However, I don't think that either Slashdot and Reddit now act as a strong political force. Perhaps they could or should, but I don't think they do in practice at all. Personally, I wish they did.
I don't disagree. I just dispute the relevance. Is your stipulation that it's likely we are only mind-killed by our association with politically effective groups?
But, it has been said, our kind cannot cooperate. I'd like to take this statement as a challenge, rather than as a law.
I agree whole heartedly.
I would suggest to you, and everyone else, that our kind must find a way to cooperate to some degree on many issues, including public policy issues. Not all political issues, but some.
I agree, but we do that by tackling the mind killing, not by tackling the issues, and certainly not by thinking that the mind killing doesn't apply to us, or to our pet issue - indeed, the fact that this is our pet issue makes us far more vulnerable.
Again, I'm certainly not saying "not at all," I'm saying "not here, not like this."
I'm saying "not here, not like this."
I find this argument persuasive. You have changed my mind.
Referring, of course, to the proposed U.S. legislation which could cause severe damage to the Internet—at least, that's what a lot of people are saying. See, e.g., this Open Letter From Internet Engineers to the U.S. Congress (the first signatory listed is Vint Cerf). On Wikipedia, people including Jimbo Wales are discussing strategies as extreme as blanking the entire site (except for an explanatory message) to get people's attention, and thereby perhaps incite them to action, such as calling their Congressional representative.
I just happened to find out about all this a few hours ago, being someone who tries to avoid distractions like most kinds of news, so possibly others here with similar habits will appreciate having it called to ther attention. Or possibly they won't. But to those of you who possess relevant kinds of expertise:
(I think this subject can be discussed without political advocacy, in which I am mostly not at all interested anyway. It just looks like a practical problem to me.)
Edited to Add: I forgot to include a fourth bullet point:
It seems to have been assumed by many commenters, nevertheless.