We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Samizdata quote of the day Two weeks before the next election, turn off all coal-fired power stations and give the American public a good hard look at their long bleak future.
– commenter “old44” (March 28 5.14am) on a posting at WUWT entitled New EPA rule will block all new coal-electric generation
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
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Sadly if the coal power station companies even hinted at this – they would be hit by private threats (both to the companies and to individual executives), IRS “audits”, “investigations” to see if some regulations have been violated (and some must always have been – as there are endless regulations, and some regs contradict other regs).
Look what is happening to News International now – all over the world. No one (who is actually organizing this war) really gives a toss about “hacking” (which all media organizations do anyway), what they care about is that News International is (at least in the American market) the last major news organization that the left do not control.
And News International has a voice – its own newspapers and television stations (although Mr Murdoch still seems not to understand that this is a total war – to destroy him, his family, and anyone associated with him). It can fight back – if the leading people can find the courage.
What chance do coal companies have?
None – they have no voice. Unless News International (i.e. Fox News and the Wall Street Journal) chooses to give them a voice – and even then most people do not watch Fox News or read the Wall Street Journal.
Back in the 1950s a coal company could have directly financed a television series (and had editorial control over it) showing the work of a coal company in a positive light – but that all ended with regulations that were imposed in the early 1960s (regs passed in the name of “creative freedom” which gave the left de facto dominance of the television entertainment shows).
If some coal power station owner did find the courage to shut down as a civil protest (and warning), the media would present them as monsters.
“But the public would see through the media lies”.
No they would not – as recent experience on this very website proves, even highly intelligent people basically believe what they are told to believe (unless they have access to another voice).
A few media sterotypes – and “three minutes” on the internet, and they believe it.
And that is a highly intelligent person.
Mr Joe Average would be easy to convince that the “fat cat power station owners” were just showing their “greed”.
And when the lights go off and the electricity in the hospitals goes off also, the public will blame…..
“The Rich” and “the greedy corporartions” of course.
After all the power will still be on for part of the day….
Enough to show entertainment programs where, for example, the Devil himself is shown explaining how corporations were (“in the late 19th century”) given “all the rights of individuals, but none of the persky responsbilities” “basically a license to behave in a sociopathic manner” the Devil then laughs at the evil work of his children, the corporations.
No I am not making this example up – I watched it a couple of days ago.
This is the sort of stuff that the young are shown – every day.
On stations owned by corporations…… (remember since the early 1960s most companies are not allowed to put entertainment shows straight on the air – everything has to be done, according to Federal regulations, via the television networks creative departments, and it was easy for the left to gain a iron grip on them).
Think of all the shows and films – the businessman (especially the big businessman) is always the bad guy. Try making pro big business films – and see what unionized Hollywood does to you.
All the above is not an accident – it is to counter possible protests.
Demonize people – turn them (in the eyes of many of the public) into monsters.
Then if they protest….
They will not be believed – or even heard.
And the public will blame all their troubles on the very people who are being destroyed.
Yes, the deceivers can also read Atlas Shrugged.
Maggie won’t be given another chance and neither will the Gipper.
To create a revolution like that that happened at the end of the ’70s will take a massive amount of effort.
I doubt there will be that much desperation around for quite a long time.
Control has become endemic.
Prediction: It won’t happen. At least what is planned won’t happen.
a lot of “scheduled maintenance” could happen all at once
Paul said it all very clearly. There will be outages at some point in the future, almost certainly, but any attempt toward a coordinated, political statement using that method would result in a vigorous, even coercive, response from the states, and the Fed.
First, let us see what happens with the Supreme Court and Obamacare. Maybe the Supreme Court will justify itself, after all, and people will start to value independence and freedom.
When price controls and regulations de facto forbidding building new coal powered power stations (and so on) caused power cuts in California…..
“Deregulation” (and the evil plots of Enron) were blamed.
This is what is taught in the universities and is presented in the media.
The truth has very little chance against this tidal wave of lies.
To those who cry out “the internet”….
The standard thing that people turn to on the internet (when they seek knowledge of recent events – or many other things) is wikipedia.
And wikipedia has rules – the principle one being a desire for citations.
And what is cited?
msm reports and academic studies. And government reports.
Of course one can “edit it yourself”, but the rules (the bias) is built in.
Look how Wikipedia reports the ACORN corruption.
The article turns it all around – so that James O’K and Andrew B. are the bad guys.
And it does so by citeing media reports and government reports.
The above is, sadly, a typical example.
Sadly Wikipedia (which, I repeat, is where people go when looking for things on the internet) is as much an alternative to official sources, as the Huffington Post is an alternative to the New York Times (their lead stories, and their bias, are almost identical).
Of couse free market sites exist on the internet.
But go looking for specific things and Google is not likely to send you to the pro freedom sites.
“But Google is objective – it uses pure mathematics….”
If anyone really believes that, I have a nice bridge to seel you.
Matt Druge, the late Andrew Breitbart, Gleyn R., and others have done a lot of good on the internet.
But every step of the way they have found the deck stacked against them.
I suppose that just means one should fight harder.