> 'If I thought most Americans were unhappy these days, my reaction to seeing this poll would be to question how my intuition went so wrong, not to look for ways the might be biased.'
Your comment reminds me of this anecdote:
> "What I've noticed from users is that a windows user will blame the computer every time even if it is their own mistake, and an apple user will blame themselves every time even if the hardware failed.
> "Apple users know they have the Fancy Name Brand that Cool People(TM) use, so they have multiple levels of psychological aversion to blaming it for anything. They would be less cool by extension. And the brand image doesn't place any value on being capable of using "regular" technology, so they take no hit to their hipster image by blaming themselves.
> "It is really the same as any other name brand item. If a person buys name brand jeans and they tear, they're going to blame themselves for not taking better care of something expensive. Another person who buys a different brand gets mad that it didn't last longer because they only tried to use it in the "normal" way. If they blame it for anything, even its own real failings, then they lose the snob value."
The interpretation of said anecdote as it applies to your situation is left as an exercise to the reader.
> 'I agree with you that the poll is probably poorly measured.'
In point of fact, it's a blatant lie. Not a shred of truth to it. 90% of Americans happy with their lives? LOL. "Step away from the crack pipe."
People are so happy to be alive they are at each other's throats daily over any one of millions of political disagreements.
People are so happy they are checking out by the millions via drug overdoses and suicide.
Close to 10% of the entire nation is in prison. Most of those work in sweat shops for big corporations at 50 cents an hour. I bet they're thrilled to be alive also.
We're told unemployment is 2.7%, but when we calculate the numbers ourselves using the exact same methodology as the U.S. government used during the previous Great Depression, we find they have somehow misplaced a decimal point--and that unemployment now is in fact worse than it was in the 1930s.
Which is obvious, to those of us who have eyes to see and ears to hear of all the "I hurt muh back" types roaming about the land, "getting a check", with no gainful employment to speak of.
Anyone who doesn't believe me can go calculate the numbers themselves; but most won't.
What about all of those people screaming about lack of health care, racism, etc; all roses and butterflies in the USA, amirite?
Definitely no major shootouts going on between gangs in Baltimore and Detroit right now. No mile after mile of economic devastation, bombed out neighborhoods as far as the eye can see. Yet another example of the zen garden of bliss that is the USA, with 90% of everyone happy as can be.
Tent cities full of homeless, as far as the eye can see, in major and increasingly even minor cities across the land?
Must I really continue???
The USA, much like the rest of the entire world, is controlled by lying psychopaths. And you're complicit.
But those people are in fact related. If you could test their genetics, you could prove it. They have different variations on the same face that some successful ancestor of theirs once had long ago, which was conveyed to them in their own generation over hundreds of years by the inheritance of dominant genes.
You will find that people who have such similar faces also tend to think and act similarly also. Not a coincidence.
> 'People here need to assume good faith in the absence of some objective reason not to. Merely disliking what someone else says doesn't come close to an objective reason.'
All this sounds good in theory, yet here I am on my second account after the first one 6 weeks ago was shadowbanned in less than 15 posts, simply for expressing my honestly held and well researched opinions.
Meanwhile I'm all the time seeing you on here busting various people's balls for the most ridiculous and trivial of things.
The person you replied to just now, while it's true that I don't agree with their comment (obviously they're wrong) they certainly ought to have the right to express their opinion. And the community as a whole has a right to see that opinion be expressed, to see the opinion itself and see the responses to it, so they can judge for themselves what is or is not the truth, without having a Nanny State/Government picking apart and criticizing every word someone writes.
You really need to lay off the bondage-and-discipline mod mentality. You're driving away good people from this site. Who the hell wants to stay in a place where they are constantly being nagged and harassed and even shadowbanned (one of the cruelest things that can be done to an online forum member) simply for having opinions? What is it about you personally that makes you so qualified to treat people this way?
You are a Nazi. Plain and simple. I know it's not nice to hear such a thing, but it's true. Someone should have mentioned this to you long ago. There could have been much pain and hurt and suffering avoided, had you only known that your actions are destroying people's lives. I assume many posters are too intimidated and are afraid of being banned, to speak truth to your power. That's not me. I simply don't care, and will speak the truth to your face regardless.
Here it goes:
Are you the one who shadow banned my last account?
This is my second HN account. Honestly. The first one was a few months ago (account name 'shiftless'), when in my extraordinary 36-year-old graybeard naivete, I thought it might be a good idea to join this forum, to participate in discussions with fellow computer enthusiasts.
There are many intelligent and wise people here, and many great discussions. Being that I have been living as a hermit for the better part of a decade, it would be nice to have for the first time in a long while people to talk and discuss with, to learn from and to teach.
I invite you to read through the history of my comments, on this profile and the last, and honestly tell me with a straight face that I am a worthless person, that my comments are useless, that I need to be lectured, talked down to, etc like you're doing to this guy, or that I deserve to be shadow banned--my comments silently consigned to oblivion with no notification--simply for speaking my mind.
Yes, my opinions are strongly held, but they are never ignorantly so; everything I know and believe is thoroughly researched and I can argue my position on any subject. Rarely have I been given a chance to do so on this forum. Actually, the posters here are quick to downvote, to flag, to run screaming to the Nazi mods to please hurt this mean evil person who posted a comment I didn't like. You created that culture. The fish rots from the head down.
The harm you are doing to the community with your Nazi Germany style "moderation" is incalculable. The word "moderate" used to mean "moderation", but there is nothing moderate about your actions. There's no telling how many great people you've driven away from this site through this bullshit. It needs to stop, immediately.
Are you planning to shadowban this account as well? If that's the case then I will never, ever post here or read this site again.
In point of fact, there was nothing at all "naughty" about their comment in the first place. It was just a comment. A comment that the Nazi mods of this place, in their Naziism, didn't like.
For the record, this is my second ever account on HN. The first account was a few months ago. It was shadowbanned within 15 posts. Simply for expressing my opinion.
It's not a matter of being completely anonymous, if that concerned me then I'd never use the internet. After all, ISPs know who I am and where I'm located so anonymity isn't the issue.
What is at issue is the wholesale collection of our data by Big Tech without our full permission and proper disclosure, and that includes the end uses to which it is put and who has possession of it. The other key issue is the atrocious way governments have abrogated their responsibilities in these matters.
I agree with you that firmware on the phone's baseband chips cannot be trusted (nor any other binary blob)—nor can Intel's secretive and all-pervasive AMT on its PC/CPU chips for that matter. (In my opinion, surveillance via embedded firmware together with what actually goes on in firmware and cloaked from view by the compilation process is serious matter that all too few bother to consider important—remember the VW emissions affair and you'll get my gist.)
That said, I accept that some 'spurious' data does escape through my systems—even LineageOS has Google addresses in its kernel—but that's not the point which is essentially that I am effectively obfuscating and disrupting the collection of my data to the point where what's left is essentially worthless to others. A check of the data and IP addresses that pass through my routers shows that my efforts have made an enormous difference (in effect, I stop well in excess of 99% of unwanted traffic by using a combination of quite different technologies). Combine this with the fact that I use multiple different browsers which also report randomized browser user agent IDs to reduce browser fingerprinting, and it turns out what I've done is quite effective. For instance—except for when I'm testing, etc.—I never see ads on my mobiles or desktop PCs and those that I've accidentally seen have never been target at me as a direct consequence of my circumstances or interests.
However, the bigger issue for all of us is that all-encompassing surveillance, whether it's by the State and or Big Tech, reduces both our freedoms and autonomy to act as humans. That's why we must resist it.
> 'It's not intolerant to state that you do not believe in somebody else's religion.'
Stating that you are, quote, "seeking its demise", is the very definition of intolerance.
> 'Nothing above is even "disparaging", even that fairy tale remark. It's not disparaging to state that, without good evidence, you believe fantastic stories from thousands of years ago to be fairy tails.'
This is the very definition of disparagement.
If I were to refer to your atheistic beliefs as 'the ignorance of children, raised by a wicked society that is under the influence of psychopathic demons', would you view that as disparaging? Of course you would.
The difference between that way of viewing things and your way of viewing things is simply a matter of perspective. The difference is, one viewpoint is based on knowledge, whereas the other is based in ignorance.
Source: I used to be an atheist also. As a teenager. In the Bible Belt.
> Stating that you are, quote, "seeking its demise", is the very definition of intolerance.
Evangelizing atheism is no more intolerant than evangelizing your religion. Personally I have no particular interest in doing either, but if you get bent out of shape over somebody doing it, that's on you. If you don't like somebody disagreeing with your beliefs then move to a theocracy where such things are forbidden. The "intolerance" you describe is in fact an expression of the bedrock of liberal society.
Your comment reminds me of this anecdote:
> "What I've noticed from users is that a windows user will blame the computer every time even if it is their own mistake, and an apple user will blame themselves every time even if the hardware failed.
> "Apple users know they have the Fancy Name Brand that Cool People(TM) use, so they have multiple levels of psychological aversion to blaming it for anything. They would be less cool by extension. And the brand image doesn't place any value on being capable of using "regular" technology, so they take no hit to their hipster image by blaming themselves.
> "It is really the same as any other name brand item. If a person buys name brand jeans and they tear, they're going to blame themselves for not taking better care of something expensive. Another person who buys a different brand gets mad that it didn't last longer because they only tried to use it in the "normal" way. If they blame it for anything, even its own real failings, then they lose the snob value."
The interpretation of said anecdote as it applies to your situation is left as an exercise to the reader.