Live data from Hacker News

Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic

newsweek.com

71–80 of 234 posts

Re: Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think it’s fine to lump those people together as domestic terrorists. You can do that, but after many people in power and including in this site supported BLM riots earlier this year this rings hollow. It's clear most people don't care about violence being a limit given that violence was used tremendously throughout the entire year in all those protests and supporting them was the trendy position among the elites,…

This is still false equivalence. BLM Didn't use violence to achieve their goals. Quite the opposite they were consistently attacked by police dressed up like the army, heaving people off the streets. Where were the police in DC? This wasn’t a protest it was a violent attempt to overthrow. Call it what it is indeed.

>BLM Didn't use violence to achieve their goals.

I don't know how you can reconcile cities being burned, statues toppled, police stations being overtaken, parts of a city being declared an autonomous zone with "violence wasn't used" but whatever, discussion is clearly pointless.

I will re-state my claim: this is a battle, and in a battle all that matters is punishing your enemies and rewarding your friends. When you defend the BLM riots yet condemn this one you're engaging in that behavior. You can disagree with me all you want but that's the truth to anyone who has any sense.

Re: Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When people use violence in the name of a cause then i think the cap fits. Also i think you’re making a false equivalence here. There is a not insignificant fraction of them willing to be violent because because they either don’t (or don’t want to) understand how democracy works. I think it’s fine to lump those people together as domestic terrorists.

>I think it’s fine to lump those people together as domestic terrorists. You can do that, but after many people in power and including in this site supported BLM riots earlier this year this rings hollow. It's clear most people don't care about violence being a limit given that violence was used tremendously throughout the entire year in all those protests and supporting them was the trendy position among the elites,…

Reasonable people don't defend violence in either case.

You are you defending violence with whataboutism. And advocating for Machiavellianism.

Gross.

Re: Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic

#73
post #43

I'm glad they halted that. But it reduces the common area we can even discuss anything going on this week in politics. Taking a step back... We've got these two sides. Regardless of the merits, each side believes they know the truth, and that the other side is delusional. And it is easy enough to engage with your media outlets of choice, and get your beliefs reinforced. How can we have a meaningful discussion as a na…

> How can we have a meaningful discussion as a nation, when there is no apparent common ground? No set of agreed-upon facts?

It's worse than this. Even just presenting facts that are inconvenient or go against the desires of beliefs is enough to make you an enemy / part of the other side, no questions asked.

Re: Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When people use violence in the name of a cause then i think the cap fits. Also i think you’re making a false equivalence here. There is a not insignificant fraction of them willing to be violent because because they either don’t (or don’t want to) understand how democracy works. I think it’s fine to lump those people together as domestic terrorists.

>I think it’s fine to lump those people together as domestic terrorists. You can do that, but after many people in power and including in this site supported BLM riots earlier this year this rings hollow. It's clear most people don't care about violence being a limit given that violence was used tremendously throughout the entire year in all those protests and supporting them was the trendy position among the elites,…

People supported BLM -protests-, not riots. The media has worked very hard to conflate the two. Nobody wants our cities to be destroyed. That was also general rioting, not people specifically targeting the U.S. Capitol building and going after the politicians inside in order to interfere with the election process. It's not really comparable unless you omit all context.

Re: Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic

#75
post #43

I'm glad they halted that. But it reduces the common area we can even discuss anything going on this week in politics. Taking a step back... We've got these two sides. Regardless of the merits, each side believes they know the truth, and that the other side is delusional. And it is easy enough to engage with your media outlets of choice, and get your beliefs reinforced. How can we have a meaningful discussion as a na…

This dance never ends. Soon enough people's behavior will evolve and the groups will start calling themselves the same ways PACs do ( you know, American Roads, Appleplie And Flag for Orphans Foundation ). We already had an indication with Bogaloo group ( although for them it the name was something of an inside joke ). This is why censorship is effectively self-defeating.

If 50% of US population, apparently, thinks that hashtag is valid, you can rest assured it will either surface in some cloaked form ( say, bunnies for adoption ), or worse, it will disappear from the radar where LEOs will not be able to easily track it ( and boy can they easily track it now ).

I may be coming across as a free speech fundamentalist, but that is the problem with actual rights. You tend to defend assholes since they are the ones who tend to push the envelope.

I don't want to dance this dance. Its trajectory tends to end somewhere around Xi banning Winnie and number 8 ( ie. shit getting ridiculous ). It is not fun in the meantime.

Re: Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic

#76
Like probably most people in the discussion here, I think I’m smarter than the average person, and can discern the truth from multiple conflicting claims.

But a little introspection shows me that no, this isn’t really true. I’m not hunting down original sources for everything I think I know, I’m mostly relying on gatekeepers (experts) to tell me what is true.

Unfortunately, in social media, everybody gets to be an expert! How can the average person tell?

As much as it goes against my grain, I have to admit that society works better when the gatekeepers decide what the truth is, even though we know they don’t always get it right.

Our current technology allowing any kind of garbage to be amplified to the masses is making things worse, not better.

Re: Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic

#77
post #43

I'm glad they halted that. But it reduces the common area we can even discuss anything going on this week in politics. Taking a step back... We've got these two sides. Regardless of the merits, each side believes they know the truth, and that the other side is delusional. And it is easy enough to engage with your media outlets of choice, and get your beliefs reinforced. How can we have a meaningful discussion as a na…

[deleted]

Re: Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic

#78
post #59
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what to say to people who want someone else killed...

Almost everyone (including really terrible people) don't want people killed. That is why it is often necessary to de-humanize the enemy. We give them labels, make them not worthy of the protections of civil society, and then it is justified if they die. Because they are not people anymore.

That's not quite it either, the truth is actually worse.

We know the other side are people, the fact that we insult them acknowledges that. Think of hitler youth forcing a rabbi to scrub the pavement on their hands and knees. The cruelty is intentional, not based on seeing them as less than human.

Re: Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic

#79
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what some of the protesters were screaming. It started trending when people pointed this fact, not as a support for it, but because people were freaking out and started to document/discuss it.

I get that it was said by protesters, and that it started trending because of that. At the end of the day the phrase “Hang Mike Pence” ended up on the trending section of Twitter. Millions of people look at this. It was removed by Twitter, and it was the right call. Justifying calls to violence due to “missing context” is a poor argument, and now is just not the time to toy with being lax on this.

Documenting and justifying are very different things. Seems like the problem is social media.

Re: Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic

#80
post #43

I'm glad they halted that. But it reduces the common area we can even discuss anything going on this week in politics. Taking a step back... We've got these two sides. Regardless of the merits, each side believes they know the truth, and that the other side is delusional. And it is easy enough to engage with your media outlets of choice, and get your beliefs reinforced. How can we have a meaningful discussion as a na…

> We've got these two sides. Regardless of the merits, each side believes they know the truth, and that the other side is delusional. You're partially right. We have at least two sides. One side is CLEARLY delusional. Fueled by conspiracy theories and lies. We also have other sides, but the two sides that get the most attention are the only sides that matter. We have one side that is most definitely delusional, other…

By definition if you are delusional aren't you unaware of it?
Post reply on HN