A Call to Arms (Sort of)

[fredey]

Logan made another video about the telecommunications companies and all those things.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIOcbclh370

 

I think it really is time to get something started to finally change this. Even if people are sick and tired of this we the tech communities have to make effective ways to combat it. So any suggestions?

[beebskadoo]

Yeah because greedy, politically backed, large monopolistic evil companies give a shit what anyone else thinks...right?

As long as they (as a company)are given a political vote, things won't change...

[Misanthrope]

I saw this earlier. I also pretty much agree with beebskadoo: with their current political system there's little individual US citizens can really do about it. There's an important thing to remember in this case however: ISPs are basically controlling the vital main means of profit for a lot of companies trying to reach their customers. This means that there's pretty significant companies, companies that are arguably a lot bigger and more important than these ISPs like Google who really should become more politically involved in this processes. Yes Google has the right idea by saying "fuck this we're taking over the last mile service ourselves" however a lot of their efforts need to be spend basically counter-lobbying against the ISPs since they could get stucked in intentionally long and drawn out legal battles to stop their deployment of fiber. Having tremendous and almost limitless amounts of money isn't necessarily the only thing that matters in the (rather corruption welcoming) political system of the US.

As for the end users, well yeah this should be a proper way to mobilize citizens who normally want to distant themselves from politics and want to constrain themselves to their precious tech: nobody lives in a vacuum and corruption and uncontrolled, widespread greed will eventually reach and affect everyone.

[beebskadoo]

I saw this earlier. I also pretty much agree with beebskadoo: with their current political system there's little individual US citizens can really do about it. There's an important thing to remember in this case however: ISPs are basically controlling the vital main means of profit for a lot of companies trying to reach their customers. This means that there's pretty significant companies, companies that are arguably a lot bigger and more important than these ISPs like Google who really should become more politically involved in this processes. Yes Google has the right idea by saying "fuck this we're taking over the last mile service ourselves" however a lot of their efforts need to be spend basically counter-lobbying against the ISPs since they could get stucked in intentionally long and drawn out legal battles to stop their deployment of fiber. Having tremendous and almost limitless amounts of money isn't necessarily the only thing that matters in the (rather corruption welcoming) political system of the US.

As for the end users, well yeah this should be a proper way to mobilize citizens who normally want to distant themselves from politics and want to constrain themselves to their precious tech: nobody lives in a vacuum and corruption and uncontrolled, widespread greed will eventually reach and affect everyone.

indeed, counter attaching with money just perpetuates the problem. Google is doing the right thing by taking it upon themselves rather than lobbying.

[canadianultra]

I used to watch the tek, but it became to "The world is doomed" for me so I switched to just linus, I watch there gaming and review videos

[Misanthrope]

indeed, counter attaching with money just perpetuates the problem. Google is doing the right thing by taking it upon themselves rather than lobbying.

 

What happens when (not if) Comcast gets a stupid lawsuit to bar them for expanding any further though? They can potentially tie up Google for years in court rooms before they can continue, regardless of how much money they have. They need to find a way to avoid that.

[Misanthrope]

I used to watch the tek, but it became to "The world is doomed" for me so I switched to just linus, I watch there gaming and review videos

 

True yet they did address that recently by splitting the tek into two portions so you can potentially completely avoid all the politics and just watch the hardware and games stuff along with the reviews and unboxings and such. 

Also they had a lot better coverage of PAX East than LTT this year, I understand that they had a bigger team and not as many of the issues and eventualities that Luke ran into however they still did a much better job on that, yet most of those videos (that someone like you who hates the new direction should have watched) got little views even with a contest per video and such. So yeah while it might not be for you I think enough of us are interested in relevant and urgent issues too.

 

[Me1z]

I used to watch the tek, but it became to "The world is doomed" for me so I switched to just linus, I watch there gaming and review videos

 

"Ew, these guys are trying to bring important topics to my attention that not only affect me but potentially every other human on earth, how dare they! I just want to bury myself in what few first world privileges and mindless entertainment I can still afford, and pretend the world is perfect and nothing bad will ever happen. Let me stick my fingers in my ear, lalalalalala I cant hear you!" This is why we are in this very situation, you don't fight back, you don't complain, you don't even want to have an opinion. You choose to stay uninformed and give what power you have, what few freedoms we have left to the corrupt mass of government and corporation that wants nothing more than to screw you over, and hope they make all the bad go away all on their own. FFS, what could possibly go wrong???

[Misanthrope]

"Ew, these guys are trying to bring important topics to my attention that not only affect me but potentially every other human on earth, how dare they! I just want to bury myself in what few first world privileges and mindless entertainment I can still afford, and pretend the world is perfect and nothing bad will ever happen. Let me stick my fingers in my ear, lalalalalala I cant hear you!" This is why we are in this very situation, you don't fight back, you don't complain, you don't even want to have an opinion. You choose to stay uninformed and give what power you have, what few freedoms we have left to the corrupt mass of government and corporation that wants nothing more than to screw you over, and hope they make all the bad go away all on their own. FFS, what could possibly go wrong???

 

Could him? Could anyone? If they had their way they would basically kill Netflix and all streaming services that could arise, and have even more ample opportunity to gauge the fuck out of their customers with even worst pricing, to the point that most people won't be able to afford entertainment at all. And yes that seems backwards and stupid but look who we're talking about here: ISPs.

[Unhelpful]

I used to watch the tek, but it became to "The world is doomed" for me so I switched to just linus, I watch there gaming and review videos

It was like that for a solid 2 months. Has been back to normal the last 2 or 3 episodes though, I'd head back there.

[Me1z]

Could him? Could anyone? If they had their way they would basically kill Netflix and all streaming services that could arise, and have even more ample opportunity to gauge the fuck out of their customers with even worst pricing, to the point that most people won't be able to afford entertainment at all. And yes that seems backwards and stupid but look who we're talking about here: ISPs.

 

Could he alone? No. Could anyone alone? No. Quite frankly, corporations listen to nothing but their wallets. There are two choices, we can sucker-punch them in the wallet, which would require cooperation on a scale never seen since the civil rights movement, OR the easier option is to tear down the scaffolding underneath their engorged wallets, watch them fall, and make sure nothing climbs out of the ruins. But no one likes those options, because we still think we can talk ourselves out of this mess and make no sacrifices. How do you win a game where the only rule is that you always lose? You flip the table.

[canadianultra]

"Ew, these guys are trying to bring important topics to my attention that not only affect me but potentially every other human on earth, how dare they! I just want to bury myself in what few first world privileges and mindless entertainment I can still afford, and pretend the world is perfect and nothing bad will ever happen. Let me stick my fingers in my ear, lalalalalala I cant hear you!" This is why we are in this very situation, you don't fight back, you don't complain, you don't even want to have an opinion. You choose to stay uninformed and give what power you have, what few freedoms we have left to the corrupt mass of government and corporation that wants nothing more than to screw you over, and hope they make all the bad go away all on their own. FFS, what could possibly go wrong???

Sometimes its nice to take a break from all chaos, I don't deny that there is a problem

 

Not Related, but I find most of the American news outlets crazy, all they talk about is bad things, I find a lot of the news stations where I live less serious 

[canadianultra]

It was like that for a solid 2 months. Has been back to normal the last 2 or 3 episodes though, I'd head back there.

Just went back to their channel, I liked how the made a separate "Tek" for actual Tech and Gaming, Tek Syndicate is still awsome

[Misanthrope]

Sometimes its nice to take a break from all chaos, I don't deny that there is a problem

 

Not Related, but I find most of the American news outlets crazy, all they talk about is bad things, I find a lot of the news stations where I live less serious 

 

That's understandable I guess, but only to an extent, is not like Canada is that much better off in the ISP department at least from what Linus and other Canadians I know have told me 

[Unhelpful]

"Ew, these guys are trying to bring important topics to my attention that not only affect me but potentially every other human on earth, how dare they! I just want to bury myself in what few first world privileges and mindless entertainment I can still afford, and pretend the world is perfect and nothing bad will ever happen. Let me stick my fingers in my ear, lalalalalala I cant hear you!" This is why we are in this very situation, you don't fight back, you don't complain, you don't even want to have an opinion. You choose to stay uninformed and give what power you have, what few freedoms we have left to the corrupt mass of government and corporation that wants nothing more than to screw you over, and hope they make all the bad go away all on their own. FFS, what could possibly go wrong???

While you have a point. Try to keep in mind that, for some ungodly reason, people want to watch content for entertainment, not to further depress themselves.

[Misanthrope]

While you have a point. Try to keep in mind that, for some ungodly reason, people want to watch content for entertainment, not to further depress themselves.

 

Chicken an Egg: If they don't outrage (and potentially depress) themselves into action there would be no entertainment to watch at all, not unless you want to forget about youtube channels, netflix, etc. And go back to watch a bunch of fat americans work on making cakes and singing competitions.

[canadianultra]

That's understandable I guess, but only to an extent, is not like Canada is that much better off in the ISP department at least from what Linus and other Canadians I know have told me 

In one way yes, in another much worse

 

In Canada most of our ISP's are also our home-phone, cable, and cellular service providers

We pay some of the highest prices for terrible speeds, and In my opinion we have some of the worst cellular service in the world for a very outrageous cost 

[Me1z]

While you have a point. Try to keep in mind that, for some ungodly reason, people want to watch content for entertainment, not to further depress themselves.

 

You see, that's the point. It's not supposed to make feel good, it's supposed to upset you, make you want to actually deal with these problems rather than hiding from them. We use "entertainment" as just that, a means to distract us from the problems at hand. We can't play this game forever, its checkmate, we lost. We need to admit it and find a game that doesn't allow our opponent to make up the rules as he goes.

[Unhelpful]

You see, that's the point. It's not supposed to make feel good, it's supposed to upset you, make you want to actually deal with these problems rather than hiding from them. We use "entertainment" as just that, a means to distract us from the problems at hand. We can't play this game forever, its checkmate, we lost. We need to admit it and find a game that doesn't allow our opponent to make up the rules as he goes.

All doom and gloom but no play will give you a heart attack.

[Me1z]

All doom and gloom but no play will give you a heart attack.

Agreed. Play is very important, but chores are equally important. So why not do your chores and then play? I feel like play would be all the more satisfying knowing you don't have chores looming over your head.

[Misanthrope]

Actually to play a little devil's advocate here, I don't think their shows on ISPs are boring at all. Sure is rather calm and can get serious but those 2 dudes do crack several jokes and make interesting points, certainly entertaining for me, just a different kind of entertaining.

 

Besides, Linus can (and usually does) go into rather lengthy and energetic rants himself, it's just about much more specific pet peeves and such but that's part of the show as well to me: Seeing Linus freak the fuck out and yell out a nice rant.