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Maybe we’re all a little flag fatigued, and we don’t need to analyze every behavior of a bunch of jumped up apes on a scorecard of correct and incorrect answers for every decision they make?

I get that we are all hyper-aware of just how bad it can get if we don’t pay attention to warning signs in 2025, but can’t someone do something a little quirky without it being an indicator of virtue or flaw?

I was gonna say this, but OP also said “something you enjoy”…

Bonus Jed Clampett back there.

They’re also MUCH more susceptible to misinformation and propaganda than the “in-between” generations. They aren’t as affected by traditional media, sure, but their new media sources are heavily propagandized, with visibility manipulated by the worst people in the world. They might HEAR about the dangers of misinformation or propaganda in the periphery, but with their primary interface being a handful of apps on a mobile device, there’s not much they can do about it without extensive education they aren’t getting.

I am convinced he could molest his supporters’ children right in front of them and they’ll find a way to make themselves believe it was justified.

There is literally no less logical form of life than a MAGA.

Shhh!

You’re not supposed to say the quiet part out loud!

Just keep pretending our societies are equitable.

There are more assholes than good people because assholery typically delivers better results in terms of wealth, power, and status, and good people have to accept a lower social status in order to maintain their goodness, but most people don’t fall into either category.

But the vast majority of people fall into an apathetic middle ground where they don’t really think too much about any kind of moral consistency and act according to paths they’re already on and the rules those paths require.

$45 million??? That’s a rounding error on a single day of Google’s income. I’m not even a little shocked that they have no scruples or integrity whatsoever, but I AM shocked how apparently CHEAP our democracy is.

Hell, it’ll probably cost more than that to IMPLEMENT this in any meaningful sense!

The solution is what it has always been.

Since DAY ONE phone hardware should have been as standardized and open as normal PC hardware - able to run any operating system that you want.

But every time it got brought up for DECADES, techbro corporate apologists were ready to line up and talk about all the reasons that wouldn’t work and how companies would NEVER do that, as if that was some kind of sensible counterpoint.

Now the noose is closing and all it’s going to take is the combined forces of the richest companies in the world to crush what little competition remains. Undercut or sue Fairphone into oblivion, for example. The lawsuits don’t even have to have merit - they can eat the costs for a few quarters to ensure no viable alternative to the walled garden ever gets a foothold.

The thing to be done now is minimize your mobile usage altogether and try to make it to the tech dystopian endgame with a few local files of your own left.

Gregor Samsa entered the chat

“If you don’t have another cloud destination, don’t worry… we’ll automatically save it to your OneDrive account we FORCED you to get when you activated your operating system. Why no! You CAN’T turn it off! Also, we won’t let you edit your files without internet connectivity. You can never be too safe!”

Literally the ONLY thing stopping this from happening is they don’t think they can get away with it yet. I’m NOT going to give them the benefit of the doubt.