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YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

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Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#371

These types of censorship patterns are identical to that employed by China in intent . The practical consequences are the same as well. In China information censorship is due to the government trying to promote peace and harmony. Aka, the government thinks it knows what’s best for people and forces it on people. Facebook et al also encounter these same problems, where they see people spreading “misinformation.” It’s…

As long as you can host your video on your own website, that's not the same. If you own website, you have all rights to do any censorship you want. Now if your government will try to fine or arrest you because you hosted some video on your website, that's censorship. You can avoid youtube, but you can't avoid your government. That said, I agree that huge websites like youtube, facebook, instagram are something more t…

> If you own website, you have all rights to do any censorship you want.

I absolutely agree with you here, but we also have the right to criticize and/or stop using platforms that use this. Your parent post said it was wrong, not that you tube didn't have the right to do this.

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These types of censorship patterns are identical to that employed by China in intent. The practical consequences are the same as well. True, if you ignore the fact that China is a government and YouTube is an internet video portal. And that there are sites like HN that can point it out. And that YouTube isn't taking steps to cover up what they've done. But yeah, let's compare the policing of bad information in a pa…

> At least you get to feel good about your purity when you're posting comments on HN, secure in the knowledge that you don't have a teenager or a parent that might die as a result. What's this ad hominem crap doing here? I don't know anything about the poster you're replying to, but I think I'm safe in assuming that they don't want your teenager or parent to die either. It's acceptable--essential, even--to be concern…

He's using pedophrasty in his argument in desperation by adding unnecessary elements that distract from the underlying debate and illicit emotions you can't really argue against without being the bad guy. Once you see this approach used, it's safe to assume that person's an idiot (at least on the underlying discussion topic).

Pedophrasty Definition: Argument involving children to prop up a rationalization and make the opponent look like an asshole, as people are defenseless and suspend all skepticism in front of suffering children: nobody has the heart to question the authenticity or source of the reporting.

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#374
post #367

Of course he should be censored! Despite his probable decade of medical training, he believes the wrong thing.

So HN should sensor you now because the Gods of HN believe that you believe in the wrong thing.

Yea makes sense. This is certainly going to end well /s

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#375

Total censorship doesn't happen overnight. The gates slowly close little by little. Let no good catastrophe go to waste. With each, we lose a little freedom and the populace resounds in joy. Not because they want less freedom, no, it's because they think they've triumphed over a common evil: the dissenters. These cycles always include labeling the enemy, and it's usually the ones who disagree or challenge the state.…

>Total censorship doesn't happen overnight. The gates slowly close little by little. beautifully stated. Or the more common "boiling a frog slowly" If we do not fight for our freedoms, our children will get used to the reduced freedoms as a 'new normal' and it will only get more repressive

Or slippery slope.

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me be contrary: who shut down millions of businesses and put millions out of work? It wasn't QAnon. It was the state -- and it looks like YouTube is aligned with the pro-shutdown folks who don't want their wisdom questioned. Now I'm a big believer in keeping things shut. I thing prudence is super-important. But QAnon's actions are mainly talk. The state's, however, are different.

Let me be contrary: who shut down millions of businesses and put millions out of work? Well, I'd blame the pandemic itself. Sweden provides an imperfect but interesting what-if scenario for countries wondering what would have happened if they'd imposed little to no lockdown restrictions. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/30/coronavirus-sweden-economy-t... Their economy is still taking a very severe hit despite retail busi…

Without lockdowns, it just means that everyone with the means to stay home does so, and the people not able to stay home disproportionately face the disease. Government lockdowns reduce the incentive for desperate people to continue exposing themselves to the disease.

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to wonder if there are Chinese actors within Google influencing these censorships...

No, you really don' have to wonder that. That's a deeply stupid and racist conspiracy theory that you're promoting with no evidence or logical reasoning at all.

The dragonfly debacle provides at least some credibility to such an idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly_(search_engine)

It's impossible to produce a search engine compatible with the Chinese market without having some fairly high-placed contacts in the Chinese government, because it would take some very high-level approval to allow such a product.

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#378

Total censorship doesn't happen overnight. The gates slowly close little by little. Let no good catastrophe go to waste. With each, we lose a little freedom and the populace resounds in joy. Not because they want less freedom, no, it's because they think they've triumphed over a common evil: the dissenters. These cycles always include labeling the enemy, and it's usually the ones who disagree or challenge the state.…

>Total censorship doesn't happen overnight. The gates slowly close little by little. beautifully stated. Or the more common "boiling a frog slowly" If we do not fight for our freedoms, our children will get used to the reduced freedoms as a 'new normal' and it will only get more repressive

Boiling a frog slowly is a sound argument against any form of heating even while you are freezing to death.

Existing platforms could be misused by private actors in a way that negatively effects the populace. Arguably most of the people presently concerned are either a majority of bad actors or a minority of idealists concerned about future potential.

To the worthy minority I would suggest that difficult to censor platforms are probably trivially realizable in mid term especially if substantially desirable or needed.

I don't think censorship by platforms like YouTube is being misused now and the massive risk remains censorship by state actors. I suggest we in the short term we encourage people like YouTube to censor more evil idiocy not less while working on maturing decentralized options to the net benefit in the short to mid term as a hedge against tyranny that will virtually certainly primarily remain the province of state actors.

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me be contrary: who shut down millions of businesses and put millions out of work? Well, I'd blame the pandemic itself. Sweden provides an imperfect but interesting what-if scenario for countries wondering what would have happened if they'd imposed little to no lockdown restrictions. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/30/coronavirus-sweden-economy-t... Their economy is still taking a very severe hit despite retail busi…

On top of that, Sweeden is recording very high death rates and latest estimates point to around 7% in immunity.

Even if they had 30% immunity, that still leaves the majority of the population exposed. I'm sure 30% would be very much preferable (if it's even true), but probably not good enough to allow things like concerts or maybe even sit down restaurants to reopen.

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#380

These types of censorship patterns are identical to that employed by China in intent . The practical consequences are the same as well. In China information censorship is due to the government trying to promote peace and harmony. Aka, the government thinks it knows what’s best for people and forces it on people. Facebook et al also encounter these same problems, where they see people spreading “misinformation.” It’s…

> These types of censorship patterns are identical to that employed by China in intent. The practical consequences are the same as well. True, if you ignore the fact that China is a government and YouTube is an internet video portal. And that there are sites like HN that can point it out. And that YouTube isn't taking steps to cover up what they've done. But yeah, let's compare the policing of bad information in a pa…

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