311–320 of 381 posts
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"Capitalism requires free markets" I don't think that's true. Under the Nazis plenty of businesses did well despite not having free markets. In the end capitalists want to make money first
A bunch of state-run or government friendly companies making money does not make it a capitalist regime.
I'm a Romanian and I can confirm that posts and accounts have been blocked, probably because of being reported by the other side. On the other hand, folks, this is a little reminder that censorship is a doubly edged knife ;-) So next time you call for censoring "fake news", think again, because it's not you who will benefit from it. A couple of years back I was enthusiastic about the rise of social media for informin…
Couldn't it be that the Romanian government (or someone who has an interest in this matter) is mass reporting these posts and users? If I wanted to make someone shut up on Facebook; I'd write a bot that uses hundreds of fake Facebook accounts to report certain users. This would cause Facebook's automated systems to temporarily disable posting rights till they've had a chance to review the user in question. Eventually…
This should take around 100 years, given that they were not able to host a propaganda website without publicly linking to their office's address.
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> So what is the non capitalist alternative? State controlled social media services? Really? That would be a better option in Romania right now? Right here you ask for an alternative, then suggest it is one particular alternative, then argue against that as if it's the only answer. Do you think that's an honest way of debating?
Still no actual suggestion of an alternative.
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State-controlled markets are not automatically socialist, they can for example be communist in nature too. Capitalism doesn't require a free market. As evidenced by American ISP's, all you need is capital and the will to have more of it plus the cooperation of the government. Freedom is not involved in Capitalism nor is it an evident feature of it.
By Capitalism people usually mean the freedom to own capital, the freedom to invest or spend it as one likes and the freedom to benefit individually from the fruits of one's labour. These are all real freedoms. If we redefine it so that Maoism, Leninism and even Marxism are all forms of capitalism then it really loses it's usefulness as a term and makes it impossible to understand what most people have ever said or w…
Nah, those are madeup freedoms for humans. Freedom isn't something real you can touch, smell or measure. And it should be mentioned that the entire first paragraph on Wikipedia about Capitalism doesn't mention freedom at all. The only instance of the word "free" in the opening section is in relation to "free market capitalism", a version of capitalism.
>If we redefine it so that Maoism, Leninism and even Marxism are all forms of capitalism then it really loses it's usefulness as a term and makes it impossible to understand what most people have ever said or written about it.
Not really nor did I do these things. Leninism as for example experienced in East Germany was decidedly different to the Social Market Capitalism in West Germany, one is a Capitalistic Market and the other is not. However, there is nothing about the East that makes a Capitalistic Market or even Free Market impossible.
As a Romanian what seems to happen is that a large group of supporters of the ruling party were coordinated in reporting the protests-related posts. I think facebook could easily implement an algorithm to detect reporting rings and actually suspending their member's accounts. Just like reddit is doing with the upvoting rings.
and what precisely is the difference between a 'reporting ring' and an 'activist group', algorithmically?
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Yes but what distinguishes a reporting ring from a "valid" group of people acting in concert?
These people are acting in concert to deny some other citizens what should be a basic right: the right of free speech. There are things that shouldn't be possible to be enabled by popular vote: for example it shouldn't be possible to take the life of a law abiding citizen based on how many people antipathize him. Or to silence one for that matter. I think that voting rings should in fact be legitimate (because they s…
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Sorry, but I don't get the reference. Is Santa Claus Romanian?
He, and his wife, were executed so they don't talk. It was not the will of the people, but rather the ones surrounding him in the former regime, who subsequently took the power. Romania, I believe, is the only ex-communist country where the former ruler was executed.
I'm a Romanian and I can confirm that posts and accounts have been blocked, probably because of being reported by the other side. On the other hand, folks, this is a little reminder that censorship is a doubly edged knife ;-) So next time you call for censoring "fake news", think again, because it's not you who will benefit from it. A couple of years back I was enthusiastic about the rise of social media for informin…
>A couple of years back I was enthusiastic about the rise of social media for informing and coordinating citizens to fight injustice. Now that I'm older and wiser, I can tell you that no evolution or revolution can happen because of Facebook, only regression. Facebook is poison. I'll add to that. The internet is a great tool for coordinating citizens, spreading information, and fighting injustice. Having facebook , o…
The printing press sparked many revolutions in the past, newspapers and radio continued the trend. The internet is just part of a long line of technology that exposes society's discontent.