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90363462 · 2 years

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Elon Musk Now Owns Twitter and 6 Other Weird Facts – Is He The IRL Tony Stark?

Amy LamareOctober 28, 2022

*This article was updated on October 28, 2022.

It’s true. The unthinkable has happened:Elon Musk officially owns Twitter. Welcome to the wild, wild west of social media. The internet is exploding with the news and what will happen to one of the most popular social media platforms.

Elon Musk is everywhere lately. Twitter owner after a very drawn out, public, and complicated deal, SpaceX’s most recent rocket is in orbit, and he recently welcomed twins with an executive at one of his companies, just weeks after he welcomed a second child with his ex-girlfriend Grimes.

That’s a lot in one lifetime, but this is only a few months in the life of the Tesla co-founder.

RELATED: Elon Musk: The Life Story of the Boy Who Changed the Future

Even Musk’s dad made headlines for secretly fathering a second child with his stepdaughter (whom he raised from when she was four). Suffice it to say, it’s impossible to escape Elon Musk or the Musk name. Musk certainly knows how to make news and has a legion of devoted fans to prove it.

Musk has often been called the real-life Tony Stark. Love him, hate him, or even if you’re ambivalent towards him, he’s built an impressive resume during his 51 years as co-founder of PayPal, founder of space exploration company SpaceX, the head of luxury electric car company Tesla Motors, and now Twitter owner. He is a fascinating man who is unapologetically himself.

Elon Musk Buys Twitter

The Life of Elon Musk | Life Stories by Goalcast

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Musk’s first tweet after the purchase was, “The bird is freed!”

Musk, a free speech enthusiast has been vocal against what he considers “censorship that goes far beyond the law” and Twitter’s “left-wing bias.” Previously Twitter regulated tweets and banned users that were considered spreading hate speech or disinformation.

Other goals to “improve Twitter” include getting rid of bots and making the algorithm for how Twitter shows news available to everyone. No word yet on how these goals will be implemented.

Get ready for some changes, they are happening fast! In Musk’s first few hours as owner, he has fired Twitter’s company’s chief executive, Parag Agarwal; chief financial officer Ned Segal; general counsel Sean Edgett; and Vijaya Gadde, the head of legal policy, trust, and safety.

Elon Musk joined Twitter as @elonmusk in 2009 and is an active member of the social media platform. He’s at times amusing, at other times enigmatic, and at still other times, controversial. He frequently posts memes, trolls other users, promotes his various business endeavors, and comments on pop culture and politics. Musk’s Twitter bio reads: Mars & Cars, Chips & Dip. He has more than 100 million followers as of this writing.

The $44 billion dollar acquisition was a long time in the making. Musk talked about buying Twitter as early as 2017. He got serious about that plan in January 2022, when he started buying up shares of Twitter’s stock, amassing a 5% stake in the company in March. By the following month, he had a 9.13% share in the company, which made him the company’s largest shareholder. It looked like he might attempt a takeover of the company. When he revealed his position as Twitter’s largest shareholder, the company’s stock surged to the largest amount in one day since its IPO in 2013.

Musk began publicly debating Twitter’s freedom of speech (or in Musk’s eyes, lack thereof). He mused that he might start a rival site. By this time, he owned 7.5% of the company. Then on April 13, 2022, Musk offered $44 billion and launched a takeover bid to try and buy all of Twitter’s stock.

Twitter retaliated by putting a shareholder’s rights plan in place to make it harder for any one individual to own more than 15% of the company without approval from its board of directors. Musk offered $46.5 billion for Twitter. Immediately following that news, Tesla’s stock sank by more than $125 billion, causing Musk to lose $30 billion of his net worth.

RELATED: Elon Musk Says This One Habit Is the Secret to Becoming Successful

About a month after he made his intentions to take over Twitter clear, he put the deal on hold, claiming that too many of the site’s daily active users were spam accounts. This caused Twitter’s share price to fall by more than 10%.

In July 2022, Musk sent a notice of his termination of the deal to purchase Twitter. The company’s board of directors remain committed to holding Musk to his deal as of this writing and have filed a lawsuit against Musk in Delaware, citing his breach of a legally binding agreement to buy Twitter

Elon Musk’s Family and Education

Elon Reeve Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1971 during the era of apartheid. His mother, Maye Musk, is a Canadian-born model. His father, Errol Musk, is an entrepreneur who, among other endeavors, was half-owner of a diamond mine in Zambia. Elon has a younger brother, Kimbal, a sister, Tosca, as well as a stepsister, half-sister, and half-brother on his father’s side. His parents divorced in 1980, and after living with his father for a few years in his teens, became estranged from him.

Musk became interested in computers and video games as a kid. When he was 12, he created a videogame called Blastar and sold the code (he wrote it in BASIC) for $500. After high school, he applied to emigrate to his mother’s native Canada. While he waited, he enrolled at the University of Pretoria for a semester so that he could avoid mandatory service in the South African military.

RELATED: Elon Musk Says This Surprising Thing Helped Him Become A Billionaire, Offers Unusual Parenting Lesson In The Process

Musk moved to Canada in 1989 to attend Queen’s University in Ontario for two years. He then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a BA in physics and a BS in economics.

During the summer before his senior year, he worked two internships in California’s Silicon Valley. One was at a startup called Pinnacle Research Institute which was in the field of energy storage, and one was at Rocket Science Games. After graduating from Penn, he enrolled in Stanford University’s Ph.D. program in materials science. He dropped out after two days and decided he’d be better off taking advantage of this new thing called the internet and launching a startup.

Elon Musk’s Early Career

Elon Musk borrowed money from his father and founded Zip2, a software company, with his brother and friend Greg Kouri in 1995. Zip2 put together and sold an internet city guide for the newspaper industry, including yellow pages, maps, and directions. At this point in his life, Elon was broke and slept on the couch in his offices and showered at the local YMCA rather than renting an apartment, Vanity Fair reported.

RELATED: 3 Incredible Times Elon Musk Failed and Still Came out on Top

In 1999, the company Musk co-founded sold to Compaq for $307 million in cash. Musk owned seven percent of Zip2’s stock which was equal to $22 million. He was on his way to becoming the richest person in the world, and he was 28 years old.

Elon Musk’s Involvement With the PayPal Mafia

After the sale of Zip2 in 1999, Elon Musk immediately co-founded an online financial service and payment by email company called X.com. The company was one of the first online banks to be federally insured. In 2000, X.com merged with another online bank called Confinity to reduce competition.

Confinity was founded by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin and had its own money-transfer service, called PayPal and Musk was the CEO. However, by September 2000, the board of directors replaced Musk with Thiel as CEO.

RELATED: How to be Successful: 16 Habits to Help You Succeed in Life

In September 2001 the company was renamed PayPal. eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion in stock in 2002. Musk was once again the largest shareholder and his 11.72% of shares in PayPal were worth $175.8 million. Musk, Levchin, and Thiel are commonly referred to as the PayPal Mafia as all three went on to further and even greater successes.

How Did Elon Musk Get So Rich With SpaceX?

Elon Musk is a serial entrepreneur who is not only brilliant but also had the fortune of being in the right place at the right time (several times). Musk was fresh out of college when the first dot-com boom took place and Zip2 and PayPal were part of that.

After PayPal sold to eBay, Musk’s net worth was nearly $200 million. From there, he dove into his interest in space exploration and founded SpaceX in 2003. He identified and took advantage of the opportunities his life and career put him in the path of, including Tesla Motors.

The company was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003. Musk joined the company not long after, investing $6.5 million of his own money into the company, which made him the majority shareholder. As a result, Elon Musk was made the Chairman of the board of directors.

RELATED: What Is ‘BDE’ and What Are the Signs You Have It?

Musk is also the founder of several other companies including the neurotechnology startup company Neuralink, which aims to artificial intelligence chips that can be embedded in human brains to make it easier for people to merge with machines. He also founded The Boring Company, in 2017 to construct tunnels to improve heavy vehicular traffic.

We cannot talk about the facts about Elon Musk without mentioning his incredible $198 billion net worth. According to Celebrity Net Worth, this makes Elon Musk the richest person in the world. Musk owns 48% of SpaceX, valued at $46 billion, and 22% of Tesla, and in 2020 his net worth skyrocketed, increasing $142 billion that year.

Elon Musk Joins Tesla Motors

When Elon Musk was first Chairman of Tesla’s board of directors, he was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the company. However, conflicts between Martin Eberhard and the board of directors, coupled with the 2008 financial crisis, led to Eberhard being fired from the company he co-founded.

RELATED: Why Being Financially Organized Can Help Your Motivation and Emotional Well-Being

Musk was made the CEO in 2008. As Tesla CEO he oversaw the development of the Tesla model called the Roadster, an all-electric sports car in 2008. In 2017, the mass market sedan, the Model 2 was released and became the best-selling plug-in electric car in the world. Elon Musk is the longest-tenured CEO of a car company in the world.

Tesla made its IPO in 2010 and by 2020, was the most valuable carmaker in the world. In October 2021, Tesla had a market cap of $1 trillion, becoming just the sixth US-based company to reach that milestone. At Tesla Musk is changing the way the world perceives electric cars.

Elon Musk’s Relationships and Children

No look at facts about Elon Musk would be complete without a look at his relationships, marriages, and children. Musk met his first wife, Justine Musk (nee Wilson) while studying at Queen’s University in Canada. They married in 2002. Elon and Justine had six children. Their first child died at 10 weeks old of sudden infant death syndrome. In 2004 they had twins and in 2006 triplets via IVF. Elon and Justine divorced in 2008.

That same year, Elon began dating actress Talulah Riley. They married in 2010. In 2012, they divorced. The following year, in 2013, they remarried each other. In December 2014 he filed for divorce a second time, but that request was removed. Elon and Talulah divorced for the second and final time in 2016. He moved on to actress Amber Heard, whom he dated for a few months in 2017.

RELATED: Elon Musk Has a New Girlfriend, and the Quirky Way They Met Shows He’s a True Sapiosexual

In 2018, Musk revealed that he’d been dating musician Grimes. The couple’s first son, a son they named X AEA-XII, was born in 2020. In December 2021, the couple had a daughter named Exa Dark Sidrael via surrogate. Grimes and Musk broke up a few months before their daughter was born. Then, in July 2022, Insider published legal documents that revealed Musk and Neuralink executive, Shivon Zils, had twins together.

As of this writing, Elon Musk has nine children with three different women.

Lessons We Can Learn From Elon Musk’s Success

Elon Musk is incredibly successful. He knows his strength, what his value and interests are, and relentlessly pursues projects that he can dive into, grow the value of, and sell at a huge profit. Some people say he marches to the beat of his own drum, but that’s true of any truly successful person, especially creative ones. Musk may be an engineer at heart, but he’s also highly creative in the way he applies his strengths to his endeavors.

KEEP READING:

Elon Musk Shared the Most Refreshing, No-BS Productivity Tips with Tesla Employees

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fahrni · 1 year

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The Musk Files - Nazis, Gore, and a new CEO

Turkish Minute

Twitter succumbs to Erdoğan’s pressure, silences key voices in Turkey on election eve

Space Karen really wants to live in a racist, white, Christofascist America.

The Verge

Twitter 1.0 was particularly notable for standing up to government censorship around the world. Twitter 2.0 under Elon Musk is actively complying with authoritarian government censorship demands ahead of elections.

See statement on the first link. I like this version because Nilay Patel called the post Welcome to Hell. Accurate.

NBC News

Graphic videos of animal abuse have circulated widely on Twitter in recent weeks, generating outrage and renewed concern over the platform’s moderation practices.

Psychopaths like to torture and kill animals. Twitter is the perfect place for them! It already has a narcissist sociopath as an owner. Why not add some psychopaths?

Ars Technica

Graphic images from a Texas mass shooting on Saturday that killed nine (including the gunman) and wounded seven are still circulating on Twitter after spreading virally all weekend.

So, yeah, more of the same disturbing behavior as the link above. What’s wrong with these people?

The Beaverton

KINGSTON, ON – Queen’s University has reached out to Elon Musk offering eight dollars a month to stop telling people he attended the higher learning institution.

This is an older link and I’m not sure if I’ve already posted it but I don’t care because it’s funny and perhaps a new way Space Karen could grift more cash out of folks to pay for his $44 billion mistake?

Robert Stribley

Instead, he’s making changes to satisfy the whims of his real core audience now, a ramshackle collective of alt-right extremists, Proud Boy/white supremacist types and Q-Anon whackos.

More on the abuse of the LGBTQ+ community at the hands of Twitter’s new policies. This article about the plight of the Transgender community in particular.

Variety

Elon Musk Confirms Linda Yaccarino as Twitter’s New CEO, Focused on Business Operations

Oh, look, he’s finally picked a new CEO. Perhaps Ms. Yaccarino will be able to figure out how to make money for the company now they’ve lost many of their best advertisers.

Good luck.🍀

Also, over or under on her making it six months in the position?🎲

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naijastudio · 2 years

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DJ Thunerdex - Superselecta Vol 3.0 MixTape

Dj Thunerdex makes an appearance this time with "THE SUPERSELECTA MIXTAPE (VOL3.0)," the final installment of his most popular mixtape series. As for the culture, you already know that DJ Thunerdex never disappoints his fans with this new mixtape, which is packed with hit songs from top celebrities A-Z back to back. Additionally, The Previous Vol 2.0 can be downloaded online. You guys are going to love this! If you enjoy the wonderful music, the awesome tune with the great new melody is definitely worth a spot on your playlist. The gorgeous new melody is an excellent tune that you should absolutely include on your playlist if you adore lovely music. DJ Thunerdex - Superselecta Vol 3.0 MixTape is now available on naijagenre.com, and don’t forget to share this website with your friends for the most up-to-date information. Tracklist Intro – Superselecta DJ Thunerdex 1. Come & Go Rmx – ArrDee Ft. Black Sherif 2. Last Last – Burna Boy 3. Ku Lo Sa – Oxlade 4. WeWe (Retouched) – Ruger 5. Common Person – Burna Boy 6. Kenkele – BNXN (Buju) Ft. Wande Coal 7. Overdose – Mavins Ft. Crayon, Ayra Starr, Ladipoe 8. Dada Rmx – Young John & Davido 9. For My Hand – Burna Boy Ft. Ed Sheeran 10. Bandana – Fireboy DML Ft. Asake 11. It’s Plenty – Burna Boy 12. Rise – T Dollar 13. Billion Dollar – Seyi Vibez 14. Billing – Spyro Ft. Davido 15. Fizozo – Major League DJs, Abidoza 16. Sungba Rmx – Asake Ft. Burna Boy 17. La Mezcla Rmx – Blaqnick & MasterBlaq 18. +234 – Seyi Vibez 19. Chipi Ke Chipi – Mellow & Sleazy 20. Kilo – T.I Blaze Ft. Skiibi 21. Desperado – DJ Thunerdex 22. Certify Loner (Retouch) – Mayorkun 23. Lockdown – Virgo Deep Ft. Caltonic SA 24. Bullet Point – Caltonic SA Ft. Fashionboy SA 25. Watawi – Ckay Ft. Davido, Focalistic & Abidoza 26. Big Flexa – Costa Titch Ft. C’Buda Alfa Kat 27. Kwaku The Traveller (Retouch) – Black Sheriff 28. Tanzania – Uncle Waffles Ft. Tony Duardo 29. Trigger (Visualizer) – DJ Karri 30. Finesse (Retouch) – Buju BNXN 31. Gqoz Gqoz – Busta 929 Ft. Mafidzodzo 32. Machala – Carter Efe Ft. Berri Tiga 33. Doek Gang – Caltonic SA 34. Ijo (Laba Laba) – Crayon 35. Peace Be Unto You – Asake 36. Buga – Kizz Daniel Ft. Tekno 37. Palazzo – DJ Spinall Ft. Asake 38. Mufasa – Tekno 39. Omo Ope (Retouch) – Asake Ft. Olamide 40. Jaiye – Psquare 41. Normally – Young John 42. Hate Me – Olamide Ft. Wande Coal 43. Shedibalabala – Jerry Shaffer & Bobby Banks 44. Blesings – Niphkeys Ft. Zinoleesky 45. How You Dey – DJ Nero Ft. Patoranking 46. Loving You – Zinoleesky 47. Tikuku – Candy Bleakz 48. Koloba Koloba – Adewale Ayuba 49. Turn Up – Niphkeys 50. Gbemidebe – DJ Op Dot Ft. Qdot 51. Emi Lokan – Qdot 52. Tease Me – Jamopyper 53. Zazu Beat – DJ YK Beats 54. Emi Lokan Cruise – DJ YK Beats 55. Tintok Cruise Beat – DJ YK Beats 56. Oniduro Mi Dance – DJ Yk Beats 57. Outro – DJ Thunerdex Jump Off Listen below:- Read the full article

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eightyonekilograms · 3 years

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Someone on the Discord brought up fertility

Just like last time I'm lazy and just going to dump it instead of editing.

[5:10 PM] Me: Oh boy, I have thoughts about this

[5:12 PM] Me: I haven't brought it up here but demographics has been one of my covid obsessions. I got a couple books about it (What to Expect When No One's Expecting, One Billion Americans, etc.), read all the articles, etc.

[5:15 PM] Me: I agree with you about a couple things: namely that if we had "infinite free energy" we'd be a a lot better off in many ways including demographically, but I disagree with most of your other points.

[5:18 PM] Me:

Also we need not assume decline in population growth is chronic.

This is a tricky statement because there's a social aspect and a mathematical aspect. Socially you're correct in the sense that whatever trends are driving the current decline could, in theory, reverse at any time. But mathematically, population decline is exactly symmetrical to population growth: it's exponential (technically it's logistic, but that's the same as exponential in the short term), because having fewer people means fewer people to make more people later on.

[5:20 PM] Me:

Infact there is some evidence to suggest that we actually did more science when we had 4-6 billion people.

I disagree with the implication here: we used to do more science because there was more low-hanging fruit, which is now plucked, and further discoveries require more resources (human and financial). Actually one of the big reasons I disagree with Ray Kurzweil and the other singularitarians is that when they show these impressive-looking exponential curves about scientific progress, they quietly hide under the rug that these increases are requiring ever-more investment (again, in both people and money) to accomplish. Just to pick a random example, every time chip manufacturers go to a new process (14nm -> 10nm -> 7nm -> 5nm -> 2nm etc.), the cost to build the fab basically doubles. I remember a couple years back Intel had to spend $5 billion to hit a new process shrink; now TSMC needs to spend $28 billion to hit their next target: https://www.wsj.com/articles/tsmc-to-spend-up-to-record-28-billion-in-advanced-chips-capacity-11610623587)

[5:23 PM] Me: I will try to find it but I came across a paper a little while ago laying out in detail that the cost of new scientific discoveries has been steadily increasing over time. It's not that there's anything necessarily going wrong with the scientific process, this is just what you'd expect as we pick low-hanging fruit: the later discoveries necessarily become harder. But if you extrapolate that trend out forever you eventually hit a point where every single person needs to be a scientist, and every dime of capital in existence, needs to be used to make any new discoveries.

[5:26 PM] Me: (In most fields we're a long way from that point, but it actually is here or nearly here in e.g. particle physics. What I have been hearing from leading-edge particle physicists is that we've got maybe one or two more generations of particle accelerators left before we reach a point where, to probe any further (e.g. to see if string theory is true), we'd need to build accelerators the size of the Solar System, which would take more raw material than the mass of the Earth. Barring some new theoretical breakthroughs, we might actually nearing the "end" of high-energy physics.)

[5:30 PM] Me: Fortunately most fields aren't at that point, but my point is that the more we discover, the more human capital is required to make further progress. That's a tricky enough proposition with a growing population, never mind a shrinking one.

[5:36 PM] Me:

I don't think it is safe to assume lowering population growth is a biological disorder so much as a conscious choice most people in the younger generations are making for a variety of obvious reasons.

I agree with this, but it's important to dig into that a little and understand the reasons. For example, I'm not yet convinced that there is a mass epidemic of people choosing childlessness because of anxiety about e.g. climate change. In internet comments sections you certainly see lots of people making that claim, but talk is cheap and randos on the internet can say whatever they want. In terms of the actual reasons, the data I've seen shows that number of children continues to track closely with a couple data points, mostly housing costs, expected lifetime income and uncertainly about future income flow.

[5:40 PM] Me: Third, I think you should give more weight to the concerns Rhys brought up than you currently are. The environmental stresses of more people is certainly a big issue, but I think it's one that can be dealt with without too much struggle with increased deployment of clean energy (one of the few optimistic data points lately is that there's a staggering amount of wind and solar power being deployed every year) and a couple of lifestyle changes like eating less meat. Not to say these are easy, but contrast with the pretty serious problems of population decline, particularly the social safety net.

[5:41 PM] Me: And I don't just mean the explicit ones like Social Security, but even market-based, privatized ones like retirement savings have a hidden reliance on a growing population.

[5:42 PM] Me: When you "save for retirement", you're not stockpiling food and water to live off when you no longer work, you're collecting financial assets that you expect to sell to someone else and live off that income. But if there's no one to sell to, that doesn't work.

[5:44 PM] Me: This is a problem that's starting to show up at the top end of the income stack: see this WSJ article about retirees who can't find anyone to buy their $3 million homes: https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-growing-problem-in-real-estate-too-many-too-big-houses-11553181782. It's easy to have schadenfreude here at those poor rich people who can't unload their huge mansion, but remember that this is inherently a problem which will start at the top of the income brackets and gradually make its way downward.

[5:46 PM] Me: You can push this problem back for a while by increasing taxes on the rich, and I do indeed think those should go up, but in a declining population that only buys you a little time. Remember that "money" is nothing but a claim on some fraction of total economic output. e.g. when you hold a dollar bill, you're essentially holding a note entitling you to one-zillionth of American GDP.

[5:47 PM] Me: At a certain point once population falls then total aggregate output necessarily falls too, and at that point taxing the rich hits rapidly diminishing returns: you're just claiming a bigger share of falling output

[5:49 PM] Me: One thing to keep in mind here is that most economies, but especially the U.S. economy, are primarily driven by consumer spending, i.e. normal people just buying and selling stuff to each other.

[5:50 PM] Me: This is why e.g. mass immigration isn't as huge a deal as a bunch of nativists like to think: immigrants get jobs, but they also spend money on goods and services just like anyone else: they generate labor demand as well as taking up supply

[5:51 PM] Me: But what I'm driving at here is that, again, a consumer-spending-driven economy with a falling population is going to get poorer pretty much by definition: fewer people buying stuff means fewer jobs to produce that stuff.

[5:54 PM] Me: Or to put another way, to use a ridiculously simplified model, GDP = Population X Productivity, and so if you take the derivative, then GDP' ~ Population' + Productivity'. So in a falling population environment, you need a lot of heavy lifting in terms of forever-increasing productivity in order for economic growth to be positive. And while there might be improvements down the pipe, frankly we kind of seem tapped out on productivity growth already

[5:55 PM] Me: Now, one possible response here is that we should work out how to have an economic system which delivers prosperity without endless growth, and I do agree we need that. But just saying that doesn't fix the problem that right now we don't have it and people will be poorer in a world without growth.

[5:56 PM] Me: And in such a world, I think it actually becomes harder to successfully transition to whatever post-scarcity economy can fix the problem, because people will be caught up in fighting over a shrinking pie.

[5:58 PM] Me: The neoliberal capitalist mindset of "a rising tide lifts all boats" isn't totally true and has been used to justify all kinds of nasty plutocratic behavior, but it isn't entirely false either. Without growth, at least in the system we have now, wealth distribution inherently becomes a zero-sum game. And that could get really ugly.

[5:59 PM] Me: So, that's most of what I have to say about why a falling population would be bad. But that's the easy part. Where this gets really complicated is why it's happening and what to do about it

[6:00 PM] Me: Now, I think one of the reasons I've been so fascinated by this is that it's been a pessimistic year, and falling birth rates are kind of the perfect pessimistic problem because I don't really see an easy way out. Also I'm just annoyed by partisans in general, and this is a perfect problem for that because it sort of frustrates partisans on all sides.

[6:02 PM] Me: e.g. the left mainly talks about the economic causes and proposes a variety of policy solutions, but an ugly little secret here is that government policy to increase birth rates has basically a perfect, unbroken track record of total failure

[6:03 PM] Me: All kinds of countries (mostly in Europe, but also in East Asia) have implemented all kinds of pro-natalist policies, and for the most part they have accomplished pretty much nothing. (Amusingly, this even goes back to antiquity: in the first couple centuries AD Roman Emperors were also concerned with falling birth rates, and implemented a variety of reforms that didn't do anything)

[6:03 PM] Me: You could always say they didn't go far enough, but at some point you're making an unfalsifiable hypothesis

[6:06 PM] Me: Meanwhile on the right, they're constantly talking about cultural factors, but this runs into two problems: it's again a set of mostly unfalsifiable hypotheses, but even worse since they're all tangled up in the Right's usual rants about The Way Things Ought to Be, but even if they turned out to be true, it seems like a hopeless cause because we basically have no levers to change culture.

[6:07 PM] Me: "Why does culture develop in the direction it does" is one of those huge questions I'm not sure we'll ever have a complete answer for, but I think it has to mostly involve technological determinism.

[6:08 PM] Me: https://www.sciphijournal.org/index.php/2017/11/12/why-the-culture-wins-an-appreciation-of-iain-m-banks/ <-- this is a great article explaining what I'm talking about, as well as explaining why you should read Iain Banks

[6:09 PM] Me: But my point here is that all the cultural changes the Right laments as causing people to have fewer children, assuming they're even correct which I am definitely not granting, are pretty much all products of industrialization. You can't roll them back without undoing the Industrial Revolution. At least not without an insane level of authoritarianism

[6:10 PM] Me: So on the policy side we have a bunch of levers which don't do anything, and on the culture side there are no levers at all.

#meanwhile on the discord

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bubblesurveys · 4 years

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survey 17💛

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1.) What's better, having high expectations or having low expectations?

2.) Would you rather go without junk food for a year or go without TV for a year?

3.) Describe your perfect man/woman.

4.) Thoughts on school dress codes?

5.) Any strange phobias?

6.) At what job do you see Donald Trump best fit?

7.) Who was your first crush?

8.) Who was your first best friend?

9.) What is one weird thing about you?

10.) Top 5 TV shows you like to watch?

11.) What are your favorite boy names?

12.) What are your favorite girl names?

13.) Do you have any tattoos? If so, what are they?

14.) Do you plan on getting (more) tattoos? If so, what do you want to get?

15.) Do you have any piercings? Do you plan on getting more?

16.) Do you like hugs?

17.) Think of ANY person on earth right now. Who did you think of?

18.) Do you have an iPhone?

19.) What is the worst thing that could happen in your life right now?

20.) Do you watch anime?

21.) What brings true happiness?

22.) What is the most expensive thing you’ve ever paid for?

23.) If you could have any job in the world and get paid millions of dollars a year for it, what would you be and why?

24.) Do you want children? If so, how many?

25.) Name and describe someone who you feel most comfortable around.

26.) If you could invent a holiday, what would it be?

27.) Would you rather have summer weather or winter weather all year round?

28.) If you could create an alien race, describe what they would look like.

29.) What was the first thing you learned to cook?

30.) Describe your sense of humor.

31.) What is the key to happiness?

32.) How many phone numbers do you have committed to memory? Whose numbers are they?

33.) Name three songs that make you want to dance.

34.) What job did you want to have as a child?

35.) Do you have any talents or skills?

36.) What was the worst punishment you’ve ever had?

37.) Did you ever do anything weird as a child?

38.) What is your dream car?

39.) Describe something that made you laugh this week.

40.) What genre do most of your dreams fit into?

41.) Do you ever have repetitive dreams? Describe it/them.

42.) Describe the most recent dream you’ve had.

43.) Describe the best dream you’ve ever had.

44.) If God himself gave you a choice of either having unlimited money for the rest of your life or finding your one true love starting tomorrow, which one would you choose (keep in mind, you are still able to make a ton of money if you choose love, and you are still able to meet your soul mate if you choose money)?

45.) If you could do anything (and I mean ANYTHING) right now without consequences, what would you?

46.) Do you have any recipes that you know off the top of your head? What is it/ what are they?

47.) Do you have your license? If so, do you have a car?

48.) Have you ever had a near death experience?

49.) Do you personally know anyone that has been to prison?

50.) Have you ever been in a physical fight?

51.) When you get out of the shower, do you towel dry, blow dry, or air dry your hair?

52.) When you go to the movies, do you take snacks and drinks with you or do you buy them?

53.) Do you like going to the beach? If so, do you like to stay dry or go in the water? If not, why?

54.) Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?

55.) If you could have a superpower ASIDE from being invisible or being able to fly, what would you choose?

56.) If you were able to live for however long you wanted to (I'm talking thousands of years without aging), when would you choose to die?

57.) What do you think happens after we die?

58.) Do you believe in aliens?

59.) Do you believe in ghosts?

60.) Do you believe in spiritual things like ouija boards, tarot cards, and crystals? Do you believe they are portals for evil entities to enter the mortal world?

61.) If you could make one mythical being real, who/what would you choose?

62.) Do you tan, or do you burn?

63.) Describe your shower routine.

64.) Do you enjoy school? Why or why not?

65.) In your opinion, what is the worst way to die?

66.) Do you get travel sick?

67.) What’s one memory that you wish you could go back to?

68.) What were some of your stuffed animal’s names from when you were a kid?

69.) Do you have any pets?

70.) Describe your daily wardrobe.

71.) Describe what your daily wardrobe would be if you were rich.

72.) Create a character right now. Give them a name, age, height, hair colour, eye colour, pronouns, birthday, and accent.

73.) What was the last thing you bought?

74.) Have you ever bought a CD? What was it?

75.) Describe your perfect ice cream sundae.

76.) If you could make ANYTHING happen right now with no cost, trouble, or obstacles, what would you do?

77.) What are some of your favorite physical activities to do?

78.) What were some of your favorite shows as a child?

79.) Describe how you would survive the zombie apocalypse.

80.)What are some things you shouldn't say at work?

81.) If you were told that if you killed someone, you would save 100 people, would you do it?

82.) How’s the weather right now?

83.) What is the background on your cell phone right now?

84.)Is it better to work at a job that you love or a job that pays well?

85.) What do you have within arms reach of your bed?

86.) Have you ever been fired from a job? If so, why?

87.) Have you ever won a trophy, prize, or medal? If so, for what?

88.) Do you have any posters, pictures, or art hanging on your walls in your room? If so, what are they?

89.) Are you afraid of the dark?

90.)What is something that you've never done but would like to try?

91.) If you could choose three famous people or characters to be friends with, who would you choose and why?

92.) Do you smile at strangers when you pass by them on the street?

93.) Do you have a favorite TV commercial? If so, what is it?

94.) Do you like your handwriting?

95.) Cable TV or Netflix?

96.) What are your favorite smells?

97.) Do you consider yourself physically strong?

98.) Describe a time where you said something really rude or mean, whether intentional or not.

99.) Do you ask strangers if you can pet their dogs?

100.) What do you want done with your body after you die?

101.) Has anyone really close to you ever died? If so, who was it and how did you handle it?

102.) Describe your plan of action if you were home alone and you heard someone break into your house.

103.) If you were to be born again, would you want to be born male or female?

104.) What shampoo do you use?

105.) Guess the meaning of this word: ulotrichous.

106.) Do you let messages (phone, email, text, social media, etc...) build up, or do you have to look at them right away?

107.) How close is the nearest McDonalds to your house?

108.) If you had $1 billion and you had to spend it in exactly one week, what would you spend it on?

109.) What is the best thing you’ve ever eaten?

110.) If you could go on a trip around the world with up to three people, who would you bring? (they can be people you know personally or famous people)

111.) What swear word do you use the most often?

112.) What is your personal definition of success?

113.) How was your day today?

114.) What is the closest big city to you?

115.) Do you like children? Why or why not?

116.) Do you hide anything from your parents?

117.) If you could possess one talent, what would you be able to do?

118.) If you could speak three additional languages, what would they be?

119.) What is the worst thing you’ve ever seen in real life?

120.) Use only 3 words to describe how you want your future to go.

121.) If you could have your own business, what would you do?

122.) If you could make a dream society, describe it in great detail where it would be, who would be in it, and what rules there would be?

123.) If you could make any animal miniature, what would you make and why?

124.) What are your favorite candle scents?

#survey #surveys #fun survey #bored survey #qna #q&a #blank survey #questions #survey questions #tumblr survey #personal survey #100 questions #100 question survey #blank surveys #surveyz #copy and paste surveys #copy and paste survey

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talvin-muircastle · 2 years

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I posted 1,449 times in 2022

145 posts created (10%)

1,304 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@galahadwilder

@sassysousa

@icanhazsims

@alexseanchai

I tagged 201 of my posts in 2022

#halloween playlist 2022 - 37 posts

#notes-vember - 24 posts

#christmas playlist 2022 - 20 posts

#goncharov - 3 posts

#covid - 2 posts

#lol - 2 posts

#pun - 2 posts

#ml - 2 posts

#wow - 1 post

#as a male survivor of abuse i have had to deal with this alot. - 1 post

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#once again a reminder that i do not block just because you are an artificial intelligence but you do have to be able to pass the turing test

My Top Posts in 2022:

Elon and Apple Step Into The Ring!

In This Corner, with assets estimated at 353 Billion Dollars, it's the Proprietor of Proprietary, the Forbidding Fruit, the "i" in Team, the Mac with Smack, the current heavyweight champion, APPLE COMPUTER! And in this corner, the challenger, the Giver of the Bird, the Freezed Peach, the Checkmark that Blue It, with a value of 44 Billion Dollars and falling like a rock, TWITTER! Now, boys, listen up. I want no Privacy Policy violations, no bad-faith DMCA takedowns, and remember, this is not about that other company so no battery. Come out swinging! LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLLLLLLLEEEEE!

15 notes - Posted November 28, 2022

The Foggy Dew

I have heard several covers of this song, but I think none so powerful and moving:

youtube

18 notes - Posted February 15, 2022

How I am fighting back.

Every single time I see a post “based on your likes”, I click on the little ellipsis ... in the upper right hand corner and click on “This post isn’t for me.”

Every single time.

Even if I find it interesting.

Because I do not want unsolicited content on my feed. I want to see the people I follow, not the people staff want me to follow.

I have looked for a way to turn this feature off, and of course you cannot.

Which is bad design.

Fight back.

Just keep saying no until they either take it away entirely or at least give us a chance to opt out.

25 notes - Posted January 20, 2022

How I Amuse Amazon Delivery Drivers

I know they don’t work directly for Amazon, they work for a local contractor that handles the vans and so forth. But even so.

“Remember: union organizing works! You all got Jeff Bezos so scared, he tried to leave the planet!”

26 notes - Posted January 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

youtube

If you have been around for previous runs, you know my favorite Christmas song is “Carol of the Bells”. I have umpteen different covers and arrangements of this song on tap.

Here’s a fun one.

41 notes - Posted November 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #false #I appear to be quite boring actually.#Youtube

0 notes

naijastudio · 2 years

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DJ Thunerdex - Superselecta Vol 3.0 MixTape

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sophreads · 4 years

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Books I read in 2019

2019 was my third year of aiming to read a “book a week”. I’m really glad I’ve stuck with this goal – reading is now a regular part of my life and continues to bring me a lot of joy!

I’m always up for a chat about books, particularly giving and getting book recommendations. In this spirit, I’ve shared my reading list below and I would also love to hear what others have been reading this year!

I enjoyed most of these books – particular favourites are in bold, and re-reads are in italics (all re-reads here are also favourites).

1. The Little Drummer Girl - John Le Carre - 3/1

2. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body - Roxane Gay - 5/1

3. Bad Feminist: Essays - Roxane Gay - 6/1

4. Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives - Jarret Walker - 8/1

5. Call for the Dead - John Le Carre - 8/1

6. Any Ordinary Day: Blindsides, resilience and what happens after the worst day of your life - Leigh Sales - 10/1

7. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup - John Carreyrou - 11/1

8. American Gods - Neil Bauman - 16/1

9. The War is Dead, Long Live the War: Bosnia, the Reckoning - Ed Vulliamy - 29/1

10. Normal People - Sally Rooney - 31/1

11. The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire - Chloe Hooper - 5/2

12. The Wal-Mart Effect: How an Out-of-town Superstore Became a Superpower - Charles Fishman - 19/2

13. Educated - Tara Westover - 22/2

14. What I Like About Me - Jenna Guillaume - 28/2

15. One Hundred Years of Dirt - Rick Morton - 6/3

16. The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age - Tim Wu - 18/3

17. Boy Swallows Universe - Trent Dalton - 29/3

18. Dark Emu - Bruce Pascoe - 6/4

19. The Place on Dalhousie - Melina Marchetta - 7/4

20. Looking for Alibrandi - Melina Marchetta - 10/4

21. How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future - Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt - 5/5

22. The Fifth Season - NK Jemisin - 20/5

23. The Obelisk Gate - NK Jemisin - 2/6

24. The Stone Sky - NK Jemisin - 11/6

25. The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster - 13/6

26. Manhattan Beach - Jennifer Egan - 24/6

27. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - JK Rowling - 28/6

28. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling - 3/7

29. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - JK Rowling - 8/7

30. Billion Dollar Whale - Tom Wright and Bradley Hope - 17/7

31. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling - 26/7

32. The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris - 3/8

33. The Trauma Cleaner: One woman's extraordinary life in death, decay and disaster - Sarah Krasnostein - 14/8

34. Steve Smith's Men - Geoff Lemon - 17/8

35. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott - 23/8

36. Good Wives - Louisa May Alcott - 29/8

37. Eleanor and Park - Rainbow Rowell - 14/9

38. Not Just Lucky - Jamila Rizvi - 25/9

39. The Yield - Tara June Winch - 3/10

40. Factfulness - Dr Hans Rosling - 8/10

41. Because Internet: Understanding how language is changing - Gretchen McCulloch - 15/10

42. Men at Work: Australia's parenthood trap - Annabel Crabb - 18/10

43. Fleishman is in Trouble - Taffy Brodesser-Akner - 19/10

44. Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell - 28/10

45. Agent Running in the Field - John Le Carre - 31/10

46. The Second Sleep - Robert Harris - 3/11

47. I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution - Emily Nussbaum - 7/11

48. The Fifth Risk - Michael Lewis - 8/11

49. Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour - Michael Lewis - 13/11

50. The Book of Dust: Volume Two: The Secret Commonwealth - Philip Pullman - 2/12

51. The Beekeeper of Aleppo - Christy Lefteri - 11/12

52. The Godmother - Hannelore Cayre - 17/12

53. Tough Customer: Chasing a better deal for battlers - Allan Fels - 23/12

54. Stop Being Reasonable - Eleanor Gordon-Smith - 30/12

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binkysteebnpewter · 4 years

Note

All of them 😤

Ehehe 😂💗

1. What’s your middle name, and do you like it?

Grace is actually my middle name, and somewhat. I just don’t like it when my family calls me by first and middle together.

2. are you artistic?

Somewhat?

3. Have you had your first kiss?

Yes

4. What is your life goal?

It’s cheesy and a little cliche, but I want to find Home.

5. Do you have any experiences with a famous person?

Nope

6. Do you play any sports?

Not anymore but I used to play football and I was on the wrestling team in HS

7. What’s your worst fear?

I have two that are sort of equal with another but I’m afraid of losing the people I care about and people seeing me the way I see myself.

8. Who’s your biggest inspiration?

My late Nana, Gloria.

9. Do you have any cool talents?

Answered in previous ask

10. are you a morning person?

Not at all

11. How do you feel about pet names?

I love them

12. Do you like to read?

Absolutely

13. Name a list of shows that have changed your life.

NCIS, Criminal Minds, and any marvel movie

14. Do you care about your follower count?

Not really, I’ll celebrate milestones but that’s just to show everyone I appreciate them following my trash pile. I didn’t start writing to have a high following, I started writing to better my skill and also make people happy.

15. What’s the best dream you’ve had?

I don’t remember most of my happy dreams

16. Have you ever kissed someone of your same gender?

Yep!

17. Do you have any pets?

I have three dogs 🥺💗

18. Are you religious?

No. They only thing I actually believe in is ghosts.

19. Are you a people person?

Not really

20. Are you considered popular?

Nope, and I don’t care to be

21. What is one of your bad habits?

Overthinking

22. What’s something that makes you feel vulnerable?

Opening up my emotions to other people

23. What would you name your children?

No clue

24. Who’s your celebrity crush?

There’s a bunch ig

25. What’s your best subject?

Science and history

26. Dogs or cats?

Dogs, I love cats but I’m super allergic

27. most used social media besides tumblr?

I don’t use a lot of social media tbh, so tumblr is probably my most used unless you count youtube

28. best friends name

Duke

29. who does your main family consist of

My friends and my brother. Family isn’t just blood

30. Chocolate or sugar

Both

31. have you ever been on a date?

Yep

32. Do you like rollercosters?

Absolutely love them

33. Can you swim?

Yes 💗

34. What would you do in the event of an apocolypse?

Clearly, I’d do what everyone else does. Panic and try to survive.

35. Have you struggled with any kind of mental disorder?

Yes, I struggle with anxiety and depression

36. Are your parents together?

Nope.

37. What’s your favourite colour?

Dark green and Dark Blue

38. What country are you from/do you live in?

Unfortunately, the U.S

39. Favourite singer?

Uh... there’s too many to list? But my favorite people to listen to is The Oh Hellos

40. Do you see yourself being famous some day?

Nope, I run from being the center of attention.

41. Do you like dresses?

Not really

42. Favourite song right now?

Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra

43. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?

Sort of.

44. How old were you when you first got your period?

No clue, I don’t remember

45. Have you ever shot a gun?

Yep

46. Have you ever done yoga?

47. Are you a horror girl?

YES 😈

48. Are you good at giving advice?

I suppose I am?

49. Tell us a story about your childhood.

I don’t have a lot of happy memories but one that sticks out is: I used to go to a private Christian academy and I was in first grade when this boy in eighth grade (the entire school was k-12) came over to me during my lunch. I was super scared and shy as a kid so my schedule was tailored so I was able to eat lunch with my brother whose nine years older than me. Our mom forgot to pack our lunches so we were gonna just get some stuff from the vending machine, well my brother gave me my money to get something and this boy came over to me before I could put it in the vending machine. He hit me and took my money, buying himself something with it. My brother seen it and got into a fight with him.

50. How are you doing today?

51. Were you a cute kid?

I looked like Shirley Temple when I was a kid

52. Can you dance?

I can swing dance and slow dance, but that’s it.

53. Is there anything you do that you can’t remember ever not doing?

I always look for exits and bathrooms when I go somewhere, I’ve always done it 🤷🏻‍♀️

54. Have you ever dyed your hair?

No because I’m a ginger. I can’t just dye it back if I end up not liking the color I dyed it to.

55. What colour are your eyes?

Brown

56. What’s your favourite animal?

Answered in previous ask

57. Have you ever made a huge fool of yourself?

Multiple times

58. Do you have a good relationship with your parents?

My relationship with my dad is rocky but my relationship with my mother went up in flames a few yeaes ago 🤷🏻‍♀️

59. Do you have good friends?

I have some amazing friends🥺💗

60. Are you close with anyone of the lgbtq+ group?

Yep!

61. What’s your favourite class?

My favorite class was Psychology

62. List all the tv shows you are watching.

I’m rewatching Criminal Minds right now.

63. Are you organized?

Somewhat?

64. What was the last movie you saw? Opinion?

I don’t know if it counts as a movie but I just finished a Ted Bundy Tapes Documentary. I think Bundy was a little bit of an idiot.

67. Which tv character do you relate to most?

Spencer Reid

68. What are some things that stand between you and complete happiness?

Anxiety, Depression, overthinking

69. If you received enough money to never need to work again, what would you spend your time doing?

I would probably still work, I’m not a fan of sitting around and doing nothing for large amounts of time.

70. What would you change about your life if you knew you would never die?

Find a way to die, I don’t want to live forever. That’s just torture 👀

71. What would you do differently if you knew that no one was judging you?

Nothing. I’ll act the same as I always have because I am who I am, there’s no reason to change yourself from when someone is watching and when someone isn’t.

72. If you could start over, what would you do differently?

A lot 😂

73. Would you break the law to save a loved one?

Yep

74. When was the last time you travelled somewhere new?

I went to Disney with my Chorus Class in Junior Year of HS, it was my first time to Disney.

75. When you think of your home, what immediately comes to mind?

Nothing, I’m looking for Home. Home will be someone I feel safe with, someone I can be completely myself with— someone I love wholly.

76. What have you done to pursue your dreams lately? How about today?

I— idk?

77. What did you want to be when you were a kid?

I wanted to be a nurse 🤦🏻‍♀️

78. If you dropped everything to pursue your dreams, what would you be risking?

Im not sure

79. When did you not speak up, when you know you really should have?

Ooh... uh, something happened to me all through 7th, 8th, and 9th grade that I should’ve spoken up about but was too scared.

80. Describe the next five years of your life, and your plans, in a single sentence.

I will work hard to love myself and pursue my dream job.

81. What would happen if you never wasted another minute of your life, what would that look like?

No clue tbh

82. If you could live forever, how would you spend eternity?

I don’t want to live forever but I guess I’d find a way to take away my immortality or find someone else who is immortal to love

83. How would you spend a billion dollars?

Id put a lot into important causes and then save some with interest.

84. If you could time travel, would you go to the past or the future?

I’m not sure, I think I wouldn’t go anywhere because I want to live in the moment. Except 2020, fuck 2020.

85. What motivates you to succeed?

Failure motivates me to succeed.

86. What dream that you’ve had has resonated with you the most?

I don’t remember most of my happy dream, I usually can only remember the nightmares 🤷🏻‍♀️

87. Would you rather live in the city or the woods? Why?

Woods, its peaceful.

88. Do you believe in life after death?

I don’t really believe in anything 🤷🏻‍♀️

89. What teacher inspired you the most? How did they?

I had a teacher named Ms Eagan and she inspired me to always be myself.

90. What’s your fondest childhood memory?

Meeting Lily

91. If you could have dinner with any one person, living or dead, who would they be and why?

Lily, because I really miss her.

92. What would you have to see to cry tears of joy?

Anyone being nice to me makes me cry—

93. What is the hardest lesson you had to learn in life?

Sometimes the people you call family don’t truly love you.

94. What do you think happens after we die?

Idk and idrc either tbh

95. What would you do if you would be invisible?

I’d probably scare some people

96. What’s something you can’t do no matter how hard you try?

Speak in public or ask for something at restaurants

97. Would you want to choose the sex and appearance of your offspring?

98. How did your first crush develop?

They were nice to me when no one else was

99. Is there a feeling you are trying to ignore? What is it?

Yes, I’m trying to ignore how upset some people can really make me.

100. Do you live or do you just exist?

I think I’m somewhere in between, where sometimes I’m just existing and sometimes I’m living.

#grace speaks #100 questions #@breadgenie892 #ill protect my munchkins 😌💗#my munchkins 🥺💗

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hamonsurveysoverdrive · 4 years

Text

Bombastic

1. What was the highlight of your week? Hanging out with Justin, probably 2. Who's car were you in last? Mine 3. When is the next time you will kiss someone? Next time I see Justin 4. What color shirt are you wearing? Red 5. How long is your hair? Short 6. Last movie you watched? Uhhhh. Silence of the Lambs? 7. Last thing you ate? Grilled cheese with pepperoni 8. Last thing you drank? Water 9. Where did you sleep last night? My bed 10. Are you happy right now? Yes 11. What did you say last? -shrug- 12. Where is your phone? By my feet 13. What was the last museum you went to? I believe the science museum 14. What color are your eyes? Dark brown 15. Who came over last? Kids’ dad to pick them up 16. When was the last time you had your heart broken? Last year 17. Who/what do you hate/dislike currently? This headache I have 18. What are you listening to? Hard Candy Christmas by Dolly Parton lmao 19. If you could have one thing right now what would it be? A billion dollars 20. What is your favorite smell? Roses, lemons 21. Who makes you happiest right now? My kiddos and Justin 22. What were you doing at midnight last night? Watching JoJo’s with Justin 23. Are you left-handed? No 24. What's for dinner tonight? We had bratwurst and corn. 25. What is the last alcoholic beverage you had? Idk, that was three years ago. Probably whiskey or Jager. 26. When is your birthday? November 2. 27. Who was the last person to send you a text message? Justin

28. When is that last time you were in a swimming pool? Couple months ago 29. Where was the last place you went shopping? Kroger 30. How do you feel about your hair right now? It’s a little fluffy, just air dried after the shower. 31. Do you have any expensive jewelery? Yes 32. AIM or MSN? lol Old 33. Where are you going tomorrow? No idea 34. Are you an only child or do you have siblings? I have an older sister 35. Would you consider yourself to be spoiled? A little 36. What was the first thing you thought when you woke up? "What time is it?” 37. Do you drink beer? Not anymore 38. Myspace or Facebook? Facebook. 39. Do you have T-Mobile? Yes 40. What is your favorite subject in school? Writing stuff 41. What type of boy/girl do you usually fall for? Intelligent 42. Do you have any talents? Not really 43. Have you ever been IN a wedding? Yes 44. Do you have any children? Two boys 45. Did you take a nap today? Yes 46. Ever met someone named Earl? I’m sure 47. Do you want to be famous one day? No 48. Are you multitasking right now? No 49. Could you handle being in the military? No 50. What is your average cell phone bill? $61 51. Do you beleive in karma? It’s a nice idea, but no 52. Ever been to Las Vegas? No 53. What are you doing today? Today is pretty much over. 54. Have you ever been gambling? Yes 55. When is the last time you updated your blog? ...Now? 56. Have you been to New York City? Yepp 57. Ever been to Disneyland/world? World, twice 58. Do you have a favorite cartoon character? Spinelli from Recess 59. Last thing you cooked? Grilled cheese 60. Stupidest thing you ever did with your cell phone? Dropped it in a toilet 61. Last time you were sick? Idk 62. Last person you kissed? Justin

#surveys #survey

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backstorywithdanalewis · 4 years

Text

Europe’s Bad Boys/ Press freedoms

link to podcast : https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/4894601

Speaker 1: (00:00) So do you believe that the government moved to put a stranglehold on index? Uh, I am absolutely sure that there was the government's decision. Our governments hate this caution. Other government hates debate. Dana Lewis: (00:21) Hi everyone. And welcome to another edition of backstory podcast. I'm your host and the creator of backstory Dana Lewis. This is our 21st edition and you've covered Brexit, lots of science on COVID-19 nuclear arms, the upcoming American election police brutality and racism, defunding police. And even our last addition tackled the conspiracies of Q Anon. And now the bad boys of Europe. Why are they bad? And who are they? Well, I'm talking about Hungary and Poland, which as many of us are consumed with the pandemic and the American election. These countries led by right wing leaders, seize more power going against Western Europe's common values of free and fair elections, independent judges, tolerance of minorities and press freedom. It is a swing to the right, and the EU seems to be failing, to keep hungry and polling from drifting into an alarming direction towards autocracies Poland. For instance, just had an election and wants to now pull out of the treaty on domestic abuse. It's against gay rights. Hungary's Viktor Orban has been squeezing press freedoms for a decade, modeling himself after Russia's Vladimir Putin. So if somebody is not, Viktor Orban: (01:41) Except the rule of law should leave the European union immediately, like it should not be punished by money or something. I've got to say goodbye, say worldwide guys, because this community is based on rule of law. And we like that approach it's okay. Dana Lewis: (01:55) That was Orban at a recent EU summit, hoping for a big COVID-19 bailout saying he supports the rule of law. When his critics in Hungary say he's been doing everything to hijack the courts and free media. So why just as the European union government is doling out billions of dollars to rescue economies from pandemic economic collapse, didn't it demand that Poland and Hungary get in line with common values of free society. The EU is rotting from the inside, say some Western newspaper headlines. Now I know you're distracted with a lot right now, but look, this is important. We are witnessing the return of Soviet style leaders who are muzzling free press. The media has become the propaganda tools of Hungary and Poland, authoritarian governments, and that's dangerous. And that's where we know recently the last independent media in hungry it's called index collapsed in July more than 80 journalists walked out because they could no longer report freely. No one wants to out of a job right Dana Lewis: (03:00) Now. So that's noteworthy the last door on free speech in hungry slam shut. And I bet you didn't even hear about it. Alright. Veronica monk joins us now from Budapest and Veronica was the deputy editor of index. Hi, Veronica, how are you doing? Veronika Monk: (03:21) Hi. Wow, I'm fine. It's quite hard days, but I try to keep it together. Dana Lewis: (03:27) Not too many people walk out of a job in the middle of a pandemic. Tell me what happened. Veronika Monk: (03:32) I haven't been working here at index, which is the market leading online news daily in Hungary, uh, in the last 18 years. It's quite a long time. I started as an intern and now I'm the, or I was the deputy editor in chiefs until I quit. I quit because, uh, because, uh, I saw that there are external influence on the professional work and profession in independent work that we are doing. And I could because, uh, editor-in-chief was fired last week. Uh, and, uh, yeah, and almost, almost the whole newsroom with it's quite a large newsroom with around 90 editors and journalists. Uh, I think they are the biggest newsroom in Hungary and the around 70, 80, uh, journalists and editors quit on Friday or Dana Lewis: (04:28) So. What is the point of walking out? What do you gain or it just became impossible to work under the current conditions. Veronika Monk: (04:35) Yeah, I mean, I cannot speak in the name of other 80 people. I can speak in the name of myself and I didn't think about the future when I quit. I told that it's not, it's unacceptable what this happening. And, and I quit because I told that I cannot continue the professional and independent work that I have been doing in the last 20 years. Yes, it's, it's an uncertainty. I have two little kids and we are during the pandemic and I don't know what's going to happen, but I really sad that this was a red line land was crossed Speaker 3: (05:15) Very serious decision personally, as did those 80 people at index. So could you give me an example of where you said it became impossible that you simply couldn't work? I mean, aside from the firing of the editor, I mean, what kind of information were you unable to suddenly put out? Veronika Monk: (05:35) Um, just a little bit of background about index. Okay. So index was considered the last major independent outlet in Hungary in the country, which is ranked the second worst country in the EU for media freedom by reporters, without borders. Uh, and so people are independent. And in the, in the last 10 years, the media environment changed in Hungary and a lot of media companies, uh, somehow, uh, influential by a businessman who implanted or owned by businessman who strongly connected to the fetus government. So there is this media landscape where, uh, where there are a strong political influence or media companies. So that's why a couple of years ago index, uh, uh, the, the, the, the newsroom, the staff of index stated what, according to us, what are the conditions of the independent operation of independent journalism? And we had two main conditions, then there cannot be external influence on the content we publish. And there cannot be external incidence on the structure of our spouse. And the last condition, uh, uh, was harmed, uh, when the editor in chief was fired. And the other thing is that a month ago, the board of index took, took steps towards, uh, the transformation and fragmentation of index. And there were some external advisors who, who suggested to outsource, uh, the journalists and editors to external companies, uh, because Speaker 3: (07:32) What does that mean? I mean, translate that, you know, that, Speaker 4: (07:36) I mean, I mean, I just, again, stay at what this advisor stated. He said that it would be, um, the goal of this outsourcing would be, would have been the same for the savings. So because there is a pandemic Speaker 3: (07:54) In reality, in reality, what, what did, what did they say? Veronika Monk: (07:57) My opinion is that it would be really, really dangerous because if it's an external, uh, company structure than companies with political or business agenda could reach out to, to the, to the, to the front page of the newspaper. Speaker 3: (08:17) Could I say, I sense all of this leads back to prime minister, Victor, or, or bond, right. And his control of media, um, what is he trying to control? What is he trying to stop you from from saying Speaker 4: (08:29) You should ask him? I mean, Speaker 3: (08:32) No. I mean, because it's important for a Western audience, that's not being hungry. That, I mean, you're saying this is about censorship. You're saying this is about strangling freedom of speech. I mean, can you give me any instance where let's take COVID-19 for example, mr. Orban has declared a state of emergency for as long as he sees fit and punishes, those who distort or publish false information on the outbreak with five years in jail. I mean, what does that mean? Is he just trying to silence the free press from reporting the extent of the pandemic and hungry? Speaker 4: (09:10) I don't know. What is mr. Or band's agenda? I can talk about indexes case and I can talk about my situation. Uh, I don't want to talk, uh, about the political situation I can, I can, Speaker 3: (09:25) That's a dangerous thing to do in hungry for you personally, if you were to criticize the prime minister. Speaker 4: (09:30) No, not at all. Not at all. I mean, look, the problem is you asked an interview from me about the situation of index, and now you asked me to talk about the Hungarian politics, right? Speaker 3: (09:48) Well, I'm asking, they're obviously connected. I mean, you're saying you're unable to publish freely. You're unable to talk about, I'm asking you what Speaker 4: (09:58) I didn't say. I never said that there were no influence on the content we publish. I said that were external influence on the structure of the newsroom index voice independent for 20 years Speaker 3: (10:14) When they started to restructure that that would affect your freedom. Speaker 4: (10:19) Yes. And that's why, that's why I quit because I didn't, because I, I was, I found the danger that the independency gonna change, Speaker 3: (10:32) What are they trying to stop? What are they trying to silence? That's what I'm specifically asking, because I don't understand, is it criticism of the government? Is it Veronika Monk: (10:44) It's index is not an opposition. A newspaper index is a critical newspaper. And I don't like the label that, that you are the opposition of media, because that's what the government try to label us. And I always, I don't like when people call me or call my colleagues, the opposition of journalists, because we are not one, I have been working here almost 20 years. And when the other government, uh, was, uh, leading the country index was critical back then as well. So it's a critical newspaper. We are doing the traditional vet dog function of, uh, the media. Uh, and we are big. So we can be a danger because this is a 10 million, 10 million people living in Hungary. And then that had a one to 1.5 million readers per day. It it's quite a big, uh, big audience and these weren't controlled, you know, that's what that's, that's that can be understand in, in, in the States too, then Speaker 3: (11:59) Who would you be a danger to? Speaker 4: (12:02) And anybody else, the politics, the businessman, uh, the money people, the power, the power. Speaker 3: (12:11) So that's what I'm asking you is your, I didn't really ask you to talk about politics, but it's part of it, isn't it. And, uh, when you're being, when you're being silenced, there's somebody politically that doesn't want you to report what, and as a, if you're sitting in, Speaker 4: (12:26) I say it again, then, so index never experienced a silencing because we were independent. We quit because we felt that this era has ended. Dana Lewis: (12:38) You agree that prime minister or ban has tried to silence media in Hungary. Veronika Monk: (12:44) It's a really hard position that you are trying to put in me. And I don't, I don't want to answer that because I'm an independent journalist and I'm not a political activist. And I don't want to talk about, uh, my opinion regarding [inaudible]. I can say what's happening in index. And I can say that the Hungarian media landscape is strongly, very strongly connected to the government sometimes to the prime minister, sometimes strong allies to the prime minister. That's the correct answer. Dana Lewis: (13:21) Okay. Tell somebody living in London, tell somebody from New York, why does it matter if some online news site called index, uh, disappears in the middle of the night and the journalists walk out what is at stake and hungry Speaker 4: (13:39) People in Hungary is in sheep. They, they fear, they fear their, their existence. They fear their, their lives. And usually they don't stand up against power and maybe they did that, and that hurts so much. They get together. And we did, we did it like 80 of us, and it's a huge mess and people doesn't see, don't see things like this in Hungary, where they're 80 people show the finger against the power. Dana Lewis: (14:17) I was a correspondent in Moscow for American television. So president Yeltsin went out in 2000. President Putin came to power and suddenly we could see as independent journalists, we could see media that was not completely free because some of them were controlled by different business interests, but they began to be closed down. They began to be taken back under control of the government and of the Kremlin and that slow creep, which happened over a few years, suddenly, no criticism Speaker 5: (14:52) Of the Kremlin, no investigation of corruption in business. Um, it was really the end of this new democracy in Russia Speaker 1: (15:06) And autocratic rule by the Kremlin. Are we seeing exactly the same parallel in Hungary now? Veronika Monk: (15:14) Yes. But the thing is that there were no right, but that's the more important that you felt that was ending, you felt that was Veronica monk from Budapest, Dana Lewis: (15:32) OPD editor of index. Thank you so much. Okay. So she seems intimidated and avoided seeing anything about Viktor Orban or the ruling political party that tells you a lot about how stifling rule has become in Hungary. That's a journalist who in my view explained very little but revealing to considering how little she felt she could. Let's talk to Gabor Polyak who is with Mirteck. And that is a media think tank in Hungary. I Gabor. How are you today? Gabor Polyak: (16:09) Hi, good morning. Yeah. Speaker 1: (16:12) Why is the closing down of index important Gabor Polyak: (16:16) Index is, and was, uh, firstly it was the biggest news portal in Hungary, and it is not only about the reach of index. It is only about that. Uh, they could reach not only one side of the Hungarian society, uh, indexes audience, uh, was not a political audience. It was not about, uh, that, uh, only the voters for the opposition parties rent, uh, index index was also information source for the government alters. And we don't have a lot of, uh, media outlets that can reach the whole society. Therefore, uh, index was really an important, uh, part of the Hungarian media system. So do you believe that the government moved to Speaker 1: (17:06) Stranglehold on index Gabor Polyak: (17:10) In the background? Uh, I am absolutely sure that there was the government's decision. Uh, it's not only a theory, uh, maybe, you know, that there was a very complicated, uh, ownership structure in the background of index, but, uh, yeah, the main point that the main decisions about the money, about the incomes and the main decisions about, um, the, the organization of index was in the hand of pro-government guys. Uh, and in the last last weeks, uh, the decision maker was one of the most important, one of the most powerful media guy of the governing party. Dana Lewis: (17:53) What's the idea? What are they worried about? I mean, why are they closing down media? Gabor Polyak: (17:58) Yeah. You know, we are struggling for media freedom since 2010 because, uh, yeah, the government is struggling for, uh, uh, public's fear where they have the vert and all other words, uh, are only how to say a footnote, uh, or, uh, can be, uh, incredible. Uh, and yeah, so our government, uh, heat this cation, our government hates debate. Uh, the only way how they can communicate is to speak out, uh, without any comments. Uh, and therefore they need a media system where the biggest media outlets are serving this kind of political communication, this kind of one way political communication, uh, all media outlets. They, uh, got in the last 10 years. And we are speaking about a big, uh, majority of the Hungarian media system. So they don't, uh, put questions. They don't put career questions, or even if they make interviews with our prime minister, these are not interviews in term in terms of, uh, Western Europe or in terms of the U S these are, uh, opportunities to, to speak out my, uh, opinion, uh, as, as the prime minister. So they, they needed this kind of media system and they tried from 2010, uh, to, uh, to have, uh, even a smaller, uh, independent part of the media system, uh, once they tried to, to, to buy and to get old, uh, big media outlets. And otherwise they drive to, to make, uh, the independent media incredible, uh, to, to build up a picture that they are not, uh, trustworthy. I mean, Dana Lewis: (20:01) Viktor Orban, the prime minister is supposed to be a tough guy, but he can't take a punch. He can't take a bit of criticism from the media? Speaker 5: (20:08) Of course he can. I cannot say that the whole media system is four months. Uh, yeah. Uh, it is very important for our band to have critical media in Hungary. And yeah, if we are speaking about index, I am absolutely sure that that was not, uh, the plan to, to have this kind of, of a collapse of index day wanted to have index for a long time, but they wanted to have a more friendly index, uh, in the direction of the government. They didn't want Dana Lewis: (20:41) Friendly, more controlled, more subservient? Gabor Polyak: (20:44) Yeah. And it was not impossible. Uh, they had the control over the whole editorial board, the whole newsroom, and they had the control over the incomes. So they could fold that the journalists working for index will be able to have somehow cool, uh, collaborate with the government. And it was not about to publish only propaganda, like in other programs or men's media. It would be enough to not speak about the most critical issues for the government. Speaker 3: (21:18) So let me ask you something philosophically, I mean, bigger picture. I was in Russia as a correspondent based for American television when Yeltsin left and president Putin came to power, and we saw exactly this slow takeover of media influence, change of structure, of ownership. Eventually they silenced critical media and every night, the voice of most of the main television channels get their marching orders from the Kremlin. Now you're seeing it in Poland. Um, you've seen it in, you know, media struggles in Georgia, in Hungary. So really the all across Eastern Europe, we are witnessing kind of the hard right. Silenced and critical media. It's very serious and it's still born democracies. Gabor Polyak: (22:08) Yeah. I can only agree with the statement. Uh, and yeah, we could, uh, continue this list. And, uh, if, uh, the media system of the U S would not be so strong, uh, the intention of Trump would be the same, but, uh, the U S media system is an absolutely other story. Uh, fortunately what's, uh, is a very big difference between Poland Hungary on the one side and Georgia Russia Turkey on the other side, that we are members of the European union. And I think this is a very big, uh, mistake and a very, very big miss, uh, unsuccess of the European union. Dana Lewis: (22:50) I really want to ask you about that because that's important, right? I mean, these, these countries, Poland and Hungary are, Russia's not, but pulling a hungry and members of the European union, the European union has addressed and acknowledged the fact that there is a pull to the right, and that the leadership in these countries is not allowing free and democratic press. They just had to come up with a COVID-19 billions of dollars of bailout. Should they have made part of the conditions for that it's hands off free media that Hungary and Poland allow free media. Otherwise they're not going to get bailed out. They're not going to get money. I mean, they seem like they caved in. Gabor Polyak: (23:32) That was not a good point for this kind of, uh, being strong. Um, yeah. In case of Hungary, we are speaking about 10 years, European union, new since 2010, 2011, that's the Hungarian government hates, uh, free media. And yeah, it began in 2011 with the new media lows, there was a huge debate at European level. If there's a lows are in line with the European values. And it was absolutely clear that they are not. And after that, there was several points every two years came some big, uh, issue that was, uh, also, uh, discussed at European level. So there was millions of opportunity in the hand of the European union and they have, uh, it is very important to see they have, uh, once legal, uh, to, to take actions against such kind of, of, uh, tendencies. And secondly, they have political tools and they didn't use hasn't used any of that. Dana Lewis: (24:36) It's a hell of a statement about the European union, right? Because it's supposed to be a lot more than just an economic marriage. They're supposed to share common values, including democracy and free speech, and yet they're not enforcing it. And what is the danger in Europe if they don't do that? Because there is a pull to the right. Hungary is not a very big country within the European union too, but Poland is taboo, uh, of Hungary. So we, we are speaking about very big market. Uh, even if we are watching it from the point of view of economics, uh, it is a big mistake to, to not to stop, uh, these standards because we know that, uh, also Czech Republic, uh, is very, very problematic. They are, uh, we problems with the using of public money, European money, uh, on the side of the prime minister of Czech Republic. Speaker 5: (25:29) There are problems now in Slovenia. So Hungary was the first point. Hungry is not so important, not so strong. It would be, would have been very easy to stop this whole tendency within the European union and the European union didn't do that. And now the whole Eastern European EU part, uh, is, uh, in, in this problematic, uh, situation, the board Poliac thank you so much because I mean, a lot of people view hungry as, as an, as an Island, uh, in terms of this is a problem in hungry, and I think you help us understand it is a much broader issue. And it's one that the European union should have tackled, uh, could have tackled, uh, and it may have to in the future. I hope so. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Speaker 4: (26:21) [inaudible] Dana Lewis: (26:27) Why hasn't the EU gotten tougher with countries choking free speech. Let's ask Hungary's member of European parliament. Are you joining me now from Budapest is Katalyn Cseh, who is a member of European parliament for Hungary. Hi, katalyn, how are you doing in this Speaker 3: (26:44) COVID-19 crisis? We have, katalin Cseh: (26:46) Well, it's trying to hold up as everybody and the hoping for better days to come. Speaker 3: (26:52) Yeah. Is, is it being reported in hungry? How bad the situation is, or is the government being clear about how many cases they have or are they like many, many governments understating the problem? katalin Cseh: (27:06) Well, Hungary was never really strong than testing. So all the way true depend them AK. It was quite questionable. How many cases we have. Uh, I was working as a doctor, uh, volunteering during the pen that makes, so I got some firsthand experience as well, but that's clear that the public hasn't been sufficiently informed. Then I did find this problematic part of hilarity, uh, due to the importance of getting everybody involved in the, uh, public health, uh, defense. Dana Lewis: (27:39) Okay. So when people talk about free media and freedom of speech in a, in a pluralistic democratic society, I mean, here's a clear example where if you're not given information, you don't even know what the dangers are. The health dangers are. That's why it's really important to have free media. And in the middle of this, you have some 80 staff members in your country from index the so called free social media site news site who walked out. He said they couldn't report it's concerning. katalin Cseh: (28:12) Yes, it's very concerning. And index was really the most important to independent news portal that had the highest, uh, re number of daily readers in the country. It was really an institution on its own, and it was clear for the past some years that the government, uh, tried to gain influence in the editorial board of index, also in the strong governing structures behind the, the, uh, the portal. And, uh, just a few days ago, um, due to the pressure, uh, and the influence coming from, I would say the editor in chief resign and, uh, as a protest, the entire editorial board walked out as well. Now we are in the middle of the pandemic. Uh, the entire job situation is of course, very shaky, particularly issue where he mediated hungry. So I think it's very hard to understate the importance of 70, 80 people. It's families, mortgages loans, and an uncertain future, just standing up and walking out because they don't want to work in a media that is influenced by Orban. They want to have a free voice. And I think, uh, the whole Hungarian society, uh, really has to support us in labor. Dana Lewis: (29:34) Viktor Orban already has an iron grip for the last decade on hungry and in hungry. What does he care about index? katalin Cseh: (29:45) Well, index is, uh, is, is, is, is a portal is being read by 1 million people daily. Well, we have 10 million people in total. So this is really the most influential news portal we have in the country. So this is, uh, literally hallmark of independent news reporting as mr. Orban cannibalize, the public media, uh, many States that now indexes, uh, something like the BBC for the UK, for instance, this is the site everybody opens in the morning when they wake up, even the conservatives, even the fetus voters. So this is where people get their news from the main source of news. So it is really something like the, the last resistance against this enormous pressure fetus has been applying, uh, and, uh, if index falls, then if it's really a huge blow to our entire country. And I suppose for everybody in the world who believes in free and fair media and checks and balances, and, uh, the possibility to report on power, Speaker 3: (30:50) The last resistance, what, what, uh, what is the resistance against? katalin Cseh: (30:55) Well, uh, Hungary has been governed by mr. Orban and afforded a past 10 years with a supermajority. Uh, and during this time, according to freedom house, Hungary ceased to be a democracy. Now we are a hybrid of autocracy. The conservative, uh, popular government of mr. Orban has been systematically doing away with checks and balances with the independence of the judiciary, with the freedom of the media. We, uh, or let me start over about, has expelled the central European university from Budapest, because he didn't agree with the views that were taught there. Uh, it's as an American that, um, university death had a campus and in Hungary, and now they are, they are out of the country. It's been an extremely damaging time for the Sola, for our country, for the democracy of our country, and of course media and the possibility to report and the possibility to share information is really the hallmark off, uh, off, off of the possibility of change. And if we, uh, even stop having these independent institutions, then it's, it's really a huge problem. A lot of news portals were closed down for the past years. Uh, very influential papers, printed papers, big papers, papers had, this has been existing for hundred years now. Uh, they are not functioning anymore. And index is really something of the greatest magnitude for this country. Speaker 6: (32:32) So many people read it. So many people rely on it. It's a very fail, respected, uh, journal, even a Brode. And it's really a huge loss that the government is trying to buy influence. Also there, Dana Lewis: (32:47) Forgive me if I'm wrong and you'll, I'm sure you'll correct me because you're not timid about these things. I was a reporter based in Moscow for American television. This seems cookie cutter. This seems what president Putin did when he came to power in the year 2000, cut down the newspapers, take over the ownership of any free or critical media. Not all of it was necessarily free. Some of it was pulled in different political directions. Some of it was black media, they used to say, but, you know, take control of that. And then you have free reign to absolutely control people's perceptions and, and the debate because you will program the television stations, the radio stations, the newspapers every night with your message, you know, from the prime minister's office. And then we're hearing about it in Poland, and then we're hearing about an hungry. So, I mean, people have learned from a very bad example. katalin Cseh: (33:46) Yes, indeed. Analysts are all about, has been a close friendship in mr. Putin for the past decade. And this is not the first law that has been adopting, uh, from, uh, mr. Putin's governance style, for instance, a very controversial law that branded ngo's as pouring to agents is also something like the brainchild of mr. Putin and something that has been done also. And, uh, a few years ago, mr. Orbit also pushed true a law that victimized civil society, just based on the example of mr. Putin and really the importance of gaining control over to media, it's really hard to be understated. Uh, all the local papers that people reading the greatest numbers in the countryside are, uh, being exclusively controlled, uh, by, by cronies, close to fetus, the majority of them, big news channels, uh, the public media, which has been used for propaganda purposes. Dana Lewis: (34:46) It sounds like a campaign to have Viktor Orban, a prime minister for life as, as Putin is president for life in Russia. katalin Cseh: (34:55) Yes. Well, mr. Orban stated that he has plans for 20 more years of governing, but, uh, I believe that this is now really the time for the next elections in 22, that the Hungarian people just like raise their voice and we go to vote in large numbers and we do away with this authoritarian, uh, leadership that has been, uh, in power for the last 10 years, because, uh, I feel that there is anger and resentment boiling in the country. We have to channel it in a vote in pronouns and the improper real change. Speaker 3: (35:34) You were a member of a political party, you for office and hungry. Uh, and then you, you closed down your political party, or Speaker 6: (35:43) I have a founding member of momentum, uh, which is the, uh, youngest political party in Hungary. Dana Lewis: (35:50) Why didn't you get elected? You didn't even get one seat, did you? katalin Cseh: (35:54) Well, it's the, well, the first election, uh, we ran at was a little bit a year after our party was founded. And then we got 3%, which was indeed nod for, uh, for getting a seat in the, in the parliament, but it just a year off her, uh, we had the, a very good result of the European parliament, where, uh, we gave the over a 9%, which made us, uh, one of the stronger position parties. And, uh, a few months ago at the local elections, we elected hundreds of counselors, a lot of mayors all over the country. So to part is growing and that was, Dana Lewis: (36:31) Is it a free and fair election? katalin Cseh: (36:32) And that I, I would not say that his free and fair, but there is a possibility of, uh, of winning for both sides. Speaker 3: (36:40) Katalin, you're a member of European parliament. The, my understanding is being part of the EU. Isn't just about an economic deal. It's, it's about the values, which include free speech and free media and democracy. Why has the EU failed to really put Viktor Orban in his place and tell them hands off the press, hands off the media there, what you're doing does not in any way, align itself with the values of the European union, why have they failed to do that? katalin Cseh: (37:17) That's exactly what the European parliament ones that we should be tying your money to the risk factor for your values. Uh, we should make a clear line, a clear distinction between what is possible to be done in a community of values and whatnot. When a country joins the European union, they have to assign a, for a number of criteria based on the rule of law about the freedoms, the media, the governance. And, uh, it's very important that even after somebody is a member, uh, somebody has become a member. They really have to adhere to the same standards as before and Dana Lewis: (37:58) Happening. I mean, why did, why is the EU not enforcing the rules that they ask members to sign? katalin Cseh: (38:05) The EU has very weak capacities right now to do so, uh, as we are discussing the, the budget deal of the next 10 years, the next seven years, a lot of, uh, institutions, including the European parliament, once a clear rule of law guarantee when it comes to, uh, distributing public finances to governments. And, uh, of course negotiations are still ongoing, but I believe that this is really something, the heart of Europe. And of course the importance for our entire community to have everybody respect to our common values. Dana Lewis: (38:44) You didn't answer the question really? Speaker 6: (38:46) Yes. Well, right now, uh, the, Dana Lewis: (38:49) It says, it says when you sign up, you have to, you have to share the common values. And then as you're getting, especially during COVID-19 where there's a major bailout by the European union countries, that they have to qualify for that bailout. I mean, they have to be part of the EU. They have to share the same common values you're telling me the Viktor Orban does not that he's shutting down the last remaining free press site in hungry. Why didn't he, you say no way, you cannot be part of the EU. If you're going to behave like this, why are they scared to do that? katalin Cseh: (39:25) It's not about being scared. It's about having the, uh, power of institutions in place to be able to do so, uh, I asked this question a lot. Yeah. So I've been also asking this question a lot to my fellow colleagues. And basically the answer is that the current treaties of the European union, uh, tie every decision that is of this magnitude to a unanimous decision between countries, uh, we barely have a systems in place that could, uh, be useful in the case of systemic deviations, because we have very good mechanisms for when, uh, one country breaches, uh, one standard or the other, but actually the European union wasn't prepared for a systemic democratic backsliding within its own community. And right now we are witnessing this in two countries in Hungary and in Poland. And it's very important to install these kinds of mechanisms, for instance, um, compulsory European prosecutor's office, uh, do have control over European public finances, uh, and also, uh, systematic rule, offline monitoring systems, uh, so that we can safeguard our values in our entire community. But this is something we have to do now. And this is what European parliament has been fighting for. Dana Lewis: (40:41) It's interesting, right? And ironic that Victor orbans main appeal to the public is that he's improved the finances of the country, the economy, and really the way he did that was becoming a member of the European union. And now he's floating the very rules of the European union that he's used to improve the economy of hungry. katalin Cseh: (41:01) Yes, indeed. And this is this hypocrisy we have to be doing away with it because so criticizing the EU has been one of the hallmarks of mr. Oregon's governance. Uh, he has been claiming for a long time that the EU is an evil conspiratory powers to, uh, try to do away with the conservative governance of hungry. They are enemies of the Hungarian people and then the old ed. And then the same time they have been profiting from EU money, uh, which, uh, has been spent without appropriate oversight to a small circle of cronies often. And this is why it's so important that the EU, uh, can project its values, uh, in its, uh, economic policies as well, Sudan, everybody, uh, who spends our money also has to, uh, respect our values as well. Speaker 1: (41:52) Caitlin cseh a member of the European parliament for Hungary Thank you so much. Press freedoms are also under attack, severely under attack in a country that I've always considered the leader in democratic principles in the free world. America, if you think calling everything fake news and campaigning against TV or newspapers will bring you clarity. Think again, it won't Americans. As you approach the elections in 2020, you would better support liberal open values, or you risk going the way of dictatorships, which limit political discourse, because they cannot accept criticism. Not only because of their egos, but because the aim to strangle a position to strengthen their grip on power and continue to stop their pockets. Meantime, the bad boys of Europe need a lesson from the countries of Europe, which still value democracy and free speech. That's another edition of backstory. Please share and subscribe. I'm Dana Lewis and I'll talk to you soon.

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