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Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

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Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#271
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

41% of women are pro-life, to think they are only driven by the motivation to erode their own rights is far too simplistic. Broad characterization of the opposing side as evil, morally bankrupt, racist, sexist, fascist, communist, or other negative traits is why our politics are so toxic.

[citation needed] Instead of "but both sides" and a false appeal for civility, you could read some accounts of people involved with the movement. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2012/10/how-i-l...

It's not a false appeal, I genuinely believe the hasty generalization of the opposing side cheapens the argument for prochoice.

That article was a good personal account which could definitely change minds.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#272

I can't stand the fact that organizations hide behind "algorithms" as an excuse for every unintended side-effect. It's no surprise that algorithms create an information bubble for us. I like to use music as an example: the best music recommendations I've ever received have been from friends. I'll describe music I'm listening to and like, and they'll recommend something for me. I'd say 50% of the time I find it unobje…

>We've positioned machine learning as a replacement to curation, but what it really does is put forth the least objectionable content. I don't think the problem is with ML. You could easily train a net to make boulder selections with an appropriate data set. I believe what you are seeing is an accommodation for the average person. Most people aren't adventurous, and it makes business sense to get algos working for th…

>I don't think the problem is with ML. You could easily train a net to make boulder selections with an appropriate data set.

Ehhh... mathematically, most ML methods basically assume that the underlying data and label manifolds should be smooth (in the real analysis sense). Sharply peaked output distributions, small mountains of "loved it!" surrounded by valleys of "ugh", are hard to work with for many models, compared to a wavy surface between "ok" and "ok, I guess".

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#273

Lack of trust is a bullshit argument. It's basically the Conspiracy Fallacy: https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFalla... Is there any evidence to support this assertion and that Facebook isn't merely showing you information that is palatable to you? (Note that this greatly expands the use of this fallacy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_of_repugnance ) I think we all have to answer these ques…

1) Yes.

2) Yes.

Was that supposed to be hard?

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine a good part of that is because he led a brigade of followers that would go out and harass other users.

I was watching his feed in real time the night he was banned. He wasn't directing people to do anything. He was trashing the Ghostbusters movie and called one of the female actresses a "black dude". It may have been tasteless but it wasn't brigading.

Your account of events are very different than reality. You're also ignoring him forging the tweets from her, and referring to a black woman as an "ape".

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me that there’s some middle area where the person doesn’t understand Bay Area culture but they’re not being rude or hot headed, and yet their genuine questions get downvoted. I do think there’s some kind of “you can’t discuss that” attitudes on here about certain topics. Diversity stuff is an area I can imagine reasonable and even good comments getting downvoted. Sadly I don’t have any sources, but this i…

> middle area where the person doesn’t understand Bay Area culture... > genuine questions get downvoted The problem is these "genuine questions," for other people, are received as: bad faith questions, "sea lioning", poorly researched questions (e.g., simple query would find the answer), microagressions, dog whistles, sock puppet arguments, or other incendiary social media argument techniques. Whether every instance…

> microagressions

Anyone who claims to have been exposed to "microagressions" simply because they have been talking to people of a different view-point, are exactly the people who need more "microagressions".

This kinda thing here is exactly what is killing the current political left. I honestly think they mean well, but with stuff like this it's hard to take them seriously.

Had they only harmed themselves, it might not have been that bad, but they are simultaneously and ruining a generation of youngsters by teaching them that this is kinda behaviour is normal.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#276

I talked to an ex-twitter employee I met in Ireland at bar. He told me very candidly that twitter employees loathed Milo Yiannopolous and were actively trying to figure out any way to ban him. Not a fan of Milo, but there are clearly agendas which can't be extricated from politics.

Well, the shooting he incited in Maryland today should be enough of a reason to ban him.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> middle area where the person doesn’t understand Bay Area culture... > genuine questions get downvoted The problem is these "genuine questions," for other people, are received as: bad faith questions, "sea lioning", poorly researched questions (e.g., simple query would find the answer), microagressions, dog whistles, sock puppet arguments, or other incendiary social media argument techniques. Whether every instance…

What I'm most excited about with Kennedy's replacement is seeing affirmative action finally get the axe. Many, many people think that the erosion of meritocracy is a bad thing even for the groups it's intended to benefit.

Those people probably also believe that we have or ever had a meritocracy, when nothing could be further from the truth.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's entirely possible that Facebook found that your comments caused less engagement for other people on Facebook, and therefore doesn't want you to comment. It's also possible that Facebook determined that this person has substantially different politics than you, and has put you in different 'boxes'. You can actually check what groups Facebook thinks you belong in. For instance, Facebook thinks my peer group is 'St…

that concept of 'boxes' is pretty interesting -- is there a way for me to check that for myself without handing them a wad of cash? i rarely use facebook aside from messenger (because getting friends and family to use something like telegram/signal/etc is a pain in the ass when fb just works) but i've had it for about 8 years now so it'd be interesting to see how accurate of a profile they've built on me

You can use the messenger app (non-Lite version) and contact people with FB accounts without having a FB account.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#279

Is this even up for discussion? Whatever you think of him, Milo Yiannopoulos got banned because HIS FOLLOWERS made derogatory statements about an actress. (edit: spelling)

Actually, Milo was banned because he already had been suspended several times, and then he decided to impersonate another user, which is blatantly against the ToS.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#280
post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Facebook is forcing you into an echo chamber against your will. Awesome.

The term I am used to seeing is “filter bubble”.

Gotta euthanize the presence of the situations unwanted features somehow. “Filter bubble” does a nice job.
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