u/MadeInDex-org

I noticed many people believe, that Western countries ranking low on corruption indexes, shows they aren't corrupt as hell.

To me this just means it's at a higher, much harder to prove level.

Instead of starting at the cop level (which is still possible with connections), it starts at the points where multi-millions can be made without anyone really noticing.

E.g. farm land > residential use, construction projects, sale of government properties, favors for corps etc.

It's pretty interesting to see how China can order a US company to unwind the purchase of another company in Singapore, after it was already complete.

🇺🇸 Meta > 🇸🇬 Manus ❌ 🇨🇳 Government

#SingaporeWashing

I would not be against digital transparency (on social media etc., not your search history or private communication), if we lived in an utopian society, but as things stand, the "system" is abused by the elites & corps.

Therefore if, if this were to pass now & you did anything they don't like, they will be able to stop you even easier & likely fully.

It would completely rob us of the ability to fight back. E.g. posting something about a politician being corrupt or a corp evil & instantly getting sued for reputational damages, insulting an official etc.

Amazing for motivation:
“Everyone is unhappy; the only people who are not unhappy are, literally, executives,” an Instagram employee told WIRED”

That is just where we want Meta ;)

Looking at how much conflict natural resource-rich countries (oil, gold, diamonds..) seem to attract, I wonder whether such wealth is more a curse than a blessing.

Many regions with scarce natural resources, adapted & perform very well. Some of the richest are examples (Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore..)

Looks to me like the greed for them attracts conflicts: civil wars, invasions etc. Cultural, ethnic, religious reasons often just seem to be used to cover it.

Plus all the environmental destruction / pollution that come with the extraction & processing.

New York Times Guest Essay Opinion
Copy of this post in our Lemmy community: https://lemmy.world/post/46656969

It's ironic to see those same global elites who love partying with the likes of known & convicted child sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein now urging worldwide restrictions on E2E / VPN & promoting age, biometric, and identity verification online - all in the name of protecting children.

It’s also highly suspicious that so many of the world’s biggest countries are trying to implement this wider internet control at the same time.

Feels like a major push toward authoritarianism to me.

It's messed up how the people always have to fight to wrest any rights from those in power, and then fight even harder to keep them!

It's ironic to see those same global elites who love partying with the likes of known & convicted child sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein now urging worldwide restrictions on E2E / VPN & promoting age, biometric, and identity verification online - all in the name of protecting children.

It’s also highly suspicious that so many of the world’s biggest countries are trying to implement this wider internet control at the same time.

Feels like a major push toward authoritarianism to me.

It's messed up how the people always have to fight to wrest any rights from those in power, and then fight even harder to keep them!