That in no way contradicts what I’m saying: People don’t want to be confronted with reality.

The problem with that, however, is that burying their heads in the sand instead of joining forces to change the situation doesn’t help anyone—it actually hurts anyone.

An excellent example of what happens when people don’t band together to put a stop to those who harm everyone out of ruthless self-interest is the U.S.

It is simply wrong to resign oneself to injustice. People can change things together—there are more than enough examples of this in history.

To say, “That’s just the way it is,” is the worst thing you can do, because that is exactly what the powerful of this world want—and they want it because they are so vastly outnumbered.

I say this myself above, and unfortunately, it’s because I’ve pretty much given up hope— because even on the most niche platforms, you’re still confronted with people’s hedonism.

Well, unfortunately, that’s just the way it is. If people would sacrifice their own entertainment just a few times for the greater good, organizations like FIFA wouldn’t exist. Unfortunately, though, they don’t—not even when it comes to things as utterly dispensable as sporting events. The result is the world we live in today.

Edit: On a smaller scale, you can actually observe this effect even on Lemmy as well: just look at how many large communities have imposed the absurd “no politics” rule on themselves. Obviously, this rule is so broadly defined that it opens the door to arbitrary censorship and can only lead to arbitrariness, since there is nothing that isn’t political in one way or another. Yet people insist they don’t want to be confronted with reality—not on showerthoughts, not on asklemmy, and not on many other communities. They then say, “Post in a political community,” meaning somewhere where no one will see it. That’s just how the world is, that’s how the majority of people are, and that’s why we have to live the way we do.

Sorry for the rant.

The only soccer team I’m a real fan of is the Fuck Fifa Team.

Yes, that’s true. After World War II, the Nazis—especially those in powerful economic circles—were unfortunately never held accountable for their crimes, and so even in today’s Germany, there are still a whole lot of die-hard Nazis in positions of power.

It may well be that these monsters continue to hatch anti-Semitic plans, and it is undeniable that there are numerous racists not only among the elites.

Nevertheless, I believe that Germany’s continued support for Israel’s atrocities is more due to the fact that the regime there shares their main values: In the original sense of the word, as coined by Mussolini, they are indeed also fascists, even if their religion, due to the racially based ideology of Nazism, should not allow for cooperation with die-hard Nazis.

I think this point demonstrates that these people actually have no values other than the pursuit of their own advantage.

In Germany, it seems to me that the situation is similar to that in the US: There are also numerous Nazis in the MAGA movement, yet even they act contrary to their own twisted ideology by allying themselves with Israel.

It may well be that they do this because they are pursuing some kind of long-term, anti-Semitic master plan. However, I consider it more likely that they simply do it because it is advantageous for them.

In short: I think that, contrary to their own propaganda, the utterly unscrupulous don’t really care at all what religion someone has or what their skin color is. What seems central to these people is simply that their allies are just as willing to walk over dead bodies as they are. And Israel definitely does that, and it also fits well into these monsters’ worldview: Israel, too, pursues deeply racist plans and denies entire peoples the right to live—I think that is the connecting element.

The way I see it, religion, ideology, and so on are always just a means to an end for these people. They are, above all, opportunists whose defining trait is their ruthless inhumanity—and in this respect, fascists of all stripes are the same.

Given recent events, all cloud-based LLMs should have been included here. In the history of humanity, there has never been a more profitable piracy operation.

I think it’s out of the question that there’s an anti-Semitic conspiracy going on here, as you suspect. The reason: Religion is always just a means to an end for power-hungry politicians. The best example is that orange pedo in the White House—he pretends to be a fundamentalist Christian, but that’s very obviously just a cover to achieve his goals, which are to enrich himself and his cronies as much as possible.

The same applies to Netanyahu, against whom a case involving billions in corruption has been pending for years, a case that has never been prosecuted due to the ongoing state of war.

The two have one thing in common: their absolute ruthlessness—and that is precisely what characterizes their ilk. These people will literally walk over dead bodies. In my opinion, this has not the slightest thing to do with religion.

Edit: The UK is likely the US’s closest ally, and the modern German state was largely established under US occupation (East Germany was under Russian control but collapsed before the Soviet Union did). Both countries therefore have historically particularly close ties to the US. Furthermore, if we’re honest, European criticism of Israel’s crimes comes exclusively from Spain.

I think the much simpler explanation is that corrupt and unscrupulous politicians are lining their own pockets or profiting in other ways.

Germany supplies weapons to Israel, which is a multi-billion-dollar business. Furthermore, Israel is particularly influential in the U.S., which is why a good relationship with Israel is, so to speak, a prerequisite for relations with the U.S.—it is no coincidence that it is precisely those countries that are closely linked to the U.S. that also support Israel.

The fact that Germany doesn’t even shy away from targeting Jewish organizations that call Israel’s actions what they are is simply the same tactic that is always used to silence legitimate criticism. Germany, incidentally in a Bundestag vote that coincidentally took place on the day of a popular soccer match, adopted a definition of anti-Semitism that, for example, brands any comparison of Israeli crimes with those of Nazi Germany as anti-Semitism. Of course, this is absurd, but it is a tool that can also be used against Jewish critics.

This, in turn, is fully in line with Israel’s strategy, which has always used this argument to silence critics. For Jewish critics, Zionism has even developed the completely absurd construct of Jewish self-hatred.

In short: Germany’s support can plausibly be explained by greed and political opportunism. It is simply about money and power.

In Germany, this is indeed still (ostensibly) justified by citing the historical responsibility Germany bears toward the victims of the Holocaust. However, this line of reasoning is obviously completely nonsensical, since Germany’s responsibility naturally does not pertain to the State of Israel, but rather to doing everything in its power to prevent genocide—a goal that is, unfortunately, being thwarted by our politicians.

The fact that the political establishment and the powerful elites continue to support Israel despite its undeniable crimes and inhuman atrocities can, in my view, only be explained by corruption and skillful intelligence work on the part of the Mossad. I can no longer think of any other explanation.

In my opinion, the Epstein documents provide a fairly clear picture of how this works.

As a German, I can say that, unfortunately, nearly every major political party in Germany defends Israel and thereby actively supports its genocide. In my view, this is completely at odds with the general will of the people, as the majority of citizens firmly and decisively reject this criminal policy. They want Israel to finally be held accountable for its crimes, but this is being prevented by the political establishment.

Therefore, in my view, it would only be right to boycott German products as well, so that the pressure on our wretched politicians increases.

I do the same, and as a European, I also boycott all U.S. products, because this country not only participates in Israel’s atrocities but even makes them possible in the first place.

Well, people presumably don’t want to be arbitrarily arrested and dragged off to a concentration camp … or they just can’t stand fascists. Both are good reasons to boycott this criminal state. It’s about time, anyway, since FIFA is a plague too.

Apparently, the world’s billionaires now see themselves as a kind of global monarchy. Well, unfortunately, this is where unbridled hyper-capitalism has led us.

Yes, and the reason for that is lobbying, aka corruption.

This clearly illustrates the extent to which our politicians are selling out the interests of citizens for their own gain. Right now would be the ideal time to finally promote digital sovereignty, especially since products that don’t come from China or the U.S. could use that trust as a selling point. Unfortunately, however, everything remains the same because our politicians allow themselves to be bribed by criminals in the U.S.

Yes, that is highly likely. That’s why I’m always surprised that it’s almost exclusively Chinese products that come under suspicion in public debate. Not that we shouldn’t have safety concerns here as well, but it’s exactly as you say: With U.S. products, it’s at least just as appropriate to fundamentally distrust the manufacturers, especially since the country is obviously ruled by a criminal regime that has absolutely no scruples and blackmails other countries with everything at its disposal.

Shouldn’t we ask the same question about products from the U.S.?

That reminds me of the scientists in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, who let themselves dangle in a basket from the edge of the world to conduct their research.

"…

Are you ready? Hey, are you ready for this?

Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?

Out of the doorway, the bullets rip

To the sound of the beat, yeah

Another Cat-in-the-box

Another Cat-in-the-box

And another one gone, and another one gone

Another Cat-in-the-box (yeah)

Hey, I’m gonna get you, too

Another Cat-in-the-box

…"

Yes, that’s true, because of the network effect. But you can still rest on your laurels as long as there’s no serious competition. Another motivation for PeerTube & Co.

Regarding federated applications: I think they not only need content, but also have to become significantly more user-friendly to ever have a chance in the mainstream. It’s simply a reality that the average user doesn’t know the first thing about the applications they use—and, above all, that they never want to know. The essential and only “selling point” is and remains convenience—and even setting aside the lack of content, federated applications unfortunately can’t keep up. Not for technical reasons, but because the average internet user is such a complacent wimp.

Isn’t it unbelievable how multi-billion-dollar corporations push out updates that should never have been released, despite the warnings from their undoubtedly highly competent developers?

That alone says everything you need to know about the times we live in…

It seems we’ve reached the end of the road for hyper-capitalism.

This is an approach that could never succeed in the U.S., because there the focus is always on throwing as much money as possible at the defense contractors so that the billionaires can get even richer.

A current example: the war of aggression against Iran that the U.S. is waging in violation of international law.

To my knowledge, not even a halfway plausible reason has been given for this. And so it becomes quite clear that this is simply about shifting state resources into the pockets of the super-rich - and U.S. citizens just go along with it, even though it isn’t even them who are dying by the thousands, but rather, among others, Iranian schoolchildren, hundreds of whom were murdered simply by a bombing of a school…