@pluralistic Don't Be Evil (11 Apr 2026)
Cory is addressing the #Internet in this piece. But the message is increasingly urgent in all aspects of our lives: we need to come together to build, maintain, and defend our communities. Too many evil fuckers are counting on us to buy the company line that we're all just self-interested, rugged-individualists, and that we won't notice that *their* self-interests are burning the world down.
Cory also argues, in other posts, that an open internet isn't the single defining issue of our time. But if we lose it, we lose our ability to fight the many other problems we face.
Which I think is entirely consistent with Naomi Klein's (I think, and doubtless others) position that all struggle for justice is rooted in climate action. (or maybe it was the other way around).
The oligarchs are counting on us acting as individuals whose only agency is choosing what to buy. And failing that, that they can partition our resistance into silos of limited scope (and ideally opposing goals): surveillance capitalism, racial equity, gender equity, climate action.
When the endangered species people, the pollution people, the urban sprawl people, etc, all united under the banner of environmentalism, their individual movements grew in influence.
We need to do that again.
@plantarum Here in Aotearoa New Zealand we've formed a Green Geeks network within the local Green Party. Partly to pilot and promote using libre software for party activities, but increasingly to help MPs and candidates with political positioning.
The member-led consensus process for developing official Green Party policy takes multiple years, so adding the ability to turn around an unofficial briefing note on a topical tech issue within a day is very valuable.
In general, politicians who focus on ecology and social justice are already aligned with the values of libre software, decentralised networks, right-to-repair, and user freedom. But they often don't feel on firm ground articulating these ideas against industry lobbyists who bring narratives of inevitability. So it's encouraging to have a friendly group of geeks with talking points.
It's all connected.
@gypsyvegan @plantarum @pluralistic huh, the "freedom cities" sound like a really nice convenient place for the people to assemble their siege engines and guillotines on the border.
this is not a threat, this is a promise.
Not a bad idea, but it might be one we should get cracking on sooner rather than later -- they're already in-progress.
https://www.thenerdreich.com/network-state-comes-for-venezuela/
Tyler Smith
Isaac Freeman
gypsyvegan
vxo
Franchesca
John Vosmek