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Twitter Suspends Prominent Alt-Right Accounts

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Re: Twitter Suspends Prominent Alt-Right Accounts

#51

Post by hubert123 »

micaksica wrote: post #44
nostromo wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see "alt-right" as being so similar to "far-right" based on my limited exposure. I've watched some debates with Milo as well as Gavin Mcinnes. They are definitely not what most Americans would call "far-right" -- in that they aren't anti-gay, aren't anti-drugs, aren't socially conservative, and aren't particularly hawkish. They seem to dislike Republicans like Paul Ryan almost as much as Nancy Pelosi. Milo re…

I can hardly call myself an expert on the "alt right" either, but the difference is in use of term. When leftists think "Right wing" in the US think of the Christian theocracy. However, conservatism is only one sect of the right. The right is also reactionary, and the alt-right is definitely reactionary. I'd argue the alt-right fits nicely into Wikipedia's definition of far-right politics [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedi…

My bowel movements are also reactionary, I guess part of me is also far-right then.

Re: Twitter Suspends Prominent Alt-Right Accounts

#52

Post by [deleted] »

spamizbad wrote: post #45
leereeves wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a corporation enforcing its world view. Would you say the same if Twitter were owned by the right-wing and was banning left wing users?

There are several major "right wing" corporations that do just that. As a consumer you can make your choices accordingly (Hobby Lobby and Chick-Fil-A come to mind) You might be inclined to grant someone permission to stand on your lawn, but chances are if they stood on your lawn and then held up a sign that said "Send Jews to the gas chambers!" you'd likely ask them to leave. And if they refused, you'd eventually for…

[deleted]

Re: Twitter Suspends Prominent Alt-Right Accounts

#53

Post by colemickens »

Karunamon wrote: post #46
colemickens wrote: post #43

> Those with the "correct" political views can basically tell people to kill themselves That's just simply untrue. Hyperbole and lies don't help in these conversations. (And I say this as someone who thinks that Facebook and Twitter have no place being arbiters of "truth"). Downvoted to -4 on HN for saying that Twitter doesn't allow liberals special privileges to threaten violence on Twitter. Gotta just love this pla…

https://twitter.com/hipsterocracy/status/796353512208625666 https://twitter.com/_g3orgia/status/796263284282454017 https://twitter.com/cervines/status/795679114673852416 https://twitter.com/_mr_parker25/status/796521044492349440 "If you voted third party in a swing state you should kill yourself." "Kill yourself" "Kill yourself. Honestly kill yourself. You wouldn't be missed" "To everyone who voted for trump as a jok…

And the same thing from the other side is trivially easy to find too. Your comment implied that Twitter looks the other way, but only for liberals, and that claim is laughable at best and it's a trivial task to find counter-evidence.

Besides, the first three pages of that search have zero tweets that involve someone telling someone else to kill themselves. They're all mock conversations, or memes, or literally a discussion of the fact that the punishment for attempted suicide is death. Or people encouraging others to call suicide hotlines, or a joke about killing yourself to get insurance money. I'm literally looking for a threatening tweet in that search and can't find one.

Re: Twitter Suspends Prominent Alt-Right Accounts

#54

Post by RickS »

grzm wrote: post #12
wallace_f wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't seem right. Maybe it would be better for mods to allow a democratic process of discussion

There's been plenty of discussion over the past month or so on why this might happen. IIRC, check some of the Peter Thiel-related submissions from around the time he donated to the Trump campaign. Sometimes it's a function of user flags (which affect the ranking even if [flagged] isn't visible) which is a more democratic process, and sometimes it's a function of what whether the mods determine that the discussion is…

My understanding is that there are also algos at work, for example posts that are very young but have many comments fall faster, as a way to negate flame wars.

Re: Twitter Suspends Prominent Alt-Right Accounts

#55

Post by an_account_name »

dmritard96 wrote: post #41
micaksica wrote: post #8

I'm not a fan of the "alt-right" or a lot of its subculture. I also don't find it particularly "alt", as much as it is "far" right. It is a lot of the ideas that powered the NSDAP enveloped in the language of the Internet and memes, with the targets broadened from Jewry to non-whites in general. However, I'm also not a fan of suspending these accounts for controversial views if they are not harassing people on the Tw…

While I think your point about needing a place to have conversations that can rectify the backwardness of Hate As A Platform (HAAP?) make sense, there are two points I would make. The first would be that some proof that Twitter was providing that exchange point would help, it seems like instead its a place for trolls and bots to roam free at the moment and Two, and perhaps this is the more important one - we should b…

I would be more worried about a DNS provider or a registrar with terms about the kinds of speech allowed.

Re: Twitter Suspends Prominent Alt-Right Accounts

#57

Post by grzm »

icanhackit wrote: post #49
fiblye wrote: post #11

I think, in a way, the media is kind of empowering the "alt-right" by constantly referring to them as the "alt-right". It presents it as the little guy vs The Man, and I think that makes it much more palatable than "far right." Influential people who think the government is intentionally making gay frogs, that media needs to be under strict control, that climate change is a Chinese hoax, and that everything is us vs…

the media is kind of empowering the "alt-right" by constantly referring to them as the "alt-right". It presents it as the little guy vs The Man, and I think that makes it much more palatable than "far right." Great observation and you hint at a simple solution - call them by their conventional moniker: the far-right. There's nothing new about their ideologies and "the far-right" elicit a different response from peopl…

Maybe, and in some cases you're likely right. In others, might it not be people who consider themselves right (and not extreme) but no longer feel the Republicans (the traditional right) truly represent them?

As an aside, there are likely plenty of people on the left that feel similarly.

Re: Twitter Suspends Prominent Alt-Right Accounts

#58

Post by treebog »

Twitter has a huge harassment problem. This has serious implications for their business; as we saw the other week, Disney passed on acquiring them in part because of the harassment situation. This seems like a good and necessary move to strengthen their business by making their platform a more tolerable place to visit.

Re: Twitter Suspends Prominent Alt-Right Accounts

#59

Post by tootie »

micaksica wrote: post #25
panic wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, the nature of Twitter makes debate unlikely to end in agreement. Twitter is just trying to improve the environment for its users so more people will join and stick around. Most people find the "ideas that powered the NSDAP" quite disgusting.

> Most people find the "ideas that powered the NSDAP" quite disgusting. If we are truly building a society of tolerance, whether or not one has a visceral reaction to an idea should not stop whether or not one can discuss and debate it. I'm not a neo-Nazi, but I've talked at length with them about their views. I will give anyone a few minutes to explain what they are about, try to listen to it neutrally, and form my…

I disagree. I think there is most definitely a boundary between people with different opinions and people with opinions that are fundamentally at odds with living in a civilized society. "I don't like Goldman Sachs" is an opinion you can debate on its merits. "Kill all the Jew bankers" is not. The boundary is somewhere in between those two.

I can't speak to the particular accounts banned by Twitter, but the alt right have a carefully developed vocabulary designed explicitly to sneak across that boundary.

Re: Twitter Suspends Prominent Alt-Right Accounts

#60

Post by Karunamon »

colemickens wrote: post #53
Karunamon wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://twitter.com/hipsterocracy/status/796353512208625666 https://twitter.com/_g3orgia/status/796263284282454017 https://twitter.com/cervines/status/795679114673852416 https://twitter.com/_mr_parker25/status/796521044492349440 "If you voted third party in a swing state you should kill yourself." "Kill yourself" "Kill yourself. Honestly kill yourself. You wouldn't be missed" "To everyone who voted for trump as a jok…

And the same thing from the other side is trivially easy to find too. Your comment implied that Twitter looks the other way, but only for liberals, and that claim is laughable at best and it's a trivial task to find counter-evidence. Besides , the first three pages of that search have zero tweets that involve someone telling someone else to kill themselves. They're all mock conversations, or memes, or literally a dis…

Am I to understand that suggesting Trump voters kill themselves is acceptable?

Why haven't the posters of every single one of the above tweets I linked been banned? Yet we're only hearing about the "alt right" boogeyman.

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