Amalgamation

[Kodra24]

It's not cynicism, it's realism - I am not cynical towards my family or close friends, I have no reason to be, but I have plenty of reasons to be wary of government or big corporations, isn't this common sense?!

I'm not sure you understand how social media monopolies work - it is all about active users, if enough people leave/deactivate their profile their stock will plummet, hence their market cap (essentially the amount of money the company is worth) will nosedive, and of course the less it's worth the less power it can project etc etc etc

It sounds like you should be protesting facebook and the evils of social media (which I agree is extremely unhealthy, especially with kids)

But again, it is a CHOICE to use it! We, the people, have the power to stop FB or any other social media empire by simply ditching it or switching to another platform or creating our own platform

There is NO CHOICE in the state intervention which you highly speak of, there is NO CHOICE in government overreach, you are not grasping the extraordinary dangers you are advocating for because, I'm guessing, you were never in such a danger

The cynicism is in saying that NOBODY (neighbours, friends, colleagues would all be in that group) cares about your interests. You lead a sad anti-social life if you believe every person you meet is against you. But now it seems you try to reposition your statement, saying you aren't assuming that of your "close friends", but you have reason to be wary of "corporations and government".

As for government or big business, I explicitly said to be wary of them. But also to understand their motives and how and when they align with yours. Your implication that I suggested that you should not be wary of governments and corporations is...frankly a lie.

As for social media, I've already explained how it is impossible to opt out of the existence of large corporations. I can do nothing about your unwillingness to face that reality.

As for state power, I fully understand the dangers, which is why I fight for democracy...rather than dismiss it.

You're kinda all over the place, earlier you literally said you absolutely feel the government has your best interest at heart - are you referring to this current federal government or really any that comes to power? In any case I indicated that that is the fundamental difference between you and I, and that I cannot really fathom even meeting such a person, but alas they do exist

Since you mentioned it though and got personal, I have a great family life with lots of friends, and get along well with colleagues, and I still think we are our own individual selves with accountabilites and interests, and should ensure our own interests are met first - that's not cynicism

In the end I think it's pretty clear what your values are and what mine are - there's no need to delve further