The cultural left (meaning the part of the left focused on cultural issues rather than imperialism or corporatism) [...] has become increasingly censorious, moralising, controlling, repressive, petulant, joyless, self-victimising, trivial and status-quo-perpetuating"
I think it’s pretty obvious she was referencing online Russia propaganda as the weapon of war in regards to Ukraine. Something I think OP agrees with funnily enough. I can see one thinking she’s completely wrong on the issue framing and any government being able to tackle “disinformation” and how that could have dangerous unintended consecuencias, but I don’t understand how she’s evil.
I see this tied heavily to the debate promoted by @Os Trigonum where there's much American agreement that Big Tech wields a disproportionate control over what we see/say on the Digital Commons yet wild disagreement follows when discussing what the next steps are. Her comments are a bit of a Rorschach, since we can all agree Russia's, China's, N. Korea's troll army have been an enabler (but not the cause that folks like Hillary-stans are claiming) of fanning cultural divides in Western countries. Trumpers were cheering when he threatened to repeal Section 230, and uhhh replace it with what? Something with the underlying principles of Elon's Jacinda's "rules and transparency" but more to their liking? Hmm, I'll take Jacinda over Orban for now. Even this speech is an icebreaker for a UN that hardly agrees on anything, yet that's Dictatorial Authoritarian? She has her own island and not bothering anyone. If anything, it's people from the outside wanting to come in, as if they were Billionaires, in order influence New Zealanders. Hmm...
No. Ardern is pure evil. She is also not very educated and has never really worked a proper job, yet, somehow became "President of International Union of Socialist Youth". Her only defense might be that she is just pretty dumb, but that isn't enough of an excuse for the evil things she has done and says.
This is a good one, and it just seems like a rehash of private business vs government. The way I see it people theoretically have a *chance* at dictating government choices if we can somehow find our way to a good enough democratic system, I don't see how private business overlords can be held to the people's interest. What am I missing?
You have to remember that OP lost his s**t over her covid policies that affected exactly...nobody outside of NZ. He's not exactly impartial when it comes to her.
Why do conservatives exhibit so much hate? @King1 now @AroundTheWorld and let's not even mention @Salvy.
I might want to visit NZ one day, but I'm not sure why I have to hate folks over there. Maybe if I was a centi-millionaire or billionaire like Thiel who decided it was the best place to park in the event the world burns down. You could spin this into her wanting China's firewall or promoting a global turnkey solution for an internet that Americans consider free and unfettered. I do think the internet is ill, and it's legit promoting mental illness among Americans (depression, anxiety, sheltering/enabling egos to the point of agorophobic tendencies, suicide by words or loss of followers), but that's not really the subject at hand. The deeper question should be whether the internet should allow/enable subconscious or not-safe-for-public thoughts that doesn't immediately promote harm but lingers and potentially sow public discord. Once you agree on that, how will you solve it and who do you bring in to do it...on a global scale?
I could see how the proposition of a "war against disinformation" could be flat-out terrible, no doubt. In general, I'd guess I'd be against the vast majority of "fixes" a government would propose save some modest and extremely transparent crafted plans. My comment was more about why would people trust private business elites over elected government leaders, if we the people hate a Jacinda imposed plan we should be able to vote it away, what control do we the people have over Elon? What is the more dangerous path, what is more likely to lead to a dystopia
Ardern and Trudeau are authoritarian virtue signalers. Their fake, performative caring cannot be trusted, as their actions have shown.
Does the OP have a solution for weaponized misinformation? Or is the OP so heavily invested in the culture wars due to weaponized information that they can't see they are in quicksand? "Ardern is pure evil"? "Orban over Ardern"? Says a lot.
Well said. The internet is definitely ill and I see things getting much worse. Authoritarianism Has Been Reinvented for the Digital Age Surveillance and propaganda have always been central to the autocratic playbook. Digital technologies have made repression and control much more pervasive, efficient and subtle.