I think I'm actually going to boycott mainstream televised news

[stochastic]

My vice is going to news.google.com when I have nothing else to do for the next 30seconds to 2 minutes.  I am trying to give it up but it is hard.  It is like trying not to look at the car accident that you drive past.

[asdf]

I seem to have gotten the figure wrong.  It's only 262 million corpses.

http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/

http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM

So the "statist" response to this (and really the point of that site) is that not all governments commit democide equally, but it is a function of how totalitarian the government is.

I don't want, and never wanted, to blame "governments".  They don't exist.  All there is, is people doing things.

I blame the belief in the virtue of a group who perpetrates organized aggression to parasitize everyone else.  People under the influence of this belief, whether members or victims of this group, are the ones who believe that governments exist.  Not me.

What you see in observable reality is nothing more than (a) a tiny minority of people telling you what to do and how much to pay so they will let you live unharmed (b) a gaggle of people who incorrectly believe that the first group are their saviors and protectors, and worship them as a result of this incorrect belief.

That is, to me, the essence of statism.  It is to recoil in horror when watching an aggressor murder another, then to watch the exact same scene with the aggressor in a blue costume, only to say "well, he had it coming".  It is to feel terrified about being robbed of half of what you have, but paying up every April 15th with an unease that is hard to explain away.  It is to talk shit about Halliburton while celebrating the paid murderers in green costumes.  It is to cry in awe as the President sheds tears for the death of 20 children, when he himself has ordered the firebombing of 2000.  It is that level of irrationallity.  That is statism.

The problem isn't "totalitarianism".  It never was, not in the slightest.  The problem really isn't "aggressive people using too much aggression".  The problem is the belief that a bunch of aggressive people are virtuous and protect you.  That very belief, that the aggressive people are authorized and righteous to use aggression, is precisely what enables the aggressive people to murder everyone else, with total impunity.

If you think for a second that you live in a human farm, where you're farmed for your labor, and suppressed if you become a problem for the farmers, then the distinction between "totalitarianism" and "democracy" becomes very easy to figure out: both are merely methods to organize the farm.

The belief that a human being is righteously authorized to murder, brutalize, or cage another human being, as punishment for peacefully resisting an order, is not a totalitarian belief -- it is a statist belief.  Democide is not caused by totalitarianism -- it is caused by statism.

Great post!

I especially like the "What you see in observable reality" bit. (a) and (b) go hand in hand. This is why we have the mainstream news, to continuously convince (b) that they need (a).

[RodeoX]

"Central command, we have a unit thinking on his own. Someone named Rudd-O. Shall I call the truck?" 

[Rudd-O]

Great post!

Thanks!  :-)

[Rudd-O]

"Central command, we have a unit thinking on his own. Someone named Rudd-O. Shall I call the truck?" 

They better bring the cattle prods :-)

[RodeoX]

"Central command, we have a unit thinking on his own. Someone named Rudd-O. Shall I call the truck?" 

They better bring the cattle prods :-)

They will, it does wonders encouraging people to take their pills. When you wake up you wont have a care (or thought) in the world.

[Rudd-O]

I'll probably cry tears of love for Big Brother.

[RodeoX]

I'll probably cry tears of love for Big Brother.

You better cry! 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085636/North-Koreans-face-labour-camps-upset-death-Kim-Jong-il.html
 

[420]

you need a way to hype and spread the boycott. what is it

[Lethn]

lol I'm just boycotting it for my own benefit, that said, I bet it would solve a lot of the problems in the world if we just used the internet etc. for our information.

[420]

lol I'm just boycotting it for my own benefit, that said, I bet it would solve a lot of the problems in the world if we just used the internet etc. for our information.

thats the trend

[Charlie Prime]

My vice is going to news.google.com

Replace that with http://www.newsblur.com

This way you have more control over what gets injected into your mind.

Some I consume...

Disinformation - http://feeds.feedburner.com/disinfo

Information Liberation - http://www.informationliberation.com/rss.xml

Libertarian News - http://feeds.feedburner.com/libertariannews

Strike-The-Root - http://strike-the-root.com/feed

The Daily Bell - http://www2.thedailybell.com/rss.xml

Washington's Blog - http://www.washingtonsblog.com/feed

[RodeoX]

There are a few legitimate news sources left. Don't forget "The News Hour", "Frontline", and "BBC World service". They can all be found on TV and do contain actual news.

[Lethn]

BBC World service

LOL

[RodeoX]

BBC World service

LOL

Ok, it is official government TV. But their distant prospective is often far more insightful than our native news. And it is far more professional than any of the three networks. Network news is pre-packaged stories produced by big pharma companies, stories about pop culture, guys standing in the rain to tell you about storms,  "experts" on the topic de jure who were life-coaches six months ago. It's all nonsense. Without the foreign media, I would not know what's happening in my country.

[Lethn]

And it is far more professional than any of the three networks.

I'm sure it may seem professional to you guys who are used to the crap like Fox News and MSNBC but you'll get tired of the stupid puns and blatant nationalist propaganda soon enough.

[RodeoX]

And it is far more professional than any of the three networks.

I'm sure it may seem professional to you guys who are used to the crap like Fox News and MSNBC but you'll get tired of the stupid puns and blatant nationalist propaganda soon enough.

Ah, your in the UK? You see the whole BBC, crap and good. The world service is so much better than network (abc, nbc, cbs) news that they are not really comparable. Fox, CNN and MSNBC should not even be considered "news".

[stochastic]

My vice is going to news.google.com

Replace that with http://www.newsblur.com

This way you have more control over what gets injected into your mind.

Some I consume...

Disinformation - http://feeds.feedburner.com/disinfo

Information Liberation - http://www.informationliberation.com/rss.xml

Libertarian News - http://feeds.feedburner.com/libertariannews

Strike-The-Root - http://strike-the-root.com/feed

The Daily Bell - http://www2.thedailybell.com/rss.xml

Washington's Blog - http://www.washingtonsblog.com/feed

Thanks, now I can add more sites to my addiction to my RSS news reader.  If I told you I was trying to quit drinking, you would put a hundred year old scotch in my glass and tell me I was drinking the wrong stuff, wouldn't you? 

[myrkul]

Thanks, now I can add more sites to my addiction to my RSS news reader.  If I told you I was trying to quit drinking, you would put a hundred year old scotch in my glass and tell me I was drinking the wrong stuff, wouldn't you? 

Only if what you were trying to quit was PBR.

[Freja]

The BBC had an article on bitcoin recently that was very positive, it was even referred to as a popular payment system and an article from CNN shortly after saying bitcoin kicks ass (with a thin coat of bad points) makes me nervous. The BBC is a good news service, especially the world service, but anything they report on relevant to British institutions has God save the Queen subliminally playing in the background. Irrelevant to the thread but the BBC is one of few places where "corporation" has kept its original meaning.

The beeb buys some good documentaries occasionally. But it is relatively supportive of the wars in the Middle East, the war on terror and all this immoral stuff and it has some values that are not up for debate such as the monarchy.

If you want honest world news, RT is much better, or Euronews.
PressTV is a bit radical but they have a lot of very good points and definitely worth watching.