Good morning beautiful humans! I've been out at @AdamKokesh's dust farm for the last week, cooking up some vegan grub with a ghetto propane stove and in the fire-pit itself. It's been a pretty small gathering of humans, mostly just the folks who live out here, so while I came in expecting to be cooking non-stop for a week, it's been a MUCH slower pace. Of course, this is a wonderful thing because it means I've had the opportunity to continue posting every day, I've been able to get writing done, and I haven't been right over the heat full-time like last year. Heading out from here tomorrow or Monday, making my way to Austin, Texas next to work with my friend @scottermonkey at the Voice & Exit conference. Their tagline is "IF BURNING MAN AND TED HAD A BABY, IT WOULD BE VOICE & EXIT.", and it sure looks to be interesting. I'll be dedicating most of my time there to taking notes on all the things that can be integrated or avoided by @be-empowered. Speaking of @be-empowered, please feel free to hop over now and follow the page; we will be putting up the first post (the official announcement & website launch) on May 17th. It just seems right to launch it exactly 1 solar cycle before the event itself :-) After V&E, I've basically got a month without anything locked in, so of course I'll be focusing on my own work, and I've been browsing my massive events list trying to decide if there is anything that looks exciting to go attend (specifically attend, not work haha). If you know of anything cool coming up between 5/21 & 6/14, let me know! Hope you're all having a magical day, and I am so grateful for each and every one of you!!! ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCmBSfjiVf8

I found out yesterday that my good friend Johnny Hurley had passed away the day before, in what can only be described as *wild* circumstances. We really don't know much at the moment, but friends (including a lawyer) are badgering the police and trying to get all the details. What we know is that [there was a shooter in Arvada](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1272060), Johnny arrived and [the police are saying that he saved lives](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/06/23/hero-john-hurley-died-saving-lives-during-arvada-colorado-shooting/5317875001/), and that he died, along with 1 cop, and the shooter. None of the coverage talks about who shot who, or anything else. Considering Johnny was well known in the Denver area for his years of activism, journalism, and community organization, it's not out of the question that this was a setup of some kind by the police... but either way - **I don't think a single person who knew him would be surprised that Johnny lost his life protecting others.** #### This [GoFundMe](https://www.gofundme.com/f/good-samaritan-john-hurley?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=email&utm_source=customer) was started by a friend of Johnny's family, to help raise the funds for a funeral, and all the other things they have to take care of. I'll let you know as we learn more about exactly what happened - and we'll definitely be releasing a more in-depth piece on Johnny, who he was, what he stood for, and how he lived.

So, while Hive is certainly censorship-resistant, and at its worst doesn't even have the ability to censor in the ways that the dinosaur corporate social media do every day. There are, however, some major issues built into Hive's voting system, and the idea of dPoS as a whole. The biggest problem being that *S*, which stands for Stake. Proof of Stake. That means that whoever buys stake gets to decide what happens - to a degree. Stake votes not only on posts, but on [DHF proposals](https://peakd.com/proposals), and [witnesses](https://peakd.com/witnesses), and through those things, stake controls the entire network. Platforms like FB, YT, and pretty much anywhere else (certainly every centralized platform) have what we'll call **hard censorship**. At any time, if they want, they can delete posts, the can delete accounts, they can limit or complete stop traffic from a feed or post, and all sorts of other thins. On Hive, the censorship that does exist tends to come in just a few forms - none of which derive at a centralized control point. Censorship here tends more towards what I'd call **soft censorship**, as the result of that stake-based voting power. Because the rewards from a post (or many posts) can be completely zero'd out by just one or two whales - it's very easy to imagine why so many creators have given up on Hive/Steem along the way, or have self-censored away from certain topics in order to not get down-voted. There are also **black-lists** created and maintained by various users of the platform, which different front-ends like **peakd** can choose whether or not to use. --- --- ## My Social Medias Blog (everything but gaming): https://peakd.com/@kennyskitchen Videos (everything but gaming): https://odysee.com/@kennyskitchen:9 Blog (gaming): https://peakd.com/@kennysgaminglife Videos (gaming): https://odysee.com/@kennysgaminglife:9 --- --- # The Current Conversation I often don't notice folks getting flagged to zero, since those folks tend to wait until the very end of the 7-day payout period, in order to stop anyone from countering their down-votes. In this particular wave of down-vote censorship, I first noticed that this [epic article](https://peakd.com/vaccine/@lethalinjections/hidden-truth-about-the-shots), which was simply a collection of stories about vaccine injuries, taken right out of the headlines & social media. The article was quite successfully going viral (in the Hive sense at least), and was of course flagged right to zero. [](https://peakd.com/vaccine/@lethalinjections/hidden-truth-about-the-shots) Then I saw @ura-soul's article on the topic: [When Is a Censor Not A Censor? The Wider Implication of Downvote/Cancel Culture on Hive.](https://peakd.com/hive-150329/@ura-soul/when-is-a-censor-not-a-censor-the-wider-implication-of-downvotecancel-culture-on-hive) It's well written, in-depth, had a ton of conversation happening in its comment section, and then some of the same down-voters piled in.  That was just the big article **about** what's been happening, of course. Here are some of the recent zero'd out articles as well. This just a couple days out of @ura-soul's blog-roll honestly. I'm not trying to go too super in-depth at the moment, I've already been through my fair share of flag wars since joining Steemit, and I just let it wash over me at this point.  # Thanks for tuning in! Just like the economics of Hive aren't quite as idyllic as something like **Rainbow**, or my own vision for the future of humanity - it's free speech priorities are not nearly what one would hope for in a platform for journalists or other truth-seekers... but technically Hive doesn't claim to be any of these things. For now, it's the best option there is, as far as I know - and it's a LOT better than alternatives like Facebook, Twitter, Ethereum, etc etc. For those of you who want to dive deeper into the current conversation happening, here's some other articles about Hive's cancel culture, down-vote culture, and the extent to which it is actually censorship-resistant :-) * [The Hive Of Polarity: Information Underload And Questioning The Emperor's Clothing](https://peakd.com/hive/@barge/the-hive-of-polarity-information-underload-and-questioning-the-emperors-clothing) by @barge * [LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS DOWNVOTE BULLSHIT](https://peakd.com/proofofbrain/@frot/lets-talk-about-this-downvote-bullshit) by @frot

This particular phrase is one that I got from my time at [Aphrodite Temples](https://www.aphroditetemple.com/), often during the part of the weekend where we are spending hours diving into [The Wheel of Consent](https://bettymartin.org/videos/). In that context, we are of course mostly focusing on the giving of consent for touch/space/connection, and how it doesn't matter how loud the **YES!** is, if it's followed later by a **No.** --- This same concept works just as well for a job, a business relationship, a romantic relationship, or one's relationship with the intergenerational organized crime syndicate known as banks/government/corporations. # You get to withdraw consent - any time you want! And that's really all you have to do. Stop consenting to their "mandates," their "taxes," or anything else. The only thing keeping people slaves is the chains they have created in their own minds. --- In this particular situation, the phrase came to mind because just a couple of days ago, I [started #NoGameNovember early](https://peakd.com/hive-167922/@kennysgaminglife/ywmsxwua)... and I'm already itching to cancel my rentals and start playing again :-P Part of the beauty of this simple saying is the space that it allows us to adjust to new settings & information, the way that we can be true to our self, in the current moment, without being locked into something just because we said it in the past. Obviously, there can be consequences to changing one's mind as well. Say you already signed a contract, or you just moved in with someone and decide you don't want to live with them, or you want to go on some trip, but you've already paid for the place you're staying now. You still have the freedom to make your choices, and the responsibility of living with their results. --- --- ## My Social Medias Blog (everything but gaming): https://peakd.com/@kennyskitchen Videos (everything but gaming): https://odysee.com/@kennyskitchen:9 Blog (gaming): https://peakd.com/@kennysgaminglife Videos (gaming): https://odysee.com/@kennysgaminglife:9