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Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

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Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#511

Post by rayiner »

markoman wrote: post #494
mensetmanusman wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are >90% very left leaning, which is common in elite academic institutes, but such groups are typically contemptuous of average Americans and their religious views. This would set up a likely conflict, such as what we got a hint of when the masses elected Trump as a big middle finger.

Why is it that the politics of academics is found to be so distasteful, when we accept the politics of businessmen such as Peter Thiel and Rupert Murdoch as a matter of course? In a country that had always worshiped technological innovation, why are academics who provide the very seeds of this innovation, disrespected so easily? Look where your governance-by-middle-finger got us. It got us an egomaniacal dotard, drun…

First, lumping engineers in with the bulk of academia is disingenuous to say the least.

Second, what does it say about the desirability of what’s being sold by the technocratic elite that half the country voted for a second term for the egomaniacal dotard (for he surely was that), and most of the other half of the country got behind Joe Biden, a man from a working class background, a graduate of a second tier university known for his popular appeal rather than his intelligence?

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#512

Post by triceratops »

rayiner wrote: post #509
triceratops wrote: post #506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The US was built with basically just a few kinds of people in charge: farmers, lawyers, businessmen, and military officers. It was already wealthy before there were any Ivy League professors doing anything. The Ivy League wasn't the "Ivy League" back then - just a bunch of fledgling colleges without much of a reputation. America was a different country. Smart, ambitious people went into planting, trading, or soldie…

> One academic's theories led to some failed governments, therefore academics are bad at country-building? No, that’s just the most egregious example. Circling back to my original point: I spend a lot of time thinking about what makes countries rich and how do you turn poor countries into rich ones. Academicians spend tons of time studying psychology, culture, politics can etc. But I can’t think of any of those theor…

> When Lee Kuan Yew, who made Singapore rich in a generation, talks about development, he doesn’t talk about academic theories. He focuses on the culture of the ordinary people.

He (and most national leaders, elected or otherwise) works at too high a level to talk about academic theories in general conversation. You don't think he and the people working in his government studied economics, history, and politics? They just made Singapore prosperous by getting everyone to work harder and study more?

> academics don’t have any special advantage in that regard

Neither do "farmers".

> And the petty bureaucracies and box checking environment of academia selects against many of the other traits required for good leaders.

That's just broad stereotyping. We can do that for any of the professions you think should be in charge. "Military officers are rigid, hawkish, and overly inclined to action". "Businessmen are short-sighted and focus on the bottom line above all" and so on.

> Revolutionary France is a good example of a society structured by “smart people” according to “good ideas.”

Not really.

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#513

Post by [deleted] »

LimaBearz wrote: post #484
naniwaduni wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"since 9/11" is one hell of a cutoff cf. https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/08/31/terrorists-vs-chairs-a...

Just to point out… 9/11 is close to 20 years ago now.. society has marched forward quite a bit since then. While that date as a cutoff point is fairly arbitrary there has been a substantial and alarming rise to extremist right violence I’m the last 10 years or so and that can’t just be swept under a rug

[deleted]

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#514

Post by chroem- »

knownjorbist wrote: post #508
chroem- wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first is a direct excerpt from the linked article, which is a high level summary of the press conference. The second is a reference to this https://youtube.com/watch?v=IwwwRC2xLC0

Okay, she's clearly talking about misinformation as it relates to public health. Do you think it should be up to the individual companies to discern the same dozen or so identifiable sources of anti-vax propaganda that's getting people needlessly killed?

As others have pointed out in this thread, "misinformation" has easily extended to politically inconvenient facts, such as the lab leak theory. The government absolutely does not, and should not, have the authority to censor what it deems to be misinformation. The fact that the government is directly coordinating censorship of a highly political subject absolutely discredits the notion that these are just private companies executing "corporate freedom of speech". It is a flagrant violation of the first ammendment at this point.

Saddam Hussein not having WMDs and the Iraq War being based on false pretenses was considered misinformation under Bush. NSA mass surveillance was considered misinformation under Obama. Climate change was considered misinformation under Trump. You are advocating for a "ministry of truth" to enforce the official government narrative. People need to be allowed to discuss these things, because the US federal government's track record for being a purely truthful, altruistic entity is quite poor.

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#515

Post by [deleted] »

LimaBearz wrote: post #486
throwawaystream wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind providing a source for this "ironclad fact"?

Not OP but a quick google search can get you there, if you’re lazy here’s one going over some stats https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/20... I recently stumbled onto a clip on YT of Tucker Carlson using this term “the radical violent left”. The data is clear.. the right is getting far more violent (and far more violent than this “radical left”), I suspect the media is getting ahead of that narr…

[deleted]

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#516

Post by [deleted] »

LimaBearz wrote: post #486
throwawaystream wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind providing a source for this "ironclad fact"?

Not OP but a quick google search can get you there, if you’re lazy here’s one going over some stats https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/20... I recently stumbled onto a clip on YT of Tucker Carlson using this term “the radical violent left”. The data is clear.. the right is getting far more violent (and far more violent than this “radical left”), I suspect the media is getting ahead of that narr…

[deleted]

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#517

Post by [deleted] »

LimaBearz wrote: post #486
throwawaystream wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind providing a source for this "ironclad fact"?

Not OP but a quick google search can get you there, if you’re lazy here’s one going over some stats https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/20... I recently stumbled onto a clip on YT of Tucker Carlson using this term “the radical violent left”. The data is clear.. the right is getting far more violent (and far more violent than this “radical left”), I suspect the media is getting ahead of that narr…

[deleted]

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#518

Post by pradn »

Jerry2 wrote: post #323

ACLU is still silent about the latest attack on free speech. They still haven't opposed the White House's plan to enforce speech. I've cancelled my monthly donations to them because of it. Please do the same if you give them money.

I have never been comfortable with supporting the ACLU because of their "money is speech" stance. The political system of the US has become increasingly plutocratic, making it hard for popular policies to be enacted and make progress toward important issues like fighting poverty and climate change.

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#519

Post by [deleted] »

LimaBearz wrote: post #486
throwawaystream wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind providing a source for this "ironclad fact"?

Not OP but a quick google search can get you there, if you’re lazy here’s one going over some stats https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/20... I recently stumbled onto a clip on YT of Tucker Carlson using this term “the radical violent left”. The data is clear.. the right is getting far more violent (and far more violent than this “radical left”), I suspect the media is getting ahead of that narr…

[deleted]

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#520

Post by throwawaycanal »

LimaBearz wrote: post #486
throwawaystream wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind providing a source for this "ironclad fact"?

Not OP but a quick google search can get you there, if you’re lazy here’s one going over some stats https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/20... I recently stumbled onto a clip on YT of Tucker Carlson using this term “the radical violent left”. The data is clear.. the right is getting far more violent (and far more violent than this “radical left”), I suspect the media is getting ahead of that narr…

@dang can you explain why the parent and the following comment are getting insta-flagged?

>Not OP but a quick google search can get you there, if you’re lazy here’s one going over some stats

"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."

"Google it" does not count as evidence.

>I recently stumbled onto a clip on YT of Tucker Carlson using this term “the radical violent left”

This is a huge strawman/goalpost shift. No one was talking about "radical violent left" terrorism.

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