I mostly found Vidal to be a smug asshole, charismatic sure - but a little too self assured, a little too smart sounding, a man with too little self doubt.
I think it made sense as a tactical choice at the moment, just like censorship during wartime - I dont think it should go on forever, because doing so is incompatible with a free society.
It didn't even make sense at the time. It tainted everything under a cloud that the official, accepted truth needed to suppress alternatives to win the battle of minds. It was disastrous, and it is astonishing seeing people (not you, but in these comments) still trying to paint it as a good choice.
It massively amplified the nuts. It brought it to the mainstream.
I'm a bit amazed seeing people still justifying it after all we've learned.
COVID was handled terribly after the first month or so, and hopefully we've learned from that. We're going to endure the negative consequences for years.
And to state my position like the root guy, I'm a progressive, pro-vaccine, medical science believer. I listen to my doctor and am skeptical if not dismissive of the YouTube "wellness" grifters selling scam supplements. I believe in science and research. I thought the worm pill people were sad if not pathetic. Anyone who gets triggered by someone wearing a mask needs to reassess their entire life.
But lockdowns went on way too long. Limits on behaviour went on way too long. Vaccine compliance measures were destructive the moment we knew it had a negligible effect on spread. When platforms of "good intentions" people started silencing the imbeciles, it handed them a megaphone and made the problem much worse.
And now we're living in the consequences. Where we have a worm-addled halfwit directed medicine for his child-rapist pal.
>It massively amplified the nuts. It brought it to the mainstream.
>COVID was handled terribly after the first month or so, and hopefully we've learned from that. We're going to endure the negative consequences for years.
In theory, I agree, kind of.
But also - we were 10+ months into COVID raging in the US before Biden’s administration, the administration that enacted the policies the article is about, came to be. Vaccine production and approval were well under way, brought to fruition in part due to the first Trump administration.
The “nuts” had long been mainstream and amplified before this “silencing” began. Misinformation was rampant and people were spreading it at a quick speed.
Most people I know who ultimately refused the vaccines made up their minds before Biden took office.
> But also - we were 10+ months into COVID raging in the US before Biden’s administration, the administration that enacted the policies the article is about, came to be.
Google makes it very clear that these were choices they made, and were independent of whatever the government was asking. Suggesting these policies are anything other than Google's is lying.
Sure, but I'm not remotely blaming Biden[1]. A lot of tech companies took this on themselves, seeing themselves as arbiters of speech for a better world. Some admin (Trump admin) people might have given them suggestions, but they didn't have to do the strong-arm stuff, and the results weren't remotely helpful.
We already had a pretty strong undercurrent of contrarianism regarding public health already -- it's absolutely endemic on here, for instance, and was long before COVID -- but it mainstreamed it. Before COVID I had a neighbour that would always tell me hushed tones that he knows what's really going on because he's been learning about it on YouTube, etc. It was sad, but he was incredibly rare. Now that's like every other dude.
And over 80% of the US public got the vaccine! If we were to do COVID again, I doubt you'd hit even 40% in the US now. The problem is dramatically worse.
[1] That infamous Zuck interview with Rogan, where Zuck licked Trump's anus to ingratiate himself with the new admin, was amazing in that he kept blaming Biden for things Meta did long before Biden's admin took office or even took shape. Things he did at the urging of the Trump admin pt 1. I still marvel that he could be so astonishingly deceptive and people don't spit in his lying face for it.
I can second this - my parents were good friends after their divorce, as all of the issues of contention were related to sharing a house and relationship.
There are already cheaper, better vehicles being produced in China that American consumers cannot buy due to exhorbitant tariffs. These vehicles will only improve as battery tech continues to rapidly advance and Chinese manufacturers climb the learning curve.
Meanwhile, American manufacturers will lazily enjoy comfortable margins guaranteed by the protectionist tariffs without needing to make meaningful investments in new technology. They will fall even further behind and become even less competitive. But the American people will be told--truthfully--that if they do not continue buying overpriced, technically inferior vehicles, the entire domestic auto industry will fall, with dire consequences for thousands of American workers.
We bailed out the auto industry in 2008. The bipartisan tariffs on Chinese EVs is effectively another giant domestic auto industry bailout at great cost to American consumers, though they by and large are oblivious to this. But an argument could have been made that these tariffs were a necessary and temporary measure to give the US auto industry time and space to catch up to their foreign competition. With this change, these tariffs will need to be a permanent ball and chain on the American consumer. The US auto industry will never be able to exist without them.
> There are already cheaper, better vehicles being produced in China that American consumers cannot buy due to exhorbitant tariffs.
As an example, Australia has lifted many of the import barriers to entry to the car market and is flooded (in a good way) with cheap, reliable, and safe electric vehicles. US cars, once heavily dominating under local branding, are vanishingly rare (except in the "light truck wanker" marketplace).
So my broad comment is, yes, your iPhone will replace all of these things, with some compromises. Its just like the things I see with with UI/UX design in my day job - I can make an app that does three unrelated things, but you lose something for each functionality you're adding in.
* All weather personal stereo, $11.88. I now use my iPhone with an Otter Box
Sort of, but not exactly, yes it does all of the things my portable radio does, but not as well - mostly audio fidelity.
* AM/FM clock radio, $13.88. iPhone.
Again, sort of, but not exactly, yes it does all of the things my clock radio does, but not as well - mostly audio fidelity.
* In-Ear Stereo Phones, $7.88. Came with iPhone.
This is a place with notable improvements from then.
* Microthin calculator, $4.88. Swipe up on iPhone.
This is a place with notable improvements from then.
* Tandy 1000 TL/3, $1599. I actually owned a Tandy 1000, and I used it for games and word processing. I now do most of both of those things on my phone.
If this was an iPad I would agree, but it's the same thing as the others - sort of but not exactly. It can do those things, but not as well.
* VHS Camcorder, $799. iPhone.
Again, yes if I squint at it - but it's the same thing as the others - sort of but not exactly. It can do those things, but not always as well without additional accessories.
* Mobile Cellular Telephone, $199. Obvs.
This is a place of clear improvement, todays cell phones are a world better in both audio quality and coverage.
* Mobile CB, $49.95. Ad says “You’ll never drive ‘alone’ again!” iPhone.
Yes, iPhone can do these things, but not as well as a dedicated device (no PTT button for a start)
* 20-Memory Speed-Dial phone, $29.95.
Yes, a clear win for replacement.
* Deluxe Portable CD Player, $159.95. 80 minutes of music, or 80 hours of music? iPhone.
Yes, a clear win for replacement.
* 10-Channel Desktop Scanner, $99.55. I still have a scanner, but I have a scanner app, too. iPhone.
Not much of an improvement over a dedicated device.
Voicemail (which you could get in 1991), is a clear winner over an answering machine.
* Handheld Cassette Tape Recorder, $29.95. I use the Voice Memo app almost daily.
Also a clear improvement.
* BONUS REPLACEMENT: It’s not an item for sale, but at the bottom of the ad, you’re instructed to ‘check your phone book for the Radio Shack Store nearest you.’ Do you even know how to use a phone book?
The internet replaced the phonebook before ubiquitous mobile data, I do miss phonebooks however.
A phone playing music from its speaker doesn't sound amazing but neither did handheld AM/FM radios or clock radios. Especially since the station you wanted to listen to always seemed to be just slightly too far away and you'd get a little bit of static.
I have 4 clock radios at home, and 2 tabletop radios that are clearly derived from a clock radio - they sound decent, and have reasonably good audio quality.
I've been an avid FM radio listener most of my adult life (NPR mostly), while I can really no longer stand most of NPR programming, when I wanted to do whole house music, I did so with an small sound mixer fed into FM Modulator which in turn fed into coax and an small antenna.
Not that clear unless augmented with wireless earbuds: I would much rather spend an hour talking on a traditionally-shaped phone handset (not quite the one in the picture) than on a mobile phone (even a pre-iPhone candybar one, though holding a glass slab to your cheek for prolonged periods of time is particularly unpleasant). Of course, hour-long personal telephone calls are not really a thing anymore for most people, but I don’t know in which direction the causation points there.
About the personal stereo, Tidal gives me FLAC quality, and my wired Steelseries headphones provide much better audio quality than any stereo I had own last century.
However, I don't own an iPhone, I have a Xiaomi with an audio socket.
WW1 in a way was special, because you had modern weaponry with 19th century medicine (and arguably 19th century tactics - meaning an army that wasn't mechanized).
The fact that the war was effectively stalemate for 2ish years also contributed to both the medical issues involved and the psychological impact of combat too.
They did have fairly strong and comprehensive landline field phone networks, wireless wasn't really needed.
The landline only work if you are standstill. As soon as you have open war, even just over 50m no-mans land, you were out of reach, you lose the connection and it takes a while to catch up.
Specially as artillery shells destroyed wires. So pulling a phone over a few 100m of no-mans land was not that hard, these places would be shelled when the counter-attack happens.
So yeah, in pure trench war-fare they had comms, but coordinating an ongoing attack is really what you can't do.
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