2024 March
-1
archive,date,wp-custom-logo,bridge-core-3.1.3,qode-page-transition-enabled,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,qode-title-hidden,qode_grid_1400,transparent_content,qode-theme-ver-30.2,qode-theme-bridge,disabled_footer_top,disabled_footer_bottom,wpf-default,wpft-,wpf-guest,wpfu-group-4,wpf-theme-2022,wpf-is_standalone-0,wpf-boardid-0,is_wpforo_page-0,is_wpforo_url-0,is_wpforo_shortcode_page-0,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-7.3,vc_responsive

23 Mar

Posted at 13:49h in Uncategorized

Censorship is a tough subject to talk about. Nobody likes being censored, but many people would like to censor speech that they don’t agree with or find offensive.

Never has this subject been more urgent in our country then after the prominence of social media. When Elon Musk responded to a particularly vile anti-Semitic tweet, saying “you speak the truth”, many people wanted that original tweet taken down. But who determines what is offensive? I certainly did find it disgusting, but a whole lot of right wing extremists had another view of it, and they too have the right to freedom of speech.

So where is the line? Or is there even a line? Who determines what needs to be censored, and who determines what the limits are to free speech?
Imagine if the MAGA movement wins the election (God forbid), do we then assume they are the majority, and therfore they determine the standards? That could mean that some of that movements slogans, like “Jews will not replace us”, are all of a sudden acceptale?

Even now, the house voted to ban TikTok, unless it is sold to an American company. That is some serious censorhip! Shouldn’t it be up to the users to decide if they want to give a Chinese owned company their personal details? After all, there is no law against being stupid.

Censorship is a difficult subject. A case can be made both for and against it. For me, as much as I dislike some of the vile stuff that appears on social media, I believe that censorship is so incredibly subjective that it cannot be properly justified.

Please feel free to leave your comments on our message board.

07 Mar

Posted at 07:15h in Uncategorized

I am so sick and tired of hearing everybody on TV talk about the threat to our democracy. Politicians, punters, commentators, all of them droning on about the threat that Donald Trump represents to our democracy.

While the threat to our freedom is very real, it is not a threat to our democracy because we do not have a democracy! Our system is that of a representative republic. We are based on an outdated constitution that is supposed to give us protection for the minority, but it is incredibly undemocratic. It gives us garbage like a Supreme Court with lifetime appointments, gerrymandering, 2 senators per state regardless of state population, and the extremely undemocratic Electoral College.

A true democracy is based on majority rule. It is the tyranny of the majority where the minority just loses out without recourse. We don’t want to strive for that. Even in the system of a representative democracy with a constitution, like most European countries, the majority still wins in all cases.
Our constitution is designed to overcome that problem, but it has a lot of problems. As long as we have a Electoral College we can in no way be characterized as a form of democracy.

In our current system we are subject to the tyranny of the minority, where gerrymandering allows politicians to select their voters instead of the other way around. Where the supreme court is corrupt, taking bribes and enriching themselves. Where a right wing fascist minority faction enforces religious views that restrict or eliminate the rights of the majority to even be in charge of their own body.

To those who keep whining about the threat to our “democracy” ……. Keep voting for Trump and his sycophants and you won’t have to worry about that. Whatever you consider to be “democratic” in our country today will all be gone. Elections will be Putin style. Racism will be rampant, opposition to government will be punishable by law, Muslim bans and persecution of Jews will be the norm, unions will be outlawed and only the ruling class will get rich. Vote the MAGA crowd into power and you can kiss the so called American Dream goodbye.

So instead of whining about getting court cases done before the election, focus on voting for people who can actually, eventually get us a system that at least somewhat resembles a democracy. A representative system can actually work if we fix the problems in our constitution.

Vote for people that are willing to change our electoral system. People that will change the constitution to have our Supreme Court be elected instead of appointed for life. People that will outlaw gerrymandering.

If the electorate in our country does not smarten up we will become Russia, and our quest to be an actual functioning “democracy” will become a footnote in history. The choice is ours.