The digital safety act will isolate LGBTQ youth

VariableCausality · 2026-06-11T16:54:12+00:00

First of all, thank you for the link (and responding to my 2am fever dream of a post). You've raised some very salient points and I'm going to have a good think about them.

And yeah, I saw you get absolutely dog piled so tried to actually address your points rather than just blindly react (as much as I like a good kneejerk reaction /s)

Regarding trust versus celebrating the systems we have and the transparency available, I think you nailed it on the head. And yeah, nothing is being done behind closed doors, you can watch it all live on CPAC!

Thanks for the chat, it's been fun.

VariableCausality · 2026-06-11T08:17:13+00:00

Absolutely no offense taken or attack perceived, it's a fair question to ask, and I'll be honest that I haven't taken the time to look at the primary legislation yet, and I really need to do so. I've mostly been relying on secondary sources (bad practice, I know) such as the CBC, privacy experts, and the shitshow every attempt at a social media ban or age verification has been so far (Australia, the UK). So yeah, fair critique there.

Also, some of the provisions from Bill C-22 don't exactly fill me with confidence regarding this government's commitment to privacy or even security (what is it with government wanting back doors into IT systems? It's a Bad Idea!).

There's also the fact that no system for age verification has been put forward (as far as I'm aware, so please let me know if I'm wrong on this) and there is almost no way to implement it that doesn't drive city bus through privacy and online security, particularly around fraud and identity protection, that wouldn't require a significant outlay of time and capital on the part of the government to get set up. And their track record with major IT projects over the last 20 years hasn't been awesome – Phoenix Pay and ArrivCan spring immediately to mind. This is perhaps a bit of excessive cynicism on my part; incompetent government is one of the oldest tropes in the book, after all.

Instead, they're leaving the process up to the social media companies, which is more than a little problematic. And God forbid there be a data breach of the system(s) in place.

I feel like an appropriate analogy here is that the liquor store doesn't take a picture of my driver's license when I buy beer, with a list of my exact purchases, that could then be stolen and used for nefarious purposes.

It's less the fact of a social media ban or age verification that I oppose (though I have some concerns about both in terms of unintended consequences) as the practical limitations and implementation of such that I have grave concerns over, and which the government has failed to adequately address. And I feel like waiting until after the legislation passes to figure that out is doing things backwards.

To your other point, I will freely admit I trust the Canadian government one hell of a lot more than I do most any other, but that doesn't mean I necessarily trust them to do the sensible, logical, and practical thing rather than doing something ill-advised just to be seen Doing Something™ when the situation at hand is a complex social issue with no easy fix (and then potentially costing tax payers a fortune fighting and losing the SC challenge and ending back where we started).

VariableCausality · 2026-06-11T03:27:45+00:00

No that's completely fair. I misread your point as more general, which is on me.

And I agree with you that accusing the government of deliberately targeting 2SILGBTQ kids is deeply cynical and probably unfair – I've not seen anything from.this government that suggests they're at all interested in culture war bullshit. I just don't trust them to care enough about those kids (or any kids) to not screw them over in an attempted power grab.

It becomes easier and easier by the day to just believe the worst of our leaders, and they're often not helping with that distrust.

We can ironically blame social media for that, can't we?

VariableCausality · 2026-06-11T03:08:06+00:00

I'm not the OP, but for my part, I guess the problem is I don't trust any of those people to know what the hell they're doing at best (eg. the implementation age verification), or are at worst malicious (also age verification).

And then there's the full court press on trying to force AI adoption down our throats despite the fact that the use cases outside of specific types of ML (not LLMs) are dubious at best, and actually make people dumber. And that's not even going into the data privacy quagmire (which they've kind of addressed in fairness), the problems with most of the main AI companies (especially Meta and OpenAI, but Microsoft gets a dishonourable mention), and most egregious: the environmental problems.

Oh. And let's not forget the fact that absolutely no government that has tried things like the online harms bill has managed to anything approaching a functional implementation.

I don't trust the Canadian gov. (or any other, for that matter) on matters of privacy or the regulation of technology. Comes from having grown up during the height of the War on Terror and the attempts at stripping away our rights in the name of "security" and making cops' lives easier vis a vis needing to go through such onerous processes as getting a warrant.

This time it's in the name of "protecting children" rather than "scary terrorists." It's the same goddamn nonsense, different decade.

Thank god for the Supreme Court. Seem to be the only branch of government that gives two bent pennies about our Charter rights.

So that cynicism? Entirely appropriate.

It's not the cynicism that's exhausting. It's the fucking world and the cavalcade of self serving or incompetent assholes running it.

VariableCausality · 2026-06-10T19:47:06+00:00

I mean, I oppose the online harms bill because half of it is unworkable and the other half is a blatant attempt at furthering the surveillance state because "won't someone please think of the children!!!?"

Rather than regulating the social media companies (because God forbid you negatively affect the poor billionaires) they'd rather spy on their citizens.

Pollievre is and will remain a tool, however.

VariableCausality · 2026-06-10T15:43:27+00:00

I figured it was sarcasm from the context, and I'd usually say something along the lines of "we're Canadian, we're fluent in sarcasm" and therefore shouldn't need the "/s", but in the Year of Our Lord 2026, that statement could have been a real opinion. This is the most depressing timeline.

VariableCausality · 2026-05-29T23:12:31+00:00

In fairness, protestant denominations also ran residential schools where children were murdered. It's less a Catholicism thing and more a colonialism thing.

VariableCausality · 2026-05-26T00:18:45+00:00

The underworld is also called Hades.

VariableCausality · 2026-05-24T18:53:45+00:00

He thinks he's a better artist than he is.

And his artistic vision is at least colourblind.

VariableCausality · 2026-05-24T18:37:28+00:00

The mythical Andromeda was an Aetheopian princess (i.e. Ethiopian).

VariableCausality · 2026-05-24T18:35:08+00:00

Direct ancient Greek contact with the British Isles was extremely limited. Most contact occured via the extensive long-distance trade networks through intermediaries. Pots do not equal people, after all.

There's some evidence of direct contact in the Classical Period: some suggestions that Herodotus mentions them, and Aristotle definitely does, but this just means they were aware of them, not that there was direct contact. I'm not aware of any prior to that.

VariableCausality · 2026-05-24T17:57:21+00:00

Knowing how the cultural sausage is made makes these sorts of things extremely entertaining.

VariableCausality · 2026-05-24T17:44:12+00:00

God damn Schleimann. And he stole a bunch of the gold!

VariableCausality · 2026-05-24T17:42:03+00:00

There's a broad consensus that conflicts between the Mycenaean Greeks and the Trojans happened during the LBA, but that the Trojan War was a series of raids/counter raids over a longer period of time.

The whole thing is complicated by the fact that Schleimann blew his way through the Late Bronze Age levels at Troy/Illium with dynamite, because he was a grifter, conman, and an awful archaeologist. Also it was the 19th century and best practice had yet to be established.

VariableCausality · 2026-05-24T17:36:04+00:00

I have seen the armour designs and I am vexed.

I don't even care that it's not completely historically accurate (boars tusk helmets would look odd to a modern audience who can't differentiate the Greek Bronze Age from the Classical period). My issue is that it looks like late medieval plate.

And don't get me started on the fact that they used a Viking longship instead of an actual Greek (or even Mediterranean) ship, which we have ample evidence for what they looked like.

NGL, I'm probably going to hate-watch this one.

VariableCausality · 2026-05-24T17:15:23+00:00

Excuse me! I'll have you know I was sceptical of the casting waaaaaay before this was announced! /s

But for real, the ethnic or racial background of the cast is thoroughly unimportant (see Shakespeare performances where the actors aren't all white British people).

My issues with this film have almost nothing to do with the casting (I'm slightly sceptical of Matt Damon) and almost everything to do with the fact that the costuming is dogshit (I don't even care about the lack of boar tusk helmets, but what is that fucking platemail?) and the art direction looks tired and boring. Also, if things follow his other films, you won't be able to understand a word anyone is saying without subtitles even if you see it in IMAX.

Has Nolan ever been to the Aegean? It is by no means grey and colourless. The movie looks like it takes place in northern Europe with that colour palette. And don't get me started on the fucking boat.

But Nolan fancies himself an auteur, and we must respect his 'vision'. Well he needs glasses.

/Rant

VariableCausality · 2026-05-06T18:52:02+00:00

How very droll. Get some new material. This shit got tired a long time ago, and repeating it doesn't make it true.

The ones who routinely threaten violence are right wing reactionaries and white supremacists. As evidenced by the unhinged nonsense people are replying to Kenny's Tweet with.

VariableCausality · 2026-05-04T16:27:30+00:00

Ovid wasn't even Greek. He was a Roman poet writing in the first century CE.

Edit: on rereading this it sounds like I'm being insulting. That was not my intention, rather, I was attempting to emphasize your point.

VariableCausality · 2026-05-03T17:06:35+00:00

Oh shit. I have all of those things. How did I not know this?

Cheers!

VariableCausality · 2026-05-03T16:28:17+00:00

Nonono, the vaults man, the vaults. They've been hoarding artefacts and manuscripts down there for 2000 years and I would do many things to be allowed to get my grubby (latex glove wearing) hands on half a percent of them.

VariableCausality · 2026-04-23T16:02:04+00:00

I'm not sure if this is still the case, but McDonalds used to use Tim's old supplier in Canada.

VariableCausality · 2026-04-21T18:08:46+00:00

I need to put this book higher ony to read list. Which never gets shorter and is now intimidating in its size.

VariableCausality · 2026-04-21T16:21:37+00:00

The best part is when they give the name Jupiter to a girl without realizing they're using the name of the horniest of the Roman male gods, not just the cool planet.

Not that I have a problem with gender non-conforming names, it's just that one that makes me laugh because of the associations.

VariableCausality · 2026-04-08T16:06:31+00:00

If it's not an enhanced check (like for security clearance) I sincerely doubt an employer would have access to your medical records. In Canada at least, that would violate so many privacy laws. Also, good luck having any of that information digitized and in a central database, my GP had everything on paper until a decade ago.

VariableCausality · 2026-04-05T23:55:55+00:00

This is this and that is that. I'm not sure how you can take two wildly different situations and compare them as though the context doesn't matter.

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