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by eejit_compiler 1984 days ago
As a counterexample: The Pirate Bay have successfully dealt with this sort of thing for many years, and they were subject to much harsher and more sustained censorship. Including legal attacks by various nation states.

Is it really totalitarianism in this case? Or, just some private companies inconveniencing people by choosing not to do business with them?
2 comments
syshum 1984 days ago
While I applaud Pirate Bay for the technological ingenuity that is not an counter example in anyway

The Pirate Bay is more or less a link register today after having been pushed to the point where they can not even sustain hosting torrent files, they can only host mag links.

This is far cry from running an actual platform or business on the internet.

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eejit_compiler 1984 days ago
How is it not a counterexample? TPB has user registration, submissions and comments, and a search function. Conceptually, this isn't too different to the function of Parler.

Also, the introduction of magnet links (or more generally, the DHT which those rely on) was a broadly positive move for the BitTorrent community, reducing reliance on centralized tracker servers.

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incrudible 1984 days ago
It is divise and it will backfire. Soon there will have to be a separate everything for Republicans and Democrats.

Chances are that Trump is going to own a big part of it. That is why Trump is not on Gab or Parler, because he will compete with them.

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ineedasername 1984 days ago
He's either making his own or negotiating a piece of Gab or Parker, whichever gives him a bigger piece, to make them his platform of choice.
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eejit_compiler 1984 days ago
I think the issue is more that Trump, who is a highly divisive character, has become the face of the Republican party.

So people end up conflating the ostracism of Trump and those in his periphery with an attack on the Republican party.

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incrudible 1984 days ago
Trump to this day has an approval rate of around 40%. That is a pretty large “periphery”. You can not just seperate him from the Republican party. They tried and failed.
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eejit_compiler 1984 days ago
It'll certainly be interesting to see what happens to the Republican party over the next few years, given that they've ended up tying themselves so strongly to Trump's cult of personality.
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aww_dang 1984 days ago
It appears as if they started distancing themselves as soon as he lost. There was always a contingent of "Never Trumpers". Politicians are fickle.

It will be interesting to see what happens, more so because I expect widespread disillusionment from Trump republicans.

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incrudible 1984 days ago
> There was always a contingent of "Never Trumpers". Politicians are fickle.

Trump isn't really a Republican, it's just that on some key issues, his position aligns better with the Republican party. The majority of the Republican party was openly anti-Trump in the beginning, then later turned around due to his massive public support.

That hasn't really changed, his approval is as stable as ever. The only people buying into the "failed coup" narrative are the ones that never supported him to begin with. Dropping Trump, as much as the party might want to, is not a recipe for success. Strategically, dividing the Republican party will be the prime objective of Democrats.

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ineedasername 1984 days ago
Even Pence has done some distancing. Probably a lot more after he realized that Trump's rhetoric resulted in an assassination attempt.
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gfodor 1984 days ago
I think you are correct except it remains to be seen if the new alt-Internet is centralized or decentralized.
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ketamine__ 1984 days ago
Except Twitter is for Republicans too. And many of them like Bill Kristol turned against Trump because of his behavior. Many that still support Trump have managed to stay on Twitter because they act responsibly.

The problem with Parker and Gab is that they are only for the problem users. In fact, in an interview with Kara Swisher the CEO said that they have panels of volunteers that judge whether a post should be removed. The blind leading the blind.

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syshum 1984 days ago
Republican is a political party, not a ideaology.

Bill Kristol is an Authoritarian, Pro-War, corporatist Republican that does not share much in way of ideology with many social conservatives in the Political party.

Bill Kristol is the type of Republican that turned me away from the Republican party

Bill Kristol is closer in political alignment with the Authoritarian Left, than he is with the Libertarian right which is why he is allowed to stay on Twitter.

Twitter is for Authoritarians / Totalitarians

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