
When Togo turned off the internet - aritraghosh007
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/sep/21/no-business-no-boozing-no-casual-sex-when-togo-turned-off-the-internet?
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sinxoveretothex
Not-so-minor correction: the message scrawled on the asphalt in the last photo
says "Faure doit partir", which is French for "Faure MUST leave", not
"should".

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ideonexus
I feel the core message of the article is that our online media are making us
complacent. I know lots of people on social media who are really angry about
politics and post furiously all day long. And I wonder, what are they
accomplishing?

I wonder about this when I read a news article online and see there are 2k
comments on it. So much energy spent churning out--what I assume the author
believes are 'thoughtful'\--comments that no one will ever read.

I have unemployed friends and relatives who spend their entire day arguing on
social media. When I challenge them on whether this is the best use of their
time, they tell me they are changing the world.

And then I read about the bot-armies flooding social media and news articles
with comments intended to make certain positions seem more prevalent. I think
about all the humans arguing with those bots and what a waste of time and
effort it all is.

The internet makes it seem like there's so much sound and fury going on in the
world, but then I step outside and find my local community working
harmoniously on making our spot on Earth a better place. It's important to
unplug from the unreality and look around you.

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blauditore
> With WhatsApp, penniless guys would send women virtual flowers and rings.
> Now, they had to find money to buy real ones. Men who previously sought to
> impress ladies by copying and pasting cute quotes and images on social media
> now had to go out, bring friends together in a bar, pay the bill and prove
> their real verbal and intellectual skills.

I wonder if that's meant as a humorous exaggeration or seriously, because it
sounds simply made up.

~~~
lmm
I suspect the author believes it, and even believes they have reason to -
while at the same time having no real evidence. The Guardian does some great
writing in terms of crafting narratives, but they just don't seem to have the
level of numeracy to make sure their stories reflect overall reality rather
than exceptional anecdotes. Can anyone recommend a good source for this kind
of news?

~~~
pjc50
Well, someone said it to them, as the preceding sentence makes clear. That's
journalism.

No, seriously - journalism is not about digging until you find some kind of
underlying "fact", there simply isn't time and what you're asking for could
potentially be an extraordinary amount of work; journalism is about reporting
what the reporter sees and what people tell them. Obviously it's incumbent on
them to evaluate their sources, but not usually to write next to the sources'
words the journalist's own opinion of the situation.

You can usually see this structure in reporting, where sources will be either
named or given an anon descriptor (here "a friend").

"The Iraqi information minister says that Iraq has not been invaded": this is
accurate journalism if he really did say that.

"Iraq has not been invaded" (no source) : not accurate journalism.

"The jews are responsible for funding the invasion of Iraq" : fake news.

~~~
specialist
Unsourced quotes, information is called gossip. Repeated gossip is called
hearsay.

~~~
pjc50
Anonymous sources are kind of essential to getting certain kinds of
information where the source would face reprisal, e.g most famously Daniel
Ellsberg.

This is why the "Chatham House rules" exist and are widely used.
[https://www.chathamhouse.org/about/chatham-house-
rule](https://www.chathamhouse.org/about/chatham-house-rule)

~~~
specialist
Journalism's continued defense of chivalry further enables the abuse. Akin to
bringing cardboard tube swords to a gun fight.

~~~
pjc50
So .. how do you propose covering stories where nobody will talk on the
record?

~~~
specialist
How do you propose filtering, ignoring the vast majority of "news" that is
unsourced?

------
jackdh
It would be interesting to see how a first world country which depends far
more heavily on the internet would cope with a shutdown.

~~~
StudentStuff
In some countries like Sweden, it would wreck the economy. The push towards a
cashless society in Sweden means few ATMs, and the majority of banks not even
having any cash on hand.

For a country like the United States, where electronic payments make up around
half of the total commerce volume, it would be painful, some economic carnage
would be wraught, but business would still keep going. The upper-middle class
and upper class would be the most affected, as most in that section of society
don't keep cash on hand. Comparatively, the lower class which is mostly
disenfranchised from the banking system would fare okay with some cash on
hand, and those on EBT & WIC would incur an inconvenience as retailers had to
call the state for voice auths rather than processing those transactions via a
terminal.

~~~
KGIII
The number isn't high enough to be meaningful, but many of the wealthier folks
that I know have safes built into their homes and offices. Some even have a
safe built into their car and may have another built into their RV, if they
have one.

I haven't seen inside all their safes, but I have seen inside a few of them -
including my own. In those, again a very small sample size, there is always
some cash.

I tend to be willing to jump on a deal and have a small automobile addiction.
So, I keep a pretty decent stash on hand. The amount will vary, please don't
rob me, but it's not unheard of for me to have nearly six figures in between a
couple of safes.

If I'm planning on buying something big(ish), I may have already taken the
cash out to have it on-hand. I live in a crime-free area, as in zero crime, so
it's not really a risk. People will often favor me in barter, if they know I
have cash immediately available.

So, if I'm going to a car show, then I will have extra cash already in my
safe. If I'm going to be traveling, there will be extra cash in my safe. If I
haven't made it to deposit the money, there will be extra cash in my safe.

A friend of mine owns an excavation/trucking company. I know he's usually got
six, or more, figures in his safe - though some will be in checks.

Another one owns a bunch of franchises and doesn't always make it to the bank
as often as he should. He's good for a five digit sum, probably (speculating)
in the $20k region, plus whatever he usually has in there. This will usually
be after a long holiday weekend.

I can't really say much about the rest but those are the only ones where I
know some of the contents and they all have decent amounts of cash.

Again, that's a very, very small sample size and a very biased sample. I'm not
sure if it carries over to other people and to other areas.

Since I retired to here, there have been zero property crimes. That's ten
years. There have been zero violent crimes. The only crimes I know about was
some guy was in an accident while he was driving drunk and one guy who led
police on a merry chase that happened to go up the State highway. So, this may
very well not apply elsewhere.

~~~
pjc50
I know you know that's a biased sample, but I've been trying to estimate just
how unusual it is and can't find the right stats. Six figures in cash is I
think more than median total net worth. Having that much as an individual
rather than a business is clearly top 10% territory and maybe even top 1%.

~~~
StudentStuff
Definitely very odd to have 6 figure in cash on hand in the top 10%. Even for
those with a few million in net worth that I know, they use their safe purely
to store their valuables while they're out of town (not to deter property
crime, but to keep their kids from stealing it).

~~~
KGIII
I was only addressing their idea that the wealthier wouldn't have access to
cash in the event of an internet outage. In my limited experience, they might.
In the few cases I know of, they would.

However, it's a very small and biased data set, not much more than an
anecdote. I can't speak about a larger group, I just don't know. So, I
included caveats.

