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Facebook’s top execs ‘make tobacco executives look like Mr. Rogers’

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Re: Facebook’s top execs ‘make tobacco executives look like Mr. Rogers’

#21

Post by smt88 »

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #9

Clickbait. I think the actual story was already posted a few days back. I'm pretty sure tabbaco has killed a few more people than Facebook, so this is a ridiculous comparison. Facebook does a lot for which it should be criticized, but it feels like we're just beating on a dead horse. It's also hilarious that someone would be so critical of Facebook all while including their share button in the same article. Apparentl…

Tobacco has killed more people so far. Facebook accepted a lot of money to help Trump win, so if he were to start a war or something, I think the blood would also be on Facebook's hands. Climate change is a whole other issue with him, though less direct.

Also, I understand the headline to be a comparison of tactics, not of harm.

And as for the share button, writers don't make their site's templates.

Re: Facebook’s top execs ‘make tobacco executives look like Mr. Rogers’

#22

Post by perseusprime11 »

How much of these narrative/stories are coming from a hidden agenda of newspaper companies that are struggling to survive from the onslaught of aggregation platforms like Facebook and Google. There seems to be a sudden spike in these stories. Got to be coming/funding from somewhere. Anybody agree/disagree?

Re: Facebook’s top execs ‘make tobacco executives look like Mr. Rogers’

#23

Post by dontreact »

prolikewh0a wrote: post #16
joezydeco wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about genocide? Would that work for you? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebo...

How about electing a fascist dictator that wants to genocide the left in his country, and deforest the rainforest by opening it to western companies? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/18/brazil-jair-bo...

How much of this is attributable to Facebook?

Also yes, Genocide is terrible. But the amount of people that cigarettes kill every year is orders of magnitudes more than this.

That’s the thing: tobacco execs are still around! Making a product that literally kills millions of people every year. The only reason more outrage isn’t targeted at them is I think we believe that with enough backlash, we can change the situation with Facebook whereas cigarettes seem unstoppable.

Re: Facebook’s top execs ‘make tobacco executives look like Mr. Rogers’

#24

Post by StreamBright »

dontreact wrote: post #14

I think this makes light of the fact that lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world. Every year millions of people die. Millions. And this is just one way cigarettes have negative impact. I’ve heard doctors say that we would need far fewer hospitals in the U.S if it wasn’t for all the negative effects of smoking.

Implying lung cancer can happen because of smoking. In fact air pollution and a bunch of other things cause lung cancer too.

Re: Facebook’s top execs ‘make tobacco executives look like Mr. Rogers’

#25

Post by convolvatron »

_iyig wrote: post #11
fatjokes wrote: post #8

Are you f-ing kidding me? Until 90%+ of FB users start dropping dead because of lung cancer then that statement is complete garbage. EDIT: a lot of people are taking my statement as meaning not to criticize Facebook. That is not it at all! It just means not to lose perspective. At least I still consider tobacco to be far worse, directly causing ~7M deaths annually with no visible benefit. EDIT 2: Genuine question: ha…

I see what you're saying, but it's also true that cigarettes didn't fundamentally weaken the structure of democratic societies. The long-term consequences of that (heck, even short-term) could be much more severe.

'democracy' was just not internally robust enough to deal with the lowered barrier to dissemination.

since we've already conceded that votes can be simply bought through advertising, the whole thing was already looking pretty sketchy.

its kind of pointless to rail at the parasites feeding off the open wounds.

Re: Facebook’s top execs ‘make tobacco executives look like Mr. Rogers’

#26

Post by dontreact »

perseusprime11 wrote: post #22

How much of these narrative/stories are coming from a hidden agenda of newspaper companies that are struggling to survive from the onslaught of aggregation platforms like Facebook and Google. There seems to be a sudden spike in these stories. Got to be coming/funding from somewhere. Anybody agree/disagree?

I agree with this.

At the same time these large platforms have played a huge factor in the death of many local newspapers. Local journalism is pretty much no longer a viable career. And so no one is reporting on the actions of most state legislatures which is a big problem. The platforms have not really stepped in to fill this void. In the long term journalism as a whole may be at risk, leaving even larger and more important voids.

Re: Facebook’s top execs ‘make tobacco executives look like Mr. Rogers’

#27

Post by austenallred »

dontreact wrote: post #14

I think this makes light of the fact that lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world. Every year millions of people die. Millions. And this is just one way cigarettes have negative impact. I’ve heard doctors say that we would need far fewer hospitals in the U.S if it wasn’t for all the negative effects of smoking.

It’s an absurd comparison by any measure

Re: Facebook’s top execs ‘make tobacco executives look like Mr. Rogers’

#28

Post by Puer »

StreamBright wrote: post #24
dontreact wrote: post #14

I think this makes light of the fact that lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world. Every year millions of people die. Millions. And this is just one way cigarettes have negative impact. I’ve heard doctors say that we would need far fewer hospitals in the U.S if it wasn’t for all the negative effects of smoking.

Implying lung cancer can happen because of smoking. In fact air pollution and a bunch of other things cause lung cancer too.

> Implying lung cancer can happen because of smoking. In fact air pollution and a bunch of other things cause lung cancer too.

This is one of the most disingenuous comments I've ever read on HN.

Re: Facebook’s top execs ‘make tobacco executives look like Mr. Rogers’

#29

Post by DubiousPusher »

dontreact wrote: post #20
_iyig wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see what you're saying, but it's also true that cigarettes didn't fundamentally weaken the structure of democratic societies. The long-term consequences of that (heck, even short-term) could be much more severe.

This is one thing I don’t get about this narrative. At this point how do we know how permanent what you’re talking about is? And how much is due to Facebook vs. just generally the unexpected terrible combination of it becoming very easy to distribute information + the fact that humans seek out information that tells them what they want to believe. I’m not saying we shouldn’t criticize Facebook, or that they shouldn’t…

Couldn't agree more. I think Facebook is kind of crappy. But there is basically zero scientific evidence that Facebook is destroying democracies. That's a media narrative at this point. There's a bunch of anecdotal evidence that matches up with a particular view point of the current political landscape. It confirms how people are feeling and therefore is accepted as true. Nevermind that it would be virtually impossible to actual tease out how much misinformation and social division to lay at the feet of Facebook. Nevermind that democratic states throughout history have radicalized, polarized and disinformed themselves without the help of Facebook or even the internet for that matter.

Re: Facebook’s top execs ‘make tobacco executives look like Mr. Rogers’

#30

Post by xfitm3 »

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #9

Clickbait. I think the actual story was already posted a few days back. I'm pretty sure tabbaco has killed a few more people than Facebook, so this is a ridiculous comparison. Facebook does a lot for which it should be criticized, but it feels like we're just beating on a dead horse. It's also hilarious that someone would be so critical of Facebook all while including their share button in the same article. Apparentl…

> I'm pretty sure tabbaco has killed a few more people than Facebook, so this is a ridiculous comparison.

There are worse outcomes than death.

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