We're in this incredibly undesirable place where instead of debating something, we have this meta debate. "Net neutrality is valid because it's opponents astroturf."
It's pretty funny, because I have the same opinion, but in reverse. Net Neutrality disappeared off the radar, and now all of a sudden it's on HN every other week. Looks like astroturfing to me! "No, you're a towel!"
But you know what? Whether or not something is being AstroTurfed is entirely irrelevant, and debate is fruitless. We can have a debate on Net Neutrality without pointing fingers at who has genuine interest, and who is astro turfing.
There isn't any major political stance that doesn't use social media and PR groups to astroturf. Anyone pretending they aren't astroturfing are lying and you should be wary of them.
I mean, I'd be happy to have educated discussions about net neutrality, if I'd ever seen an argument against it that didn't boil down to "I think ISPs should be allowed to make things worse for everyone else—customers, streaming providers, game companies, everyone—just to increase their own already-obscene profits."
And yes, that includes "they should be allowed to do the above Because Freedom".
We're in this incredibly undesirable place where instead of debating something, we have this meta debate. "Net neutrality is valid because it's opponents astroturf."
It's pretty funny, because I have the same opinion, but in reverse. Net Neutrality disappeared off the radar, and now all of a sudden it's on HN every other week. Looks like astroturfing to me! "No, you're a towel!"
But you know what? Whether or not something is being AstroTurfed is entirely irrelevant, and debate is fruitless. We can have a debate on Net Neutrality without pointing fingers at who has genuine interest, and who is astro turfing.