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They didn’t ask to go viral

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Re: They didn’t ask to go viral

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know I'm not saying anything new here, but I'm always shocked by just how vicious the Reddit community is, especially from a group who considers themselves highly intelligent (compared to those "other" people). Videos like you describe are there every time I visit, along with fight videos and comments making up a back story as to what the victim did to deserve it, etc. Sometimes I wonder why things like vigilanteis…

Groups which consider themselves as very intellectual can commit the worst atrocities. Just look at communists.

It has little to do with education or intellect.

The disease of righteousness is available to all.

Being able to reflect and examine one’s own thoughts and beliefs is harder than fitting in and being righteous.

Re: They didn’t ask to go viral

#62
post #59
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you have no expectation of privacy when browsing the internet Uh, yes I do. And a very reasonable one!

Why? When you’re browsing the internet, you’re connecting to servers owned by others and agreeing to their terms of service. You’re also using a service provider to provide your internet service, which is, again, privately owned. From where to you derive your expectation of privacy?

And when I'm showering in my apartment, I'm on privately owned property agreeing to my rental contract. That doesn't give my landlord a moral right to place a camera in the shower and post the photos online. Privacy in private is a right.

Re: They didn’t ask to go viral

#63
> In reality we already practice social media consent; it is not unusual to ask a friend if they’re alright with having a picture posted

Is this common practice? The author keeps insisting it is. I don’t think it is, I think the author is just a member of a particularly inclined friend group. It would be a nice consideration but I can honestly say I have never asked nor been asked.

I’ve certainly asked after the fact to have particularly unflattering pictures I’ve been tagged in taken down and friends have always apologetically complied.

I don’t generally post many pictures of people outside my direct family, and can only think of one occasion where my sister had me take a photo down.

Re: They didn’t ask to go viral

#64

Social media truly is the opioid of today's society. While browsing /r/all, I ran across a post from a very popular sub which had an airport worker stripping in the airport, flailing on the floor, etc. No one knows why, could have been drugs, could have been a mental defect. Yet many of the thousands of responses were laughing because they could see the man's flaccid penis. While we don't know what caused the man to…

I know I'm not saying anything new here, but I'm always shocked by just how vicious the Reddit community is, especially from a group who considers themselves highly intelligent (compared to those "other" people). Videos like you describe are there every time I visit, along with fight videos and comments making up a back story as to what the victim did to deserve it, etc. Sometimes I wonder why things like vigilanteis…

Here's the ironic part: Where are all the actually smart people?

If the person is actually smart in a field, they probably have jobs in that field. A job that is often extremely mentally or physically involved, leaving little time for revisiting that job over recreational periods (no time to hang out arguing with strangers, life's tough enough). There might also be NDAs involved, or concerns from higher-ups that the user might post anything that might embarrass the company, etc. It is also completely common for the smartest people in a field to have not an inkling on how to set up a website or join social media (because they are generally... on the older side).

The result is that Reddit, and social media, are mostly people who have studied those fields and didn't get in. The results are self-evident. I like to think of the uncle from Napoleon Dynamite who is constantly bragging to everyone about how he could have been an excellent NFL player.

Edit: It is also for this reason that I suspect that StackOverflow and Reddit moderators do it for what some have called “productivity porn.” “Look at me - I’m such a great person in this field that I even get to moderate the forums!” Even though they often probably couldn’t hold a midlevel job.

Re: They didn’t ask to go viral

#65
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Part of the power of social media, is that powerful people acting badly in public finally might face some public backlash or justice. Who are the powerful people in your opinion? Does it depend on their skin color? Their gender? Their perceived wealth? Their looks? Try hard enough, you can find any kind of hook that will justify public shaming because this person has privilege and so it isn't punching down. Of cour…

> Who are the powerful people in your opinion? Does it depend on their skin color? Their gender? Their perceived wealth? Their looks? One use of recording is if you hire someone to do a job and they don’t do it - a recording can be used as evidence in court Like of you hire a police officer to enforce traffic laws and they choke someone on the sidewalk

The video evidence clearly shows the officer detaining the pedestrian to prevent them from wandering out into traffic.

Cop 100% doing his job. With Qualified Immunity when that ped dies.

Re: They didn’t ask to go viral

#66

Social media truly is the opioid of today's society. While browsing /r/all, I ran across a post from a very popular sub which had an airport worker stripping in the airport, flailing on the floor, etc. No one knows why, could have been drugs, could have been a mental defect. Yet many of the thousands of responses were laughing because they could see the man's flaccid penis. While we don't know what caused the man to…

Reddit is a cesspool. There are people actively using it for radicalization. It takes them far too long to shut down subreddits dedicated to far-right eugenicist delusions, if they do so at all.

Re: They didn’t ask to go viral

#67
post #62
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? When you’re browsing the internet, you’re connecting to servers owned by others and agreeing to their terms of service. You’re also using a service provider to provide your internet service, which is, again, privately owned. From where to you derive your expectation of privacy?

And when I'm showering in my apartment, I'm on privately owned property agreeing to my rental contract. That doesn't give my landlord a moral right to place a camera in the shower and post the photos online. Privacy in private is a right.

I hate to break it to you, but a sever in Google’s data center is not a private place. And if you shower in a public shower? For instance at the gym or pool?

I believe you’re beginning to see that you have certain expectations of privacy in public too.

Re: They didn’t ask to go viral

#68

Social media truly is the opioid of today's society. While browsing /r/all, I ran across a post from a very popular sub which had an airport worker stripping in the airport, flailing on the floor, etc. No one knows why, could have been drugs, could have been a mental defect. Yet many of the thousands of responses were laughing because they could see the man's flaccid penis. While we don't know what caused the man to…

I know I'm not saying anything new here, but I'm always shocked by just how vicious the Reddit community is, especially from a group who considers themselves highly intelligent (compared to those "other" people). Videos like you describe are there every time I visit, along with fight videos and comments making up a back story as to what the victim did to deserve it, etc. Sometimes I wonder why things like vigilanteis…

It shouldn't surprise you that online communities are a reflection of human nature. The behaviors we see are the effects of groupthink taken to its extreme. Even in "civilized" forums such as this one, you'll notice people conforming with the group mentality, and deleting their posts if they get downvoted. When there is little to no moderation, and viciousness is acceptable within the group, this behavior will spiral out of control, as individuals try to one-up each other, leading to vigilantism, manufactured outrage, cancel culture, racism, and all sort of abhorrent behavior an individual wouldn't do in isolation. We all seek validation in our ideas, after all.

All of this still exists offline, BTW. This is how riots happen. What the internet does is make it more possible by connecting more people than we traditionally could communicate with, and providing a safe space for any kind of discussion to happen. It's a tool our tribal monkey brains aren't ready for.

Re: They didn’t ask to go viral

#69
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They could have been the focus of the photo and I still think it would have been morally acceptable to post it. No. No it wouldn't have been. You have absolutely zero need to post any picture online. It is a choice; a choice to further humliate the individual, possibly even causing them greater distress. People who post pictures with justification like yours have caused those who are the target of the cruelty to co…

> No it wouldn't have been. What if I catch an off duty cop on camera assaulting a person of color? Is it immoral to post that online? Where do you draw the line about which public acts should be moral to show in public?

You've moved the goal posts from embarrassing behavior (smoking) to an illegal act.

Try again.

Re: They didn’t ask to go viral

#70
The week Facebook released a feature that allowed people to be tagged in photos by other people is when I deleted my account. 2008 or so? The writing was on the wall by that point: in these platforms, your identity is as much controlled by other people as by yourself. Not good, very bad, get me out of here.
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