51–60 of 143 posts
The torrent is here if anyone wants to take a peek (for research / meta data purposes only of course) magnet:?xt=urn:btih:N5BLZ6XECNEHHARHJOVQAS4W7TWRXCSI&dn=twitch-leaks-part-one&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.stealth.si%3A80%2Fannounce
I lament the fact that we need hacks like these to know who makes how much money. In countries like Norway, that kind of data is publicly available. It makes for less second-guessing and less suspiciousness. It always struck me as weird that the American Dream can best be lived in Scandinavia
Scandinavia, while not exactly a nightmare, seems like the opposite of the American dream to me. In Scandinavia, you have the radical lack of privacy you just mentioned as a feature (!!!) as well as eye-watering taxes. Now, in the States, the government spies on you, but at least they don’t publish their findings.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can imagine a society that doesn't value privacy functioning much better than ours if the lack of privacy is somehow thoroughly universalized. Secrets allow for concentration of power, something we should avoid. That being said I'm well aware of how load bearing "somehow thoroughly universalized" is in my statement. Perhaps it's only possible in a culture that truly rejects secret keeping as deeply harmful from an…
> Secrets allow for concentration of power, something we should avoid. Why should we avoid it? Oh, I know a few arguments and they're compelling in abstract but are inevitably just arguments towards a reshuffling of who or what has power. Power over another, however you want to define it, is inherent in hierarchical structures, and I am sorry to say but hierarchies - that is, rankings of entities - are one of the mos…
Hierarchies are unavoidable and useful.
I'm more making the argument that cultural disgust at concentration of power, and a general erring on the side of flatness whenever we can would go a long way toward a healthier society.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Imagine not trusting your family with knowing how much you earn.
Uncle celticninja: "But celticninja you make so much money and I'm on a fixed income, can't you just loan me some, remember when I got you that hot wheel when you were six?" I told my dad what I made, he messed up and told my mom, my mom told her brother and now this guy I haven't seen in a couple of decades is begging me for money. He showed up at my house once to beg and then got mad because he had spent the last o…
I lament the fact that we need hacks like these to know who makes how much money. In countries like Norway, that kind of data is publicly available. It makes for less second-guessing and less suspiciousness. It always struck me as weird that the American Dream can best be lived in Scandinavia
From my perspective, in American culture very few people are mature enough to handle discussing income without feeling a hugely inflated ego or completely inferior to their peers. (Maybe true elsewhere but I can't speak to those places!) The reason it's kept secret is because people can't help but turn it into the proverbial dick measuring or whatever is a more polite way of putting it. As for the American Dream, it…
Some spats here or there, and the typical social media outrage, but nothing significant.
Plenty of information out there about who makes how much and it doesn't really matter.
I lament the fact that we need hacks like these to know who makes how much money. In countries like Norway, that kind of data is publicly available. It makes for less second-guessing and less suspiciousness. It always struck me as weird that the American Dream can best be lived in Scandinavia
Typically the "American Dream" has been centrally about freedom of opportunity, independent of social class or circumstances of birth, and the resulting possibility for upward social mobility through hard work (e.g. America as the Land of Opportunity). I think it's quite hard to argue that the United States is a leader in this category in the same way that it was 50 or 100 years ago.
I lament the fact that we need hacks like these to know who makes how much money. In countries like Norway, that kind of data is publicly available. It makes for less second-guessing and less suspiciousness. It always struck me as weird that the American Dream can best be lived in Scandinavia
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd prefer to keep my finances private, thanks. No good can come from nosey-ass family members, scammers, sales people, etc knowing this kind of information. It doesn't fight against tax evasion or anything, because the wealthy of the world will have yet another incentive to mask their income / assets through any of the number of mechanisms currently available. If you want pay transparency to fight pay inequality, th…
I can imagine a society that doesn't value privacy functioning much better than ours if the lack of privacy is somehow thoroughly universalized. Secrets allow for concentration of power, something we should avoid. That being said I'm well aware of how load bearing "somehow thoroughly universalized" is in my statement. Perhaps it's only possible in a culture that truly rejects secret keeping as deeply harmful from an…
All law, court cases, contracts, and legally binding agreements being public? I could be convinced that's a good idea. Bright sunlight from all angles would revel inequity and could allow better civic planning and civil action (voting).
I think the line should be drawn a little in favor of being private, and in favor of hiding non-recurring purchases for personal use. It would be more harmful than good to reveal where and when someone gets food, takes a vacation, etc.
I lament the fact that we need hacks like these to know who makes how much money. In countries like Norway, that kind of data is publicly available. It makes for less second-guessing and less suspiciousness. It always struck me as weird that the American Dream can best be lived in Scandinavia
Many things make sense for a largely homogenous nation of 5.5 million that stop making sense for a largely heterogenous nation of 330 million.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It always struck me as weird that the American Dream can best be lived in Scandinavia It should strike you as weird, because that's false. The American Dream can be best lived by Scandinavians in the US. Scandinavians do better in the US than they do in Scandinavia and that has been true for the past century. Among the US population, people from Scandinavia and or of Scandinavian descent produce exceptional outcome…
> And Scandinavians in the US are far richer than Scandinavians in Scandinavia, at both the median and average. The Scandinavians immigrating to the US are not a random sampling of Scandinavians. Getting a visa to live in the US usually requires a high-paying job. Usually of high skill or of exceptional talent. Basically the US work visa system selects for the cream of the crop.