Every time I see an article like this my instinct is to should "no shit, Sherlock!" Except that of course many people (politicians especially) would like to pretend otherwise, as an excuse to keep it illegal.
Gods, I'd love to disconnect. Not really feasible.
But the head Nazi says stupid shit on social media with the sole purpose of pissing people off. Canadian news media righteously repeat it ad nauseam. Then more social media (Lemmy) righteously links to the news sites, vastly expanding his original reach.
The media needs to take a principled stance and calmly call out his bullshit as bullshit - and we have a responsibility to not amplify it.
Actual matters of state - report on that all you want, as much of a shitshow as it's going to be; but the only way to address his infantile rants is to treat him like an infant.
Meta's properties (FB, Insta) have something that most other social networks are lacking: A network of real-world family and friends.
Twitter, Reddit, Mastodon, Lemmy, Tiktok, and the rest all tend to have communities built from the platform's population, based on shared interests. Meanwhile, FB is the platform that you use to connect with your oddball uncle and high school friends from way back. That's the sunk cost that makes it so much harder to leave than the strangers on reddit who share your love of lime jello.
"The internet sees censorship as damage and routes around it."
From a very primitive perspective, this is true. Many of the infrastructure protocols (DNS, BGP, etc.) that the internet sits on are designed to be resilient and fault tolerant. Block access to a DNS server, and the system will find another one. Usually. Depending on circumstances.
Firewalling an entire country is incredibly difficult. From a technical point of view, the GFoC is only modestly successful. It blocks casual and accidental access to the 'outside world' just fine, but for the determined operator there are absolutely ways around it - VPNs, cellular networks, satellite relays, you name it.
But do you want to risk having the police show up at your door with orders to kill on sight?
This is fundamentally no different than content filtering in a typical office. From my work computer, I can't get to porn sites. If I really wanted to, I could find a way - but the odds are pretty good that HR would be at my desk with termination papers and a security escort out of the building.
He has rallied support for massively reforming the American Healthcare system...
I would disagree with this. Nobody is talking about health care reform. People are talking about destroying an economic system that creates billionaires, and also about destroying the billionaires themselves. This hasn't been a call for reform, it's a call to arms.
The scariest thing is that people are beginning to accept that the system has always been rigged, and there is no other way to fix it.
Reddit is no longer interested in being an engaging, thoughtful, hub for discussion and debate. It is falling apartbas a source of news and knowledge.
The only reason they exist is to track you and sell your information. If you stay, you are rewarding them for betraying their users. You are rewarding them for betraying you.
Saint Nicolas of Myra was absolutely a real person who was famous for secret gift-giving.
His legacy created the idea of Santa Claus around the world. Millions - possibly billions of people around the world get presents from Santa Claus (or Sinterklaas, etc.) every year.
If you accept Santa Claus as a deeply-rooted part of western folklore, then not only did he exist in the 4th century, but he exists today just as surely.
Pet insurance is a good thing for people with a large number of animals - particularly rescue animal boarding.
For most people though, no.