[HN Gopher] The Dropout: A History
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       The Dropout: A History
        
       Author : benbreen
       Score  : 24 points
       Date   : 2022-02-12 23:47 UTC (23 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (aeon.co)
 (TXT) w3m dump (aeon.co)
        
       | tanseydavid wrote:
       | Here's a stunning passage from the article, when considered in
       | terms of 1967-attitudes-and-anxieties vs the technological world
       | we live in today:
       | 
       | > _"...historians argue that the postwar period was marked by an
       | acute set of anxieties...about the potential for large
       | institutions, states and technologies to control the arena of the
       | personal self. "_
       | 
       | Those hippies (while tripping balls) were remarkably prescient!
        
         | generalizations wrote:
         | Too bad we minimized them with our war on drugs. We could have
         | done more to prevent it.
        
           | dnsco wrote:
           | This was the war on drugs intended purpose.
        
           | ta8645 wrote:
           | We're in the process of making the same mistake against the
           | Anti-Covid-Mandate people. They're defending freedom and
           | calling attention to government and big-business overreach.
           | And their demonization as Nazi's is more or less working.
        
             | Kye wrote:
             | This is a grab bag of rhetoric with no clear path to a
             | point.
        
               | ta8645 wrote:
               | It's a clear parallel to the way hippies were dismissed
               | as just druggies, without considering the actual points
               | they were making. And with hindsight, we see that in
               | fact, they were making some good points. Someday, the
               | same thing will be said about those who opposed the
               | tyranny and erosion of personal liberty, that was taking
               | cover behind a fig leaf of medical necessity.
        
               | Kye wrote:
               | Thanks for unwrapping all the implicit assumptions in
               | your comment. I can at least agree that the few
               | reasonable issues people have with attempts at containing
               | covid get buried under the much greater volume of
               | absolute nuttery and grifting, and that certain factions
               | use the latter to ignore the former.
        
               | nicbou wrote:
               | Even though I generally disagreed with that crowd, I'm
               | just starting to realise that some of them were raising
               | the same concerns as others during the post-9/11 mania.
               | 
               | Unfortunately, they just got lumped with the anti-vaxx
               | nutjobs, and whatever they said was dismissed. It was a
               | proper "either you're with us or with the terrorists"
               | rehash.
               | 
               | Now people are in this weird position where they want to
               | talk about it, but are afraid of being lumped with the
               | weirdos.
               | 
               | Oh and don't forget how we weaponised the word "science"
               | as a thought-terminating cliche, even though few of us
               | actually expressed actual scientific curiousity or
               | checked our sources.
               | 
               | It was weird to see "my side" pull all the nasty tricks,
               | and being powerless to criticise it.
        
           | [deleted]
        
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       (page generated 2022-02-13 23:01 UTC)