John Oliver Rallies Internet Commenter "Monsters" For Net Neutrality

[RedDeadFred]

It's nice to see the government getting back to its roots and undoing all his efforts. Really warms the cockles of my heart.

It does, doesn't it?

Thanks for the history US history/politics lesson!

 

[Darmani]

Mind you I'm not advocating actual violence, just saying there needs to be a very tangible message send that the population will not stand for such a thing. Because otherwise, silence is consent.

Well good luck with that (assuming you're American), your political arena at this point is a corporate playground, I'm suprised your country hasn't has seen a resurgence of the left yet.

The only issue we're really divided on in gay marriage. Other than that, making sure we have enough to live and entertain ourselves on. The rest is team backing.

 

[Banzaiman]

Is anyone really surprised by this? Such a thing was bound to happen, it was only a matter of time. For a country whose national dream is to get rich, they protect the corporations that make tons of money while flipping off anyone who's buying from them.

The only thing that gives me any remote hope in this situation is the sight of big names like Google and Facebook actually agreeing with us for once. And I know we can hardly go a couple months without saying this to some new corporation, but fuck Comcast and the rest of its ilk.

 

[Branindain]

Normally this is the point where I'd smugly laugh at America's broken "democracy", but we Australians just elected our very own, meaner version of Dubya (who was featured in the very same episode) who thinks the biggest problem with Australia is our democracy isn't as fundamentally broken and soulless as America's and plans to spend his term putting corporations firmly in charge where they belong. Our best hope is that the opposition can stop throwing pies at each other long enough to actually oppose him. Fat chance...

 

[Olas]

It doesn't take a village. It takes a revolution. Worked in 1776. It'll work now. The body count might shock historians.

You know, in the past I've usually scoffed at this sort of rhetoric. Obviously there isn't going to be any sort of "revolution" akin to what happened in the late 18th century. But when it appears that there's nothing voters can do because even the democratic process is being controlled by large private interests, it really feels like some form of aggressive protest is needed, at least on the scale of what occurred during the Vietnam war.

The only other option I can think of is simply leaving the country, which may begin happening en masse if life in the United States continues on a trajectory of becoming continually worse and worse. I've never really been much of a patriot to begin with so I'd be mostly fine with it.

 

[blazearmoru]

Such a good share. I hope this goes viral. o-o rawrrrrrrrrrr

It doesn't take a village. It takes a revolution. Worked in 1776. It'll work now. The body count might shock historians.

You know, in the past I've usually scoffed at this sort of rhetoric. Obviously there isn't going to be any sort of "revolution" akin to what happened in the late 18th century. But when it appears that there's nothing voters can do because even the democratic process is being controlled by large private interests, it really feels like some form of aggressive protest is needed, at least on the scale of what occurred during the Vietnam war.

The only other option I can think of is simply leaving the country, which may begin happening en masse if life in the United States continues on a trajectory of becoming continually worse and worse. I've never really been much of a patriot to begin with so I'd be mostly fine with it.

god damnit america. wtf. Let's see... where to go...

 

[Strazdas]

If your goal is reform, voting is no longer enough. If the youth are to have a voice, then one of them needs to run for office. We need to be encouraging young people, in all countries, to take an interest in public policy, and to run for office as soon as they can. It's a group without much money, but endless resourcefulness, and with some orchestration can get these hacks out of office.

not sure about US, but thats not even legally possible here. you MUST be over 45 years old to run for presidency and over 27 years old to run for anything else in politics. the "youth" cant even be legally elected even if it had support of majority.

 

[Drejer43]

something I don't understand about American politics. Isn't lobbying basically corporate bribes? Why is it even legal.

 

[shirkbot]

If your goal is reform, voting is no longer enough. If the youth are to have a voice, then one of them needs to run for office. We need to be encouraging young people, in all countries, to take an interest in public policy, and to run for office as soon as they can. It's a group without much money, but endless resourcefulness, and with some orchestration can get these hacks out of office.

not sure about US, but thats not even legally possible here. you MUST be over 45 years old to run for presidency and over 27 years old to run for anything else in politics. the "youth" cant even be legally elected even if it had support of majority.

I know there are (usually somewhat archaic) limiting factors, but 27 is not all that old, and the president of any given country has a tendency to be something of a figure head. That's not to say they have no power, but that their perceived power is usually much greater than their actual power. Parliament tends to make the major decisions, with presidents playing along/against as it suits them. Imagine a Parliament with even a small number of people under 30. It may not seem like much, but if you could get even a representative proportion of younger members it could make a huge difference. It might even be possible to reduce the age restrictions.