(Not sure if this is worldwide or only in some countries)
Updating to iOS 26.4DB2 will put your phone into a parental-restricted mode with adult websites blocked on all browsers, warning prompts every time you try to send or receive an explicit image on a messaging app, and all social media apps blocked on the App Store (in Australia)
The settings to disable this mode are locked off until you verify your age either with a credit card, photo ID, or though information Apple already has (like the age of your account).
I’ve been an apple user my entire adult life but this might finally be the thing that forces me off the platform. Do any other long term apple users have some tips about migrating? I’ve heard Ashai Linux is pretty good on mac hardware these days and I’ve been thinking about GrapheneOS for a while.
The problems you’ve only ever absorbed through the lens of extremely dubious western media reporting whose sources for reporting come from either the CIA or NIS(formerly KCIA but renamed to make it less obvious the south is an occupied state) ?
You say “obvious” the same way the Dothraki say “It is known”. You consider this information obvious because a lot of people say it, you never consider whether a lot of people only say it because they too see a lot of other people saying it. You do not know the facts at all.
EVERYWHERE has its problems.
And yes, that is the DPRK too.
I want to establish that it’s even worth talking by making sure that y’all could budge on anything. otherwise this is a waste of time.
I’m deeply open to new perspectives, and I love to hear them - they widen my world. But I have some experiences already that generally conflict with the messaging here.
I’ve dated a Korean and been to Korea which has influenced me quite a lot.
Ah the “I have a black friend” argument
It’s cool to use this to discount my personal direct experience but I don’t think it’s a strong counter.
Dating somebody typically means you get to know them and their cultural background really really well. It’s extremely relevant here whether you like that or want to discount it
Your personal direct experience knowing someone that does not live in the place you are trashing. Just stop dude, accept that you and her too are subject to an ocean of propaganda demonizing the DPRK for ideological reasons. Also it’s just a really weird way to go about it considering the other problematic aspects of westerners fetishizing asian women that DEFINITELY does not clear of the racism allegation.
I’m not ok with being called racist. I’m sorry that you think I should just sit and take that but that’s ridiculous. You have no right.
The burden of proof lies on you for making an extraordinary claim without evidence.
Then don’t say racist shit.
Sure, I don’t deny that. The issue here is what are they? You don’t know. I’ve actually visited and I could talk about some, but they’d be quite different to what you would talk about I suspect.
Koreans in the south typically react with surprise whenever anyone on the left refers to what the US did in Korea as a genocide. Most of them have barely any knowledge of the five “republics” before the existing one, the sixth. Unless your partner was a trade unionist within the ROK I generally wouldn’t trust them to know what they’re talking about, much like I don’t trust the average liberal or magat to know what they’re talking about when it comes to the US, its history of barbarism or how it interacts with the world today. The trade unionists within ROK however do know their shit, I’ve spoken to a few of them and they’re cool comrades (but are legally not allowed to say they are)
Hello @cole@lemdro.id you seem to have conveniently ignored my response?
Does every american have equally valid input on america and its politics?
When the next person says “I know someone from Britain and they said London is a no go zone” should I take them automatically seriously? Should I take their opinion on migrants and small boats seriously or should I maybe do some more serious investigation?
You dated a Korean, so what? Why should anyone take this one person’s take over serious investigation of the matter?
It’s not an intentional snub, I just answered this question in a different reply.
I don’t know with enough certainty to list out all the issues, but the biggest one that sticks out to me is information control.
The government restricts citizens access to the Internet (among other things). I have talked to people from Russia, people from China, etc online. But I have never talked to someone from North Korea and that is a pretty big red flag for me.
I pretty strongly believe that anybody who tries to control the flow of information amongst supposedly free people is not a “good guy”. Yes, this includes the United States, UK, China, etc. Many do so to some extent and I am against all of them for that.
But, none so draconian seeming as the DPRK.
And how many people from the DPRK have you actually tried to speak to? There are many in China and many in Russia, some as naturalised citizens, not to mention tens of thousands work officially in Africa.
You seem to accept that information about the DPRK is unreliable, but rather than allow this to create a position of neutrality in yourself you seem to instead default to vibes. The problem with defaulting to vibes is that those are specifically what propaganda is effective at manipulating. The vibes about the DPRK that you have are entirely a construction of western media and comment sections.
When I don’t know about something the first thing I do is take myself to the most neutral position possible - “I don’t know”. That is the starting point from which facts should be fed.