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Across the Internet, a Game of Whac-a-Mole Is Underway to Root Out Extremism

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Re: Across the Internet, a Game of Whac-a-Mole Is Underway to Root Out Extremism

#101

Post by wbronitsky »

emodendroket wrote: post #11
waterheater wrote: post #8

Mirriam-Webster defines "extremism" [1] as "advocacy of extreme measures or views : radicalism" By this definition, extremism and radicalism are equivocated. However, I know many people on the "left" presently identify as radicals ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_left ). The article differentiates between the terms "extremism" and "radicalism" by assigning a "political-right" label to "extremists" and a "polit…

I think you have to play pretty fast and loose with the groups involved to come to these conclusions.

This person, the GP, now seems to be actively spreading disinformation.

I caught them claiming a complaint about efficacy in the Pfizer vaccine was about safety, after they put me down to try to make sure I didn’t read the study. I read the study and you can go look at my response[1]. The tell of the troll is that he never comes back to finish arguments....

The fact that HN thinks they have a handle on the disinformation here is laughable. This site was featured in a New Yorker article, does not filter out obvious propaganda, and allows anyone to say anything as long as its cordial. To think they could combat nation state level attacks with two people is ridiculous. This is a soft target.

The only thing we can do is pay attention to what our eyes and ears tell us.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26480280

Re: Across the Internet, a Game of Whac-a-Mole Is Underway to Root Out Extremism

#102

Post by wbronitsky »

waterheater wrote: post #8

Mirriam-Webster defines "extremism" [1] as "advocacy of extreme measures or views : radicalism" By this definition, extremism and radicalism are equivocated. However, I know many people on the "left" presently identify as radicals ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_left ). The article differentiates between the terms "extremism" and "radicalism" by assigning a "political-right" label to "extremists" and a "polit…

This account is actively spreading disinformation. They are spreading FUD about vaccines and now about ANTIFA. They site spurious sources and they are not being properly flagged.

I’m amazed that they think that two moderators could combat nation states. Such hubris.

Re: Across the Internet, a Game of Whac-a-Mole Is Underway to Root Out Extremism

#103

Post by wbronitsky »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #80
AlwaysRock wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah... Anytime a paragraph starts with a dictionary definition it is rarely going to result in a good explanation of a difficult and nuanced topic.

I think the salient point is that there are extremists on both sides but the article only concerns itself with right-wing extremists. In effect, this isn't a campaign against "extremism", it's a campaign to combat right-wing extremism while left-wing extremism continues to proliferate unfettered. The OP characterizes this as a cultural revolution, but I don't think he made a particularly good case for it. Notably, I…

> I would also note how remarkable it was that nearly every business in the hardest-hit areas were quick to hang "This business supports BLM" or "PoC owned business" signs, while their suburban and rural locations felt no such compulsion.

One strains themselves wondering how anyone could possibly know this as a fact. Take a breath and think about this statement for a second and it becomes absurd in the extreme. This is disinformation par excellence; it sounds great if you agree, but cannot possibly be a fact either way. Bravo

It is constantly amazing to me that although we had a white supremacist president in the US, HN commenters always want to stress how “illiberal and anti-human” left wingers are. If I recall correctly, there are about 525k bodies on that president to be accounted for first

Re: Across the Internet, a Game of Whac-a-Mole Is Underway to Root Out Extremism

#104

Post by emodendroket »

rscoots wrote: post #100
emodendroket wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t really find it workable to say that the First Amendment means everyone has to let you use their site to say whatever you want. Again, consider this very site, which is strictly moderated.

You'll have to re-read my comment, that's not at all what I said.

Then I don’t know what you mean.

Re: Across the Internet, a Game of Whac-a-Mole Is Underway to Root Out Extremism

#105

Post by waterheater »

wbronitsky wrote: post #101
emodendroket wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have to play pretty fast and loose with the groups involved to come to these conclusions.

This person, the GP, now seems to be actively spreading disinformation. I caught them claiming a complaint about efficacy in the Pfizer vaccine was about safety, after they put me down to try to make sure I didn’t read the study. I read the study and you can go look at my response[1]. The tell of the troll is that he never comes back to finish arguments.... The fact that HN thinks they have a handle on the disinforma…

>The tell of the troll is that he never comes back to finish arguments....

Really? Perhaps people on HN have lives and dislike engaging with hostile actors on the Internet.

>after they put me down to try to make sure I didn’t read the study

If you think I was putting you down, I sincerely apologize. I simply meant that anyone who understands the science well should read it. Nothing more. The insight of the knowledgeable on contradictory information is most helpful in challenging times.

I am surprised you appear to have engaged in a vendetta based upon a misinterpretation.

Re: Across the Internet, a Game of Whac-a-Mole Is Underway to Root Out Extremism

#106

Post by emodendroket »

wbronitsky wrote: post #101
emodendroket wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have to play pretty fast and loose with the groups involved to come to these conclusions.

This person, the GP, now seems to be actively spreading disinformation. I caught them claiming a complaint about efficacy in the Pfizer vaccine was about safety, after they put me down to try to make sure I didn’t read the study. I read the study and you can go look at my response[1]. The tell of the troll is that he never comes back to finish arguments.... The fact that HN thinks they have a handle on the disinforma…

I think people can have wrongheaded beliefs without state actors being involved, and after the number of such accusations I've received myself I'm pretty skeptical of them.

Re: Across the Internet, a Game of Whac-a-Mole Is Underway to Root Out Extremism

#107

Post by wbronitsky »

waterheater wrote: post #105
wbronitsky wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This person, the GP, now seems to be actively spreading disinformation. I caught them claiming a complaint about efficacy in the Pfizer vaccine was about safety, after they put me down to try to make sure I didn’t read the study. I read the study and you can go look at my response[1]. The tell of the troll is that he never comes back to finish arguments.... The fact that HN thinks they have a handle on the disinforma…

>The tell of the troll is that he never comes back to finish arguments.... Really? Perhaps people on HN have lives and dislike engaging with hostile actors on the Internet. >after they put me down to try to make sure I didn’t read the study If you think I was putting you down, I sincerely apologize. I simply meant that anyone who understands the science well should read it. Nothing more. The insight of the knowledgea…

Yet again you resort to troll tactics.

You have yet to come clean about the obvious disinformation you are spreading, and seek only to redirect the conversation to something interpersonal instead of factual.

Setting the interpersonal aside, How can one claim in good faith that they are representing the truth, when they demonstrably lie about the content of their citations to further their argument and refuse to reconcile with that?

State actor or not, you are using troll tactics to spread disinformation, and it is blatantly obvious. Receipts: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26480280

Re: Across the Internet, a Game of Whac-a-Mole Is Underway to Root Out Extremism

#108

Post by wbronitsky »

emodendroket wrote: post #106
wbronitsky wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This person, the GP, now seems to be actively spreading disinformation. I caught them claiming a complaint about efficacy in the Pfizer vaccine was about safety, after they put me down to try to make sure I didn’t read the study. I read the study and you can go look at my response[1]. The tell of the troll is that he never comes back to finish arguments.... The fact that HN thinks they have a handle on the disinforma…

I think people can have wrongheaded beliefs without state actors being involved, and after the number of such accusations I've received myself I'm pretty skeptical of them.

That’s fair. State actor or not, I feel that I have proved that the account in question is using trolling tactics to spread vaccine disinformation.

Re: Across the Internet, a Game of Whac-a-Mole Is Underway to Root Out Extremism

#109

Post by knowaveragejoe »

newsclues wrote: post #29
emodendroket wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This used to be more or less exactly my attitude but then my mom got really into QAnon nonsense and the whole Capitol raid thing unfolded and I've become a lot more sympathetic to just banning people raving about Chinese Manchurian candidates from social media. Honestly, even when alternative news sources are easily accessible nobody reads them.

My mom got sucked into the RussiaGate hoax, so we should look into shutting down CNN and other propaganda outlets

It was not, in fact, a hoax at all.

10 years ago if you told me people who describe themselves as patriots would be embracing Putin's disinformation campaigns in the US, going so far as to attack the capital to overturn an election, I wouldn't believe you. But here we are.

Re: Across the Internet, a Game of Whac-a-Mole Is Underway to Root Out Extremism

#110

Post by knowaveragejoe »

seneca wrote: post #35
emodendroket wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there's no serious left-wing insurgency anybody is worried about. There are people who like posting guillotine images on Twitter but little real-world impact.

There were left wing rioters burning down buildings all summer and pushing for extreme policies to be instituted in our government. I'm quite worried about that, and the fact that many power centers fell in line to pretend it wasn't happening.

Of course, these efforts have effectively gone nowhere.

I'm more worried about the multitudes of heavily-armed radicals who believe in the election Big Lie or QAnon.

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