By their own admission, these arrests are "proactive arrests" - Chad Wolf, Acting Homeland Security Chief

So we're not even arresting them for committing a crime, we're anticipating maybe they MIGHT commit one. This is wholly illegal, and so long as we allow this type of overreaching authority, the closer we get to an actual authoritarian dystopia. Wait til it happens to you.

*promote the Swedish retro dystopia

I don't know, Net Neutrality (or lack thereof) is a slippery slope to a place where this sort of dystopia could exist without anyone really noticing.

*quality dystopia

more from the same animator

Your video, How to recognize a dystopia - Alex Gendler, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Good thing Bernie is not campaigning for any of that. You're not arguing against any of Bernie's policies or what he can realistically accomplish; You're arguing against some imaginary McCarthy era socialist dystopia.

Your straw man attack is basically the equivalent of someone arguing against Ted Cruz because he will turn America into a nightmare medieval Christian theocracy.

Bob, you're off your rocker if you think that it's a good thing to make doctors give unsound and incorrect advice to patients. Just take a minute to consider what sort of crackpot dystopia you're promoting with that line of thinking. Government regulations that force a doctor to lie to patients is ok if you need to get your own way. Is it worth poisoning the water with that kind of Orwellian shit just because you can't win the debate about abortion? What comes after legally forcing doctors to lie to patients, if that becomes the norm?

What am i saying, apparently it IS the norm..!?

Civilisation is descending into madness right in front of our eyes, whilst teams of people work day and night on press releases to make it seem perfectly normal. Some of you god-botherers can be real dangerous lunatics when you want to be.

Yeah, but there's using history as a basis for say, an alternate history or dystopia (a la Wolfenstein), and there's sensationalizing actual history while retaining a veneer of authenticity.

Not a big fan of the latter, I think you inevitably end up with a lot of people believing it to be accurate, as I think happens a lot with the AC series.

Statistically individual, personal commitments make very little impact on a population. I agree with the sentiment, but our views on "personal responsibility" don't work in reality beyond our individual family, they just make us feel better about ourselves thinking that way. You are superior. Good for you, but it doesn't put a dent in the real problem.

Reform works. For example, your children didn't make these decisions, rather you (and I assume a life mate), who are the institution of your children, made a parental reform and it benefits them greatly. Now, if you left it up to your children, what do you think they would do without your positive influence?

I'm a product of that and it has taken me years to realize this and patch the hole in my very being; years of bad habits and depression. I didn't have responsible, nor very smart parents, and I went to public school to boot. I was fucked and I didn't even know it. All of the potential to be an above average human and what did I do? FML'd. Flunked out of honors, AP, kicked out of the gifted and talented education program; though, I did provide that needed C average spot for Academic Decathelon, my potential meant squat. Personal responsibility BULLSHIT. That's an illusion and the reality is pathetic. I struggle EVERY DAY and I shouldn't have to.

I guess it's up to me to make up for my parent's irresponsibility, but most people just go with the flow. I guess if you don't mind paying for the ignorance of the sheeple, you can just let things be the way they are and deal with a failing population of dumbed down, unhealthy Americans.

Personally, I'd rather live in a world where people are getting smarter and healthier every day. A land where the government that tricked us (social contract) into giving them our livelihood, gives back to us, makes us stronger, more fit, and appropriately able to compete in a global economy. A land where the people in power work to make us better, rather than feeding off of our ignorance.

This imaginary world would abso-poso-lutely require reform away from the stranglehold dystopia the real.

Here're some ethics: The modern digital world is a micro-dystopia so all bets are off. Why pay when it exists for free. It's not like HBO series are hooked up to a complex network of backend processes that prevent offline viewing.

But... when that DOES happen, well, shit. Your ethics will truly be put to the test, won't they?

@mintbbb
hey hey stranger!
i dont know why you second guess yourself in regards to how you are perceived based on peoples subjective and highly irrational understandings.

humans...a curious lot.

you are a total sweetie.you are just super sensitive and some people never really understood that about you.
your husband is an idealist.
thats not a bad thing,in fact that can be a very good thing.

we NEED people to be dreamers and your husband is a dreamer and sometimes that can be frustrating if you are in an argument with him (which i have been).

i didnt always agree with him but i always liked him.

some here on the sift have questioned my friendship with @chingalera.
they didnt understand.
i seemed to be so much more approachable and less acidic in my commentary.
so how could i align myself with such a trollish sifter?

the answer is simply because i get him.
we BOTH are idealists.
just like your husband.
the difference lies in that both ching and i battle,on a daily basis,the rising tide of cynicism.

a cynicism that was born out of being beaten,imprisoned,lied to,betrayed and many times by the very people and/or institutions that we once were idealistic about.

disillusion is a real motherfucker.

yet we still retain that idealism.
we both are humanists.
we care about people.

so everything we do or say is with that at its heart.
so when ching is berating somebody,they may perceive that as an attack.
and it is but it is NOT an attack on them,personally,but rather an attack on their media-induced mythology.
or maybe a person is suffering a severe case of myopia and needs to be shaken out of their apathetic dystopia.

but its always,and i mean ALWAYS to get someone to look at a situation with a different perspective or challenge a belief.
to get people to actually think.
to not just give in to authority but to realize ALL authority is illegitimate until proven otherwise.

i tend to use less shocking and confrontational vernacular than ching does.so that may explain peoples confusion why i consider him a friend.

but if you understood his intent,the words he uses would have less of an emotional impact.

note* by my commentary i am not excusing,condoning nor dismissing chings very real outbursts that actually did hurt some feelings.
but i also know that when people get their feelings hurt they sometimes lash out (and i also suspect that those outbursts were in conjunction with copious amounts of booze).

passionate people are just as sensitive as the next and can/will retaliate in kind when hurt.i know i have.

which brings me to the actual point at hand (sorry..i tend to rant).

why would we remove/negate anything from the archives?
the organic growth and procession of a community should be held intact.
warts and all.
to remove,edit or scrub clean serves nothing,except to maybe repeat past indiscretions.

we never use the ignore button.
nor the sarcasm or jokingly.
so why would we erase the communities past dealings?
be they enlightening or incredibly droll?
its who we were and gives us all a marker where we may be going.

just a thought.

I came for the boobies and stayed for the visions of a dystopia.

You're not talking about the Sweden that's declining into a dystopia, are you?

You say; "Oh yeah, and I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore, Hail Satan, Hail Eris, Jesus Saves."
Hmmm. o....k, keep calm, and take your meds.
Seriously though, it's desk top fatalists like you, who envisage dystopia, and gleefully await Armageddon, that the security services are right to monitor. I'm done.

Depends on what you mean.
If you mean are the prisons some kind of sci-fi dystopia where the prisoners are left to fight it out, then no, it's not legal and the authorities took a pretty dim view of this commercial.

If you mean the ad itself, I can't find the details, but I seem to recall it was banned by the advertising standards people, which meant it was immediately shown on the news and thus seen by far more people anyway.

Personally, as much as beating the shit out of women beaters and rapists appeals to me on a gut level, I don't agree with the message.

Even if I doubt I'd shed many tears over them, prisoners (even scumbags) shouldn't live under the threat of violence.

That said, the ad succeeded brilliantly. It was just the right amount of controversy to put the topic of domestic abuse back in the spotlight, and frankly, that can only be a good thing.