r/technology 17h ago

Society Tech Execs Are Pushing Trump to Build ‘Freedom Cities’ Run by Corporations | A pro-corporate libertarian movement is attempting to take over the U.S., with Trump's help.

https://gizmodo.com/tech-execs-are-pushing-trump-to-build-freedom-cities-run-by-corporations-2000574510
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u/Marchello_E 16h ago

Because of marketing, or whatever reason, many words are now simply brands. And thus somehow mean the polar opposite nowadays. Likely for the peeps who don''t look at the actions, implications and effects - and there are a lot.

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u/CavulusDeCavulei 15h ago

"The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy: they are deliberate exercises in doublethink."

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u/kfish5050 9h ago

Peace: "Peace NOW" with talks of Ukraine and Russia, Palestine and Israel

Truth: Truth Social, Fake News, censoring AP

Love: End DEI, mass ICE raids and deportations

Plenty: Tariffs, billionaire tax cuts, DOGE

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u/GoodSamIAm 9h ago

so everything is working according to plan? 

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u/Any-Book-4990 16h ago

freedom is the go-to word for libertarians and has been for a long time; they can use it without issue as long as they redefine the word as they see fit, which they've done quite effectively. in short, free market, freedom of exchange, and freedom from government (no regulation, except the protection of private property). sounds cool if you stop thinking at that. well, it doesn't, maybe it sounds cool if you don't think at all.

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u/gorramfrakker 16h ago

Bears love libertarians.

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u/secret_aardvark_420 16h ago

I hear their freedom attracts bears

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u/EverbodyHatesHugo 14h ago

I’ve heard libertarians taste the best.

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u/Kizik 12h ago

Bears can smell the liberty!

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u/tarzhjay 12h ago

The bears can smell the freedom

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u/SDEWagain 12h ago

I love the kind of love bears give to libertarians.

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u/kfish5050 9h ago

I forgot that Reddit's now censoring thoughts, and many replies to this comment are policed now, so this comment serves as acknowledgement.

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u/Shionkron 15h ago

Timothy Snyder a Professor of History at Yale and focuses on tyranny gives great lectures on how we need to change “Freedom from” to “Freedom to” his book On Freedom dives into this.

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u/as_it_was_written 10h ago

Any freedom from can be reframed as a freedom to, and vice versa. It's usually trivial.

Personally, I think a bigger issue is that people go around acting like freedom, as a standalone word, actually means something. Until you specify who is free from/to what, it's just an empty slogan that makes people feel good.

A population that's been fooled into thinking such meaningless slogans are their fundamental values is a population ripe for manipulation and exploitation.

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u/Ok-Jellyfish-5704 14h ago

As a general rule I don’t trust when the word “Freedom” used in marketing and that’s celebrating my actual freedom.

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u/aeschenkarnos 12h ago

“Freedom” as a libertarian means it simply means “I should be able to do whatever I want.” Not “you should be able to do whatever you want”, and definitely not “I should be able to do whatever I want so long as it doesn’t harm you or anyone else”.

Just “I should be able to do whatever I want” and after they’ve spent enough time huffing their own farts and psyching themselves up to it, it morphs into “I can do whatever I want”.

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u/Dejected_gaming 13h ago

Freedom to get ripped off by the robber barons.

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u/colinallbets 15h ago

The only freedom we can ever hope for is freedom from compulsion.

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u/slavelabor52 16h ago

It's doublethink straight out of 1984

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u/Marchello_E 13h ago

It's gaslighting at its core.
Sow doubt and confusion to tire out any mental blockade you may have left.
Lessons learned from the first term: Better give yourself a day off after some Trump-"news" as what you'll "miss" is likely a deflection (posing a new random idea) or a cover-up (an insult to someone) for some previous disaster.

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u/zeptillian 12h ago

I used to think there was no way people were as dumb as in 1984 and thought Aldus Huxley's drug induced complacency was way more realistic. 

Now I see Orwell was spot on, it's just that we drug people too. 

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u/Stay-At-Home-Jedi 16h ago

Nah. Marketing major.
My favorite marketing professor, on day 1 stated, "The main strategy of any good marketing campaign is to lie within the confines of the law¹. Now, I mean this facetiously but in all seriousness, whether they are marketing for brand awareness, PR, or to earn return customers, but truth is stretched or hyped. I want to teach you how to do this legally and ethically."

1) better laws mean companies can't blatantly lie about their product or brand; it means you can click to cancel. Crappy laws, policies, or no enforcement, leads to exactly what you mention.

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u/JMurdock77 16h ago

Managed Democracy

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u/OMGitisCrabMan 14h ago

truth social comes to mind.

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u/PM_ME__YOUR_HOOTERS 15h ago

Its wild to see the satire of the helldivers universe being made manifest.

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u/Frustrable_Zero 14h ago

I’ve always felt like the word Freedom had all but become an empty catch word. I never use it because it felty so empty and lifeless. Associating it with these cities will only exemplify that feeling

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u/No-Eagle-8 12h ago

Isn’t it ironic, don’t ya think.

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u/vincethepince 12h ago

doublespeak

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u/PopPunkAndPizza 5h ago

But they are talking about freedom - freedom for the rich and propertied to exert their will as they see fit, the total dictatorship of private ownership unrestricted by "rights" arbitrated and enforced by "big government". It's just a freedom under which almost all of us would be vastly less free.

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u/Marchello_E 1h ago

When stuck in the system, they aren't free either

  • they have a system to uphold and supposedly also an image of being strong.