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Twitter suspends alt-right figureheads

bbc.com

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Re: Twitter suspends alt-right figureheads

#181

Post by sbuttgereit »

arkitaip wrote: post #30
mwill wrote: post #14

I can only see this as furthering the echo chamber that caused many to be so blindsided by Trumps victory. I would like to see specifically why these people were suspended. If they're engaged in harassment obviously the suspension should hold up. If it really is just mass reporting for political speech (I've had friends msging 'targets' for reporting purely for them admitting to voting for Trump), I can only see it a…

But these alt-right figureheads aren't your average trump voters. They actually are racist and nasty people and we shouldn't group them together with other conservative/right/trump voters.

I am very suspicious of people throwing these terms around. Especially because the left uses the terms "racist", "sexist", and "hateful" (etc) to demonize their opponents as opposed to actually addressing certain issues in debate rationally. The willingness to use these terms so freely to shut down debate means I simply don't believe such charges unless I'm shown something that actually meets a reasonable definition. Too many have simply cried wolf here.

I don't know of the people banned (I don't use Twitter) they may actually be all of these things: but I will not use the flimsy, leftist definitions to make that determination. You'd have to give more than your word that they are "racist" and "nasty".

Re: Twitter suspends alt-right figureheads

#182

Post by FilterSweep »

DanBC wrote: post #114
monkmartinez wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh? Can you please explain the difference... it's 140 characters of text FFS.

Someone can say they hate The Jews on Twitter. What they can't do is say they hate a particular Jewish person, and link to that person's account, and encourage their tens of thousands of followers to post anti Semitic hate to that person.

a source for [Parent] is the Milo Yiannopoulos and Leslie Jones fiasco.

Re: Twitter suspends alt-right figureheads

#183

Post by VeejayRampay »

laumars wrote: post #8

I'm not sure I agree with this. I think I'd rather have people with extreme opinions talking in the public where they are subject to counter arguments than somewhere less public where their message goes unchallenged.

And even worse, when you ban those accounts, you reinforce the ideas that there's a media conspiration against the alt-right, giving the most vocal proponents of that ideology a platform to disseminate their ideas and victimize themselves.

Re: Twitter suspends alt-right figureheads

#184

Post by edc117 »

problems wrote: post #22
edc117 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences, and Twitter is free to do as they like with their platform.

While I agree with your statement, I think it's important to protect the concept of free speech in many places and to disrespect companies who don't. Twitter has failed to do so here and is showing a blatant political statement (unless there were specific cases of harassment with these people or something, in which case I may be overstepping). I think generally views like this are better left in the spotlight of the…

Absolutely, the only way to truly deal with racism, sexism, and a whole host of other -isms is education, whether through experience that teaches otherwise, or a facts-based approach that leaves little room for argument.

My problem is so much of what goes on in these public message boards is not fact-based. Alt right groups pander to people's irritations and insecurities in a million small ways. They blatantly lie about individuals or scenarios. They set up straw men, then demonize and demolish them with words like 'cuck' and 'illegal' to inflame their readers, even when the people they're discussing are not those things at all. And when they're confronted with a dissenting viewpoint, they ignore it and move to the next. It is literally impossible for rational individuals to have discussions with them.

I think part of the problem is people don't tend to internalize lessons taught by others without respect for that person, and on the internet, everyone is a stranger. I don't want this kind of speech banned because it's offensive - I want it banned because its nonsensical, it enrages people only looking for a reason to be angry, it gives a platform to people that can't even defend their views without resorting to constant insults, it's a waste of time. That's probably my lack of caffeine talking, though.

Re: Twitter suspends alt-right figureheads

#185

Post by douche »

tajen wrote: post #115
arkitaip wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But these alt-right figureheads aren't your average trump voters. They actually are racist and nasty people and we shouldn't group them together with other conservative/right/trump voters.

"A cartoon of Pepe the Frog is a commonly used symbol of the alt-right" is the subtitle of the image in the BBC article. Look at it, the drawing innocence is really staggering: I'm wondering what is the link, whether the link is warranted, and whether Twitter used posts of Pepe the Frog to recognize alt-right people. Sounds like a badly AI-generated inference to me.

This whole Pepe the Frog thing went off the rails of being ridiculous a long, long time ago. It's at the point where it has gone completely meta.

Re: Twitter suspends alt-right figureheads

#186

Post by cossatot »

imaginenore wrote: post #80
dmschulman wrote: post #39

Painting insults and threats and bullying as legitimate criticism is the main rhetorical fallacy of the alt-right movement. They have a guarantee of free speech in this country but they do not have a guarantee of Twitter access.

Twitter allows threats and bullying when it comes from the left. They refused to ban the freaking jihadists. They have SJWs posting #killallmen, #KillAllWhiteMen #maletears in droves. Nothing ever happens to them. This move is simply political censorship.

Are you calling actual jihadists left wing? Or are you calling SJWs jihadists?

Re: Twitter suspends alt-right figureheads

#187

Post by derrickdirge »

caseysoftware wrote: post #144
KON_Air wrote: post #56

Out of place but I want to hear American HN regulars opinon; Is this provacation or utter lack of self awareness as it i will only play into Trumps hand?

Part of Trump's argument has been "the system is rigged" so this support it, especially once you consider that Twitter did not ban people calling for protests during the Arab Spring. In fact, the State Department - run by Hillary Clinton at the time - specifically asked for Twitter to keep accounts open and information flowing. This is ideal for Trump and crew. In the US, the Net Neutrality position describes interne…

But Arab Spring tweets weren't characterized by racially-charged harassment of other users.

Re: Twitter suspends alt-right figureheads

#189

Post by newaccount3574 »

legodt wrote: post #149
altaway wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they are posting anti-white bigotry and threats to kill the President. Twitters "cultural background training" for its new mods surely contains the progressive stance that you can't be racist against white people.

How can you be racist against the ruling, privileged class? Sure, white people can have it bad too, but we still have all the privilige and automatic perks. It isn't bigotry as much as self defense against how many white people are still deeply entrenched in racism. As a whole, white people are still oppressors.

if you blame "white males" for everything and shoot down any counter-argument with "privilege" then yes, you're being racist, because you're stereotyping an entire race.

Re: Twitter suspends alt-right figureheads

#190

Post by tomschlick »

legodt wrote: post #149
altaway wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they are posting anti-white bigotry and threats to kill the President. Twitters "cultural background training" for its new mods surely contains the progressive stance that you can't be racist against white people.

How can you be racist against the ruling, privileged class? Sure, white people can have it bad too, but we still have all the privilige and automatic perks. It isn't bigotry as much as self defense against how many white people are still deeply entrenched in racism. As a whole, white people are still oppressors.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/racism

> a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

Nothing in there about privilege. You can't just redefine a word because you say thats what it should mean.

Every race can be racist.

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