Interesting. Any idea how compatible it would be with US mobile networks? I’m currently using Mint/T-Mobile (not Verizon, which is notoriously incompatible) but every time I’ve found an EU phone that looks appealing in the past compatibility was always a possible concern so I never got any.

I don’t speak German and after some searching I am still not sure. Most of the results are full of speculative/preview type info and focused on performance.

That dude’s a beast.

Watching the below drama unfold immediately after Cory Doctorow’s praise of Kagi kind of left me waiting for something to go wrong with Kagi so I never tried it.

Why I Lost Faith in Kagi

If the CEO made some kind of formal response to the controversy I didn’t see it. It just left me concerned that their CEO was another narcissistic tech bro that insists their opinion and beliefs are flawless and will change the world.

Undeniably, most search engines I’ve used continuously get worse. Maybe I’ll give it a try but I just hate the state of things right now. I feel like I’m just the pawn of a bunch of rich tech bros who know what’s best for the world and therefore me.

I feel you. I’m fearful of being so open about my diagnosis though. These days I “wear so many hats” for my job. Unfortunately I have to be support for a number of related systems, script automations, and a tons of other stuff. Recently I’ve felt like this last project has taken forever and I’ve been hard on myself because of it.

Only in the last week or so did I realize that I’m writing scripts far more complex than ever before and I don’t get into a flow state until everyone else goes home but then it’s time for me to go home. Half of my normal work time is trying to get back into the mindset I need to continue building the project. Then I have to focus on different project for a few days and WTF was I doing with that first project?

It depends. Do you have a lot of money? I’m sure you can find someone that can see you right away.

people not willing to integrate

This is the only “issue” I can think of from my own experience in the US. I imagine some resentment can form if a country has a lot of what I’ll call “culture” for simplicity’s sake. An influx of people with different “culture” might feel like an attack on your own culture. I frankly don’t understand but that’s why I mentioned the base population of the US being large and diverse. Perhaps we’re already such a “melting pot”, at least in the densely populated cities and suburbs, and having so many pockets of cultures is just what I’m used to. I want to better understand but it still just sounds like ignorant fear of a different culture.

Hell, it’s a well established statistic, that many people pretend doesn’t exist, that criminality is lower among the immigrant population. Any population will have some bad apples, but the incoming population is thinning them out if anything.

Can you link me to some credible sources on legitimate problems caused by immigration in Europe? I’m in the US and I don’t see the downside of immigration. Most of the folks angry about immigration here are just being sold a scapegoat.

Admittedly, we’re much more culturally diverse to begin with, harder to get to, and have quite a large base population so maybe I’m comparing apples and oranges.

Honestly, your words only make me less supportive of your perceived “fight”.

I believe that many leaders in Israel are well aware of this and are using that as a shield. Such use literally lays the ground work for actual Anti-Semitism. If Zionism has nothing to do with what’s happening in Gaza and the West Bank, then far, far, far more effort needs to go into denying the Zionism of war criminals commiting a genocide and hiding behind language than criticizing those who use those same war criminals’ language to oppose them.

But who has the right to redefine the word ‘Zionism’ when it’s the word used by this group of people to define their effort to save themselves?

Anti-Zionists are at best ignorant of the importance of democracy and at worst, antisemitic. Pick a new word.

The people who protect the leadership of Israel from any consequences regardless of how they behave and provide them the tools to do whatever they deem necessary, including blatant ethnic cleansing and genocide, call themselves Zionist. It might not be fair to redefine a word, but those commiting genocide and those defending and enabling genocide, use it for themselves. Opposition meets them where they stand. The burden should not be on those opposing the genocide, what you call tragedy, to come up with a new word. You are redefining anti-new-Zionism as Anti-Semitism. Just as unhelpful as redefining Zionism. How about we work to stop the genocide and then focus on the definition of Zionism later?

It’s much easier to replace the business/marketing responsibilities with AI.

Seriously. There is not much of a difference between a business boss confidently making up a solution so as to appear like they know what they are doing and AI hallucinating because it’s a bad look for AI to say “I don’t know”.

Neither must face the consequences for their failure to acknowledge the consequences of being totally fucking wrong.

Money in social media is used to replicate what we do naturally.

If we drown that out, they have to pay more.

We all can beat money if we actually sat and thought about it for half a second.

Nope. Hard disagree. We’re not talking about the same thing and we have way different views about how much time and energy it would take to drown out the efforts of billionaires and foreign states. If we focused our energy on that we’d achieve a drop in the ocean. Hell, I feel like I’m wasting my time arguing with a bot right now and I’ve achieved jack fuck.

It’s not about getting dirty now when it comes to this, it’s about effectiveness. You are ignoring my points, moving goal posts, and instigating responses. Good luck with whatever. I’m out.

Why are there no voices on the left?

Why are there more voices on the right?

• Money

The right has literal millionaire and billionaires funding it’s alternative media. Daily Wire

After the duo secured several million dollars in seed funding from billionaire petroleum industry brothers Dan and Farris Wilks, The Daily Wire was launched in 2015.

The right also has foreign actors trying to destabilize the US with more astroturfing.

Other “stars” of right wing alternative media literally made a fortune on TV or talk radio and funded their own alternative media companies, like Alex Jones, Glenn Beck, Tucker Carlson. Literally we’ll paid conservative TV personalities transitioning to web-based alternative media.

There are fewer people from the left doing the same and they tend to have smaller audiences that right wing counterparts - that is disappointing. I watch many of them but I have no idea how to fix that audience issue.

• A willingness to submit to authority

The left isn’t easily led. Herding cats, as they say. Personally, I suspect there is an aspect of conservatism that caters to authoritarianism. I think right wingers like the simplicity of being told what to think and what to do, as long as it makes them feel good. I don’t believe the left is motivated the same way. It makes it hard to propagandize if everyone isn’t on the same page.

I’ll challenge this to you. There’s clips of Marc Maron shitting on Rogan. Where do I post that here on Lemmy?

Seriously? If you can’t find a place it’s because you aren’t looking. Will it become viral or wildly successful? I couldn’t tell you.

You aren’t addressing my points, you are repeating your own points.

You’re talking about “alternative media” and not social media.

Who is it that you are blaming? The leftist population, democratic leadership, left leaning influencers?

Are you expecting people to dig into the right wing rabbit hole of social media just to combat it’s effectiveness? What are you actually suggesting?

I agree that some folks like Rogan & Theo should have representatives from the left engaging with them. Unfortunately, there aren’t many public faces on the left. I also can’t pretend to know who those guys are willing to even have on. They had some Democrats, Bernie and I think Pete (corporate Democrat but at least willing to consider some leftist policies), maybe others - I don’t watch their shows.

Joe Rogan isn’t massive just because he’s Joe Rogan he’s massive because the right knew how to turn manipulate the left into attacking him and turn that into a recruitment drive.

Can you differentiate “attacking him” and turning him into a “lolcow”?

Joe Rogan is massive because he’s a well known MMA personality with comic friends that is fantastic at chilling will famous people and shooting the shit without any actual deep thought. He’s leaned right because, again, it’s where the money is.

Please respond to my previous points, and consider these things:

every time progressives “take the high road” by disengaging, they hand votes and power the right.

What would engaging look like?

Acting like we’re “too virtuous” to engage isn’t a moral victory it’s a fucking disaster. We need to own it otherwise it’ll keep occurring.

Again, what does not disengaging look like?

Traditional media hasn’t been relevant in a while. Everybody gets their news from social media.

Agree to disagree. I think It’s generational. Every boomer I know, even the liberals, absolutely watches the news on their TV. The more right wing people usually listen to talk radio. Traditional media is less relevant among the younger generations but the younger generations still lean left.

they didn’t have the energy to do the most basic form of engagement from the comfort of their own bedroom

Wait wait wait. Are you saying that average people dropped the ball on using social media to spread leftist values?

1. Nontraditional media is what is affecting so many minds and what is being shared on social media. Joe Rogan, OANN, Daily Wire, and all that garbage. Just another form of the same bullshit. Money-grubbing assholes chasing ratings/views willing to use whatever is most effective… and often funded by rich conservatives who only fund right leaning influencers.
2. Reddit and Lemmy and all this shit is social media - it’s just not where most of the right wingers are. Are you telling me the left is underrepresented on these forums? It’s pretty clear that we’re here in number.
3. Social media is so effective at radicalizing people because it’s an echo chamber. Are you suggesting the left should embrace the fucking right wing rabbit hole so that we can better reach radicalized people on social media? We don’t control the algorithm, the new tech oligarchy that controls social media does that.

I’m not active outside this place and you couldn’t get me to touch Facebook. Their algorithms, representing their interests, are what fucked social media. I deleted my account a while ago because Meta isn’t getting my engagement or my ad revenue.

It sounds like you want us to fund fascist enablers and engage right wing rabbit holes in order to reach a minority of younger right wingers that have been sectioned off into their own echo chambers. Yeah, not fucking happening. That’s some energy vampire shit and abso-fucking-lutely not “the most basic form of engagement”.

Yea since journalists are notoriously right wing and everyone listens to traditional news.

Here’s the weird thing. Journalist’s tend to lean left, but the people that sit in front of a camera and spout “news” for almost every major media organization? They don’t lean left, they lean money and/or influence. If they lean too left they end up unemployed, or at least drop several rungs. People like Medhi Hasan that won’t tow the line lose their shows.

What’s left is constant criticism of every Democrat that farts in a restroom and uncertainty about whether or not full blown authoritarianism and fascism is really a big deal. Everything seems fine from their desks.

It’s also in large part the media. They focused on that shit

Is it not possible some of those many losses were just that?

an example of a communist government of a major country that hasn’t devolved quickly into a dictatorship

I’m not feeling rage or hysteria, but I find a number of issues with this “test” that could easily cause frustration with anyone who has major criticisms of capitalism. My response is long not because of some irrational anger, but because things are complex and nuanced.

You consider yourself to be “fairly progressive”? I’m going to give you an analogy. It’s not great, but it hits on a few major issues relevant to your “test”. Imagine a MAGA fan asked you in 2026 to “name a thriving woke government agency” or “a government agency that still advocates for DEI” to make a point about your ideals. How does that sound to you?

First, you’d like argue that the term “woke” and “DEI” means different things to different people. That the term has been transformed into some deranged negatively charged approximation used as almost a slur colloquially. The same is true for “communist/ism” and “socialist/ism”. The current US “powers that be” have taken ownership of terms originally used by progressives. Woke was an “eyes open” state of awareness of the systemic racism baked into society. Now it is often considered “naively believing that forced equality makes things better”. DEI was an attempt to correct these systemic issues by encouraging or even enforcing diversity in groups of people who make decisions and influence decisions. Now it, and I’d argue “Affirmative Action” as well, is starting to mean a movement to “give power/opportunity to people because they are minorities whether or not they are sufficiently qualified”. Understand, I’m not in agreement with the transformation of these terms or the sentiment of the new “meanings” but I see them being used in the US in this manner more often. This makes every conversation confusing if you want to have a legitimate discussion of the ideas. It doesn’t help that the terms socialism and communism were never concrete terms to begin with.

Second, you’d be aware that there is literally a powerful force actively attempting to purge the original concepts of “woke” and “DEI” from government agencies. The current administration is working very hard to sabotage any agencies that recognize inequality or try to diversify. The administration has likely broken the law in its efforts to oust any agency leadership who promote these concepts. The administration wants to make the lives of any workers who agree with those concepts very difficult. Any agencies that are based on those core concepts are being spun down or turned into shells that somehow still have a name that implies they haven’t changed but in reality their leadership is working to ensure that the agency now serves the opposite function.

That’s what it is like being openly socialist or communist in today’s world. Everything bad is “socialist” or “communist” - it has been since the revolution in Russia. People have a knee jerk reaction on hearing those words. It’s strongly associated with North Korea, Stalin, and the CCP. Endless stories of violent authoritarianism, surveillance states, and the suppression of free speech. Tons of media - Animal Farm, 1984. As an aside, consider the violent suppression of climate or pro Palestine protesters, or the use of surveillance technology to spy on citizens… in capitalist nations.

Back to my point - if you are advocating for socialism, the West will work diligently to prop up existing capitalist leadership to prevent your success, possibly even help them rig elections. Propaganda will be spread among your population. If you manage to get elected, expect to be labeled extremist or even terrorist. Expect embargos, sanctions, and other economic warfare. Expect actual terrorists funded by the West to attempt to sabotage your nation. Expect or attempt to perform coups. Lobbyists would be throwing money you desperately need at your nation if it would just capitulate. Yes, even citizens might work against you because they are quite wealthy and powerful and your going to upset that. Or maybe honest citizens who’ve heard capitalism is great and socialism is bad and they don’t want to live in a bad nation. What’s the most effect method to survive a situation like that? You are under siege, paranoid, distrustful, woefully outmatched. Use your authority to defend your ideals and your hold on the government, sell out and become corrupt, or get squeezed out by a political opponent (or ally, trust noone) that is working for and funded by the West looking to restore their influence over your nation. Now you have a dictatorship.

I’m in no way defending this situation, but what mechanisms would prevent this?

Forgive me, but as someone in the US I’ve had almost daily shower thoughts that, to my surprise, often end with me spouting the same thing that conservatives used to say (empty words, in hindsight).

How can we empower a government to check/modify itself to self correct when it becomes corrupt without the government having the ability to use those same powers to falsely check/modify itself to be more corrupt under the guise of removing corruption when the government itself is actually corrupt.

Basically, how can we create or maintain an organization that is empowered to do “good” when “good” can be made subjective? Or, how do we make what we consider “good” to be objective so that power can’t be corrupted?

All I can come up with is a better informed population and democracy, but that’s a tall order these days.