Amalgamation

[Kodra24]

Why would you get a vote on Facebook's board (unless you're a vast shareholder), it's a for-profit business - simply do not use their services if you don't agree with their actions/principles etc

However we are not afforded such freedom of choice when it comes to government, just look at the mismanagement of funds at every corner and we are stuck to pay for it, all of it

You are highlighting the point I've made, in that NO ONE has your best interests at heart except for yourself - not government, not big corporations, not your neighbour etc.

How one can just let go and blindly believe that government has their best interest at heart is disturbing, it's like you've given up on life - I certainly hope I never ever feel that way

This is an absolute misrepresentation of my statement and the reality of the situation.


Facebook:

The idea that you can just "opt out" of their services is wilfully blind. Leaving aside the network effects (I've lost connection with many friends and acquaintances as a result of leaving twitter and FB--it costs me not to use them because other people continue to use them), that's small peanuts. They also have an IMMENSE amount of control over our society. The genocide in Myanmar is the most extreme example, but even here, they exert immense control over our society. You cannot opt out of that.

I *SHOULD* get a say because I believe capitalism is corrupt and broken. I.e., shareholders and the CEO should not get to facilitate genocide just because they are wealthy, they have immense power that is completely unearned. Ergo, we should either prohibit individuals and companies from gaining such power, or forcibly distribute that power away from the few individuals and corporations to a larger more democratic group using regulations and unions (or co-op ownership whatever mechanism you like).

Yes, I'm a "radical" because I think the current situation is very broken and we should be willing to change it...



As for who has my interests in mind...that is such a cynical and and anti-social take. It's also just objectively wrong...

Things are not black and white, my neighbours DO have my interest in mind. It's why they do stuff like bring in my recycling bin when I'm not home. That's not a selfish action, that's a pro-social action.

The same with governments, as I pointed out, if you're an eligible voter, they are motivated to care about your interests. Like I said, I believe that that interest is far too captured and diluted by the interests of wealthy individuals and corporations, but it does still exist.

These things aren't as simple or as black and white as you'd like, the world is complex. If you find comfort in adopting a simple worldview, be my guest, but do not expect me to provide you with a safe place where nobody will confront you with the wondrous complexity of the world.

The irony is that you say I'm disturbed and yet I find your take to be wholly cynical.

It's not cynicism, it's realism - I am not cynical towards my family or close friends, I have no reason to be, but I have plenty of reasons to be wary of government or big corporations, isn't this common sense?!

I'm not sure you understand how social media monopolies work - it is all about active users, if enough people leave/deactivate their profile their stock will plummet, hence their market cap (essentially the amount of money the company is worth) will nosedive, and of course the less it's worth the less power it can project etc etc etc

It sounds like you should be protesting facebook and the evils of social media (which I agree is extremely unhealthy, especially with kids)

But again, it is a CHOICE to use it! We, the people, have the power to stop FB or any other social media empire by simply ditching it or switching to another platform or creating our own platform

There is NO CHOICE in the state intervention which you highly speak of, there is NO CHOICE in government overreach, you are not grasping the extraordinary dangers you are advocating for because, I'm guessing, you were never in such a danger