Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
from the he'll-make-you-laugh-he'll-make-you-think dept
This week, after a congressman and former Trump advisor raised the spectre of pulling FCC licenses over media bias and noted that only 32% of people trust the media and only 37% think it was balanced in its handling of the election, That One Guy won most insightful comment of the week by drawing a comparison to another important public opinion figure:
The same group that he's getting his 32% number from also puts public approval of congress at a whopping 18%, suggesting that even if the public was on board with censoring unpopular news groups they likely wouldn't want or trust congress to be the ones deciding who gets silenced.
Maybe he's just annoyed that more people trust the news than trust him, and are more than twice as likely to say that the media is doing a good job as say that congress is?
Meanwhile, when the actual creators of email expressed their displeasure at Shiva Ayyadurai getting money for his bogus claim, one commenter drew an odd comparison to claims that Al Gore created the internet, and Ehud Gavron won second place for insightful by underlining the huge difference:
The Al Gore thing is the exact opposite of this topic.
He never said he invented the Internet. "Conservative" pundits looking to make fun of him made that up. What he said is he was on the committee that approved DARPA funding that led to research on interconnected networks and eventually the Internet.
So HERE we have a guy who DID NOT invent email saying he did.
In the Gore case we have a guy who DIDN'T invent something NOT saying he invented it, but the Republican Party talking points, ever a bastion of twisting anything just so we can get back to 1972 says he says he did.
E
For editor's choice on the insightful side, we start out with an anonymous response to defenders of mass surveillance freaking out about who now holds the keys:
I have been saying for a long time now that all parties should fear surveilance. Eventually a party will have the power to shut down opposition with these powers and data on everyone. Now people are starting to understand. I guess they thought "their guy" would be the one in power when it happened. Doesn't say much for that person that they thought "their guy" abusing power would be ok.
Next, we've got a response from David to the common claim that Trump is a positive for at least representing "real change", summing up exactly how many of us feel about that sentiment:
Well, I agree with needing real change. Problem just is that a real change for the worse is not helping.
Over on the funny side, for first place we return to the post about Shiva Ayyadurai, where Roger Strong mused about the earliest applications of his tool:
Once he got his email program running, his first emails were legal threats to the writers of RFCs 524, 561, 680 and 724 and 733.
In second place, we've got some satire from Mr Big Content on the notion that an ex-member of the band Boston could be blocked by trademark from saying that's what he is:
If Facts Cannot Be Owned, Where Would The Incentive Come From To Create More Of Them?
We all know teh World is running out of resources. Thats a fact, and facts are resources, too. Therefore, were running out of facts as well! And thats another fact.
So you see, their are only so many facts. We need a robust, thriving fact-creation industry!! Our new President Trump will only be able to do so much by himself. Thats why we must have stronger laws to encourage teh ownership of more facts. And thats why rigged kangaroo-court cases like these must be REJECTED BY ALL LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS!!!
For editor's choice, we start out with some edits from Jeremy Lyman to the government's cyberwar-with-Russia "strategy":
Here, let me cyber- that for you.
These cyber-leaks are directly cyber-responsible for cyber-loss of cyber-American cyber-lives and cyber-endangers cyber-field operatives' cyber-safety and that of their cyber-families at cyber-home. We need to cyber-find and cyber-jail these cyber-leakers as cyber-quickly as cyber-possible since that cyber-will cyber-obviously cyber-undo cyber-any cyber-harm cyber-that cyber-has cyber-occurred.
And finally, after a spat between ESPN and Nielsen over subscriber numbers continued with ESPN looking to be in pretty rough shape, TechDescartes wondered how it could possibly come as a surprise:
You would think that the ESP Network would have seen this one coming.
That's all for this week, folks!
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Biggest failure award?
That must be awardworthy. Aim for the "funniest comment" award and the guy refuting your joke gets an "insightful" award.
I consider this my most surreal experience since the presidential election.
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Change
Well, I agree with needing real change. Problem just is that a real change for the worse is not helping.
Not necessarily. Change - even if initially for the worse - may have the effect of freeing up the system so that change for the better becomes possible later.
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Re: Change
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And in second place, false history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnFJ8cHAlco
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On Al Jazeera This Week ...
... The Listening Post discusses the state of the US media and how it is practically alone among developed countries in not having a major state-sponsored broadcaster.
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Re: And in second place, false history
And within the context in which he said it (creating the public Internet out of the closed military Arpanet), internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn agree with him.
Also worth noting:
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TOP TEN REJECTED GORE-LIEBERMAN CAMPAIGN SLOGANS
(as read by Al Gore)
9. Remember, America, I gave you the Internet, and I can take it away!
(No. He was not serious!)
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Re: Re: And in second place, false history
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Re: Change
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Re: Re: Re: And in second place, false history
Oh please. That's trash and you know it. Of course it's different.
One is a single comment that has been blown massively out of proportion, and even if you do want to obsess over the comment itself, he's never repeated it or attempted to stand behind it, and there is an at-least-reasonable argument that it made sense in context (one accepted by the people in the best possible position to refute it).
The other is an individual on a years-long campaign of repeatedly making the same false claim thousands of times, using the law to attempt to force people to acknowledge it, and constantly attempting to extract financial rewards on top of all that. And the claim is actively, loudly refuted by the best possible people in a position to do so (including many of the same people).
If you honestly think one is "no better" than the other... Look again.
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Re: Biggest failure award?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: And in second place, false history
Al Gore not repeating or standing behind a statement that is false or ambiguous at best is undoubtedly better than Shiva Ayyadurai doubling down on his false claim to have invented email. It would be even better if Al Gore corrected or repudiated his statement, like Ehud Gavron claims. But Ehud provides no evidence that he ever did so. But again, at minimum he walked away from his claim, so he is better than Ayyadurai on that point.
What is "no better" is Ehud's claim: "He never said he invented the Internet. 'Conservative' pundits looking to make fun of him made that up." Yet we all are in agreement that he said, "I took the initiative in creating the internet." He said it. No pundit made it up. Just admit it. Especially now, twenty years later.
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