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Kanye West is buying Parler

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Re: Kanye West is buying Parler

#31
Kanye has burnt a lot of bridges, but he still enjoys a healthy portion of popularity. A very different form of popularity to that of both Trump and Musk too.

Musk and Trump's audiences, I'll admit to guessing about this, are passionate for sure, but:

- In Trump's case, tech literacy is low, the average age is relatively high, and disposable time they have, is probably low

- Musk's audience is undoubtedly tech literate, but I would guess that the age demographic is similar to Trump's, and would further guess their disposable time is similar, if not lower (we nerds barely have time for HN!)

Kanye's audience though... They're young, and they already live online. I can't imagine it overtaking Twitter at any point in the future, but I can definitely imagine the venture gaining more traction than Trump's attempt. And that will encourage other similarly minded business people to support his venture.

Re: Kanye West is buying Parler

#32
post #11

Musk and everyone else is right that we do need a platform with free speech. The only problem is that all those free speech advocates are actually NIMBY's when it comes to free speech. I have been following self proclaimed free speech absolutists(because I too, believe in free speech but don't believe it exists) and they are totally not the kind of people that say "I hate what you say but I will die defending your ri…

But Musk doesn't want a platform for "free speech" - he wants a platform where guys like him can do or say what they like without repercussions, but where he can crack down on anyone he doesn't like.

Like it or not Twitter is about as good a compromise as you're going to get. The "free speech" places like Truth Social and Gab will happily boot you off if they don't like you. Twitter have a TOS where they are very forgiving - for the most part issuing suspensions for violations and allowing you to delete TOS-breaking tweets rather than banning you. The line for Twitter seems to be when there is actual real-world harm that can be directly attributed to your actions on the platform. So if you're getting banned from Twitter you need to have fucked up big time

Re: Kanye West is buying Parler

#33
post #15

Given that Parler is primarily associated with alt-right users, this purchase is quite amusing. Yet it underlines how the right to speak freely is under threat online and I am not sure if Billionaires further centralizing access is the right way forward.

Why is that amusing? It makes sense that the "more free" platforms tend to attract people from the right because highly moderated platforms tend to censor right wing discussion more than left wing discussion. More extreme people are kicked off each platform successively until they end up places like 4chan. The opposite would be true if the mainstream advocated right wing politics, forcing left wing people onto the fr…

I know my left wing friends would claim the media still is right wing and truly left wing ideas are disallowed. It may be that the left wing was censored and vilified for so long that it ceased existing in the US.

Re: Kanye West is buying Parler

#34
post #11

Musk and everyone else is right that we do need a platform with free speech. The only problem is that all those free speech advocates are actually NIMBY's when it comes to free speech. I have been following self proclaimed free speech absolutists(because I too, believe in free speech but don't believe it exists) and they are totally not the kind of people that say "I hate what you say but I will die defending your ri…

Why do we need an absolute free speech platform? What good does it do?

> The only somewhat free place I've seen is 4Chan but it contains so much toxicity, that's its barely bearable.

Sounds like a hint to me. There are more free speech sites, e.g. saidit.net. I would wholeheartedly recommend staying away from it: it's a cesspool, like the other reddit wannabes. Voat also comes to mind. Freedom of speech on such sites only serves to say the worst of the worst, and that will predictably include escalating aggression towards other users.

Re: Kanye West is buying Parler

#35
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that amusing? It makes sense that the "more free" platforms tend to attract people from the right because highly moderated platforms tend to censor right wing discussion more than left wing discussion. More extreme people are kicked off each platform successively until they end up places like 4chan. The opposite would be true if the mainstream advocated right wing politics, forcing left wing people onto the fr…

I know my left wing friends would claim the media still is right wing and truly left wing ideas are disallowed. It may be that the left wing was censored and vilified for so long that it ceased existing in the US.

What kind of ideas? I guess if you go far enough left then everything is to your right.

Re: Kanye West is buying Parler

#36

I mean you can say “men are trash”, “white people are trash” and so on, but at the same time you are not allowed to say anything against jewish people or other people? Isn’t it kinda hypocritical? Maybe we should not allow toxic behavior at all and have a civil discourse about someone is feeling towards some group of people to allow him to change his mind? Personal attacks and hatred will not do any good this will on…

On one hand, there should ideally be no discrimination. So, hate speech directed even at white males should be disallowed.

On the other hand, society resolved through politics (such as Affirmative Action) that the compound interest and lasting synergistic effects of historical discrimination should be compensated for somewhat. The only way to do that is through more discrimination (i.e. relatively penalizing the least historically discriminated-against people).

I suspect this selective enforcement of the rules is one kind of such relative penalization.

What I don't understand is why do private companies take it upon themselves to do this. Is it genuine stakeholder concern (in conflict with profits)? ESG criteria giving them access to cheaper funding or tax breaks? Plain marketing? Virtue signalling?

Re: Kanye West is buying Parler

#37
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And has Kanye already asked for statistics on the number of bots? I mean, it appears as if he's trying to do an Elon.

This looks more like pulling a 'Trump' with Truth Social, since they both got 'yeeted' from twitter and other platforms.

But he’s still on Twitter?

Re: Kanye West is buying Parler

#39
post #11

Musk and everyone else is right that we do need a platform with free speech. The only problem is that all those free speech advocates are actually NIMBY's when it comes to free speech. I have been following self proclaimed free speech absolutists(because I too, believe in free speech but don't believe it exists) and they are totally not the kind of people that say "I hate what you say but I will die defending your ri…

> The only somewhat free place I've seen is 4Chan but it contains so much toxicity, that's its barely bearable.

Almost as if allowing absolute free speech has consequences, almost as if there was a reason absolute free speech isn't a thing anywhere in the world... we might be onto something

Re: Kanye West is buying Parler

#40

Quoted post unavailable.

Many people can be high achieving and functional despite having mental health issues and pushback from people like you. Kanye has made decisions his whole life. Maybe some were bad but he has made it through and succeeded to a high degree.

Except Brittney.
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