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Not to stand up for bad laws, but what is wrong with everyone in the comments? On what planet would they not have considered all angles? The peanut gallery has gotten ridiculously loud of late.


The discussion has devolved to such a point that people from outside the UK keep parroting this (likely Kremlin originated) line that the UK is now a Muslim stronghold with no free speech when in reality it just continues to uphold the values it has influenced the world with, one of the few positives from its dark past, of protecting those unable to protect themselves. Hate speech and punching down. As if inciting violence is completely harmless and no bad ever comes of it.

Many freedom-focused people without direct experience of disability, bullying or discrimination have no way to relate to that concept, and the echo chamber amplifies the intellectually dishonest takes until they take hold. Which is exactly what the angry, seething, downtrodden richest people in the world seem to want right now. I wonder why. What a sorry, hopeless state we've allowed to happen. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, sure, but the ones who've worked hardest to develop theirs should be weighted the most. Now a Russian bot has the same value on a platform as a nuclear scientist or, dare I say it, a real journalist. Because it's entertaining and tickles some dangling dopamine receptors. I'm sure people will wind their necks in when the ultimate result has finally played out and we'll cycle back to cooler heads prevailing, but I fear we'll have to go there first before we get back.

Yes I took the bait, but no regrets, I'll die on this hill. Hate bullies and liars with a passion.


> protecting those unable to protect themselves. Hate speech and punching down.

Yeah, you're talking about speech controls. But, surely, yours are noble and theirs are ignoble.

The definition of "hate speech" over there is very broad, and "punching down" is a questionable concept to begin with.


I agree. I also don't know how that could realistically be achieved, with everything nowadays being lowest common denominator, aid budgets being slashed and drawbridges being raised. It would take an extraordinary initiative by an extraordinary person or group.


Freedom Software?

Beats Open Software because open is still ambiguous to non-technical people.

"Freedom Apps" if you truly want to talk to the masses.


Libre software (as in Liberty).


I should have said why I'm against "Libre" as a term. I'm into FOSS, so I get it, and speak other languages, so I get Libre has a wider adoption elsewhere. But not in the English-speaking world. And I'd guess that was the target "primary market" over, say, France. Free is typically cost-free, as in beer as they say, and freedom can only be "liberties and rights", not cost. So imo Freedom is a solid choice. There is likely a better choice, but if we're keeping things simple, that'd be one approach.


> Libre has a wider adoption elsewhere. But not in the English-speaking world

Is this your only problem? Sounds fixable to me, just like term "free software" works relatively well.


This guy hams. 73.


Agree. I've mentioned to a few friends how that feeling of emptiness and scale is quite awe inspiring and was a first for me. Theory can't replicate how small and isolated you physically feel when you are between systems. At least not for me.


I'm a Brit who speaks Swedish, and recently watched the Swedish TV company SVT's documentary "Sweden in the war" (sverige i kriget). I can maybe add some info here just out of personal curiosity on the same subject.

There were basically right wing elements in every European country. Sympathisers. This included Sweden. So that's what OP was getting at in part. Germany was somewhat revered at the time, as an impressive economic and cultural force. There was a lot of cultural overlap, and conversely the Germans respected the heritage and culture of Scandinavia and also of England, which it saw as a Germanic cousin.

The documentary did a good job of balancing the fact that Sweden let the German army and economy use its railways and iron ore for far longer than it should have, right up until it became finally too intolerable to support them in any way (discovery of the reality of the camps). Neutrality therefore is somewhat subjective in that respect.

They had precedent for neutrality, from previous conflicts where no side was favoured, so imo they weren't implicitly supporting the nazi movement, despite plenty of home support. It's a solid strategy from a game theory perspective. No mass bombings, few casualties, wait it out, be the adult in the room. Except they didn't know how bad it would get.

In their favour they allowed thousands of Norwegian resistance fighters to organise safely in Sweden. They offered safe harbour to thousands of Jewish refugees from all neighbouring occupied countries. They protected and supplied Finns too. British operatives somehow managed to work without hindrance on missions to take out German supplies moving through Sweden. It became a neutral safe space for diplomats, refugees and resistance fighters. And this was before they found out the worst of what was going on.

Later they took a stand, blocked German access and were among the first to move in and liberate the camps/offer red cross style support.

Imo it's a very nuanced situation and I'm probably more likely to give the benefit of the doubt at this point. But many Danes and Norwegians were displeased with the neutral stance as they battled to avoid occupation and deportations.

As for Japan, I'd just add that I read recently on the BBC that some 40% or more of the victims of the bombings were Koreans. As second class citizens they had to clean up the bodies and stayed among the radioactive materials far longer than native residents, who could move out to the country with their families. They live on now with intergenerational medical and social issues with barely a nod of recognition.

To think it takes the best part of 100 years for all of this to be public knowledge is testament to how much every participant wants to save face. But at what cost? The legacy of war lives on for centuries, it would seem.


Sell a course.


I think it really is that simple. Have a discovery channel, recommendations side bar, just stop trying to add "shareholder value" through flawed machine learning attempts. Maintain a useful piece of software, is it too much to ask an earnings-driven corp? Probably.


stop using it then.


Guess what...

I left FB around the time of Snowden leaks. And watched the others all go the same way. I only use them judiciously now for specific information. Even YouTube i have history off so I don't see a recommendations page and I just check my subs semi regularly.

So yeah. The web is better and less stressful that way. New generation perhaps doesn't even know it.


Just to thank you for that point. I think it's likely more true than most of us realise. That and maybe the ability to mentally scaffold or outline a system or solution ahead of time.


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