| > But wouldn't you agree it's still a bad thing that Russia is trying to influence our elections? Yes, but it's a fact of life that won't change regardless of any new social media laws. It's not just the Russians, the Saudis, the Mexicans, the Israelis, the British and more all were doing their part to influence the election in some way. And the US does it too - both with friendly and unfriendly nations, and cracking down on it with new laws will have unintended consequences. Are we really going to criminalize foreign nationals buying ad spend on social media to influence an election? Is that really a weapon the Democrats want to give Trump, especially in light of the current DACA/Dreamer situation? And given how much the US tries to influence elections in other countries, is that really a stick they want to give other countries to beat the US with? > Who knows how much worse it will be next time if we don't do something to stop them. As the VP of Ads for Facebook mentioned [0], the solution is education related to digital literacy and critical thinking about misinformation. We shouldn't be making laws criminalising common behaviour that can be selectively enforced depending on who is in power. 0: https://twitter.com/robjective/status/964680128092504065 |
Frankly, an awful lot of speech is legal. Our own law bars the government from acting against it.
And that is a great thing!
Originally, the idea was we make a free nation, and the power of that speech, as well as the strength of our people, ideas, and overall justice in our society was going to change the world for the better.
The founders were radicals, and they were smart.
Let the other nations speak. It's not like we don't have a major league impact on so many of them today anyway.
And maybe we, here in the insular USA, could listen a little.
Anyone who has traveled outside the USA, makes the same discoveries:
Many developed nations understand our politics, the world in general, and their own national politics better than many Americans do their own. In some ways, I don't feel good about saying this either: We deserve a little of what we've got.
As a people, we aren't really doing the work to make this thing run well.
And health care? We don't have it right, AT ALL. The world knows it. The poor state of our body politic speaks right to that struggle. It's embarrassing.