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

Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

thedailybeast.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 153 posts

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#61

Post by assblaster »

slg wrote: post #23
CharlesW wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does seem tame, but a quick search suggests it may be an anti-semitic dog whistle.

Some insults are simply worse depending on who they are targeting. It is the difference between calling GW Bush a monkey because he occasionally looked like a monkey and Obama being called a monkey as a racial slur. The former is a childish insult that is easy to ignore. The latter is a form of bigotry that shouldn't be tolerated.

Why is making fun of Obama as a monkey any different than with Bush? Why is it racist? Obama is white, Bush is white. They both have big ears.

Similarly, Trump is mocked as an orangutan. Is that racist against his European heritage (red/orange hair of Irish/Scottish/German)?

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#62

Post by noobermin »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #40
ourmandave wrote: post #36

I never watched infowars or read anything Jones said or wrote. But to think there are people who believe his crazy sh*t is really scary. Like the guy shooting up a pizza shop because of Pizzagate. I compare him to the World Weekly News (next to the People magazines) from way back where they'd show a picture of space aliens shaking hands with the president. Why does anyone believe this crap?

There are a lot of people who have lost faith in the system of government that has largely forgotten them. Their kids are drug addicts. Their towns look like war zones. They have no ability to earn a living. They seek to be recognized and valued. They seek to matter to someone. In Alex Jones they find a leader who understands their issues and makes it easy to understand who to blame. If we want to disarm Alex we need…

The more people conflate the working class with Trump supporters, the more it feels like a plot to further discredit them. Not all of the rural areas or working class whites care about Alex Jones or even know who he is.

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#63

Post by happytoexplain »

ArchTypical wrote: post #55
slg wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some insults are simply worse depending on who they are targeting. It is the difference between calling GW Bush a monkey because he occasionally looked like a monkey and Obama being called a monkey as a racial slur. The former is a childish insult that is easy to ignore. The latter is a form of bigotry that shouldn't be tolerated.

> Some insults are simply worse depending on who they are targeting. That's just an ideological step that is unwise to adopt. Taking that as a philosophy, anything you say is an intolerable statement because of who might get offended by it. This is antithetical to free speech as prior restraint. I don't know why anyone would subscribe to such a viewpoint. Every philosophy has boons and banes, but that doesn't mean th…

I think the position you're addressing is actually a practical one. Context is huge in communication, and who is being addressed is a big part of that context. It's hard for me to believe that you actually think that taking that specific context into account leads to the conclusion that all statements are intolerable.

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#64

Post by chad_strategic »

I'm over news. I'm over fake news. I'm so over this whole internet and social media experiment.

(I do checkout a few sites... hence this post.)

Wake up, it's 1984, and everybody is at the party. (left and right, liberals and conservatives..etc...)

It just looks a little different than what you read.

Thankfully, I can think for myself.

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#65

Post by bdcravens »

pcwalton wrote: post #52
malvosenior wrote: post #5

> “Those are the eyes of a rat,” There's no way they can ban him for saying that yet still claim to enforce the rules equally for all political affiliations. There have been thousands (maybe more) tweets by people with blue verification checkmarks calling Trump an orange oompa loopa and much worse. No one has been banned for that (rightfully so imo). There's been a ton of pressure on Twitter to ban Jones but using th…

> There have been thousands (maybe more) tweets by people with blue verification checkmarks calling Trump an orange oompa loopa and much worse. No one has been banned for that (rightfully so imo). Maybe because those kinds of tweets about Trump aren't anti-Semitic.

The problem with that is that anti-Semitism is one of many types of violations according to Twitter's published guidelines.

https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/abusive-behav...

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#66

Post by noobermin »

bachbach wrote: post #51
CharlesW wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does seem tame, but a quick search suggests it may be an anti-semitic dog whistle.

I am not a fan of Alex Jones but he is not an anti-semite. In fact I suspect you have it backward. Jones will be intimately aware of (some of) the far left and (some of) far right anti-semite culture - it takes some character to see the big picture and in my personal exhaustive experience with that world most people exposed to those cultures would become anti-semites fast. Jone's nemesis is altogether more abstract -…

I've seen clips of Alex Jones deriding Brian Stelter, zooming into his face, calling him a "devil" and a "demon" of all things. It was rather surreal. What could Alex Jones possibly getting at with that?

I think it's possible many people don't have much experience with anti-semitism so it seems unrelated (as for me) but given Jones' track record and other clips I've seen of him, it's pretty clear he plays with anti-semitism.

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#67

Post by s73v3r_ »

ArchTypical wrote: post #55
slg wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some insults are simply worse depending on who they are targeting. It is the difference between calling GW Bush a monkey because he occasionally looked like a monkey and Obama being called a monkey as a racial slur. The former is a childish insult that is easy to ignore. The latter is a form of bigotry that shouldn't be tolerated.

> Some insults are simply worse depending on who they are targeting. That's just an ideological step that is unwise to adopt. Taking that as a philosophy, anything you say is an intolerable statement because of who might get offended by it. This is antithetical to free speech as prior restraint. I don't know why anyone would subscribe to such a viewpoint. Every philosophy has boons and banes, but that doesn't mean th…

No, the unwise thing is to ignore context and history.

"This is antithetical to free speech as prior restraint"

No, it isn't. Free Speech doesn't mean you get to ignore context, and it doesn't mean you don't face consequences for your speech.

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#68

Post by reb »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #40
ourmandave wrote: post #36

I never watched infowars or read anything Jones said or wrote. But to think there are people who believe his crazy sh*t is really scary. Like the guy shooting up a pizza shop because of Pizzagate. I compare him to the World Weekly News (next to the People magazines) from way back where they'd show a picture of space aliens shaking hands with the president. Why does anyone believe this crap?

There are a lot of people who have lost faith in the system of government that has largely forgotten them. Their kids are drug addicts. Their towns look like war zones. They have no ability to earn a living. They seek to be recognized and valued. They seek to matter to someone. In Alex Jones they find a leader who understands their issues and makes it easy to understand who to blame. If we want to disarm Alex we need…

> If we want to disarm Alex we need to recognize there are real problems in America outside of the coastal areas.

And inside the coastal areas as well.

Still, none of this stress and anxiety condemns a reasonable human being to become a psychotic racist caricature (or a follower of the same). Desperation just turns up the dial on a person's fundamental system of values. It exposes the prejudice; it doesn't create it.

Solving the problems listed would calm their rage to the benefit of all, but let's not kid ourselves that it would change any hearts or minds.

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#69

Post by noobermin »

twiceaday wrote: post #31
darpa_escapee wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing about persecution complexes is that those who have them will find persecution in anything, so it's kind of a waste of energy to worry about what might trigger those prone to thinking in such a way.

This is overly simplistic. Everybody has their own thresholds. The tamer the 'last straw' the easier it is to twist the message.

Why do you care?

If you're on the right, then I'd say look at the Presidency, look at the Congress, look at the Supreme Court, look at most of state and local governments and stop crying.

If you aren't on the right, why do you care how they feel? Do they spend time worrying about the suppressed people they victimize? Or do they mock them and deride them?

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#70

Post by bdcravens »

dragonwriter wrote: post #19
malvosenior wrote: post #5

> “Those are the eyes of a rat,” There's no way they can ban him for saying that yet still claim to enforce the rules equally for all political affiliations. There have been thousands (maybe more) tweets by people with blue verification checkmarks calling Trump an orange oompa loopa and much worse. No one has been banned for that (rightfully so imo). There's been a ton of pressure on Twitter to ban Jones but using th…

> There have been thousands (maybe more) tweets by people with blue verification checkmarks calling Trump an orange oompa loopa Comparing facial features, particularly eyes, to those of a rat is a well-known anti-Semitic smear. Commenting on Trump's horrible spray tan is not the same kind of thing. > There's been a ton of pressure on Twitter to ban Jones but using this tweet as an excuse shows they are in no way poli…

>Comparing facial features, particularly eyes, to those of a rat is a well-known anti-Semitic smear.

>Commenting on Trump's horrible spray tan is not the same kind of thing.

Definitely not the same thing, but still potentially in violation of Twitter's rules against harassment.

https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/abusive-behav...

Post reply on HN