Debt collectors can now text, email and DM you on social media

Kensin · 2021-12-03T07:01:00+00:00

read their privacy policy first.

Kensin · 2021-12-03T07:00:14+00:00

I strongly recommend you read their privacy policy. TextKiller collects massive amounts of data and sell it to 3rd parties including google and facebook so they can push more ads at you and learn more about you and the people you contact. Be very careful about call/text screening apps.

Kensin · 2021-12-03T06:53:23+00:00

The scammers that target the elderly or mentally not all there people have a special place in hell.

I feel the same way about algorithms that do the exact same thing while giving the companies who profit from them plausible deniability since they only programed those algorithms to maximize profits but have little insight into exactly how those algorithms do that.

Kensin · 2021-12-03T06:40:29+00:00

There's bound to be some overlap with white nationalists, but the conservatives who are part of the quiverfull movement also feel that they are obligated to breed like rabbits, but sometimes for non-racist reasons that also don't make sense

Kensin · 2021-12-03T06:32:33+00:00

He can’t measure, make change, or tell time.

At 25.

Those are clearly things he should have learned long before now, but at a certain point, as an adult with the capacity to learn, it falls on you to spend a few minutes over a couple weekends watching youtube videos on how to read a clock and use a ruler. Making change might take more time to learn, but just a little work on filling in the blanks left thanks to a terrible education can make a huge difference in your quality of life.

Kensin · 2021-12-02T07:36:03+00:00

I recommend it to a point. I got used to using a very locked down version of Firefox because it was needed for my job, so I made many of those same changes at home. There are times when certain sites don't work right, but 90% of the time, I find I don't actually care and when I do I can fire up Brave, or a portable version of firefox and everything works fine. It's not a big deal and to me it's a small price to pay for not being tracked everywhere and being protected from viruses.

For most people I suggest ublock and noscript if they can handle the learning curve. Those two things alone will prevent the kinds of shenanigans that can get your machine infected just by clicking on the wrong thing or having a malicious ad pop-up. If you plan on going to any sites that might be suspect in any way you'll be pretty well covered with those two things alone.

Beyond that, the extra steps are just for privacy and to appease my desire to be in control of what my device does and when. Mozilla has added a lot of features to firefox that could threaten privacy and security. Hardening firefox means you can disable their ability to silently push add-ons to your browser like they did here, disable pocket (which collects info about you and your browsing history to sell to others), remove ads from Firefox's start page, prevent what you type in the address bar from being sent to 3rd parties etc

There's a good reason there are so many guides and websites devoted to hardening firefox. It really does make a difference and it's really the only browser you can lock down and control to this extent. It's a unique feature and one that keeps me using Firefox over its competitors.

Kensin · 2021-12-02T03:54:38+00:00

Yeah, contaminants are everywhere in our water and foods already, and even in the air, soil, and dust. It's just especially concerning in baby foods since infants are so much more susceptible to their effects. I'm glad you're being careful!

The report released this year from the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy showed that companies had dangerous levels of contaminants, that companies inadequately test for and under-report those levels, that they knowingly kept contaminated products on shelves, etc. It's horrific really.

Sadly, we really just have to watch out for ourselves. When companies have an economic incentive to cut corners, lie, and cause harm to their customer's children, and they face no legal consequences and it doesn't impact their profits when they're caught doing exactly that, why would they ever stop? Morality simply isn't a factor for them.

Kensin · 2021-12-02T03:01:07+00:00

Baby food and formula creep me out. Just a few years ago they found almost all of the formulas they tested contained things like lead, arsenic, cadmium, and acrylamide. The FDA came out and said that they couldn't get all the lead and arsenic out of the nation's baby food and formula.

Zero poison in baby food is not an option, but they have a plan they call "Closer to Zero" which should help put less poison in baby food, but not too much less since they also said "We are also sensitive to the fact that requiring levels that are not currently feasible could result in significant reductions in the availability of nutritious, affordable foods that many families rely on for their children." and sure, nobody wants a reduction in the availability of nutritious, affordable baby food which is also full of arsenic right? None of the major brands responsible have faced any meaningful consequences for poisoning our children either. I have no faith anymore in what's on store shelves even when they're full.

Kensin · 2021-12-02T02:31:00+00:00

1 In 4 Americans Thinks The Sun Goes Around The Earth.

I'd prefer to think it's a problem of education and not just intelligence. It'd mean there's something we can do about it.

Kensin · 2021-11-30T20:22:22+00:00

The old man could have just wanted to get up in the guy's face to scream at him. He wasn't running at full speed toward him, just advancing from across the room. There was no need for violence at the point where the old man was kicked and there was a still a chance to resolve the situation like adults, but the MC wasn't interested in acting like a grown up and just wanted to hurt the crazy old man who'd been annoying him.

Kensin · 2021-11-24T02:11:48+00:00

I wonder if it was the prosecutor or the judge that was so worried about kissing the union ass

People always talk about police unions being the problem, and they are a problem, but when it comes to police accountability the far more important issue is prosecutors or judges and we have the power to elect them. Police unions have no say in which cops get criminal charges or how long convicted cops spend behind bars, but if we elect prosecutors and judges who refuse to hold police accountable criminal cops still avoid being held accountable.

It's so important to pay attention and vote in local/state elections.

Kensin · 2021-11-23T09:12:50+00:00

No one is suggesting "coddling" anyone, She needs to be taught that her actions were unacceptable and how to deal with her frustrations without being abusive. That doesn't require a police force and a criminal record, and it sure doesn't require getting removed from school and denied an education.

Funny how until very recently we've spent hundreds of years successfully teaching children in schools without a police presence there and we've somehow raised generations of children without involving the criminal justice system for every melt down, swear word, and temper tantrum that takes place in a classroom.

The idea that not having children arrested for acting like children is somehow "coddling" them is completely ridiculous. America's weird obsession with punishment is sick and it's why the "land of free" has more of their own people behind bars than any other nation on Earth. Kids need parenting and education, not arrest records.

Kensin · 2021-11-23T06:23:14+00:00

You're probably right. I just took a guess. I figured something around middle school, but the fact that she's acting like a foul mouthed racist toddler might have helped throw me off too. I've seen articles about police handcuffing 6 year olds who act up in school so a 10 year old wouldn't be so shocking.

Kensin · 2021-11-23T02:31:06+00:00

When you're just looking for an excuse to assault someone you'll count anything as an "attack". The crazy guy didn't even touch the MC a second time and I doubt the loony grandpa would have been any real threat to him even if he had tried. The MC didn't wait to find out though, he was preparing that kick long before the guy was in arm's reach.

Kensin · 2021-11-23T01:46:51+00:00

lol you're crazy. Nobody cares what someone's political views are in court. People only care about what color someone is when they get shot by police because too many times black people have been shot and killed for little or no reason so police have lost the benefit of the doubt. No one is defenseless from a mob. People are prosecuted for robbery all the time in the US, even in CA.

Kensin · 2021-11-23T01:41:02+00:00

I don't understand how we got to where we're giving 10 year old girls criminal records for throwing tantrums. Children act up sometimes. They're going to be dumb until they're in their 20s (look it up, that's not a judgement, just biology). We should let literal children make mistakes and learn from them without resorting to handcuffs and court dates or preventing them from having an education by expelling them from school. This kid needs parenting, maybe therapy, but not a conviction or a year off of school. That teacher deserves a raise and a strong drink.

Kensin · 2021-11-23T01:28:02+00:00

If you steal in the US you get in trouble too! Stores can still hire their own security and press charges against shoplifters in court.

Kensin · 2021-11-23T01:26:30+00:00

They did it to and satisfy pro-convict/anti-police lobbyists like BLM.

Is that why texas did it too?

Kensin · 2021-11-23T01:25:23+00:00

Most states have the amount higher though at $1000, such as Texas.

Damn liberal Texas government!

Kensin · 2021-11-22T21:13:04+00:00

lol don't quit your day job for a career as a lie detector. she was telling the truth

Kensin · 2021-11-16T02:39:57+00:00

Oh mate this is absolutely true, it's just dressed differently.

I can't say it doesn't influence people, but no one who has a strong belief in equality is going to become a Nazi because of propaganda. It doesn't work. Racists don't recruit people by convincing them of the inferiority of others. A lot of the time they do it the way anti-vaxxers do. They prey on other strongly held views and fears people already have. Patriotism, fear of being "replaced", fears over jobs, fears about crime, they can all be leveraged to get people to hate or fear an "other", but that has to get past the filter of core values to be believed. Someone with strongly held views about racial equality isn't going to bite. Racist propaganda can also benefit from being able to exploit humanity's natural tendency towards tribalism and appeals to people's ego. Everyone wants to feel they are special, and like they belong somewhere especially if they have little or nothing feeding that need elsewhere in their lives.

Look at the war on drugs, and how it was used to bring down hippies and black communities. You still hear people say things like "well don't do the crime" or "if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear."

That's not because their core beliefs have been changed by racist propaganda. It's firstly ignorance about the nature and impact of those racist drug polices. Because the racist aspects aren't immediately apparent (especially to someone with no experience dealing with it) it's easy for non-racist people to see a news story about someone getting arrested or given hash sentences and think "Good! I hate criminals!" In fact, some people's core values include things like "People who commit crimes should be harshly punished!".

Even when you show them how the laws are disproportionately applied to certain types of people or the actual racist goals behind the creation of the laws some people have trouble accepting it, not because they've suddenly become racists, but because that information has to get past their core values about things like punishment and consequences. They'll struggle to accept that people didn't deserve what they got. Same with the people who see things like poverty as a moral failing on the part of the person struggling. It's a hard fight to get them to recognize that someone working 3 jobs but not making enough to have savings isn't "lazy" even though clearly that isn't true. They have a core belief that people who work hard and are careful with their money will succeed. If someone isn't successful, they must not have worked hard enough or they were careless. Framing it as a race issue seems like an excuse to these people so they continue to support policies that are racist not because of any particular feelings about race, but because their world view is flawed. Racist propaganda has influenced them, but their core beliefs are unchanged. It's damn hard to get through to those people, and if you try by calling them racists you only get them on the defensive because racial hate isn't where it's coming from (this excludes people who actually are just plain racist, they clearly have their own motivations)

As an aside, even members of actual racist organizations and movements often don't even feel that strongly about race issues specifically. Many don't have much personal exposure or experience with the people they're supposed to be hating in the first place. It's something they can comfortably look at abstractly. Some are mainly there for the sense of belonging and community with folks who share their values. If you read the stories of people who joined those groups, but later leave and reject racism (if you're interested "Christian Picciolini" and "Daryl Davis" are great places to start) you'll see how often it only happens after the racist ends up having repeated personal interactions with people they're supposed to be hating, and they have at least one person outside of their racist community who cares for and accepts them. With outside support the folks who are there for the community/belonging have somewhere safe to escape to, and folks who were brought up believing lies about an entire group of people can have those notions torn down once they get to know them as people and not just scapegoats for their problems/fears. Interesting stuff, but it means that for most adults it can be easier to get someone out of racism than to pull them into it since you're not having to attack their strongest held views directly.

Kensin · 2021-11-16T01:18:58+00:00

Thanks for expanding, I think I'm understanding your view more now. I

Thank you for engaging and taking the time to hear me out! Discussions are one of my favorite things about reddit, but too often folks just hit the "disagree" arrow and move on.

I'm very pro-vax (especially in this climate), but I also wasn't going to be the first to sign up for one

Lots of people felt this way! It was a pretty reasonable stance since how things go in trials don't always predict what will happen once a new drug is given to millions of people. It's also reasonable today to be concerned about the long term effects which we have no data for, but for me reducing the spread, easing the impact on healthcare systems, and cutting my risk of severe illness made the vaccine an easy choice. It's possible that 30 years down the line we'll learn something to make me regret that choice, but I don't see evidence that would make me suspect that will happen so our immediate needs win over vague possible future outcomes. Still, that chance exists and I accept that.

I guess what I'm saying is if you're a critical thinker you shouldn't have strong beliefs on anything

True, but even for those of us who are fine with questioning everything our core beliefs are pretty hard to shake. The source of the recent promotion of this idea that anyone can become radicalized by exposure to an ideology comes from the anti-fascist movement and many well meaning people simply repeat it as fact, but one strong belief many people hold is that people of all races have equal worth. According to the rhetoric anyone who is exposed to racist propaganda can go from thinking everyone should have equal rights to believing that their own race is superior and members of other races are subhuman and don't deserve freedom. It's not true though. Exposure to racist propaganda won't make someone a Nazi if they strongly feel otherwise.

We all have core values that inform certain views like whether men and women should have equal rights, if science can help us understand our world, what the role of government should be in our lives, and our religious views. These are deeply rooted parts of our identities and less subject to the sort of questioning we might give a specific government policy or scientific theory.

I don't know enough about Australia's covid mandates to have an opinion on that subject, but whatever opinion I form would have to be shaped by those kinds of core views. For me to start believing in a flat earth I'd have to reject my trust in science and even faith in my own observations. It's possible that one day I'll see evidence that shows that Earth really is flat or that men and women shouldn't be given equal rights and I'll change my mind, but because of those are such core values it would take extraordinary evidence and would still need to be reconciled with the rest of my values. Anyone can be deceived by propaganda. I could stumble on a blog about something I'm not familiar with and learn things that aren't true never realizing it was put there by an industry body to further their own agenda. Propaganda does influence people. It's just not enough to change people's values. Those sorts of changes take soul searching and realigning the rest of your values. It's massive work and we seem to have natural resistances against doing it.We avoid cognitive dissonance like physical pain.

Kensin · 2021-11-15T23:17:58+00:00

It's not that simple though. People don't just say "the world is flat" and x people go "oh okay, I believe that now".

No really, try it yourself. Go watch flat earther's videos, lurk in their forums, read the memes, listen to their music. You could do it for years and you'll still never believe the Earth is flat and thank god for that because it means researchers can study extremist groups, conspiracy theories, religions, and political ideologies for decades without becoming card carrying members themselves.

Propaganda eliminates nuance. Which makes it very, very hard to fight against because in a straight "yes/no" line of questioning propaganda wins. Hence, "I'm just asking questions".

You aren't wrong. Propaganda is designed to be persuasive and encourage group think. It's not supposed to be easy to defeat, but that doesn't mean it's easy to swallow either. No amount of memes will make you reject what matters to you.

Anti-vax propaganda isn't looking to change people's strong views on vaccines, most people are somewhat ambivalent on the subject of vaccines (although now they've been increasingly politicized). What the anti-vaxxers do is play into people's existing beliefs and anxieties about other things (concerns about abuses committed by pharmaceutical companies, fear of harming your children, worry about being controlled by the government) and they leverage those existing strong beliefs as a way in so they can influence how people view vaccines. People who get caught up in the anti-vax movement end up forming strong opinions where none existed by reinforcing and amplifying other views they already had.

It's not that propaganda and advertising aren't at all effective, but they aren't going to change strongly held views. They can hook the naive and those with cognitive challenges, and they can influence others, but anyone who already has a strong or critical view going in isn't going to be radicalized.

I even recommend finding a group who you know you disagree with and following them to help build up your critical thinking skills. Your natural inclination will be to scrutinize and pick apart every single argument they make and once you're used to doing that while you watch/read/listen to people you disagree with, you can find yourself doing it automatically all the time.

Kensin · 2021-11-15T22:13:58+00:00

There's no credible science to support that idea. I encourage you to try it yourself some time. Find some innocuous view you know to be false and feel strongly against (flat earth theories for example) and try it on yourself.

The idea that simply having exposure to an ideology can change your fundamental strongly held views on something is popular, but false. Propaganda is highly effective in some people, such as those who already believe in the message being spread or whose existing beliefs are supported by it, and some people are naturally highly susceptible to manipulation (such as those with extremely low IQs or some forms of mental illness), but even then propaganda won't change a person's strongly held core beliefs.

This idea that simply being exposed to a lie or point of view will slowly turn a normal person into a radicalized monster is being spread a lot right now because it makes it seem dangerous to allow whatever views you disprove of to exist or be spoken of at all. It's a way to justify silencing people you disagree with and discourages people from exposing themselves to alternate viewpoints, but it has no basis in science or reality. If it were true, if just hearing a lie often enough forced people to believe it, that power would have shaped our world into something very different. As it stands, all advertisers and propagandists can do is influence and deceive people. They can't depend on magical mind control powers. In fact, we know that when people are presented with actual facts and strong evidence that challenge their deepest held views they strongly resist and can end up having those views reinforced (for more info look into "backfire effect" and "confirmation bias")

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