Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

tribuneindia.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

401–410 of 504 posts

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#401

Post by fluoridation »

thisislife2 wrote: post #315
Ajedi32 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Are you arguing in that case censorship would have been a good thing? Is there a principled stance to be made here, or is it just "people should have freedom of speech when I agree with their goals, and be censored if I don't"?

Not OP, but I don't consider regulating social media as "censorship" at all because the nature of foreign owned social media platforms means that you do not know if it is your own citizens talking or some foreign agent with their own vested interest. Media and communication platforms in every country is regulated. All countries also have stricter regulations for foreign media and telecom companies. Online platforms -…

>you do not know if it is your own citizens talking or some foreign agent with their own vested interest

You wouldn't know that if the site was from your own country either. Could you be sure your neighbor is not a foreign spy?

>I don't consider regulating social media as "censorship" at all

To clarify, you don't consider it censorship because you believe your government would make it more difficult for foreigners alone to use their speech, and never your own countrymen. You're either delusional or adorably naive.

Inevitably, censorship will get used against you, either to silence you or to silence speech you would want to hear. Anyone who calls for censorship is a useful idiot.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#402

Post by SLWW »

throwawayq3423 wrote: post #353
whimsicalism wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

to be extremely clear - it was blocked in the European Parliament network, not all of Europe by the EP

Be even more clear, there isn't a single claim any of the Twitter files have made that have been substantiated. These are pseudo journalists running cover for their billionaire benefactors.

Hilarious that the supposed validity of information is the metric in which you forgive any possibility of censure.

You people aren't real, I am convinced; no human being is this foolish if left to themselves.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#403

Post by Yeul »

bhickey wrote: post #32
lionturtle wrote: post #10

It was absolutely not just social media ban, it was mostly youth protesting against the corrupt government and unfairness, social media ban was one element that was against the freedom of speech, but it was right around the time where everyone was documenting the rich politicians, their business connections and their families that have been living lavishly and just inheriting the election seats from generation to gen…

The corruption is simply incredible. About fifteen years ago I found myself in Kathmandu after getting altitude sickness. The team's fixer brought me to lunch with some government officials. The topic of discussion? How to steal from a hydroelectric project. One of his guests outright asked, "should we be talking about this in front of this guy?" The fixer shrugged it off saying "he's a Westerner, what is he going to…

The corruption is a cultural issue and each of those protesters would ask for bribes if they ever get into power.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#404

Post by fluoridation »

Fricken wrote: post #399

[flagged]

Why are you dancing around the issue instead of answering the question? What was the point of making that comment? "Giving a history lesson" is simply bullshit. If you want to say that you're pro-censorship then just say it.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#405

Post by Yeul »

citizenpaul wrote: post #328
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a shadow tax on non-government consumers. Imagine if you ran a restaurant and had to always keep a table free for the mayor’s family.

People really don't have an understanding of just how destructive this kind of corruption is. Extorting the current businesses is only the direct effect. The longer term is literal desolation. People simply do not start business as time goes on so there is nothing to exploit as time passes. Business that exist simply don't operate in that country anymore so there is not even anything to buy if you have money. Then th…

People do which is why when a police officer that asks for money during a traffic stop is told to fuck off in a Western country. Smart people did this math as far back as the 19th century.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#406

Post by sellmesoap »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #312
panic wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds nice until you think more closely about the framing implicit in “follow the rules and make the nation better”. Who makes the rules and defines what is good for a nation?

True, and yet... I think there is broad consensus that too much poverty is a problem, and (perhaps somewhat less broad) that therefore too much wealth inequality is a problem. I think there's fairly broad consensus that college costs are a problem, that healthcare costs and access are a problem. I think there's a fair consensus that fixing these things would make the nation better. Then you get to " how do we fix the…

I see another problem with rules, that being the little rules that were put in place to solve some social issue at a time and are now out of place but waiting to be used as a stick on someone who's a burden on the establishment. It's hard to look forward when you're always looking over your shoulder. We need a github for law makers, the law needs PRs with documentation for the reason the law needs changing, and links to the research that brought a conclusion. And tests to make sure the law isn't unfairly impacting an unintended audience. Or just having a negative impact in general.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#407

Post by Fricken »

fluoridation wrote: post #404
Fricken wrote: post #399

[flagged]

Why are you dancing around the issue instead of answering the question? What was the point of making that comment? "Giving a history lesson" is simply bullshit. If you want to say that you're pro-censorship then just say it.

[flagged]

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#408

Post by Aunche »

don_esteban wrote: post #381
Aunche wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lobbying isn't used to exacerbate the social divide. It's used to achieve incremental policy wins and prevent incremental policy losses for the clients of the lobbyists. This is what the general public needs to do as well if they want the government to better represent their interests, but they have little interest in that. People willingly choose to exacerbate the social divide, and the overwhelmingly negative senti…

Lobbying to create laws that benefit rich people/big corporations and make the life of ordinary people tougher directly exacerbate the socio-economic divide. Telling the poor/weak to use the tools designed for rich/powerful is just obscuring the reality. The reality being that the system is designed by rich, for rich, to maintain and improve their position. "People willingly choose to exacerbate the social divide" Wh…

> Telling the poor/weak to use the tools designed for rich/powerful is just obscuring the reality.

Lobbying is not a tool designed for the rich/powerful. It is literally just communicating with to politicians your interests. Corporations spend a lot on lobbying, but that's because they have to pay "corporate rates". Grass-roots organizations only need to pay for the basic expenses of their lobbyists. The NAACP successfully lobbied for multiple Civil Rights Acts with a much smaller budget than nonprofit organizations today.

> What do you mean by that? People willing choose to be poor and powerless?

Yes. People's reactions to corporations getting better at lobbying was to act like it's something only evil people do, so that they could feel better about themselves. As a result, grassroots lobbying has declined and knowledge of how to do so has been lost [1]. This is a gift to billionaires that they never could have dreamed of.

> institutionalized looting

Sure, but that is a central plan.

> No, the worst part of capitalism is unlimited accumulation of power

The CCP has unlimited power, which was why they could arbitrarily silence Jack Ma, without even formally accusing him of anything.

> by the way of wealth buying/subverting the state

This is a way bigger problem in China than the US. China does not collect enough tax revenue to fund its local governments, so many departments are essentially funded by corruption.

[1] https://apnews.com/article/nonprofits-lobbying-less-survey-1...

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#409

Post by Yeul »

graemep wrote: post #187
hliyan wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminscient of Sri Lanka in 2022 (I was there). The lack of petrol and powercuts were the straw that broke the back of a camel that had been overburdend for several decades. Foreign "experts" and "analysts" trying to make sense of these events often sound either hilarious or condescending to locals who are living through them.

I was thinking exactly the same. I was not there at the time, but I have family there and have lived there. It was amazing how many people who were not usually politically active joined the protests, and that they attracted support across racial divisions. I think one of the problem with outside experts is that they try to reframe it in terms of the issues in their countries. For example, I have read articles trying…

Sri Lanka was borrowing from China and as you know China is the big enemy of the West.

The fact that Western countries aren't investing in Sri Lanka is always conveniently ignored. The CCP aren't geniuses they just fill a vacuum.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#410

Post by fluoridation »

Fricken wrote: post #407
fluoridation wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you dancing around the issue instead of answering the question? What was the point of making that comment? "Giving a history lesson" is simply bullshit. If you want to say that you're pro-censorship then just say it.

[flagged]

If the price of free speech is that racists have free speech, then I'm willing to pay it.
Post reply on HN