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Facebook Says It Is Removing All Content Mentioning 'Stop the Steal'

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Re: Facebook Says It Is Removing All Content Mentioning 'Stop the Steal'

#381

Post by bun_at_work »

istjohn wrote: post #293
bun_at_work wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a false equivalency. Facebook, unlike the Catholic Church 500 years ago, doesn't rule anything.

No, they just control the world's largest public square.

Yeah - a private company. Before them people found ways to communicate that didn't prey on the weak parts of human psychology. Why not use those methods now? Why is a private service provider beholden to any crackpot? Is the argument being made that the government should be in charge of how private companies moderate their content? Or just that you disagree with Facebook's choice? If it's the latter, that's fine, we can disagree. If it's the former you're getting into some awfully murky logical territory.

Re: Facebook Says It Is Removing All Content Mentioning 'Stop the Steal'

#382

Post by bagacrap »

hahamrfunnyguy wrote: post #315
foogazi wrote: post #2

A failure of critical thinking skills at the national level or willful ignorance?

Both. People just believe what they want. When presented with new information they will adjust the new information or explain it away rather than change their belief system (and admit they were wrong). It takes courage to admit your were wrong, and most people don't have it. Politicians, especially.

Courageous or not, politicians are never rewarded for admitting mistakes.

Re: Facebook Says It Is Removing All Content Mentioning 'Stop the Steal'

#383

Post by bun_at_work »

dcolkitt wrote: post #303
bun_at_work wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question: What happens to Facebook if the government that rules it collapses?

Honest question: What is your probability estimate that the government of the United States collapses or is overthrown? Keep in mind that the S&P 500 is near record highs, which would be a tad irrational if we're on the verge anarchy implosion. If you honestly believe there's even the slightest risk of that, why aren't you buying deep out-of-the-money put options like mad.

What is this question? First - I don't have a probability estimate. I simply recognize the fact that some significant part of the populating tried to overthrow the government.

Second, you should be careful conflating Wall Street with the stability of the country. That's not how our monetary policy or economic system work.

Re: Facebook Says It Is Removing All Content Mentioning 'Stop the Steal'

#384

Post by dredmorbius »

_ea1k wrote: post #334
bun_at_work wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is well known that an educated, free people are necessary for the functioning of democracy. It's part of the justification for the 1st Amendment. We have new technologies which are being leveraged to intentionally misinform people, in a society that has degraded public education and raised the cost of higher education to levels prohibitive for the majority of the population, and as a result, the society (as a whol…

> raised the cost of higher education to levels prohibitive for the majority of the population Do you think there was a time when the majority of the population were college educated? Or realistically had access to college education?

1945--1985 was arguably the high point. G.I. Bill and a rapid expansion of public university systems (inspired by the Sputnik scare --- see California's Master Plan by Clark Kerr), along with low or no tuitions. The tide began turning in the mid-to-late 1980s with rising tuition and a greatly increased reliance on loans.

Re: Facebook Says It Is Removing All Content Mentioning 'Stop the Steal'

#385

Post by dredmorbius »

chopin24 wrote: post #187

Should the US government make its own social network? That would cut off all kinds of issues. Only content that is literally illegal would be removed. Everyone would be guaranteed access.

Sort of an electronic post office, perhaps?

Re: Facebook Says It Is Removing All Content Mentioning 'Stop the Steal'

#386

Post by tptacek »

rayiner wrote: post #106
the_cat_kittles wrote: post #42

im saying this because it seems like such an obvious point but i havent seen it here- why are people who want the government to be replaced by the "free market" allowed to be upset that private companies are silencing them? what is the rationale for squaring this circle

We have two coalition parties and it’s not the same people saying the same things: https://ibb.co/mbTycKP For one thing, your argument is reductionist. Just because Republicans complain about how CNN chooses to run its newsroom doesn’t mean they want a government takeover of CNN. You can say that something private actors are doing is bad or risky without there being an implication that the government should stop that…

I mostly identify the Fairness Doctrine as a liberal canard, not a conservative one.

Re: Facebook Says It Is Removing All Content Mentioning 'Stop the Steal'

#387

Post by triceratops »

kortilla wrote: post #361
zepto wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The certainly got called terrorists by some people on the right.

But not much of the media. Why the inconsistency?

The "media" isn't a monolith. There were media outlets that did call rioters during BLM protests "terrorists" - and worse.

These same sections of the media called kneeling during the national anthem an insult to the flag and the country. Rather than a peaceful expression of free speech. Why the inconsistency?

Re: Facebook Says It Is Removing All Content Mentioning 'Stop the Steal'

#388

Post by evanelias »

_ea1k wrote: post #325
evanelias wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For historical context, it may be worth noting that the framers of the US constitution did not envision having direct popular election of the President [1], nor of senators [2]. To be clear, I'm not indicating that the framers had the right idea about this. Rather, just mentioning that the risks of under-informed general populace exercising direct democratic election has been under consideration since the nation's fo…

I don't really understand how that is relevant to the OP's question about censorship. Did the framers also think that censoring the views of the POTUS would be required? EDIT: Although going along with your point, I also remember the framers wanting the electors to be determined at the local level (district) rather than state. That would change things significantly, IMO.

The sibling comments already stated this well, but yes you're correct that I didn't directly address the censorship angle. However I believe that becomes moot in the system originally designed by the framers.

As per Hamilton and Madison in my first link above, the original intention was to have members of the electoral college be unbiased, well-respected, well-educated citizens who each independently voted for whichever candidate they thought would be the best president. Only the members of the electoral college directly voted for a specific presidential candidate. On a local level, the presidential election consists of electing members of the electoral college, who each were not originally envisioned to be pledged to one specific presidential candidate.

This system quickly proved to be overly idealistic, with respect to the fast rise of political parties in the US. Anyway, my original point was simply that an under-informed voting public was always a major concern in American democracy, rather than a new or modern concern.

Re: Facebook Says It Is Removing All Content Mentioning 'Stop the Steal'

#389

Post by triceratops »

kortilla wrote: post #52
triceratops wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I felt terrorized. I'd wager a lot of other ordinary people did too.

There was a lot of pearl clutching about chaz and other BLM violence as well. So were they terrorists?

Depends on who you ask. The right-wing media called them terrorists. And since conservatives claim to be "half the country", we can safely say that half the country agreed with that sentiment.

I will say that none of them attacked the Capitol to overturn a fair election after being egged on by a sitting president based on a lie that every relevant court in the land has thrown out as utter nonsense. This particular incident is far more serious. It'll be studied in the history books 100 years from now.

Re: Facebook Says It Is Removing All Content Mentioning 'Stop the Steal'

#390

Post by [deleted] »

rayiner wrote: post #357
chillfox wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but as someone not from the US it looks like that education ain't worth much in the US as you deliberately undermine peoples ability to learn critical thinking by teaching creationism in schools.

This is a really funny accusation since: 1) We don’t teach any religion in schools. 2) Many highly advanced EU countries are required to teach religion in schools e.g. many German states: https://eftre.weebly.com/deutschland-germany.html

[deleted]
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