Not to be a doomer, but I think it's important that people, especially Americans, today, brace for the impact of strict internet verification laws. I want to hope things go better, and hoping that by speaking ill of it, I'll purposely look stupid when nothing happens.

I've read countless articles, posts, discussions, etc, talking about the risks, dangers, violations, etc with having absurd strict internet laws. I know who it will affect, I know who will hurt, who will lose money, etc. But I also get the sense that these details don't matter.

Like, I see the same in a lot of the recent changes to health and safety / environmental laws; experts come out and clearly and plainly state how bad X law is for people or the environment and then it goes through anyway.

And I feel this overwhelming sense that the majority of people, even influential YouTubers and so on who'd be directly affected, just don't care. It's just the same few advocacy groups and people like me who freak out at every headline.

Again, I'm hoping in a cosmic sort of way that by freaking out, I'll twist the flow of fate and that nothing bad happens and I look silly and that's ok. I'd rather be wrong than right because the long-term affects of mass censorship and age-gating would push our culture backwards