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YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

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Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#41

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. WHO is a political organization with medical leanings just like Fox News is an entertainment channel that covers newslike topics. Yes, there's a lot of information out there about SARS-COV2 and COVID-19 infections out there that are downright misleading at best and life threatening at worst. No, censoring that content including videos is NOT the role of a hosting platfo…

> The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Agree, youtube has to be very careful there. > WHO is a political organization with medical leanings just like Fox News is an entertainment channel that covers newslike topics. Hell no! The fact you even consider them in the same sentence is astounding. No point in continue reading .

> Hell no! The fact you even consider them in the same sentence is astounding. No point in continue reading .

NPC programming successful. Unauthorized content tail-dropped.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#42

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. WHO is a political organization with medical leanings just like Fox News is an entertainment channel that covers newslike topics. Yes, there's a lot of information out there about SARS-COV2 and COVID-19 infections out there that are downright misleading at best and life threatening at worst. No, censoring that content including videos is NOT the role of a hosting platfo…

> The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Agree, youtube has to be very careful there. > WHO is a political organization with medical leanings just like Fox News is an entertainment channel that covers newslike topics. Hell no! The fact you even consider them in the same sentence is astounding. No point in continue reading .

Thank you for taking the time to not only read my thoughts but responding to them with your own.

> Hell no! The fact you even consider them in the same sentence is astounding

Which one do you disagree with:

1. WHO is a political organization with medical leaning

2. Fox News is an entertainment channel that covers newslike topics.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#43
post #11

Fake news can't be solved with bans, only through education. Education is a long term investment though and everyone wants immediate fixes. Expect more of this nonsensical short term thinking.

With all my heart, I agree with you; but I wished I shared some of your enthusiasm.

I've been brought up with the saying, 'The sole purpose of education is to help a person think sensibly in difficult times'.

However, I've not come across any _major_ shift in education systems worldwide. Yes, there are heartening stories about a few charter school systems [1] and a few countries making strides (like Finland). But these are one off success stories.

I do hope that technology companies make a step towards solving this. But our startup culture, unfortunately, also is laced with trying to 'show growth' all the time and that leads us to think short term too. Perhaps something like the LTSE may help private players take long term bets (fingers crossed).

Also, even the history of education is ripe with missteps [2], mind you :) not unlike the decision by YouTube here (as someone said, The road to hell is paved with good intentions)

Don't get me wrong, I want to be as optimistic as you are :)

[1] https://www.wikiwand.com/en/KIPP (I think I came across this while reading Outliers by Gladwell)

[2] http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/AHistory.html

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Agree, youtube has to be very careful there. > WHO is a political organization with medical leanings just like Fox News is an entertainment channel that covers newslike topics. Hell no! The fact you even consider them in the same sentence is astounding. No point in continue reading .

Thank you for taking the time to not only read my thoughts but responding to them with your own. > Hell no! The fact you even consider them in the same sentence is astounding Which one do you disagree with: 1. WHO is a political organization with medical leaning 2. Fox News is an entertainment channel that covers newslike topics.

you conveniently left out number three in that you connected (1) and (2) via analogical reasoning. of course, i suspect that's what they disagree with.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#45
post #13

Things like this are tricky to me. YouTube is a private platform, so they can make their own decisions, but any sort of censorship is scary to me. I honestly don't know where to stand when it comes to issues related to censoring content like this. On one hand, you can limit information we know is false, but restricting spread of information is censoring people, something that is pretty widely regarded as oppressive.…

Yes, they are private and can do what they want... and we can judge them harshly for it.

What’s legal and what’s moral aren’t the same thing.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for taking the time to not only read my thoughts but responding to them with your own. > Hell no! The fact you even consider them in the same sentence is astounding Which one do you disagree with: 1. WHO is a political organization with medical leaning 2. Fox News is an entertainment channel that covers newslike topics.

you conveniently left out number three in that you connected (1) and (2) via analogical reasoning. of course, i suspect that's what they disagree with.

> i suspect that's what they disagree with

Ah, I see your point.

Equating WHO to Fox News directly as organizations does not make any sense. They are not even on the same domain.

I assumed, the readership would not conflate them on all possible attributes.

The reason for my statement was specifically to point out the flaw that WHO is guided solely by medical reasoning.

Just like it would be a flaw to assume Fox News is the unbiased broker of news events.

Is the connection that cambalache thought I was making that WHO and Fox News are both brokers of medical news and information?

If so, I'm at a loss on how to better phrase "WHO is a political organization with medical leanings just like Fox News is an entertainment channel that covers newslike topics." to convey my intent and would really appreciate better phrasing.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#47
post #13

Things like this are tricky to me. YouTube is a private platform, so they can make their own decisions, but any sort of censorship is scary to me. I honestly don't know where to stand when it comes to issues related to censoring content like this. On one hand, you can limit information we know is false, but restricting spread of information is censoring people, something that is pretty widely regarded as oppressive.…

> any sort of censorship is scary to me

i agree. but at the same time, why do people not get up in as much arms about manipulation? of course, censorship is a form of manipulation, but the u.s. media, advertisements, corporate culture, politics, etc. is one big cesspool of manipulation, both direct and indirect. it's just as controlling if not more controlling than censorship and, of more sinister nature, hides behind supposed ideals of freedom.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#48

Is this the beginning of the end for YouTube? As someone who deeply hates how much fake news have been spreading in the past few years, I still find this very worrying, especially since the WHO has been very inconsistent with their messaging during this pandemic [1] and sometimes plain wrong [2]. [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-who/who-chie... [2] https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152

To be fair no major health organization has been completely consistent or completely "correct" regarding the pandemic, in fact its virtually impossible to do so as the situation develops and our understanding of the situation changes. The recent change to CDC guidelines for the general public to wear face masks is an example of reaction to new research. That's not to say there isn't outright incorrect fake news, but…

https://twitter.com/wilfredchan/status/1243887606569590784?s...

Fine, things like this "happen". That is, incredibly cowardly and dishonest persons can play roles in otherwise not completely cowardly and dishonest organizations. However, where is the criticism? Does this guy still have a job at the WHO, what would you guess?

People who look the other way with something like this have nothing to tell me, ever, just like someone who murders people doesn't get to tell me to not use swear words.

Anyone who claims to be concerned about outcome and public safety, and wants to cooperation of people who pay attention and are not blackmailable -- I dare say, the kind of people whose support you want, not the "majority", but the ones with principles and determination, who will stick with things as long as the things demand it, not as long as they are cozy -- should get the WHO as far away from this as soon as possible. That shouldn't even need saying, but now that it's been said a lot, failure to even acknowledge the issue simply means some people do not care about outcome, they care about agenda and the prepared networks to push it, and others just blindly fall in line.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#49
post #11

Fake news can't be solved with bans, only through education. Education is a long term investment though and everyone wants immediate fixes. Expect more of this nonsensical short term thinking.

I'm not sure education is the issue.

I think the issue is people latch on to these things due to feeling or being powerless. They reach for solutions rather than being stuck in an endless waiting or trusting period, hoping for remote experts to do something. Education can help that but not always, and especially if the experts are adversarial to groups of people.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#50
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's some irony in you refusing to engage with thought terminating cliches when your original post that kicked this sub-thread off was "Yes. But liars, cranks and con artists should be oppressed."

Maybe it is, but almost no one who asks "but who decides x " in these threads is actually interested in debating the matter. They typically already believe no one should be allowed to decide, and they have no intention of actually engaging you in conversation beyond lecturing, berating and snark. Learning when to step away from such fruitless pseudo-debates before wasting hours on the online equivalent of beating one…

> almost no one who asks "but who decides x" in these threads is actually interested in debating the matter. They typically already believe no one should be allowed to decide

I take you up on that offer.

Let us, for a moment, discuss this.

To disconnect us both from the exact matter at hand, because we are likely at this point pretty attached strongly to our biases to it, let us step aside, choose a completely different topic and hypothesize that our debate is on "should the government be allowed to track crimminals moving about in society".

I propose, that yes, murderers should be tracked at all times, as they move about in society, with tracking devices embedded onto their ankles.

You propose, no, no one, including murderers should be tracked at any time.

I then propose that murderers should be given a choice between been tracked, or have their pictures and descriptions published on a public website where anyone interested in staying away from murderers can check in.

What's your next move?

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