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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

#111

Post by knowaveragejoe »

I am (again) saddened to see how much of HN appears to be engrossed in right-wing grifterism.

The GOP is literally playing with the fire of stochastic & headless terrorism, driven by a sophisticated & well-documented misinformation campaign that has convinced many millions of people that the election was stolen and that donald trump(of all people) is anointed by god to root out a global satanic, pedophilistic cabal that is responsible for all of the world's woes. A lot of these people think the world is ending and it's now or never.

These same people showed up at the nation's capital with every intention of taking hostages & holding show trials.

But you know what the real problem is? Groups of young, ineffectual leftists who don't even show up to vote let alone participate in government.

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

#112

Post by viklove »

knowaveragejoe wrote: post #109
newsclues wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's beautiful how we reached the core conundrum so quickly in this HN comment thread. If we're going to start "rooting out extremists" and deplatforming them en-masse, who gets to decide what counts as extremism?

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

#113

Post by emodendroket »

viklove wrote: post #112
knowaveragejoe wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's beautiful how we reached the core conundrum so quickly in this HN comment thread. If we're going to start "rooting out extremists" and deplatforming them en-masse, who gets to decide what counts as extremism?

In practice, this is exactly the same problem as every other moderated forum in history, right? Who decides what's trolling or flaming?

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

#114

Post by emodendroket »

wbronitsky wrote: post #108
emodendroket wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's not really incompatible with him just sincerely believing what he's saying. I'm not saying he's right because I think what he's writing is nonsense, but I doubt there's a master plan here.

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

#115

Post by mlthoughts2018 »

fatsdomino001 wrote: post #84
readflaggedcomm wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a right-wing dog whistle: https://www.salon.com/2014/01/20/how_conservatives_hijacked_...

tbh anti-racism sounds like a left-wing dog whistle to racists on their end of the extreme.

Wow, looking at this thread, you appear to either be just a troll stirring up racism arguments, or else you are yourself a sickeningly extreme racist. It is just bonkers crazy reading some of your comments on a usually civil platform like Hacker News.

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

#116

Post by [deleted] »

mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #115
fatsdomino001 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

tbh anti-racism sounds like a left-wing dog whistle to racists on their end of the extreme.

Wow, looking at this thread, you appear to either be just a troll stirring up racism arguments, or else you are yourself a sickeningly extreme racist. It is just bonkers crazy reading some of your comments on a usually civil platform like Hacker News.

[deleted]

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

#117

Post by TMWNN »

knowaveragejoe wrote: post #111

I am (again) saddened to see how much of HN appears to be engrossed in right-wing grifterism. The GOP is literally playing with the fire of stochastic & headless terrorism, driven by a sophisticated & well-documented misinformation campaign that has convinced many millions of people that the election was stolen and that donald trump(of all people) is anointed by god to root out a global satanic, pedophilistic cabal t…

>These same people showed up at the nation's capital with every intention of taking hostages & holding show trials.

Is that the current description? What happened to "attempted coup"? Oh wait, maybe five armed people out of 150 who entered the Capitol != coup attempt by any level of common sense, so I guess now the above is the description du jour. Never mind the preposterousness of such a group also "taking hostages & holding show trials". Perhaps in another few months the MSM consensus will finally get to what was and is obvious to anyone who isn't histrionic: 150 idiots (the vast majority unarmed) who illegally trespassed into a government building. They can and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law ... As far as "illegal trespass into a government building" can go, at least.

(And no, the Capitol police officer who died wasn't "killed by a fire extinguisher" wielded by said idiots. He died at home from unknown causes and apparently wasn't assaulted by anyone https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/02/politics/brian-sicknick-charg... .)

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

#118

Post by viklove »

emodendroket wrote: post #113
viklove wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's beautiful how we reached the core conundrum so quickly in this HN comment thread. If we're going to start "rooting out extremists" and deplatforming them en-masse, who gets to decide what counts as extremism?

In practice, this is exactly the same problem as every other moderated forum in history, right? Who decides what's trolling or flaming?

Not the same problem. Twitter has a lot more power than, say, GameFAQs had back in the day.
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