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YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

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Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#481

Post by ryanobjc »

thepasswordis wrote: post #448

The mask thing is actually frustrating to me in the opposite direction. The theory/intent behind cloth masks is that they might capture respiratory droplets, which might decrease mixing in a congregate setting. The cost is low, the risk is low, and the benefit (if it works) would be high. It's a no brainer: wear a mask if you are in a congregate setting until we have better data. But that isn't what MANY lay-people u…

Most of the people spouting off about "dont trust the experts" seemingly their process is to watch whatever youtube videos that confirm their preset opinion and then slam dunk their confirmation bias as if they are world class researchers.

As to the validity of masking and social distancing: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/03/02/children-fl... "The flu killed nearly 200 children last season. This time, 1 has died."

The notion that masks "might capture [exhaled] droplets" has a ton of circumstantial evidence behind it, and also as you note is a low cost low risk intervention. Which is why for those who are willing to wear masks, the use or lack of use of masks becomes a kind of proxy answer to the question "sooo... do you care about other people?" because as you note, they protect other people primarily.

Also, to categorize 'masks protect the wearer' as "misinformation", is a bit of a category stretch I think. "Vaccines are more harmful than covid" is misinformation, whereas "masks reduce the risk of spreading and catching covid" is.... not really in the same category as the former statement.

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#482

Post by treeman79 »

rat87 wrote: post #394
treeman79 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lincoln was not even on the ballet In several states. That lead to a civil war.s We are reaching/past the point where open speech is no longer allowed. That makes next steps scary.

YouTube doing the right thing and banning some stupid misinformation is nowhere near civil war.

Misinformation is the excuse. This is banning a political party on whatever reason they think they can get away with.

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#483

Post by selimthegrim »

mimixco wrote: post #92
dantheman wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have no right to use someone else's printing press. The government can easily create their own video hosting platform. Just like the NYTimes doesn't need to allow any politician to submit an oped.

We've lost the essence of journalism. Instead of a venue where multiple options are presented for review by the reader (along with editorial comment, of course), we now have platforms which are nothing but editorial. Not only individual people but individual comments are called out for censorship. This is not how news reporting was done in the past. It's sad because today, there isn't a single website where a curious…

What do you think journalism was like in Zenger's time?

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#484

Post by __blockcipher__ »

newacct583 wrote: post #299
__blockcipher__ wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are actively spreading disinformation. SARS-2 ("covid") will never be extinct. It is completely infeasible to eradicate a highly infectious zoonotic respiratory virus w/ abundant animal reservoirs. > but cloth masks work very well for reducing the likelihood that a covid-positive person will transmit the virus You cannot possibly honestly make this statement in good faith, considering that there has only ever bee…

> You are actively spreading disinformation. SARS-2 ("covid") will never be extinct. Sigh. THIS seems to be a deliberate misreading too. Stopping the pandemic doesn't require eradicating the disease. Malaria remains endemic and largely unvaccinated, but controlled. And cloth masks are a vitally important tool in making that happen. Claiming otherwise by arguing against a strawman is... yeah, disinformation. OH MY GOD…

> Stopping the pandemic doesn't require eradicating the disease. Malaria remains endemic and largely unvaccinated, but controlled.

I'm literally responding to a comment from somebody who is advocating for eradication. That's why I pointed out that eradication is not feasible. I am well aware of the whole mitigation vs containment vs eradication distinction, and I maintain, personally, that focused protection is and was always the correct strategy to follow.

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#485

Post by omgitsabird »

nomel wrote: post #452
mbesto wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tech companies feeling competent to dictate truth is scary. What's scarier, the fact that tech companies feel competent to dictate truth or the fact that we let them?

I find it terrifying that there's a large portion of the population that encourages and wants them to do this.

These companies are maintaining systems that are analogous to message boards.

Why not just view this as moderation?

This viewpoint makes it a lot less sinister, in my opinion.

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#486

Post by lupire »

roenxi wrote: post #188
ryandrake wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The phrases "doesn't work" and "doesn't prevent" have become staples of the COVID disinformation toolkit. Anything that is not exactly 100% effective transforms into "doesn't work" in the narrative. Educated experts will never say something is 100% effective, so this is always an easy way for detractors to "prove" that the experts agree XYZ doesn't work. EDIT: Other examples: Some people have gotten pregnant while on…

I'm not sure this tack is sufficient to defend YouTube's policy. This is quite close to arguing that a sitting senator shouldn't have opinions on what government policy is meant to be achieving. Rand Paul is (1) elected (2) holds a medical license. YouTube is suspending him because (1) he is disagreeing with government policy and (2) they don't like his medical opinion. I think it is fair to say you are defending (1)…

Rand Paul was hired of the people of Kentucky. He had no qualifications to public discourse outside of Kentucky and DC.

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#487

Post by sebastianconcpt »

IIAOPSW wrote: post #229
corndoge wrote: post #3

> YouTube indicated that examples of the offending content in the video included the line: “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work. They don’t prevent infection.” > It also included the quote: “Trying to shape human behavior isn’t the same as following the actual science which tells us that cloth masks don’t work.” Regardless of what you think about YouTube's misinformation policy, I don't think this i…

It is misinformation. Masks (cloth or otherwise) were meant to reduce infectiousness, not completely prevent the possibility of infection. Masks (cloth or otherwise) do in fact reduce infectiousness. The misinformation is the implication that masks are pointless because you can still get infected. The point of masks is to get the probability of spreading it down by some multiple, not to be a personal not-my-problem-a…

That's the wrong discussion to have. What's unacceptable is that a platform in a free speech country edits speech to conform to an authority it doesn't have.

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#488

Post by FireBeyond »

nickthemagicman wrote: post #319
FireBeyond wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Medical Doctor certified in his field (ophthalmology, a little different to epidemiology) by the licensing body HE created, because the actual licensing body for ophthalmologists would not certify him because he would not (and according to some, could not) maintain the required standards/knowledge. Indeed, his own licensing body (which to be clear has not been accepted by any organizations) utilizes a certifying ex…

I don't even know what you're talking about. A person with an associate's degree in biology from a community college has more knowledge of the biological sciences than you, the grandparent poster, and most people on the internet. Yet you all are claiming equal authority on the subject as a person who spent eight years in medical school, whatever specialty he chose. > Oh, he was also the first member of Senator to tes…

> A person with an associate's degree in biology from a community college has more knowledge of the biological sciences than you, the grandparent poster, and most people on the internet.

My Master's degree in Biomedical Science would probably beg to differ with you, but anyway.

I don't claim equal KNOWLEDGE to a physician. Let's be clear on that. And given that this is my first post on this article. What's being stated here is not that Paul is necessarily "factually incorrect", it's that he is, to his own benefit, spinning and "refactoring" studies to imply they showed results that they didn't. And given, according to you, that he has this knowledge, he should be aware of concepts like reducing transmissability, or that a study that talks about the ability of a virus to live ON or IN the material of a mask says very little about said mask's ability to mitigate infection from person A to person B or vice versa.

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#489

Post by llcoolv »

robbrown451 wrote: post #409
suyash wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree, YouTube is in the wrong here. They are no arbitrator of truth or facts, leave that to the courts and allow 'real free speech' in online platforms.

Is there any "real free speech" that you think YouTube should be allowed to block? People advocating for shooting the president? People describing how to make a nuclear bomb? People advocating for killing cops? People sharing people's social security numbers? People explaining the best suicide methods? People trying to organize terrorist attacks? People threatening violence on other people? Anything?

Uhm, each of those things is on Twitter, however it is tolerated selectively on an ad-hominem basis. Maybe except for the nuke construction tutorial, but it would be useless anyway.

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#490

Post by jimmygrapes »

dathinab wrote: post #363
merpnderp wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying cloth masks are effective in the context of (K)N95 masks is even worse misinformation. Even the CDC's website on masks points out you should really be using (K)N95's, and that cloth masks are completely ineffective when wet, which they get after 15 minutes or so of breathing through them. The science on cloth masks says they work, but only shortly and just barely. Rand Paul is closer to the truth by saying the…

> you should really be using (K)N95's Better masks are obviously better. > completely ineffective when wet, As far as I know this is not correct. I remember to have read a study showing quite well that even a wet cloth mask(1) still contains the spread of aerosols surprisingly well. Sure it's far worse then a medical mask of any kinda but still a surprisingly high improvement compared to the no-mask scenario. > which…

If you're referring to the material used in most goiter style masks, then I can vouch for it doing nothing more than the aerator filter on your kitchen sink. Yet this is accepted by "science following" industries as an effective mask against an aeresol-transmitted disease. I get the "better than nothing" argument but forgive me for not feeling comfortable with the "any mask is fine" messaging. Either recommend/advertise/mandate masks that are tested to prevent spread of infection and fit tested when appropriate, or drop it.
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