💾 Archived View for tilde.pink › ~kaction › log › 2019-04-16.1.gmi captured on 2022-03-01 at 15:20:03. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

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Not eternal, not September

Recently, I learned about "No more deaths" organization. Its volunteers help migrants that run for their lives across the desert by leaving food and water at ground. At time of writing, one of volunteers, Scott Warren, is facing serious criminal charges^1 for that.

Also, there is video^2, where officials are kicking and slashing bottles of plain water, bottles that save lives. Indirectly, they are committing a murder. I never understood, how people could be such jerks. And it is not just dozen of politicians of dubious ethical values, it is regular folks, who are willingly do dirty job. After all, I doubt there was penalty for *not* kicking jug of water.

This morning, I understood. I do condemn it, but I do understand it.

There used to be Usenet. It was medium of communication, available only to chosen ones -- students of some colleges. It was culture. Be member of Usenet meant to pass non-trivial intellectual qualification. In September 1993, that garden of Eden was pillaged by hundreds of thousands of new, clueless members -- regular users of AOL Internet provider. It is easy to see on Twitter, how it ended.

Americans also have culture and values. To be American means to have car, house, job and credit history. To be American by this definition, is to pass non-trivial wealth qualification. Many migrants do not pass this qualification.

The difference is, there are no corpses in Internet, but there are plenty of them in desert of Arizona.