I got banned for spreading “disinformation” about how badly the war with Ukraine is going for Russia.

Name one example of a serious problem being faced by humanity that isn’t solidly rooted in undue respect for unchallenged ideas. I think that any philosophy that inherently encourages that kind of behavior is dangerous. I know full well that some people think that makes me an asshole, but I also know they will never try to actually support that belief. Now that’s irony.

Why would anyone respect an opinion? I respect your right to have an opinion. I respect your right to advocate for an opinion. Opinions themselves should have to earn respect.

This is a perfect example of the kind of harm that magical thinking must do to society in order to preserve itself. Your words sound egalitarian, but they make you an asshole without you even noticing it.

Not really. Detaching one’s self from reality is inherently hostile to humanity’s future. It’s an asshole thing to do.

To be fair, we’re all assholes far more than we like to admit, religious or not. Being “spiritual” is not especially worse than a whole lot of other behaviors.

I’m not sure that Ukraine sees this as a test war, but I get your point.

They do, but these drones are far cheaper to build than the missiles usually used to shoot them down. They are also being produced in massive quantities.

It works the same for capitalism. I’m in the camp that says neither pure capitalism nor pure communism are systems that can realistically exist at all. In one system, the government usurps the power of capital and in the other capital usurps the power of government. They both end up totalitarian by different paths.

I’m libertarian, but that gets confusing since in America the right wing has twisted the definition beyond recognition. Libertarianism started as a left wing philosophy that uses the power of government and democracy to protect individual freedom from both government and capitalist tyranny.

The Soviets might have aspired to socialism early on, but slipped into totalitarian state capitalism.

Even so, they did start the space race from which a surprisingly large number of technical advances came. There are over a dozen advances in your cell phone that came from NASA research. That includes almost everything except the touch screen which was invented by the Smithsonian museum.

You can lead a horse to water, but when his health fails or his business burns down he’ll be looking to the big bad government for a handout.

LOL, that’s not anger. At best it’s exhaustion, which has become my typical reaction to people taking a dump on a thread and demanding answers to tired old bullshit that’s been answered a thousand ways before.

My guess? Watching too much CNBC or Fox Business.

Your understanding of regulation only considers freedom on the side of business and not the freedoms of everyone those regulations protect from corporate malfeasance. You don’t get that “socialism” includes things like worker cooperatives that should be the ideal of market commerce. Your concept of freedom seems to exclude the concept of positive freedoms. Your idea of capitalism ignores the coersive reality that workers without the means of production live under. I could go on but I’m not sure I could ever stop finding new issues, which is quite amazing.

In short, your comment contains nothing that isn’t straight up corporate propaganda from someone with not enough curiosity about the world and privileges that have allowed you to remain ignorant.

Yikes. I know it shouldn’t surprise me anymore, but I’m still shocked at how deeply so many people have absorbed this nonsense.

Your freedom to swing your arm ends at my nose. Your freedom to do whatever you want with my code ends when you want to bind other users with it.