I do agree with your probability assessment; I too think that the Prime Directive is a more plausible answer to the Fermi paradox, as is “we're just alone”.
However, it is not necessarily the case that everyone suddenly gets talking as soon as one of them breaks radio silence. If everyone is silent because of a perceived possible threat, then it stands to reason they will continue to be silent even when they receive a message.
You've answered your own question. “the selection is splitted” equates to “harder to stream” for anyone wanting to stream anything but the newest, greatest, most popular. Getting the full selection back requires signing up to multiple services and then having to search them for your desired content, thus getting “less quality and higher prices”.
You are, to an extent, correct that it's not exclusively Netflix’s fault, but I don't think entertainment pirates care about whose fault is what, they just wanna watch a show.
Humans have shown time and time again in their history that they are expansionist, imperialistic assholes. For aliens to be spooked, we only need to show that tendency on a cosmic scale. If we start sending out probes or even manned missions to far away places that are barely likely to support life, we will instantly label ourselves as greedy conquerors. As soon as a colony of ours starts sending out new missions to create even more colonies, that's when all civilizations, even the less advanced, realize that we're the first stage of a cosmic cancer that must be nipped in the bud at all costs.
The oppressive existential threat you reference doesn't need to exist for the universe to be a dark forest universe. It's enough for every sufficiently advanced civilization to realize that such a threat could exist and remain quiet and hidden just in case.
What's weird is that you can still use ad blockers just fine while you're logged out. So I just open the videos in a private browsing tab to watch them, but in a regular tab to rate or comment.
YouTube should just be government-run. No ads. Content creators can make money from sponsorships and Patreon. Which, incidentally, should also be government-run. And Twitter. These modern technologies should simply be public goods.
I don't believe that's what they were saying. They were saying that transphobes often use the phrase to shut down conversation about their transphobic comments. That doesn't mean anyone who uses the phrase is a transphobe using it for that purpose.
I don't think there is such a thing as “unwinnable people”. They're unwinnable from a single conversation with a single person, sure. But they're not unwinnable if the currently ongoing concerted effort by climate-denying mass media were instead directed towards delivering climate science.
Tldr: the problem isn't the people who are brainwashed, the problem is the people doing the brainwashing.
Hot take: you don't need a microwave oven at all. I've been living without one for 12 years now and I don't miss it. It's surprisingly rare for the instructions on food packaging to require a microwave; they almost always have options for ovens or stoves, too.
Have you tried Star Trek Prodigy? It definitely has much less of the woke angle you describe compared to Discovery and Picard.
Edit to clarify: I have no issue with diversity and representation, obviously. In fact, I'm more annoyed by the right’s misappropriation of the word “woke” than I am with shows that are hamfisted about it. Nor do I think that Prodigy is any less Star Trek. I just like the writing more and think that its representation is well executed.
High-profile awards like the Oscars are not given for excellence. They are just an advertisement for a movie that the producers can buy. It says nothing about the movie other than that it was made by a big and rich studio.
I recently finished Storyteller. It's a short game and you can finish it in a day, but boy does it look gorgeous and boy does it keep your noggin activated.
I do agree with your probability assessment; I too think that the Prime Directive is a more plausible answer to the Fermi paradox, as is “we're just alone”.
However, it is not necessarily the case that everyone suddenly gets talking as soon as one of them breaks radio silence. If everyone is silent because of a perceived possible threat, then it stands to reason they will continue to be silent even when they receive a message.