How WhatsApp Destroyed a Village • Hacker News Board

Re: How WhatsApp Destroyed a Village

#101

Post by elp » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 7:07 AM UTC

eccbits wrote: post #35

Why is this flagged? 1. negative about India 2. negative about Facebook 3. asks hard questioms sbout ethics & technology 4. all of the above

The article is complete clickbait.

Rumour mongering/ scare stories has been an issue in rural villages world wide for far longer than the internet let alone Whatsapp.

In Africa it usually ends in the mob killing a supposed witch doctor. I suspect the same issues would happen in small town America if the police weren't as efficient.

Obviously an article about how technology doesn't automatically end superstition and ignorance is boring. Facebook/ Whatsapp is the new bogyman and Buzzfeed was never one to worry overly about facts.

Re: How WhatsApp Destroyed a Village

#102

Post by kaffeemitsahne » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 7:22 AM UTC

RLN wrote: post #40

RyJones wrote: post #12

I was in Made, Netherlands, this summer and saw they had per-neighborhood/per-street signs for WhatsApp groups that the police monitored. I thought that was a little rich for such an isolated berg - the biggest crimes there probably deserve harsh looks and muttering. Next day, walking around Leverkusen, I saw the same thing. I asked around but my ability to ferret out who paid for these signs was exceeded by my desir…

They had a group for this when I was living in Hoofddorp. From memory they called it "Buurtpreventie" which I suppose translates into "Neighbourhood Watch" really. It's just a new evolution of what has existed for ages. It allows faster communication rather than Jan calling Sanne who calls Peter to inform that someone isn't taking their bins out on the correct day.

Technically it means "prevention of neighbourhood" which is obviously kind of silly.

Re: How WhatsApp Destroyed a Village

#103

Post by iamshs » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 7:22 AM UTC

Blaming WhatsApp is easy, but it is the ideology that should be getting attacked here. I will bring in viewpoint relevant to Indian minorities here. They are under exceptional threat in India right now, and they don't have resources or means to counter the propaganda being rained on them. Current party ruling India, BJP, is beholden to a group with fascist ideologies, RSS [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. RSS views Muslims and Christians as aliens to India, and Islam as something which was brought to India by force, and christianity by forced conversions of missionaries. They want to root out these religions. Even more sinister is their outlook towards indigenous religions i.e. Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. They consider it to be their own branch. In short, anything not Hinduism is open to be eliminated. They have penetrated educational institutes, installed Deans in Universities and snubbed out dissidents and independent voices.

So much so that RSS held a conference in Chicago, World Hindu Congress, where RSS chief openly called Indian minorites as pests and dogs from outside who can destroy the lions (Hindus) [6]. This is the sweets box they gave to each and every participant [7]. They also pointed out how inter-faith marriages is a danger to Hindus [8]. This outright fascism was aired on US soil. This fascist organisation has patronage of ex-President of India too. Worse, they don't like Hindus having interfaith marriages, which is a way of saying don't marry Muslims.

Another is the incestous relationship between Twitter and WhatsApp. Blue tick marks on Twitter frequently air bigoted messages that they receive on WhatsApp. Worse, these messages are screenshotted and then spread back on WhatsApp, now they carry an air of authenticity because it was tweeted by a blue tick mark. It is destroying the very social fabric of India and very much a danger to minorities of India.

1. https://www.straight.com/news/877876/gurpreet-singh-racism-r...

2. https://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1702/17020950.htm

3. https://www.ibtimes.com/hindu-nationalists-historical-links-...

4. https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/02/23/rss-subramanian-swa...

5. https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/hitlers-hindus-indias-nazi-l...

6. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/hindus-have-no-aspir...

7. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmqLjkFWwAEvmRZ.jpg

8. https://thewire.in/communalism/world-hindu-congress-chicago-...

Re: How WhatsApp Destroyed a Village

#104

Post by phobosdeimos » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 7:32 AM UTC

quantummkv wrote: post #92

The real problem here is that these services (twitter, fb, whatsapp, etc.) are designed for use by educated, urban people who know the basics of tech. And they are then marketed to uneducated people in remote areas to reach growth metric targets that Zuck and co can fling around at their next meeting. In the west and in the urban areas of SE Asia, these problems do not occur because the users are educated enough to u…

These "unsophisticated" people in India love their kids as people do everywhere and don't want them to get kidnapped and gang raped. Which does seem to happen an awful lot and can be read about in old media newspapers every day.

Instead of blaming WhatsApp maybe the Indian government can start to make people feel safe.

Re: How WhatsApp Destroyed a Village

#105

Post by puranjay » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 7:32 AM UTC

quantummkv wrote: post #92

The real problem here is that these services (twitter, fb, whatsapp, etc.) are designed for use by educated, urban people who know the basics of tech. And they are then marketed to uneducated people in remote areas to reach growth metric targets that Zuck and co can fling around at their next meeting. In the west and in the urban areas of SE Asia, these problems do not occur because the users are educated enough to u…

My parents are far from being uneducated, but even they believe that any forward sent through WhatsApp is actually from the authority figure mentioned in the message.

Messages usually exploit this by mentioning how "XYZ warning" is according to scientists at NASA/MIT/IIT. My parents - who are both in their 70s - believe that these messages actually originated from NASA/MIT, etc.

I don't know how to fight this. I've tried explaining it to my parents yet they don't get it.

I can't even imagine how hard it would be to dispel these myths and beliefs among uneducated people.

Re: How WhatsApp Destroyed a Village

#106

Post by rootlocus » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 7:34 AM UTC

puranjay wrote: post #105

quantummkv wrote: post #92

The real problem here is that these services (twitter, fb, whatsapp, etc.) are designed for use by educated, urban people who know the basics of tech. And they are then marketed to uneducated people in remote areas to reach growth metric targets that Zuck and co can fling around at their next meeting. In the west and in the urban areas of SE Asia, these problems do not occur because the users are educated enough to u…

My parents are far from being uneducated, but even they believe that any forward sent through WhatsApp is actually from the authority figure mentioned in the message. Messages usually exploit this by mentioning how "XYZ warning" is according to scientists at NASA/MIT/IIT. My parents - who are both in their 70s - believe that these messages actually originated from NASA/MIT, etc. I don't know how to fight this. I've t…

Try making a similar video yourself and sending it to them?

Re: How WhatsApp Destroyed a Village

#107

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 7:42 AM UTC

quantummkv wrote: post #92

The real problem here is that these services (twitter, fb, whatsapp, etc.) are designed for use by educated, urban people who know the basics of tech. And they are then marketed to uneducated people in remote areas to reach growth metric targets that Zuck and co can fling around at their next meeting. In the west and in the urban areas of SE Asia, these problems do not occur because the users are educated enough to u…

[deleted]

Re: How WhatsApp Destroyed a Village

#108

Post by oh_sigh » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 7:46 AM UTC

phobosdeimos wrote: post #104

quantummkv wrote: post #92

The real problem here is that these services (twitter, fb, whatsapp, etc.) are designed for use by educated, urban people who know the basics of tech. And they are then marketed to uneducated people in remote areas to reach growth metric targets that Zuck and co can fling around at their next meeting. In the west and in the urban areas of SE Asia, these problems do not occur because the users are educated enough to u…

These "unsophisticated" people in India love their kids as people do everywhere and don't want them to get kidnapped and gang raped. Which does seem to happen an awful lot and can be read about in old media newspapers every day. Instead of blaming WhatsApp maybe the Indian government can start to make people feel safe.

OP was not saying that "unsophisticated" people in India don't love their kids and want them to be gang raped.

> Combine this with the fact that the videos hit the base instincts of humanity (safety, especially of your children) and you have a recipe for disaster.

Re: How WhatsApp Destroyed a Village

#109

Post by macca321 » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 7:51 AM UTC

rootlocus wrote: post #106

puranjay wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents are far from being uneducated, but even they believe that any forward sent through WhatsApp is actually from the authority figure mentioned in the message. Messages usually exploit this by mentioning how "XYZ warning" is according to scientists at NASA/MIT/IIT. My parents - who are both in their 70s - believe that these messages actually originated from NASA/MIT, etc. I don't know how to fight this. I've t…

Try making a similar video yourself and sending it to them?

Even better, send them one from a power they absolutely trust telling them to disregard all other messages.

Re: How WhatsApp Destroyed a Village

#110

Post by quantummkv » Mon, Sep 10, 2018, 7:58 AM UTC

puranjay wrote: post #105

quantummkv wrote: post #92

The real problem here is that these services (twitter, fb, whatsapp, etc.) are designed for use by educated, urban people who know the basics of tech. And they are then marketed to uneducated people in remote areas to reach growth metric targets that Zuck and co can fling around at their next meeting. In the west and in the urban areas of SE Asia, these problems do not occur because the users are educated enough to u…

My parents are far from being uneducated, but even they believe that any forward sent through WhatsApp is actually from the authority figure mentioned in the message. Messages usually exploit this by mentioning how "XYZ warning" is according to scientists at NASA/MIT/IIT. My parents - who are both in their 70s - believe that these messages actually originated from NASA/MIT, etc. I don't know how to fight this. I've t…

The only way to stop this quick is to remove forwarding systems. If people have to make some non trivial effort to share stuff, that effort and time will be saved only for important stuff. No will spend time typing all this click bait for every single recipient.

We can try education but that will take at least a generation or two to take effect.