When I was growing up the internet was a place to be liberated from the world say what you want to say, be whoever you want and form genuine communities with shared interests. Now the internet feels like a tool to enslave the mind with identity echo chambers and any deviation leads you to being banned and blocked shunned and silenced within a void that is inescapable. Novel unique websites coded manually by hobbyists running servers for free in the commons allowing people access to the free flow of information under the banner of “information should be free” has largely gone away with corpratisation. I miss the days when the internet was populated largely by nerds aiming to make a better world not this controlled censored hell hole of profiteering.

  • angstylittlecatboy@reddthat.com
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    35
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    I get what you’re talking about, but maybe it’s being a decently-educated American with a black mom talking, but “enslaved” is not the right word for this.

      • papertowels@lemmy.one
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        21
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        “there was once a time when the sky was open, when the twilight beckoned one forth, when the nascent rivers of the internet flowed free with information”, he waxed nostalgic.

        “Fuck you and keep your ideas to yourself”, he says when someone says something he dislikes.

        🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

      • z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Well you gave enough of a shit to express your not giving a shit, so maybe you give at least a little bit of a shit? Enough to express yourself anyways.

        And it doesn’t appear that the above individual was attempting to enforce any kind of “you can’t say that”. More like its probably not the most nuanced or well thought out way of expressing your opinion, as it equates restrictions on internet speech with slavery.

        It is intriguing that in expressing your lack of giving a shit on the aforementioned opinion you have basically shut down a possibly genuine discussion on the topic and dismissed an expression of the very free speech you are supposedly bemoaning the demise of.

          • z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            If by imperialism, you are inferring a supposed encroachment on a traditionalist culture, I would posit that cultures have never been a static entity, holding onto a static identity. Rather, cultures have been, and always will be an ever evolving and constantly changing collaboration of individuals who hopefully continually evolve as they continually re evaluate who they wish to be collectively.

            There will always be backlash against this change of culture and values, which you are obviously exemplifying here, but I’ll point out that historically this kind of holding onto the past has never really worked out nor has such resistance ever lasted in the face of the general trend of humanity becoming more and more accepting of different ways of living and loving.

            I encourage you to consider not holding on so tightly to the past and instead find your place as a peaceful member of the ever changing and evolving and more accepting society that will, in spite of the adversity to it, eventually come to be.

            • Foresight@lemmy.mlOP
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              5
              ·
              1 year ago

              No I mean using woke shit as an excuse to push imperialism to maintain the global system of exploitation for cheap labour.

        • Foresight@lemmy.mlOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          This is suppose to be open source freedom of speech you know free as in freedom not beer