It’s that whole frog analogy, where you can slowly boil a frog alive by gradually increasing the temperature by small increments.

1. Introduce cutting edge tech to the masses, claiming it will usher in a new era of connection, convenience and utility.

2. Firmly entrench that tech into every corner of modern society so that most day-to-day activities SUPPOSEDLY cannot be done without it.

3. Slowly tighten the screws by removing user agency and freedom while raising prices.

4. Become obscenely wealthy from an entire generation of locked-in consumers who think they have no choice but to submit to your control over their lives.

5. Wash, rinse and repeat.

Please allow me to clarify - I’m not talking about people who help and share with each other as the regular course of a friendship. That’s perfectly normal and should be encouraged - that’s how community is supposed to work. What I’m talking about are the people who are like…um…well, professional ‘gold-diggers’, if you will. Their ONLY interest lies in what they can get out of you. ‘Users’ might be a better term, I guess.

I’d immediately outlaw the buying or selling of goods and services. The internet should be a free repository of knowledge and a communication platform. Not a marketplace.

I don’t know about ‘most’ of my dishes, but I do use an awful lot of smoked paprika…

It’s very simple. We’ll get rid of the pride flags as soon as they get rid of all the crosses. Fair is fair, after all.

Uncomfortable? You’re supposed to put cushions on those chairs, you silly person. :P

Posteo is ridiculously cheap, secure (e2e encryption and the whole works) and just all-around great. Been using it for years without a single issue.

I found some scenes from the movie ‘Amistad’ (1997) deeply disturbing, and they haunt me to this day (as they should any sane human being).

I’m guessing that the ‘pastor’ has some pretty heavy callouses on his knees that aren’t from praying.

Why the downvotes? Was something I said untrue?

Show me a period in American history when there wasn’t an even split between progress and atrocity.

To be honest, every decade has its share of ‘greatness’ and ‘terribleness’. Every generation has its heroes and villains. Sure, there weren’t kids on cellphones back in the 80’s but your kid would most likely be murdered if they came out as gay in high school. Yes, people weren’t digital shut-ins back in the 70’s, but cops were beating the living shit out of black people on the streets.

It’s all relative. There never was a ‘golden age’. That’s not to say we shouldn’t fight to make things better wherever and whenever we can, though.

“If you don’t profit from it, someone else will, so you might as well get yours.”

Don’t even get me started on how toxic and self-centered this is…

This is the way.

Ah, beer - making dinner and your date look so much better than they really are for thousands of years. ;)

Yeah. Here in the US, grocery prices are such that I simply don’t splurge or go to restaurants, anymore. The steak sure looks good, though!

At current grocery prices, I can afford to smell it. Does that count?

Fluxer appears to be the most promising, though it is still very new and they are working furiously to get it up to par with a tiny dev team that consists of two (three?) people. Most basic features are quite usable now, though.

I agree 100%.

No crisis was ever averted through worry, anxiety or panic.