At the same time, we each must control what we can to have hope of making good things for others. Under that logic we must reject the idea that React is anything but a tax on quality and thought:

infrequently.org/2024/11/if-not-r…

I agree with you, and will go one step further: browsers should never have allowed the half-megabyte JS embed to get so pervasive that multiple components exist to fix it.

This thread will draw flak, so remember that the backdrop is a growing Performance Inequality Gap:

infrequently.org/2025/11/perf...

...and alongside it, rising barriers to societal participation at the hands of this sort of mal-engineering:

infrequently.org/series/recko...

Under no circumstances do you have to hand it to Over Reactors. They don't even know how embarrassing their own claims are.

Compare that with a fully standalone Web Component that does the same thing, which is also React 19 compatible (along with Preact, etc. etc...because the web):

github.com/justinribeir...

The size? 2.2K over the wire, or less than half, or if we're including React + React DOM, or just 5% the size.

Why would you do that, specifically, to turkey – already the driest of the birds – if not to torture your guests?

Hope matters, but without a clear map of how the system is failing, it can’t change anything. The slide happens because core democratic functions are weakening under real structural pressures. Naming that isn’t surrender, it’s the work required to understand what has to be rebuilt.

That's a good question.

This is all negotiation; any "lack of clarity" here is down to lack of enforcement, which would set precedents.

The hostage taking predates the law, and Apple is acting as though it is constantly surprised to find out that long-planned features will need to also need to ship in the EU.

You can tell it's kayfabe because electrical and spectrum licenses are, somehow, not a problem despite large reg. variance

This is just pointing to Apple's bad behaviour and cosigning it as though it is not a circular argument. Have you no shame?

Now, you might think "Apple would never harm the user experience just to defend profits" or "Apple wouldn't pay sock puppets to spin a line", and boy have you got a lot of right-to-repair reading to catch up on.

It is *wild* that Apple's paid mouthpieces are out here defending Cupertino harming the web and blaming EC for it without disclosure.

See also, ACT dba. "The App Alliance"