Live data from Hacker News

YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

newsweek.com

461–470 of 923 posts

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#462
post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At some point, organizations get so big and so ubiquitous, that they become quasi-governmental organizations. Google shares data with intelligence services, they have close contacts in the administration, they are a near-monopoly in multiple areas, they have a tremendous number of government contracts, they spend more on lobbying in DC than any other organization. If we abdicate our rights to these organizations, the…

YouTube is just a video advertising platform. Anyone can host a video virtually anywhere on the internet. You don’t have a right to use YouTube. If you want to upload some videos spreading some fake news propaganda there are quite literally thousands of different sites and services to do that. Google and YouTube have no legal or moral obligation to allow you to use their specific services. The only grey area here is…

I think it's very curious how we see the same people say that Google Must Remove Disinformation, and moments later they say it doesn't matter anyway. Why ask them to remove it then? And besides didn't you (in the plural sense) argue it's up to them as a private company?

It's such a mess of contradictions.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The WHO seems to have been embarrassingly wrong or overconfident on many accounts: 1. Global air travel does not need to be stopped. 2. There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission. 3. There is still a "window of opportunity". 4. Masks don't work (but health workers need them!). 5. The CFR is like 4%.

> Global air travel does not need to be stopped. This isn't what the WHO said. They said bans on air from specific places (especially those that disrupt supply chains) are bad. This is true. Banning all air travel to/from china would have hurt medical supply chains in the US, with very little benefit. > 2. There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission. When this claim was made (in early january), there was not…

Was the fact that it kept spreading not strong evidence of human to human transmission? It seems they just went with the Chinese government instead of asking why people kept getting infected.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#464

I very strongly feel that we should be very careful to avoid adopting a legalistic attitude towards freedom of speech. That is, I am opposed to the argument that private corporations are not bound by the first amendment, and therefore it's okay for them to suppress content. I agree that they're not bound by the first amendment (I don't claim to understand the nuances of the "platform" laws so I won't address that), b…

> Let the truth fight for itself.

umm, that's a very nice thought, but we've seen it doesn't work, and it actually causes more harm than good. i.e Fox News

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pretty low effort comment, but more importantly is conceding the several upthread assertions that freedom of speech has historically been effective at correcting bad ideas. If your claim is that we shouldn't expect this to continue in the future, that's a whole new claim that you need to support.

I mean, a teleological view of history and ethics is just so absurd that it disturbs me that professed "rational" scientifically minded people believe it. There's no basis for believing just because things "tend" to get better that is in itself a causative argument about some intrinsic nature of humanity. I mean, even the example used ("the noble class") is preposterous on face because: 1. The Russian Revolution? Ger…

All the events you list happened in the wake of the enlightenment, the period when ideas challenging the validity of the dominance of the monarchies, nobles and the church were disseminated and popularised in large part due to the invention of the printing press - i.e., an instrument of free speech.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Global air travel does not need to be stopped. This isn't what the WHO said. They said bans on air from specific places (especially those that disrupt supply chains) are bad. This is true. Banning all air travel to/from china would have hurt medical supply chains in the US, with very little benefit. > 2. There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission. When this claim was made (in early january), there was not…

> They said bans on air from specific places (especially those that disrupt supply chains) are bad. This is true. The idea that bans on travel are 'bad' is nonsense. There's a global ban on civilian travel precisely because it is effective. > There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission. Sending out a message only to contradict it days later is poor communication and management. > They said that random people…

> The idea that bans on travel are 'bad' is nonsense. There's a global ban on civilian travel precisely because it is effective.

There's not though.

> Sending out a message only to contradict it days later is poor communication and management.

I can hear the goalposts scraping by.

> very little evidence of widespread benefit from masks use outside of these clinical settings’

The WHO never said this, I'm not sure what you're quoting, it appears to be some British group. Please stop spreading misinformation.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I won't address that argument here but personally I think it's a very dangerous way of thinking The problem is you’ve just said you won’t address the primary, most compelling reason to take these actions. Assuming that “sunshine is the best disinfectant” presupposes a lot of things about society that are, in my observation, no longer true. We do not have the time, through our own actions or not, for quiet contempla…

> We do not have the time, through our own actions or not, for quiet contemplation and retrospection into deep topics. This is a problem, but how does censorship solve it? You would in fact need to solve that problem for all ideas in order to correctly know what to censor, which nobody has time to do, hence the problem. > We have polarized ourselves into camps of right and wrong. This is exactly what the censorship m…

The biggest issue is that the open debate is vulnerable to astroturfing with corporate influence and financial backing, which can completely drown out others and turn public opinion, through sheer exposure.

And when it comes to subjects like human rights, there is a definite right and wrong, not a "truth in the middle".

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#468

I very strongly feel that we should be very careful to avoid adopting a legalistic attitude towards freedom of speech. That is, I am opposed to the argument that private corporations are not bound by the first amendment, and therefore it's okay for them to suppress content. I agree that they're not bound by the first amendment (I don't claim to understand the nuances of the "platform" laws so I won't address that), b…

> Booting people off of platforms merely reinforces their pre-existing beliefs, and further radicalizes them.

Ok, except that you 1) just made this up from whole cloth and 2) have missed the point of deplatforming entirely. Deplatforming trashbags reduces their reach. It doesn't need to change their minds. The trashbag is one person. The gullible are many.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjbp9d/do-social-media-ba...

> I believe in shining a light on them. Let the truth fight for itself.

It's very convenient that you then handwave away the very reason why this is wishful thinking.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#469
post #468

I very strongly feel that we should be very careful to avoid adopting a legalistic attitude towards freedom of speech. That is, I am opposed to the argument that private corporations are not bound by the first amendment, and therefore it's okay for them to suppress content. I agree that they're not bound by the first amendment (I don't claim to understand the nuances of the "platform" laws so I won't address that), b…

> Booting people off of platforms merely reinforces their pre-existing beliefs, and further radicalizes them. Ok, except that you 1) just made this up from whole cloth and 2) have missed the point of deplatforming entirely. Deplatforming trashbags reduces their reach. It doesn't need to change their minds. The trashbag is one person. The gullible are many. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjbp9d/do-social-media-ba.…

If you are to just claim that someone made something up, you must yourself raise the standard and provide a scientific or otherwise evidential source. And Vice ain't it.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They said bans on air from specific places (especially those that disrupt supply chains) are bad. This is true. The idea that bans on travel are 'bad' is nonsense. There's a global ban on civilian travel precisely because it is effective. > There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission. Sending out a message only to contradict it days later is poor communication and management. > They said that random people…

> The idea that bans on travel are 'bad' is nonsense. There's a global ban on civilian travel precisely because it is effective. There's not though. > Sending out a message only to contradict it days later is poor communication and management. I can hear the goalposts scraping by. > very little evidence of widespread benefit from masks use outside of these clinical settings’ The WHO never said this, I'm not sure what…

My mistake, here is what the WHO said:

> "If you do not have any respiratory symptoms...you do not need to wear a medical mask"

Which is somehow worse.

Post reply on HN