It worries me when far right libertarians and the authoritarian left agree. Nothing has meaning anymore.
YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content
431–440 of 1001 posts
Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content
#432People give them absolute control and then wonder why they would use it. Stop watching youtube, there are numerous viable p2p alternatives.
Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content
#433I think we have to ask if this won't have a chilling effect on open discussion by moderate voices. I'm subscribed to the channel of an M.D. on YouTube who discusses COVID-19, vaccines, etc. He is very careful to (repeatedly) point out that he is vaccinated, he has personally vaccinated hundreds of patients, he encourages everyone to speak to their doctor and follow their recommendations, believing that the vaccine is…
> Months ago he was insisting that the people who had contracted COVID-19 and who had antibodies in their system may not need the vaccine. Now, we have a number of studies coming out to support that. But months ago that was "anti-vax" (employing the slanderous use of the term).
If you're claiming something that hasn't been demonstrated through peer-reviewed scientific research, then you're offering your opinion. If you present that opinion as a fact, then that's misinformation. I don't know what form his "insistence" had, but I've seen plenty of similar cases so far, and all of them have been from people pushing their own narratives, instead of informing people responsibly.
If you're pushing a narrative that implies that you shouldn't get vaccinated, then yes, that's "anti-vax".
> It's the stifling of legitimate public debate, the stifling of legitimate voices who find themselves in the minority.
Being in a minority does not absolve one of responsibility. If you're publishing your opinion, or if you're discussing your research before it's been peer-reviewed, you have the responsibility to make that clear, and even to point out that it does not agree with the current scientific consensus (if any exists).
Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content
#434My wife is very vaccine hesitant, and every time they make a move like this to block content or take it down, it only strengthens her position. She thinks they’re taking it down because they don’t want people to know the truth. The only thing worse than bad ideas is the suppression of bad ideas. It’s tragic that we knew this at some point, but are going to have to figure it all back out again the hard way.
The tendency for anti-vaxxers to believe in their delusions more the more they are contradicted with facts is a thorny problem.
However the flow of new misinformation also strengthens their beliefs, and draws in new people to the delusional cause. Overall I think deleting this misinformation channel is still a net positive.
We need some psychologists on the case. Or advertising professionals.
Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content
#435My wife is very vaccine hesitant, and every time they make a move like this to block content or take it down, it only strengthens her position. She thinks they’re taking it down because they don’t want people to know the truth. The only thing worse than bad ideas is the suppression of bad ideas. It’s tragic that we knew this at some point, but are going to have to figure it all back out again the hard way.
> She thinks they’re taking it down because they don’t want people to know the truth. Hell, I always thought anti-vaxxers were looneys and was first in line for the COVID shot when it was available in March... but even I'm starting to be convinced that the anti-vaxxers might have a point because of all this effort to silence them. I'm becoming vaccine... remorseful?
I never once in my life considered an anti-vax position until now. I still think previous vaccines are fine as we have had decades of experience making and studying them, and only at the moment am concerned about the brand new mRNA vaccine, but the result of all of the recent events and all of the censoring really has thrown me for a loop and I actually have started reconsidering what I used to just assumed was true.
I lost all faith in mass media years ago, haven't watched CNN/etc in years, and now I've lost any faith I had in our institutions such as the CDC and FDA. Censoring any opposition and using full on physical coercion, forcing people to do what they say or else they'll take your job away from you, or else you won't be able to provide for your family, ruins any remaining trust I had in them and now I'm questioning everything that I just blindly trusted was true.
I don't know how many years it'll be before I ever trust them again. You may think I'm completely wrong and misled, and that's fine. But the actions these groups are taking are completely undermining themselves, they're completely screwing over their credibility. Not just for this issue, but for every issue into the future, and that is a serious issue. I no longer assume that what the FDA approves is good for use. I no longer assume what the CDC says we should do is what's best for me. The trust is gone. This dystopian situation of removing the voice of anyone who dares question them only further entrenches my doubt.
Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content
#436People don't see what the actual problem here is - perhaps because they don't want to see. What is happening is very much the transformation from an open society to one where freedom of speech is limited and certain other individual rights are stripped away. Perhaps not de jure, but de facto. And sure, one might argue that it's for a good cause (even though it's a complex topic). However, the fact is that as this is…
This trend in combination with the new wave of everything being a subscription really has me worried as a recent college grad who therefore does not own a home or have much in the way of savings. If you don’t own anything and your access to essential items is decided by some megacorp like Google or FB, you bet people will fall in line with the latest recreational outrage real fast. Connected cars with subscription features that show you ads even if you do own them (see the Ford Mach-E), and financial institutions buying up single-family homes to keep as many people as possible renting forever and never gaining equity in anything. The World Economic Forum came out and said it blatantly: “You’ll own nothing, and you’ll be happy.” That’s starting to read more like a command, not a prediction.
Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content
#437At this point I'm not hesitant about the vaccine, but getting it would only validate the heavy-handed approach we're seeing wrt censorship.
Dude read that back to yourself and think about it for just 5 seconds. "Validate" it how exactly. This is just like a child folding his arms and saying "well now I'm not doing it" because somebody asked them to. It's the same attitude that has left hundreds of thousands pointlessly dead, because owning the libs is more important than self-preservation.
The government doesn't own us. Their dictates don't apply to our personal freedom. The lockdowns were illegitimate and unlawful. The entire last 18+ months has been a propaganda campaign. The vaccines don't prevent infection or transmission, therefor, if you're not at serious risk of getting the disease, the prudent medical decision is to not take an experimental medical product.
And if we're going to be locked down until we're at 9X% of vaccinated, then we'll be locked down forever.
Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content
#438A little off topic, but I wish we could stop using this nice-sounding "hesitant" euphemism. Hesitant implies that people are weighing options and open to changing their minds. With the amount of time they have been available and the overabundance of evidence that the COVID vaccines are safe, effective, and that they decrease hospitalizations and death, I find it very hard to believe that anyone is still "on the fence…
If it is an established truth that these vaccines are safe, why still grant these companies immunity from liability if something goes wrong?
Before someone dismisses the question as anti-vaxxer, I have taken the vaccine.
Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content
#439I think we have to ask if this won't have a chilling effect on open discussion by moderate voices. I'm subscribed to the channel of an M.D. on YouTube who discusses COVID-19, vaccines, etc. He is very careful to (repeatedly) point out that he is vaccinated, he has personally vaccinated hundreds of patients, he encourages everyone to speak to their doctor and follow their recommendations, believing that the vaccine is…
What should happen here? Do we not allow YouTube to ban content they don’t want on their platform? What type of content? Just anti vax or anything that’s not illegal? Should YouTube be forced to host racist content, porn etc? Is it just YouTube or any site with user generated content like forums? What about illegal content? Who gets to decide what’s illegal? Is YouTube the law enforcement on YouTube or do we need to…
Do you have an opinion on any of these questions? Or are you just implying that the world is so complicated that no one should make any decisions about anything?
Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content
#440I think we have to ask if this won't have a chilling effect on open discussion by moderate voices. I'm subscribed to the channel of an M.D. on YouTube who discusses COVID-19, vaccines, etc. He is very careful to (repeatedly) point out that he is vaccinated, he has personally vaccinated hundreds of patients, he encourages everyone to speak to their doctor and follow their recommendations, believing that the vaccine is…
> moderate voices Antivaxxers are without exception folks that are harming themselves and the people around them by holding a position that is in every case not well reasoned and in a few cases founded on actual ill thinking (as in mentally ill). Just like actual nazis need to not have a platform, and preventing them from having one hasn't had a stifling effect on society. These people are perpetrating evil with inte…
> These people are perpetrating evil with intent, that makes them qualitatively separate from everyone else.
Yeah, so HN rules of civility go out the window when you start talking like a tinpot little Hitler. "Qualitatively separate", indeed. To this, I say: go fuck yourself.
You're the evil one here. You guys go ahead and enact your dream of putting us on boxcars, we'll see how that works out for you. Just test us, asshole.