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[return to "Facebook test asks users if they're worried a friend is 'becoming an extremist'"]
1. wincy+n7[view] [source] 2021-07-02 17:49:45
>>WaitWa+(OP)
My wife got flagged as an extremist and started getting notices from Facebook yesterday every time she logged in.

Which I mean, my wife believes that the government using the threat of violence to collect taxes is immoral, unethical, and that all transactions between all individuals should be voluntary and nonviolent. Which in terms of popular discourse, is very "extreme". She was thinking about running for local public office an a platform of "the government will not take away your propery for failure to pay taxes" which a surprising number of local people on Facebook supported. She's been going to Meetups and having people say "oh yeah I saw your meme, the government sucks, keep it up!" She bugs local politicans on Facebook, their ads keep popping up in her feed, so she'll ask them things like "do you think it's moral to seize someone's property when they can't pay their taxes?" which of course gets bullshit nonanswers from politicians. Nobody wants to say "I think it's moral to seize someone's house because they're behind on taxes".

An authoritarian government wouldn't like someone like my wife, and they certainly wouldn't want her getting likes on Facebook. After all, what if she DOES run for office? What if she wins? What if other people like her win?

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2. zucked+Md[view] [source] 2021-07-02 18:23:45
>>wincy+n7
Total off-topic: out of curiosity, what levers does she think are moral to pull to encourage folks to pay taxes?
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3. Wincys+Vr[view] [source] 2021-07-02 19:34:31
>>zucked+Md
Same as what happens when you don't pay your utility bills, your services stop.
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4. jdlsho+at[view] [source] 2021-07-02 19:41:59
>>Wincys+Vr
How do you enforce that? Taxes pay for roads, parks, local goverment offices, etc. Is somebody who is behind on taxes prohibited from using public roads? Are they prohibited from entering the courthouse?
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5. bena+Iw[view] [source] 2021-07-02 20:01:06
>>jdlsho+at
You know how they want that enforced. They don't.

She's talking about making taxation voluntary.

Which seems on the wrong side of crackpot to me.

Of course anyone who goes on and on about "the threat of violence" when talking about taxes is not going to discuss the issue in good faith. "Building libraries by gunpoint" is a thought terminating cliche. They're a brand of libertarian that elevates the very concept of being required to do something they don't want to as violence against them.

They are exhausting to deal with.

Taxes are the dues you pay to live in the community you stay.

There's a lot the government should stay out of, but there's also a lot the government should be doing as well. And as long as the government should be doing things, it'll need money to do those things.

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