My pet theory is that it’s a reaction to the couch fucker thing. The left made up and ran with a story, and this is them trying to do the same thing. Obvious problem being that it’s racist, dangerous, and not funny, but that’s the right for you.

I dipped my toes in the self-hosted route and would recommend Stremio + Torrentio + RealDebrid as a much simpler alternative.

Here’s a guide I used - you can probably have it up and running in less than an hour.

Major points:

• Easy setup, easy to use
• Low cost at <$35/year
• Can not share accounts (specifically, RD limits to one ongoing stream at a time)
• Limited customization

I have very limited self hosting experience, and between getting my first hello world service running, problems with my ISP, sorting through the different ways to get content, and not already having TBs if hard drives sitting around, I found it to be pretty challenging.

If you’re already experienced in self hosting (or want to learn) and don’t mind the storage costs, then I’d recommend the Plex/Jellyfin route, but if you just want an alternative to the existing streaming services then I’d suggest looking into Stremio.

Ah yes, we simply need people to ask for better!

I mean, I definitely agree with you - we should have an educated, engaged population that is able to critically assess what they’re being told and realize when people are trying to distract them from important issues. Of course! That’s still the destination, though, and it’s a ways off.

Why don’t people ask for better?

Because education funding is too low.
Because grocery bills are too high.
Because folks are working multiple jobs just to try to get by.
Because we’ve had to watch Trump/the GOP be weird little gremlins while pretending to have the moral high ground and GOD does it feel good to watch them melt down over being called on it.

“Asking for better” is a healthy salad, and watching someone get dunked on is a greasy fast food burger.
Sure, everyone should pick a healthy salad… but this is America.