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Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#41

Post by neuronexmachina »

tw04 wrote: post #23
ixtli wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realize that this is tangential to what you're talking about but your comment reminded me of it strongly: As much as it's clear that there was some funny business with trump's people and russia, the way liberals are salivating over mueller's investigation makes me uncomfortable. they need the legal system to pronounce in some way that trump and his people broke the rules, in order to avoid acknowledging that the ge…

As evidenced by the gerrymandered districts intended to do things like sway presidential elections. Clearly the system is working as designed and not being cheated...

Gerrymandering sways House and state-level elections. It doesn't have a direct impact on Senate and Presidential elections.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#42

Post by throwawayyx96 »

bshastry wrote: post #21

I like the critical thinking in this article. Problem is, I am critical about it's critique. Just because Ted Cruz made use of the same platform and did not win, does not mean there is no problem with what Facebook is doing. They are still thieving people's data and selling it for a nice sum.

I don't think the author was trying to excuse Facebook's business model by bringing up Cruz. She was pointing out that if this 'psychological profiling' technique from CA was really a silver bullet for swaying votes, Cruz would have done better in his run the Republican nomination. It's a single data point that arguably isn't worth much, but it was interesting to me as I'd not heard of any other prominent politicians using the service. Balanced article by WAPO in my view.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#43

Post by mieseratte »

ixtli wrote: post #22
WallWextra wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's like how the 2008 election didn't count, because Obama is actually a Kenyan. People can't just lose an election anymore.

I like to talk about social issues and politics and stuff but the more I do it in public the more I run into what feels like "politics-as-basketball." It's really begun to feel like team sports as opposed to a critical analysis of conditions and power analysis.

As someone in their mid-twenties, I have to ask the older HNers: has it always been this "stupid," so vitriolic and hateful? If not, when did it become this way?

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#44

Post by rdiddly »

WallWextra wrote: post #18
ixtli wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realize that this is tangential to what you're talking about but your comment reminded me of it strongly: As much as it's clear that there was some funny business with trump's people and russia, the way liberals are salivating over mueller's investigation makes me uncomfortable. they need the legal system to pronounce in some way that trump and his people broke the rules, in order to avoid acknowledging that the ge…

It's like how the 2008 election didn't count, because Obama is actually a Kenyan. People can't just lose an election anymore.

...which is ironic, since due to that same polarization, Presidents in general seem to have less ability (or maybe it's inclination) than ever, to effect any meaningful change about anything that matters.

It doesn't matter who's President.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#45

Post by wu-ikkyu »

orbital-decay wrote: post #36
wu-ikkyu wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it "needlessly complex"? Aren't all corporations "manipulated from the top"?

Because to manipulate the topic of the day, it's far easier to make a single article or interview which will then be reposted, rewritten and mixed with opinions countless times without really checking it or even critically thinking about it, than to organize a collusion with evil masterminds on top, involving huge amounts of people. All the viral trends can be traced back to one-two sources which got picked by influe…

Do you really think corporate conglomerates have no interest in PR campaigns that benefit their bottom line? It doesn't take "huge amounts of people", just a handful of board members.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#46

Post by adventured »

ixtli wrote: post #22
WallWextra wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's like how the 2008 election didn't count, because Obama is actually a Kenyan. People can't just lose an election anymore.

I like to talk about social issues and politics and stuff but the more I do it in public the more I run into what feels like "politics-as-basketball." It's really begun to feel like team sports as opposed to a critical analysis of conditions and power analysis.

As I've gotten older and have seen enough side switches, I've found it increasingly astounding to watch how predictably the partisans memory wipe themselves about XYZ terrible thing that their side did. Now that the bad side - the side they're not on - is in power, they must protest that same XYZ thing.

It's said that Trump is terrible with journalists (he is). And there's Obama's quiet, terrifying war on journalists with the Espionage Act, that the partisans on that side almost entirely ignored.

Assisting in the destruction of Syria and Libya is a fine thing to ignore (one should perhaps get a nobel peace prize for it). Destroying Iraq is genocide and a war crime. Or vice versa, depending on which side you're on.

The sides just flip flop, memory wipe past misdeeds, and then resume the perpetual partisan war. I think it works to assist them in staying in power, maintaining the always conflict. Oceania is always at war with Eastasia.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#47

Post by Spooky23 »

WallWextra wrote: post #15

Here is, roughly, the media's playbook: 1. Never stop talking about Trump. Mention his name 300 times an hour on CNN. He's not a serious candidate, but he is entertaining so they give him free publicity until he is a serious candidate. 2. Start blathering about Hillary's emails, as if that were somehow important. 3. Now Trump is elected. In these tough times, it is more important than ever to support high-quality ind…

That's why we used to have regulation of media; the pursuit of attention is always more profitable for any mass media endeavor.

Facebook and Google are media. They are just more effective at engagement than TV. The CNN stuff is particularly telling there as their reach is very low. More people are watching baseball on a given day than CNN. Shows like "Pawn Stars" can attract more viewship than all cable news combined.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#48

Post by leesalminen »

g09980 wrote: post #34
Agustus wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Look at the playbook from an agnostic position instead. The reason the media gave candidate Trump the press was because, just like candidate Obama, sold eyeballs; Trump more so because he got both sides mad. Recall the puff pieces and the discussion of Michelle Obama's fantastic arms, that is nothing but puff and she moved the papers, so they covered the candidate more; to Hilary's detriment. 2. You need to think…

So the use of Facebook data was lauded as genius and now isn't. [1] Now you got me curious if the media would be saying all the same things if Cambridge helped the other candidate get elected. [1] http://thehill.com/opinion/technology/379245-whats-genius-fo...

My opinion is that they would not.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#49

Post by hashkb »

WallWextra wrote: post #15

Here is, roughly, the media's playbook: 1. Never stop talking about Trump. Mention his name 300 times an hour on CNN. He's not a serious candidate, but he is entertaining so they give him free publicity until he is a serious candidate. 2. Start blathering about Hillary's emails, as if that were somehow important. 3. Now Trump is elected. In these tough times, it is more important than ever to support high-quality ind…

Facebook is actually bad for you, and a bad actor in society. If we can't see that because we're addicted to it, maybe it's worth turning a blind eye to just a little more bullshit; whatever it takes to get us out of social networks.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#50

Post by jerf »

awinder wrote: post #35
Agustus wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Look at the playbook from an agnostic position instead. The reason the media gave candidate Trump the press was because, just like candidate Obama, sold eyeballs; Trump more so because he got both sides mad. Recall the puff pieces and the discussion of Michelle Obama's fantastic arms, that is nothing but puff and she moved the papers, so they covered the candidate more; to Hilary's detriment. 2. You need to think…

Obama for America was upfront about what they were doing, and the user initiated the action willingly. Cambridge Analytics was not, and people had no idea what their data was being used for. This is not some capricious delineation.

Not an accurate summation: https://twitter.com/cld276/status/975565844632821760

"The entire social graph" did not agree to be used by the Obama campaign. What the Obama campaign did was worse that what CA could have done because by the time CA rolled around the API holes had been closed. (As I said yesterday, CA was deceptive and the Obama campaign wasn't, sure, because the Obama campaign didn't have to ask at all. This is not an improvement.) And they knew it was sketchy, too.

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