There is this common narrative I see all the time, implying that we as individuals are empowered to choose and manifest our own destiny, and this comes up often in privacy discussions.
Don't like Facebook's privacy nightmares? Just don't use Facebook!
Don't like personalized ads? I remember a popular post on reddit saying "if your ad interrupts my YouTube video, I will hate your product".
Don't like Google chrome hegemony? Just use Firefox!
And while I agree that we should strive to do that, the battle doesn't end here. Facebook has shadow accounts for people who never signed up. Google chrome keeps it's hegemony despite people on the Internet advocating Firefox day and night. And ads continue to be extremely profitable despite you "hating the product" because it interrupted your YouTube video.
Even worse: even if you "hate the product", you now already know it. You now know they product exists, and possibly whatever they wanted you to know about it. The reality is that these companies own your eyes. They control what shows up on your screen. And even if you hate it, they control what you end up learning.
the reality is that our individual resistance is very far from enough
I am not saying it is completely futile. It is a step in the right direction. But the only effective solution is organized action. We, alone, cannot achieve much. Unless we organize our resistance against privacy violations, we will continue to live through this privacy nightmare.
You're still too busy analyzing the motives or agenda of the author instead of evaluating the information. Of-fucking-course the Syrian state TV is going to have an agenda that... Surprise: agrees with state policy. This is not the revelation you think it is.
Guess what? Every source has a bias or agenda. For many it is money related. If you take any source for granted, you'd be a fool. Analyze the information for what it is.
Now, the US is indeed stealing. There have been several videos posted before, and local witnesses arresting to it. This has nothing to do with whatever you think it is framing. This is actually happening.
What the hell do you call installing your literal military and building 14 bases (more US bases per square mile of any similarly-sized region in the world), and has initiated multiple attacks on Syria since?
Maybe to you. To me, it is considered theft because the oil fields which were once keeping all Syrians warm, cooking, and supplying them with electric power is now being given to an occupying military while most Syrians are struggling for a drop of heating or cooking oil, many dying of the winter cold.