Asklemmy

Jewish blood libel conspiracies. All the COVID and WEF conspiracies that are popping up and gaining immense popularity all go back to “Jews are evil and must be removed”.

The association of the internet with mass amounts CSAM or Terrorist information. It's a line that governments have been pushing ever since the internet evolved from 'weird invention' to 'vague sense of threat to the integrity of nationstates'.

Are these real problems that need addressing? Absolutely. Though on a much smaller scale than gets exclaimed. And rather than the priority being hunting down perpetrators, the effort almost exclusively goes into shutting down or bugging any server that law enforcement's whim decides. The reality is that with end-to-end encryption, most "real" criminals on the internet will be entirely unaffected, while the created laws are instead mostly used for political censorship, the 'war on drugs', etc.

As a line, it's pretty much used to justify every act of censorship, privacy invasion, and restriction on the internet that satisfies a government's awful interests.

That lot of websites these days loads tons of JS, even when they should just be multi-page static websites.

Edit: I have recently compared my website (built with astro), and it weights 15 times less than other similar sites. And when you check why, it turns out that they are loading jQuery, React, unoptimized images and stuff like that, for simple website, that don't even use any interactive stuff, except menus.

The slow and steady abdication of control of our privacy to big tech.

I like that there's still smart devices that don't need the cloud. Look for devices that use Zigbee or Z-wave instead of Wifi, as these protocols are guaranteed to be local.

Fascism, through all its features: authoritarianism and racism especially, anti-science and intolerance more broadly.

Anyone who talks about the horrors the internet is turning into is labelled as a "boomer" or "nerd"

The increased normalization of stereotyping. I try to stop myself, but I don't think I'm immune either. It just feels like people are just more okay with seeing that someone is a certain nationality or race and assuming things than they were 5 - 10 years ago, regardless of political orientation. Some communities dislike it when you don't play into the stereotype, even.

Casual language is hyperbolic and violent.

Does everything you do need to sound like you'll stop at nothing to avenge the rape and murder of your family?

It's not just that they're smart, it's that the "smart" features actively interfere with normal operation, though it's bad enough that you can't find "dumb" versions. TVs for example: a few years ago I tried to replace my dying "dumb" TV and discovered that they basically don't sell TVs that aren't smart. I figured "eh, worst case I can just use it as a normal TV" only to discover that on some models no, I could not. I've come to despise Roku-integrated TVs: standalone Roku devices are great, but their TVs lock down basically every single adjustment you'd find on a normal TV other than brightness and volume, so too bad if you have to deal with glare I guess?

Finally wound up going with an AndroidTV, which at least lets me change inputs and adjust the picture as needed... but also the home screen is loaded with ads that you can't disable. At least it still lets me have it boot straight to a specific input instead of showing the home screen.

The non-specific disdain people have for reporters, media, critics, news, etc. as if everything is created equal. I think there are many people working in news and entertainment media doing good work, yet a common refrain is "media today sucks". I think it speaks more to how you consume, what you consume, and what you expect, if you believe there is some grand degradation of journalism. Media has certainly become more fragmented, with niches of content and wider levels of quality; the floor is lower, but I also believe the ceiling is higher.

I've got to say, I love the apps. I bought a washing machine with an app. It alerts me when it's finished. it's so nice.

What I hate is short form video, youtube shorts, tiktok, something where a person shouts information at you really fast then it ends. I also hate the lack of phonelines, I'm a techy person, if I have an issue with a device I want to talk to a person, explain what I've tried already, and then they tell me some other things I haven't tried. I do not want to sit through half hour of -

"Please connect the yellow wire to the modem. Has that solved your issue?"

"no"

"I heard no, is that correct?"

"yes"

"please connect the yellow wire to the wall. Has that solved your issue?"

etc

I think strawberry pop tarts have less frosting than all other flavors.

It's petty and small, but every time I have a strawberry pop tart the frosting is so thin that the holes on the top are clear through the frosting. No other flavor has this problem. I don't think it matters, but it feels like a conspiracy.