Replace sailor with user and you’re spot on. Instead of selling intimacy we sell our attention in exchange for content.

If a product wouldn’t sell if it isn’t heavily marketed I’d agree it doesn’t need to exist. But if a product is paid for by advertising other products, that is a different story. Newspapers have had advertising for ages because of the high cost of running a newspaper, many tv-channels wouldn’t be able to exist on a subscription basis. Same goes for a lot of websites online. Also no more free porn (not legally at least). Advertising pays for a lot of things in our society. I’m not saying this is a good thing, but this system cannot be changed overnight.

Another part of the problem I haven’t read in the comments is all the companies that rely on advertising to exist, especially media companies. Many newspapers, magazines, websites, TV channels etc would go bankrupt if they couldn’t earn money with advertising. There is a simple solution because we can ‘just pay them’ but I’m afraid we won’t. People hate advertising (someone commented “advertising is violence”, that really says it all), but still many of us choose to not get the subscription but use the ‘free’ option instead.

I’m not against banning all advertising, but I think working towards more peaceful advertising might be fruitful. Banning advertising of tabacco products and having disclaimers when financial and medical products show this can be done.

“advertising is violence” says so much about how we (the world) allow companies to behave.

I agree, as in many more cases it is better to regulate than it is to forbid. Companies and consumers will find a way.

You can and should make the distinction between being paid to advertise something and sharing information based on your believes. There is such a thing as free marketing and I agree you cannot ban that, but you can ban paid advertising in a similar way as paid sex is banned in many places across the world.

The article is about paid advertising. Paying someone to spread your opinion is in my eyes very different than telling someone about your opinion and trying to persuade that person to agree with you.

Don’t hate on Grok, he is super smart. If you don’t believe me, here’s an image it generated for me explaining how I can combat fascism:

They must have also shot all the teachers on sight damn

needed this context

lol

Not a big deal, anyone visiting Amsterdam feels ashamed of their fellow countrymen. It’s not you, it’s them.

They both have grass

DO NOT STRESS! I REPEAT, DO NOT STRESS! 📢

Thanks

I’m not saying don’t blame the hijackers, I’m saying blame the hijackers for the hijacking (which in turn killed thousands) and blame Bin Laden for planning it and getting those hijackers to do the hijacking. They’re both guilty, but without Bin Laden ordering 9/11 those hijackers wouldn’t have done it. I’m not saying they wouldn’t have something else bad. I’m not saying they’re innocent. But Bin Laden did something worse than those individual hijackers.

I like the idea of a split keyboard, but looking up against the getting used to it. Did it take you long and do you still type as fast on regular keyboards or did you ‘unlearn’ that?

Thanks, for your summary. I think he’s right about different kinds of guilt being judged in different ways. If someone commits a crime and gets away with it, that doesn’t mean that person will never feel the guilt. It sounds like a good read.