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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 6th, 2023

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  • It’s hard to tell exactly what to think about this… Like the story doesn’t mention anything about uncovering a CCP-sponsored media agency, or radio ads paid for by the CCP or any kind of credible threats against voters who vote “wrong…” It just says “These messages were amplified through repetition in social media, chat groups, posts and in Chinese language online, print and radio media throughout the [Greater Vancouver Area].”

    Okay? Amplified by whom? Amplified how? It sounds like just normal run-of-the-mill political propaganda, and it isn’t even clear (from the article) that the CCP is even involved.

    But then:

    “According to Chinese Canadian interview subjects, this invoked a widespread fear amongst electors, described as a fear of retributive measures from Chinese authorities should a CPC government be elected,” the report says.

    “This included the possibility that travel to and from China could be interfered with by Chinese authorities, as well as measures being taken against family members or business interests in China.”

    So still, it’s kinda like… Well were threats actually made? But that’s the thing with authoritarianism-- People don’t need an explicit threat. They just need to know that somebody has tools of oppression and an opinion about how you should behave, and they might be paying attention to you.

    Like how a mobster can get away with “that’s a nice family you’ve got there.” That’s not a threat, merely a friendly observation.

    So it seems like the conclusion of the article just amounts to “well whatever it was, it doesn’t seem to be illegal,” which feels a little… Unresolved.



  • And their customers (e.g. manufacturers, transportation providers) factor in both those price hikes and the carbon taxes that they themselves need to pay, and pass those costs on to their customers, and so forth until finally end consumers are paying for several rounds of carbon tax that’s priced into more expensive goods and services.

    In many cases, there’s nowhere for market forces to displace the inefficiency, so things just get more expensive without changing supply chains much.



  • Mine is that, except they DON’T complain. Like when someone is showing me a YouTube video on their device and an ad shows up 30 seconds in… I lunge for the mute button while I scan the room for a blanket, clipboard, or other item to shield us, yelling “AVERT YOUR EYES!!” but next to all of my commotion, they’re just nodding along placidly like “Oh Coinbase, interesting.”

    Like… Aren’t you affronted that some company paid another company to make it less convenient to do the thing you’re trying to do?! Does the gaudy, pushy tone change to too-loud propaganda designed to coax you away from your money not gall you?!

    “Idk sometimes the ads are interesting. Free month sounds good.”

    Jesus christ he’s too far gone.






  • Same experience with my relatives. I had some family whose Macbooks were no longer able to update (for Apple forced obsolescence reasons). They run Mint now, and have never had a single problem since I first set them up.

    Well, one of them called me because they couldn’t figure out how to attach a file to an email… But that problem would have been identical on Mac OS.



  • E x a c t l y! On Windows/Mac, you’re less inclined to be charitable, because most of the time you’re facing down artificially-imposed limitations on how you can interact with your own machine. They seem to say “You’re too dumb to be allowed to mess with that,” which is a tolerable slight if it Just Works every time… But when it doesn’t, ohhh boy…