Cory Doctorow: "America is not great.
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Cory Doctorow: "America is not great. It has been gutted by the Epstein class, who robbed us blind, raped our kids, and are now selling us shitcoins and chatbots and the spectacle of protesters being shot in the streets."
https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/02/corprophagia/#that-makes-me-smart
Cory has had it up to here.
You should, too.
This nonsense with the billionaire class, and how fucking "genius" they are, has got to fucking stop.
No trillionaire is worth this, and no trillion-dollar capitalism is worth this sacrifice.
We are a nation of human and civil rights, written into the civil and governmental promise that these rights are inviolable.
Privacy, due process, safety, versus uncertainty and terror, every second of every day, we are watching these rights be enshittified. Before our own eyes.
What the fuck has happened, here?
Take our humanity back. Wrestle it away from the abusers of the power they have wrestled, from us, instead of being freely given, with the consent of the governed.
This is a deep, profound moment, in which we, collectively, find ourselves.
Be smarter than the rich assholes, and drive this country, and all of the other free nations of the world, forward, for all of our species.
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Cory Doctorow: "America is not great. It has been gutted by the Epstein class, who robbed us blind, raped our kids, and are now selling us shitcoins and chatbots and the spectacle of protesters being shot in the streets."
https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/02/corprophagia/#that-makes-me-smart
And do we still use their products?
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Cory Doctorow: "America is not great. It has been gutted by the Epstein class, who robbed us blind, raped our kids, and are now selling us shitcoins and chatbots and the spectacle of protesters being shot in the streets."
https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/02/corprophagia/#that-makes-me-smart
@dangillmor Respectfully, the Epstein class haven't gutted a once-great America. In my eyes America has only ever been great if you were/are a white, wealthy, male land owner. If you were/are anything else, America has only ever been a failure to live up to the ideals espoused in the Declaration of Independence.
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@dangillmor America was never great…it’s an ugly shithole nation founded on white supremacy. Trump isn’t the problem, he’s merely a symptom. The actual problem is that 77 million Americans knowingly voted for a treasonous criminal piece of shit, and are proud of it. #USpol
That's not quite true, at least about a portion of that number.
There are definitely people who regret voting for him and more still who just didn't believe he would do what's in that Project 2025 playbook.
There was solid polling about it before the election. If they thought he would they would not have voted for him.
Michael Podhorzer and Anat Shenker-Osorio talked about this dynamic just a few days ago - https://www.weekendreading.net/p/the-maga-reconstruction-of-the-north -
Cory Doctorow: "America is not great. It has been gutted by the Epstein class, who robbed us blind, raped our kids, and are now selling us shitcoins and chatbots and the spectacle of protesters being shot in the streets."
https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/02/corprophagia/#that-makes-me-smart
@dangillmor It's becoming less great by the minute, too. Really stinking up the joint.
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Cory Doctorow: "America is not great. It has been gutted by the Epstein class, who robbed us blind, raped our kids, and are now selling us shitcoins and chatbots and the spectacle of protesters being shot in the streets."
https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/02/corprophagia/#that-makes-me-smart
And that needs to change…
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Cory Doctorow: "America is not great. It has been gutted by the Epstein class, who robbed us blind, raped our kids, and are now selling us shitcoins and chatbots and the spectacle of protesters being shot in the streets."
https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/02/corprophagia/#that-makes-me-smart
@dangillmor Beyond that racists and fascists has taken over the tech industri. https://mastodon.world/@rebeccasear.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy/115985641904520812
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214229728 -
@ZDL @logicalmoody @x41h @dangillmor
But they are exceptional times. While there are similarities to past events, to assume there will be a similar outcome without making some huge sacrifices and shifting many of our activities to a purpose greater than ourselves, would be a huge mistake.
My father is 94. He was a teenager in the 1940s. He thinks these are exceptional times. This is absolutely NOT like the 60s or 70s.
@AnnieBuddy @ZDL @logicalmoody @x41h @dangillmor
Not like the 60s or 70s, no. The rich had not regained the outrageous wealth of the 1920s yet by the 60s and 70s. We forgot and let them get control again.
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@AnnieBuddy @ZDL @logicalmoody @x41h @dangillmor
Not like the 60s or 70s, no. The rich had not regained the outrageous wealth of the 1920s yet by the 60s and 70s. We forgot and let them get control again.
@AnnieBuddy @ZDL @logicalmoody @x41h @dangillmor
and it's worse now than the gilded age ever was.
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@AnnieBuddy @ZDL @logicalmoody @x41h @dangillmor
and it's worse now than the gilded age ever was.
@darwinwoodka @AnnieBuddy @ZDL @logicalmoody @dangillmor not really.... Nixon tried to cap gas at a max price and then the oil tycoons began running a shortage on whole country with gas prices reaching $6 a frigging gallon. This is back in 70s when a brand new vehicle only cost $6k.
So what has changed? Those who own commodities still control the wealth and fuck us whenever they can while distracting us with politics. Nothing has changed except more technology.
Unabomber was right with his intentions.
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@darwinwoodka @AnnieBuddy @ZDL @logicalmoody @dangillmor not really.... Nixon tried to cap gas at a max price and then the oil tycoons began running a shortage on whole country with gas prices reaching $6 a frigging gallon. This is back in 70s when a brand new vehicle only cost $6k.
So what has changed? Those who own commodities still control the wealth and fuck us whenever they can while distracting us with politics. Nothing has changed except more technology.
Unabomber was right with his intentions.
@x41h @darwinwoodka @ZDL @logicalmoody @dangillmor
I'll have to disagree and say no, it is not the same. The scale and reality are actually well into the point of no return. In the past, enough people believed in the system to keep it going. Now, with the undermining of every institution and the rampant pillaging of what little remains in the middle class, the advancements that have been made in the last 200 years are being taken down.
America was considered great because it sold hope and opportunity, but that is rapidly being destroyed by those who think a warlord fortress world is a goal to aspire to. For most that vision is the opposite of hope and opportunity, it is decay and endless fighting.
And Nixon was stopped, if you recall. Who is going to stop Trump?
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Cory Doctorow: "America is not great. It has been gutted by the Epstein class, who robbed us blind, raped our kids, and are now selling us shitcoins and chatbots and the spectacle of protesters being shot in the streets."
https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/02/corprophagia/#that-makes-me-smart
@dangillmor This was a fantastic read.
I think it worth acknowledging that just 18 months ago, this pullquote would've been deemed radical and alarmist by liberals. And that the "Epstein Class" does not go into remission when Democrats take office.
It's also worth acknowledging that change can lead to an absence of power, which causes a vacuum. And we are ill equipped to capture that power for the people.
Right now, as it stands, we're looking neoliberalism dying, and technocracy rising.
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@dangillmor This was a fantastic read.
I think it worth acknowledging that just 18 months ago, this pullquote would've been deemed radical and alarmist by liberals. And that the "Epstein Class" does not go into remission when Democrats take office.
It's also worth acknowledging that change can lead to an absence of power, which causes a vacuum. And we are ill equipped to capture that power for the people.
Right now, as it stands, we're looking neoliberalism dying, and technocracy rising.
If we do not come to terms with the fact that Democrats, as an entity are not on our side, that they exist to maintain the power structures that benefit the Fortune 500 and the rising Cloud Empire, we have zero chance of capturing the changing winds.
Only then can we focus our attention on shifting our attention *away* from the trillions of ad impressions that current pay for our oppression.
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If we do not come to terms with the fact that Democrats, as an entity are not on our side, that they exist to maintain the power structures that benefit the Fortune 500 and the rising Cloud Empire, we have zero chance of capturing the changing winds.
Only then can we focus our attention on shifting our attention *away* from the trillions of ad impressions that current pay for our oppression.
lol I thought I was replying to this essay so take that for what it is worth
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