Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Conspiracy content drives anti-establishment sentiment on TikTok, YouTube

news.umich.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 60 posts

Re: Conspiracy content drives anti-establishment sentiment on TikTok, YouTube

#31

Post by techblueberry »

mastazi wrote: post #17

IMHO - distrust in the establishment is not the cause, but a side effect of the real cause. I used to be a journalist before my career in tech. In my opinion, the real culprit is that news outlets now have the wrong incentives. When people still used to buy printed newspapers, you had to pay for your news so you better get well researched articles for your hard earned money. [1] With the rise of internet news, that i…

It’s kind of interesting that this occurs that at the same time tech leaders are basically telling us, we don’t need institutions, look we have ai instead of universities, tech will solve all of your problems. I don’t actually think there’s a conspiracy here, but like, instead of journalists raising the standards of tech, tech lowered the standards of journalists, and made us all sensationalist microbloggers.

And yet I wonder with the acceptance of tech and the downfall of institutions… isn’t one of the things people are nostalgic for or made the past so great was basically institutions?

Re: Conspiracy content drives anti-establishment sentiment on TikTok, YouTube

#32

Post by JumpCrisscross »

brikym wrote: post #25
l33tbro wrote: post #7

All 5g gay frogs aside, this a power problem and not really a people problem. How many establishment institutions are left that citizens would wish to enthusiastically uphold? We have come to almost expect corruption and these days. This isn't a justification for irrational conspiracy theory (which are generally harmless, yet occasionally highly catastrophic). It's that the establishment whack-em-all approach is not…

The wackiest conspiracy theories are probably the ones most promoted by the establishment since they taint all the plausible theories.

> wackiest conspiracy theories are probably the ones most promoted by the establishment

Not really. They’re wacky because being believed by the establishment, they have consequences. I’m not bothered by flat Earthers and vaccine deniers. I am bothered when they’re in power, because now their beliefs have influence.

Re: Conspiracy content drives anti-establishment sentiment on TikTok, YouTube

#34

Post by [deleted] »

luxuryballs wrote: post #29

I think there’s been this sudden realization that the media can’t be trusted (for good reason) but people have been so long trusting the news that now they can’t accept the true reality which is NOT KNOWING THINGS and so they go to the internet to fulfill the addiction to a false feeling of knowing what’s going on and think “this must be true instead” but really we all need to accept that we just can’t know things to…

[deleted]

Re: Conspiracy content drives anti-establishment sentiment on TikTok, YouTube

#36

Post by markus_zhang »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #28
markus_zhang wrote: post #14

People don’t trust the establishment because it doesn’t take care of them. Trump is simply a symptom, whether you agree with him or not. If Democracy is simply Oligarchy with voting as a decoration and sometime even that was gamed, then to the hell with this democracy.

This is the Hillbilly Elegy hypothesis. I used to buy it. I’m now less convinced. There is a hateful streak in America driven, in part, by reduced attention spans, literacy and ad-powered algorithms. When those folks get better off, they don’t become less hateful. (I’d love to see evidence to the contrary.) > If Democracy is simply Oligarchy with voting as a decoration and sometime even that was gamed, then to the he…

I guess it depends on who the Monarchy is. It was like asking, do you really think you will be treated better under Augustus or the Senate? I bet back then a lot of people would want the Monarchy — after all Augustus won and the Roman Empire was born.

In general we consider democracy > monarchy because good monarchies are rare and far between, so democracy is the least bad option.

And no, I don’t think Trump could be Augustus. Augustus and Caesar beat their enemies and cut them down like chicken. We are more civilized now, but I don’t think Trump is willing and can do enough sweeping. It is only by sweeping away the old aristocratic that the new ones can building a new Empire.

Re: Conspiracy content drives anti-establishment sentiment on TikTok, YouTube

#37

Post by JumpCrisscross »

markus_zhang wrote: post #36
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the Hillbilly Elegy hypothesis. I used to buy it. I’m now less convinced. There is a hateful streak in America driven, in part, by reduced attention spans, literacy and ad-powered algorithms. When those folks get better off, they don’t become less hateful. (I’d love to see evidence to the contrary.) > If Democracy is simply Oligarchy with voting as a decoration and sometime even that was gamed, then to the he…

I guess it depends on who the Monarchy is. It was like asking, do you really think you will be treated better under Augustus or the Senate? I bet back then a lot of people would want the Monarchy — after all Augustus won and the Roman Empire was born. In general we consider democracy > monarchy because good monarchies are rare and far between, so democracy is the least bad option. And no, I don’t think Trump could be…

> depends on who the Monarchy is

We have a pretty good hint!

> do you really think you will be treated better under Augustus or the Senate?

Augustus’s rein started with him engineering a peninsula-wide famine and economic collapse. He grew up after the civil war. But promptly after him you got Trajan.

> we consider democracy > monarchy because good monarchies are rare and far between, so democracy is the least bad option

Sort of. There is also the whole part about being able to fire the leaders once in a while.

> We are more civilized now, but I don’t think Trump is willing and can do enough sweeping

Trump would absolutely mow down Americans if his life depended on it, most leaders would, this is what makes dictatorships and other systems without a peaceful transition of power so dangerous.

> only by sweeping away the old aristocratic that the new ones can building a new Empire

Octavianus was a Claudian, one of Rome’s most prestigious patrician families. Most of the Emperors were also patricians. (Rome collapsed shortly after the aristocracy actually lost control. It’s literally referred to as the fall of Rome.)

If America goes monarchy, it would be in a way that ensconced our current elites into a generational aristocracy far more powerful than what Americans think is social immobility today.

Re: Conspiracy content drives anti-establishment sentiment on TikTok, YouTube

#38

Post by fy20 »

So basically rage-bait sells? It's not really surprising in the finance and wellness space that it also works. People often feel vulnerable and that "the system" is rigged against them. This kind of content appeals as it makes them feel that they are not alone, like someone understands them.

It would be interesting to extend the study to other categories where this trust gap does not exist. Would anti-establishment content also get more engagement in say the woodworking niche?

Re: Conspiracy content drives anti-establishment sentiment on TikTok, YouTube

#39

Post by ryandrake »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #28
markus_zhang wrote: post #14

People don’t trust the establishment because it doesn’t take care of them. Trump is simply a symptom, whether you agree with him or not. If Democracy is simply Oligarchy with voting as a decoration and sometime even that was gamed, then to the hell with this democracy.

This is the Hillbilly Elegy hypothesis. I used to buy it. I’m now less convinced. There is a hateful streak in America driven, in part, by reduced attention spans, literacy and ad-powered algorithms. When those folks get better off, they don’t become less hateful. (I’d love to see evidence to the contrary.) > If Democracy is simply Oligarchy with voting as a decoration and sometime even that was gamed, then to the he…

> There is a hateful streak in America driven, in part, by reduced attention spans, literacy and ad-powered algorithms.

I’m sure those things are not helping, but America’s had a hateful streak for longer than they existed. It’s always been here but mostly hidden under shame and a veneer of basic politeness. Recent political rhetoric has encouraged this hate to go “mask off” and open up with it. Now it’s ok and totally normalized to openly and loudly hate, and broadcast that hate through tech.

Re: Conspiracy content drives anti-establishment sentiment on TikTok, YouTube

#40

Post by ryandrake »

maxbond wrote: post #27
cjpartridge wrote: post #6

Because everything anti-establishment is a conspiracy, remember folks, trust the main stream media - they definitely aren't working hand in hand with intelligence agencies and corporations.

The YouTuber Milo Rossi [1], who debunks archaeological conspiracy theories (and makes educational content about archaeology) likes to say (paraphrasing slightly) "you don't need to make up conspiracy theories to be mad at the government, you can be mad at the actual government for what they actually do." Institutions/"the establishment" deserve skepticism but that skepticism has to be grounded in the real world and…

> A key smell test is: Does receiving pushback or counter evidence strengthen your conviction that you are correct?

The parallels with religion are obvious here too. I would guess that the fall or organized religion participation in America directly matches the rise in political zealotry and/or conspiracy theory belief. There’s always something people believe more strongly the more it is opposed.

Post reply on HN