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How to own an airline in 3 easy steps and grab the TSA nofly list along the way

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Re: How to own an airline in 3 easy steps and grab the TSA nofly list along the way

#491

Post by xtian »

refurb wrote: post #480
xtian wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Do you think the only measure of authoritarianism is number of prisoners per capita? At any rate, I was reading that countries like China have alternatives to prison called “administrative detention”. Maybe we should just change the name of our prisons so we can goose the stats?

No I think we meet all other reasonable measures also. The experience of freedom in the US is the freedom to make increasingly virtual and arbitrary consumer choices. That’s pretty much it. It’s not the experience of freedom of speech in practice, not free time, not freedom from usurious debt, not the freedom of rising prosperity, not freedom from opaque government interference and meddling.

When people use the word “authoritarian” they are just signaling that they believe the narratives that our media speaks with one voice about those bad, bad other countries.

Re: How to own an airline in 3 easy steps and grab the TSA nofly list along the way

#492

Post by n4r9 »

refurb wrote: post #480
xtian wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Do you think the only measure of authoritarianism is number of prisoners per capita? At any rate, I was reading that countries like China have alternatives to prison called “administrative detention”. Maybe we should just change the name of our prisons so we can goose the stats?

The US (at least the Republican party & some supporters) possesses other authoritarian traits as well, such as using excessive force to quell protests, pushing a narrative which alienates outgroups (Mexicans, Muslims...), or widespread surveillance.

Obviously it's not as bad as China or Russia, but it's not exactly a bastion of hands-off governance either.

Re: How to own an airline in 3 easy steps and grab the TSA nofly list along the way

#495

Post by smolder »

ripdog wrote: post #217
CSSer wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what the motivation was. Anarchism is mentioned elsewhere, so if I wonder if that’s a motivating factor here. At any rate, I appreciate that people are trying their best to be respectful. Personally, I’d also prefer to use “she” if that’s alright with her (it?). This becomes confusing quickly when we’re also trying to use it abstractly to refer to arguments and concepts.

I totally understand wanting to be respectful, but respect goes both ways. She needs to respect the fact that her odd pronouns are literally breaking the English language for people who want to use them.

People seem to be assuming that this request for certain pronoun usage is made in good faith. Asking to be called "it" is probably just trolling on "its" part. "It" would probably laugh at the people bending over backwards to accommodate.

Re: How to own an airline in 3 easy steps and grab the TSA nofly list along the way

#498

Post by kleiba »

xtian wrote: post #477
kleiba wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

What does that have to do with authoritarianism?

Here's a quick test I just derived to assess how authoritarian the country you currently live in really is: you go to a main square in your country's capital on a busy day and start declaring in a loud voice that, in your opinion, the country's current leader has no idea what they're doing, that all her/his political ideas are idiotic, and that the people of the country would be better off with almost anybody else in his/her position.

Keep doing this for a little while.

The level of authoritarianism of your country can then be measured by the reaction of government officials.

Re: How to own an airline in 3 easy steps and grab the TSA nofly list along the way

#499

Post by xtian »

kleiba wrote: post #498
xtian wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

What does that have to do with authoritarianism? Here's a quick test I just derived to assess how authoritarian the country you currently live in really is: you go to a main square in your country's capital on a busy day and start declaring in a loud voice that, in your opinion, the country's current leader has no idea what they're doing, that all her/his political ideas are idiotic, and that the people of the countr…

Ask Fred Hampton about that. Ask Darren Seals. Ask Gary Webb. Ask Julian Assange. Ask Edward Snowden.

Re: How to own an airline in 3 easy steps and grab the TSA nofly list along the way

#500

Post by kleiba »

Nurw wrote: post #485
kleiba wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I'm saying that the US is not an authoritarian regime.

He did not even say america was an authoritarian regime, you made that argument up yourself

First, I only wrote "if you think...", so I did not attribute any opinion onto the OP.

Second, however, there is good reason to believe that OP might hold that opinion, since OP wrote about how the purpose of some actions of the American state, via the American Justice Department, were to "enforce rigid authoritarianism". Whose rigid authoritarianism could that refer to in this context, other than an alleged US-American one?

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