobic, and racist, the other is made up of people who are against that. And you, the enlightened centrist, stand in the middle and say “I see no difference!”
Cool, so you want to vastly downsize our military and police forces, and end the war of drugs and on reproductive rights. Awesome, I’m all for that!
With you there! As Mao said, political power comes from the barrel of a gun!
i.redd.it/yltpqxxlss6z.jpg
5121131
Without getting too political, that does suck. However, Antifa regularly does the same, but as has been pointed out, they are given a free pass by media groups and often even by the police.
It's a double standard, made worse by the fact that those who enforce claim otherwise, much like the pigs in Animal Farm.
Don't get me wrong, while I disagree strongly with, for example, Facebook's policing of content and strong bias, they're at least up front and fairly open about it. They admit that they censor people, even that they're slanted (though they would use another description).
But Twitter or the forum I mentioned? Twitter still denies that they're censoring, despite whole mountains of sites showing evidence that they do (which Twitter has responded to with a resounding "so what").
EQD burned itself bad years ago for similar behavior, claiming a lot about their fiction standards that many people pointed out in practice wasn't true at all. It's putting on the face of "all are welcome" while in the shadows doing away with those you don't want people to agree with, see, or hear from.
As an author, seeing a book forum with 500,000 users being unknowingly manipulated by moderators that are picking and choosing winners while claiming otherwise is pretty sickening. If they were to openly admit it? That's different. But it's lying to people and betraying their trust I find despicable.
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M8, there are a few isolated incidents of unjustified violence from the American Left, and most of those are cases of mistaken identity. Right-wingers on the other hoof murder dozens of people every year, and attack and injure hundreds more.
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From that point of view, it certainly sounds like it. But flip it from another
I'm poor. Definitely bottom of the barrel poor (authors don't make much). The ACA gutted my budget, because now I had to have insurance or pay a massive fine. No matter what, I needed to come up with a few hundred more bucks a month.
Has it changed anything? No. Because now that I have insurance, the cost of going in for anything is even more expensive, because I've got insurance. If I go too much? My premium might go up! Do I go to the doctor? No, because that means I would spend even more money on top of everything else. The only thing I've used it for its dental, because at least there I get two free checkups.
If I get a filling though, man can they reduce what insurance covers to nothing.
Point being, the ACA really just made it illegal not to give insurance companies your business. When it's the law that people have to shop at your store, what's to keep you from raising prices?
And that's exactly what happened. I actually did have insurance before the ACA. My premium shot up after it passed, because what was I going to do? Stop and pay the fine? As long as the fine was slightly more expensive, they had a captive audience.
Insurance companies have wrecked the health care system in America. Enforcing them via law was never going to be a good solution.
Which one are you talking about here? Because Antifa are pretty lousy people as well. They're the very modern example of "When one fights monsters, one should be sure they do not become a monster." Beating people with pipes for speaking, throwing bricks and attacking even bystanders ...
Antifa adopting "pre-Nazi brownshirt codes" into their operating standards is a very poor choice on their part, and very much an example of "but we only do it ironically" hitting a blank wall of "but you're doing the same thing on the end." Like smoking ironically.
Both groups can get bent. I dislike them both equally.
Glad to see we're heading to a great Cyberpunk Dystopia. Better rev up the fires for the book burnings too
I wonder if the website you went to was the one I tried to find a book using. It was a not well know book so maybe that had to do with it, but I never got notified if anyone had responded to my inquiry.
I agree the while doing this openly is one thing. The whole trend into stealth censorship is what I find truly disturbing in recent trends.
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This is a cyberpunk dystopia remember, don’t you mean mean the great book degaussings?
5121232
ah true. I forgot that the matrix crash deleted a lot of our earlier learnings too
5121152
I'm only going to touch on one of the points in this dumpster fire rant. Why should my tax dollars be used to pay for John q crack heads 4th run at rehab? I didnt sell him the drugs, nor did I entice him to take them. His healthcare is NOT my responsibility.
Susie q spreads her legs catches HIV? Not my responsibility to pay for her daily dose of anti virals.
Little billy develops cancer, well, that fucking aucks balls. I hope he gets through it. Still not my responsibility to pay for it.
Single taxpayer systems arent free healthcare, they are paid for through exorbitant taxation and the government decides who gets treated.
Socialism is at its core slavery and extortion masked as compassion. You folks always want other peoples money to pay for what YOU want.
Tell me. Exactly what portion of what I make and own is due to you and why. Give me a number and a good reason that isnt based on "the right thing to do" or "it should be a basic human right"
Give me logic, give me facts and figures, not emotional bullshit.
Btw, President Reagan was a staunch second amendment advocate. Karl Marx only saw guns as a way to enforce his will. Which is the exact reason why the 2nd is so important, to keep people like Marx as far away from leadership as possible.
I'm curious, why do you not say the name of the forum that's doing this?
It sounds like you've already burned the bridge and don't plan on frequenting there anymore. And it'd be useful to know what site to avoid.
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My guess is professional courtesy, he is an author, they service authors. It would be poor form to call the site out by name if he one day benefits from it.
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[Angry rant redacted]
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Nah, any mention of me is shadowly censored, so that isn't it. Unless they decided to publicly come out against it. But then they'd expose exactly what they do.
No, the reason I didn't mention it is twofold. One, it's not that hard to determine of someone really wants to. Digging on my site would be enough to figure it out. And two ... To make people wonder if it's their book site and maybe look closely for a bit. Because I can almost absolutely guarantee it's not just this one doing it.
5121279
One of the cardinal rules of my blog is keeping the language family friendly, comments included. Please adjust your post, or it will be removed.
On a related note, I really, really, really hope you weren't serious about the whole "this person you referenced once was opposed to this social group, that means they and you by association are racist."
Not only is that bigotry in an extreme, it's pretty ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous, in fact. Is anyone who is French racist against Russia for Napoleon invading?
The absolute insanity of the response you gave there is boggling. Maybe you calm down and think on it for a bit.
5121279
Ah, and there it is. The personal attacks, I was wondering when they would show up. I ask for logic and numbers and facts and you immediately go to the personal attacks without knowing a single thing about me. Because you have no facts or logic, just emotion. Do you know what race I am? No. And yet you label me racist. You call me heartless after reading AND COMMENTING on my blog about my sisters death. Which was the single most heartfelt thing I've personally ever written.
And again you try twisting my words to your own ends, I said Reagan was a staunch defender of the second amendment, I never said he liked guns lol. He never tried to repeal the second amendment, he stood by the constitution as was his sworn duty as President.
I give you a perfect opportunity to show me your side of the argument, perhaps change my view even a little, and you start swearing and let loose on the personal attacks. You only proved my original point, you hate my views and therefore me, and you wish to censor what I say and believe.
I'm proud to say that i have three children who I adore, two of which are autistic, which is it's own struggle. And I have taken on the PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY to provide everything they need. I have taught them to think for their selves and have a civil conversation even with people who they disagree with. I have taught them that government is never the answer, nor is censorship, and that in the end, you have to help yourself. People are by nature selfish, thinking of their own before anyone else.
I'm not going to block you. I'm not a child. I welcome you to talk to me, I welcome open discourse and discussion as long as it is civil. I have been, why cant you be? Has MLP taught you nothing? When you disagree, you talk, openly and honestly. When you see things differently, you look at the other person's perspective. Just because I am right, does not mean you are necessarily wrong and vice versa. But it cannot happen with emotion and censorship at play.
Dear Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight.
Today I tried to help someone following Starlight Glimmers original path, I tried to show them another way.
I failed, I'm sorry. Maybe in time, when they accept that it is no ones job but their own to take care of themselves, they may see that other paths exist. Paths where hatred has no place. They certainly seem to hate me, I don't feel the same. I wish them nothing but the best, and will be here waiting if they wish to talk.
A Student of Twilight Sparkle
Twilight Adept.
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I apologize. It just really upsets me when one puts money before human lives.
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I apologize for losing my temper on you. This isn’t an excuse, but I’m going through mild ADHD med withdrawals right now so I’m extra loopy and hungry and didn’t have a good day at work, and have spent a lot of time trying and failing to get one of my prtners to stop defending one of their other partner’s transphobic humor, and I took a lot of this frustration out on you. I also apologize for calling you a racist for supporting Reagan (who, mind you, was blatantly racist) when you probably didn’t know that he pushed for gun control as governor of California explicitly because the Black Panthers were arming themselves in self defense.
That all said, if I can provide data to back up my assertions, are you open to changing your mind on things? I suspect a lot of the disconnect will be philosophical though: I believe we humans have a duty to help each other and other creatures, while you seem to be more of the “every-man-for-himself” variety. Regardless, I apologize for attacking you like that.
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Thank you for bring curtious.
Well. That was utterly horrifying. Disturbing on a number of levels. To lie seamlessly by strategically omitting facts, allowing people to interpret the incomplete results the way you designed...
It's the kind of thing that gives me nightmares.
Welcome to Russia...erm I mean...Welcome to 2019 America, friend. These kinds of tactics are designed for one purpose, to suppress speech that the big media companies are fearful will go against the new agenda, whatever that may be. And its not just speech dear fellow, oh no, its going to get worse. See, once they do this shadow banning, blacklisting of dissenters from jobs, and gun confiscation, it will then become forced reeducation through "cultural and political sensitivity seminars" when its really a reeducation initiative. Then comes the really fun part, the expansion of "probable cause" and the abuse this will lead to in the widespread use of warrant-less searches. People need to wake up and fast, or we will be put under a tyrannical government.
~Take Red Pills! Side-effects include increased awareness, enhanced smell to government bullshit, and a capacity to think for ones' self! Proud Red Pill user!
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Red_and_blue_pill.jpg/1024px-Red_and_blue_pill.jpg
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People have to have signs in their windows supporting antifa or the stores and homes get wrecked. They are the fascist. The only reason they don't have a huge death count is because they suck at killing people. Both extremes have to be called out. Antifa has loads of organized ineffective violence, crazy right-wingers have very few HIGHLY effective violent people working alone. Both are problems that need fixing, but when only one side is demonized, that side will just go more insane.
5121305
I accept your apology. And you are right, most of the issues are philosophical, I pride myself on self reliance and I despise government overreach in any form. I'm one of those weird conservatives who was all for gay marriage, frankly I was surprised and angered that gay people already could not marry. (Small town) I fought locally for that cause as it is quite personal for me being bisexual and for my eldest son, who is not only trans but also gay. These things set me apart from most conservative people. For the record I also never supported Reagan he was before my time politically speaking I was born in 1981. I do know as governor he tried to enact gun control, I also know that he was a huge racist, my point was that as President, he defended the 2nd amendment as was his duty and did nothing to infringe upon it.
I asked for facts and numbers for one reason, to make you think, forcefully taking (taxes) from those with and giving to those unwilling to provide quid pro quo (people unwilling or unable to work due to some reason other than disability) means a huge imbalance in equality.
Why should I be forced (taxed upon threat of jail and seizure of property) to pay for those people's medical care? If I choose to donate, that's one thing, that's why there is a charity system in place to begin with and it's my money to donate. But if I donate it is being spent where I choose to donate, it is not the governments place to decide that for me. People these days are unaware or actively trying g to change 2 facts: fact one, we are NOT a democracy, we are a constitutional republic. We are not governed by mob rule. Fact 2: the government and every elected official is our employee, they work for us. They are not, as is common for these people to say, our leaders. They are not our bosses. They WISH for it to be so and as such try and gas light us by saying these things over and over again. (As the leader of *insert government region* I promise to....)
I refuse to be forced by my own employees to spend money in ways I disagree with. Allow me to give you a bit of insight into me and my family the sister i spoke about was NOT blood to me. She was a very dear friend as is the brother i spoke of in that blog who became family. I'm white, with two adopted sibling who are not, I'm the baby. I grew up in a mixed race household in the ghettos of south Houston and never understood why i was hated in the largely black neighborhood i grew up in. We moved to a much smaller town when I was about 12. This led to a series of events that ended with me being the party favor of a group of pedophiles and eventually into heavy drug use. I was addicted to pain pills and hallucinogens like LSD. I got myself clean because, as a white boy, regardless of circumstances, there was no help for me. I almost died in the process. It taught me very quickly that when government gets involved things dont work, because they are always going to pander to a select group in order to sway votes (whatever group happens to be the project group of the time) in the 90s it was inner city black youth because of the raging crack epidemic. As such I determined that I didnt like the idea of my tax money being used in ways I disapproved of, I got myself clean why cant they?
I don't approve of a lot of things that the government does, I dislike the militarization of the police, I dislike how our military has, somehow, become the world police force, and I especially despise how my tax dollars go to things I have largely no say in. Healthcare is an easy subject to bring up when having this discussion because it is very cut and dried, it is a skilled service, not a right, we have ZERO right to another's service. that is slavery masquerading as compassion. Is the healthcare system broken in this country? Absolutely. Is socialism or any variation of it the answer? Never. Because people are corrupt to their core, those with power will always have the mindset of "good for me but not for thee" the government treats us like servants while half the country is armed to the teeth. Imagine what they would do if we lost the ability to tear it all out by the roots and start over? That's the purpose of the second amendment. The raging hypocrisy of government officials who walk around surrounded by armed guards while clamoring for the removal of my own means of self defense says quite a lot to me. Why do you need me unarmed? Why do you want it so badly? My only thought is because you plan on doing something that would likely get you shot.
I look at the world and all the times socialist healthcare has failed on a massive scale and go "well, our systems a shitshow but at least I'm not eating my pets to survive" which is exactly what happened in Venezuela and is happening as we speak. You quoted Mao Zedong, you were only partially right on that quote, Mao took the guns away from the population and only the police and military could have them and then proceeded to murder over 50 million of his own people for speaking out against his policies or by starvation because after losing a certain number of workers for rebelling there is no more workforce to produce food.(some estimates say upwards of 60 million but the number will likely never be known) he said that political power could only come from the barrel of a gun. That is ONLY true if the populace isn't armed as well and can fight back. Canada has months long waits for routine procedures and the government, at any time, can choose not to pay for it. England recently sentenced a baby to death and would not let the parents take the child elsewhere for care even going so far as to blockade them in the hospital with police. As a parent that thought brings out a rage in me that makes my ancestors grin in anticipation. These countries have two things in common, massive taxes, and extreme government overreach. You think your paychecks are taxed heavily here? In Canada it is closer to 60% tax rate in order to pay for that "free" healthcare. Simply put there is no such thing as free, someone has to pay for the nurses, doctors, lab techs, the supplies and machines they all use as well as the facilities. They have fooled people into buying into the "human rights are free" argument and if they applied a tiny bit of critical thinking they would realize it simply isn't so.
As shitty as it is, we are all in this on our own, and more government control will only lead to a bigger shit show. Be fiercely independent, fight for those close to you, and never stop fighting for those you love. But never expect the government to save you. They wont.
I'm glad you are willing to apologize and continue to speak with me, and I owe you one as well. I've studied psychology for 30 of my 38 years of life. I goaded you into a state of anger by remaining so calm and picking apart your statements, because you cannot have a rational discussion until you put emotion aside and for most, that requires an out burst beforehand. I'm sorry that other things affected you so badly that my own machinations made it came out in such a hateful vitriolic manner. But, it has allowed for clarity of mind and rational conversation.
5121391
For your consideration:
i.imgur.com/IZX0ukl.jpg
i.imgur.com/ZvPhU3r.png
All of the countries listed, other than the US, have socialised healthcare. Virtually all of the modern world other than the US is socialist. There's a good and bad way of doing it. For the past couple of months, I've been visiting various local hospitals for various major and minor operations and tests. I was charged $0, and I have more money in the bank than probably 80% of my age group.
If you want a reason to give up your income for the benefit of the community, look no further than this.
i.imgur.com/YBNrwIR.gif
Tax me, daddy.
5121454
Do you REALLY want to trust the corporate cronies in our government to do it right? Sorry, I count my money when I get it from the bank lol I trust no one that much.
5121454
Also, I see nothing in your oh so cherry picked charts about QUALITY of healthcare. "Equal" "efficient" what exactly are these terms supposed to mean in regards to healthcare? Equal to what? Efficiency is deadly in healthcare, it means one doctor has to know so much that he overlooks things. Efficiency is the death of the specialist. Do you really want your family doctor doing brain surgery? Because when one of your criteria for healthcare is Efficiency, that's what you end up with.
I would rather pay for insurance of my own choosing and pay for quality healthcare with the best and brightest in their field than rely on some half trained hack.
5121538
It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him.
i.imgur.com/pUCbOlW.png
i.imgur.com/1rcyZuF.jpg
I think we're in agreement in that corporations need to get out of government. You can start by voting against people who support lobbying.
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Feeling competent enough despite my Flu to put up my own thoughts here.
Okay, here's why I think simply switching the US healthcare system over to a more socialized system won't work. Before I get into it, it's not to say that I think a more balanced out medical system is a bad idea. However, in the US it simply cannot work currently, for one very large reason most people tend to forget:
The current US healthcare system is built to make as much money as possible, Insurance programs, businesses demanding discounts or they'll block chunks of hospitals, etc etc etc. In fact, here's a "fun" short on that matter that covers some of these issues and how they've grown vastly out of control in the US:
So why won't a socialized system work? The same reason the ACA didn't work. All that did was give insurance companies a far more captive audience, one they could raise prices on.
Changing our system to one fully government paid? That'll just give those same companies reasons to raise prices even further, because the government isn't going to back out of a payment. "Sure, the government is footing the bill, but those darn X-rays are just so expensive. Better up the costs again. Taxes have to go up? Well, that's just gonna have to happen for so-and-so to get their insulin ..."
This is why my friends that are from countries with Social medicine don't support it in the US. As one friend put it: 'it's like you want to adopt all the worst parts of our systems instead of the best.'
Now, all that said, I'm not against a more social medical system. I'm not convinced we should actually need it (not to a large degree), but it's not a bad idea. That said, our current system cannot be integrated into it. Before we can do anything like that, we need to roll back a lot of the bad decisions that have made our current system the mess that it is.
And that won't be easy. At all. The people in charge of those systems have a lot of money and power. That's why things like "private medical funds" (where a group of people come together to make their own legally bound medical-only savings fund) are banned in the US. They've got the lobbying power to keep themselves rich. A socialized system will just shift where their money comes from.
But if we can roll back all those laws and changes, and pry the power out of the hands of insurance companies, the medical situation in the US will get a lot better. Then we can decide whether or not it needs a social safety system. And it'd likely be a good idea.
But it would cost a tenth of what it would cost now.
5122635
So what I’m hearing is that you feel we would need a very large change in the status quo. So, who’s down for a socialist revolution?!
5121358
M8 what are you on about?
5122643
Well, some hear what they want to hear, clearly.
For the record, I believe a socialist revolution would be one of the worst choices any country can make, given the track record of failure, misery, and cost of human lives. Which, in context of your statements I do find puzzling, as you've earlier said " It just really upsets me when one puts money before human lives" and that is one of the cornerstones of socialism. Which is why it's one of the leading causes of death and misery in human history. No person matters, after all.
No, what we need to do is regulate things away from the mire of misery-profiteering they've currently become (which, in a manner similar to a horseshoe, isn't that far off from socialism in the long run). Revert some of the for-profit laws, revoke bans on rival competitors to the classic insurance plans, and regulate hospitals and business's use of "networks."
5121391
There’s a hell of a lot to unpack here, and I’m definitely going to need some sources cited on that “Mao killed 50 million people” claim, but I think I know where our fundamental difference is:
You are a capitalist because you fear others have a heart as small as yours. I am a socialist because I believe that everyone’s heart can be as big as mine.
5122650
Capitalism kills 20 million people every year, I’m not sure you’re on a high horse here. Also, citation needed.
5122651
Here's a plain and simple fact: Arguing that Mao didn't kill 50 million people, or saying that you need some sort of "proof" puts you squarely in the same camp as flat-earthers and anti-vaxxers with 99% of humanity, and immediately means that no one will ever want to discuss this with you, as you've already taken a stance so outlandishly off the chart, most people realize there's no reasoning with someone that far under their tinfoil hat.
Mao was an absolute nutter (as were his followers) responsible for tens of millions of deaths thanks to the "great leap forward." Even conservative estimates by Mao's own defenders put the number at 30 million, with most historians that aren't connected to the man's party putting it at 50-70 million by the end.
5122654
I know it’s hard to accept, but you need to acknowledge that you’ve been fed American propaganda your entire life. That isn’t easy to shake off. Anyway here’s a long but good article with works cited about Mao not in fact killing 50 million bajillion Brazilian people. http://monthlyreview.org/commentary/did-mao-really-kill-millions-in-the-great-leap-forward/
In fact have four more!
http://www.invent-the-future.org/2013/12/monster-liberator-legacy-mao-zedong/
http://www.strongwindpress.com/pdfs/EBook/The_Battle_for_Chinas_Past.pdf
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=b83ac8a7e6c2d8ce3f809842521965f1
https://www.quora.com/How-did-Mao-manage-to-kill-78-million-people/answer/Godfree-Roberts
Mao was far from perfect, but he and his policies did lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
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And you need to accept that you're living in a fantasy, backing some of the worst dictators the world has ever seen. You might as well be Pro-King Sombra or Tirek. You're backing people who were against everything this show stands for.
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I can’t open your eyes to truths you’re afraid to see.
These comments are... attracting flies.
Viking ZX, have you seen/used https://gab.com ? I actually bought a book from a guy on there that I randomly came across that he wrote. The people hosting gab are making speech free again, and make for an interesting place to meet and talk with interesting people on a whim... its almost like people are different and have different views on things!
FiMFIction needs to have a system for sorting blog posts that you like, just like the bookshelves for the various stories. More people need to know about what you're talking about in the main post, and the comments are also a gold mine as well, early emotional outbursts notwithstanding. Critical thinking is all too rare in America; we just tend to shout over, demonize, ignore--and yes, even censor--those who disagree instead of trying to dialogue and understand.