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TikTok says it's not the algorithm, teens are just pro-Palestine

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Re: TikTok says it's not the algorithm, teens are just pro-Palestine

#41

Post by explaininjs »

op00to wrote: post #30
lalajollyton wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel is bombing and murdering thousands of Palestinians. That is why people are supporting them, not an algorithm "problem".

Why do teenagers care about this particular tragedy and not Syria or any of the horrors in Africa? Surely it can’t be the scale of killing since there are far worse civilian death tolls in conflicts around the world.

“Care” about a tragedy is entirely meaningless. Protest of your government’s policies to perpetuate a tragedy is slightly more meaningful. Not by much, granted. But slightly more.

Re: TikTok says it's not the algorithm, teens are just pro-Palestine

#42

Post by spaceman_2020 »

op00to wrote: post #30
lalajollyton wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel is bombing and murdering thousands of Palestinians. That is why people are supporting them, not an algorithm "problem".

Why do teenagers care about this particular tragedy and not Syria or any of the horrors in Africa? Surely it can’t be the scale of killing since there are far worse civilian death tolls in conflicts around the world.

Probably because it’s received far more widespread coverage since Israel - a wealthy, prominent country - is involved.

Re: TikTok says it's not the algorithm, teens are just pro-Palestine

#43

Post by Tiktaalik »

Been remarkable to see various political commentators freak out about this, lunging to conspiracy theories that Tiktok is brainwashing people, then immediately pivot to attacking the US government for not being in control of its own brainwashing social media service.

The polling is pretty clear. The public, especially the young public, has moved on this issue and is out of step with the positions of the elderly political class. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/israel-hamas-gaza-canadians...

Re: TikTok says it's not the algorithm, teens are just pro-Palestine

#44

Post by mrtksn »

People are not pro Palestine or pro Israel, most people are simply not psychopaths and young don't carry the crystallised opinions of the older generations that "know" who is right and resort to denial when exposed to contradicting information.

In social media we have bubbles but these bubbles leak because they form by huge number of categories, that is, someone in the pro-gay rights bubble isn't necessarily in the pro-immigratin bubble for example.

This results in people having exposure in multiple types of propaganda, so even if you are huge Shapiro fan you end up listening to Bassem Youssef too. The media needs all the views, not only the libertarians and they actually put them on the same screens.

The scary part for me is that in the West, once claiming to be the epicentre of freedom of speech and human dignity, now expects people to be exposed only to the "right" kind of propaganda and its considering the alternative opinions a danger and looking how to limit it. Isn't this McCarthyism 2.0?

Those who are only pro-Palestine or pro-Israel are the extremist minority as far as I can tell. Most people are anti human suffering. Now that I feel scared of backlash or getting my account limited once again, I can't even express freely my opinions on the conflict even though I'm very fond of the Jewish culture and even the country of Israel. I feel like I have to make a choice between genocidials and the terrorist. There are active institutions going after people for having the wrong opinion and people who no longer aspire to do great things but to preserve what they own are feeling scared of it.

Young people don't feel that.

Re: TikTok says it's not the algorithm, teens are just pro-Palestine

#45

Post by wk_end »

lalajollyton wrote: post #26
wk_end wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that, while young people have been more pro-Palestine for a long time, historically a much smaller percentage were immersing themselves for hours a day in increasingly sensationalist, often misleading pro-Palestinian content; there historically was far less of an incentive to produce or disseminate it. So we quickly go from “pro-Palestine” to “pro-Hamas” to “pro-Osama Bin Laden” to “holocaust denial”.…

Israel is bombing and murdering thousands of Palestinians. That is why people are supporting them, not an algorithm "problem".

Sure, and if you read what I wrote carefully, I didn’t say anything about the algorithm having anything to do with why young people are pro-Palestine.

Re: TikTok says it's not the algorithm, teens are just pro-Palestine

#47

Post by scottLobster »

Honestly as a mid-30s millennial I'm pretty "pro-Palestine" when it comes to ending the illegal (by Israeli law no less) settlements in the West bank and ending the open-air prison that is Gaza. Both of those things are just slow genocide, without even a hint of subtlety. Hell multiple authorities in the current Israeli government have made it quite clear that they'd be committing fast genocide if they were allowed. Worth remembering that a sizeable portion of Israel is of Russian origin, and Jewish or not they bring a very culturally Russian approach to problems like this.

We can all agree that the leaders of Hamas and those who committed the attacks should burn alive, but frankly the Israeli-imposed conditions in Gaza make the rise of such groups inevitable. Hell it was Netanyahu's stated strategy to "control the height of the flame" of Hamas, an implicit acknowledgement that their existence was inevitable.

And I still don't get our outsized military support for Israel. We just deployed two carrier battle groups and an Ohio class sub to their defense at the drop of a hat, no questions asked or concessions demanded. For what? Does anyone seriously think Hezbollah and some lightly armed Iranian proxy groups are an existential threat to Israel? Sure they could do serious damage, but they'd almost certainly lose in a stand-up fight.

Honestly it just doesn't make any sense to me. At best we should be imposing strict conditions for our aid to create better conditions for Palestians on the other side, and at worst we should just stay out of it. It's anecdotal but these aren't uncommon opinions among people I know. The only "unconditional support for Israel" people I've met are all over 50.

Re: TikTok says it's not the algorithm, teens are just pro-Palestine

#50

Post by klyrs »

op00to wrote: post #30
lalajollyton wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel is bombing and murdering thousands of Palestinians. That is why people are supporting them, not an algorithm "problem".

Why do teenagers care about this particular tragedy and not Syria or any of the horrors in Africa? Surely it can’t be the scale of killing since there are far worse civilian death tolls in conflicts around the world.

Syria is an old conflict and nothing has changed in many years. This particular tragedy has been stewing for a long time, and recently exploded. So, right now, the reaction is fairly well proportional to the rate of change.
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