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Manufactured consensus on x.com

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Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#81

Post by fnordpiglet »

dismalaf wrote: post #58
RankingMember wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The far-left denies the Holocaust? On what grounds?

It's usually some mental gymnastics related to Israel, Gaza, etc... Because many Muslims deny the holocaust, much of the far-left has co-opted that rhetoric. It's super visible on TikTok, for example. Edit - some comments below this seem to doubt. Just go on TikTok to politically charged posts about Palestine. This whole thread is about social media. Not holocaust denial on the mainstream left, specifically the far-l…

I’ve seen a lot of anti-Israel stuff but I’ve never seen holocaust denial on the far left. What I have seen is an assertion that the holocaust is one of many horrendous genocides that continue to this day, and comparisons between early holocaust actions by nazi germany (ghettos, destruction of the ghettos, resettlement, etc) against the Jews and Israel in Gaza. Personally I think it’s all absurd. The holocaust is uniquely horrific, and every horrific thing doesn’t have to be comparable or have parallels to be horrible. In fact each genocide is its own unique horror, be it in Armenia, Cambodia, etc. Israel and Gaza is also its own situation and the relationships to the holocaust is irrelevant other than in the space of fallacy. The comparison helps no one - left, right, Jew, Palestinian. Every tragedy is its own tragedy and can and should be examined in itself for the lessons they teach, and anyone who uses violence at scale is wrong no matter what happened prior. Perpetuation of industrialized horrors should shame everyone as human beings. But, I was raised Quaker, and we’ve always been persecuted in some way for believing and standing up for the fact you shouldn’t hurt others.

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#82

Post by dpedu »

selectodude wrote: post #21
trollied wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN certainly leans one way. X has gone more central. BUT remember that what you see is driven by the people you follow, mostly. Don’t like what they say or their political persuasion? Unfollow.

If twitter is “central”, what on gods earth do you consider “right of center”?

4chan or any of the chans, or the site the /r/the_donald folks moved to after reddit banned it? Or Voat, but that's gone now?

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#83

Post by raffraffraff »

mrdoops wrote: post #20

Manufactured consensus is everywhere there is enough attention to incentivize such an effort. The worst by far is Reddit.

Was just gonna say this. Reddit is dreadful. Anything remotely contentious has a single narrative, and if people try to present any alternative perspective, comments get locked. Disagreement = "hate".

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#84

Post by razster »

zoogeny wrote: post #36

It is a bit chilling because of the compound interest that this kind of policy incentivizes. Once you have a handful of powerful X accounts, you have the ability to generate more. So not only can you work to silence others, you can work to increase your capacity to silence others by promoting like-minded allies. We are at the early stages of this, so we are watching the capture of influence. There is some discussion…

That dynamic of influence compounding certainly echoes the historical patterns we’ve seen with capital—those who have it can shape systems to acquire more. But it’s worth remembering that this only holds power if we choose to participate.

Personally, I’ve stepped away from anything associated with X.com or Elon Musk. I deleted my accounts, disconnected from the ecosystem entirely—and life is better for it. No doomscrolling, no algorithmic nudging, no subtle behavioral conditioning. Influence may be the new capital, but opting out is still a form of agency. Disengagement can be a powerful act.

We often forget: participation isn’t mandatory.

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#86

Post by alabastervlog »

RankingMember wrote: post #44
dismalaf wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every platform has Holocaust denial because that's the one thing that the far-left and far-right both agree on...

The far-left denies the Holocaust? On what grounds?

Yeah, am damn far left by US standards, keep up with actually-left sources like The Nation and Democracy Now! (I also listen to right wing nut job AM radio in the car, because I'm a masochist and a politics nerd in general—I'm "fair and balanced"!). Was involved in some left-of-Democrats political organizing in college.

I can't recall ever seeing holocaust denial from that side. I'm sure examples can be found, but I don't think it's a staple there like it is when you veer even a little off the (formerly...) best-trod paths on the right.

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#87

Post by bikezen »

kuschkufan wrote: post #45
fouc wrote: post #5

Reading that I couldn't help but think there's parallels to HN. At least HN tries to be transparent about "the algorithm", and it's essentially a dumb algorithm compared to what X/FB/etc use.

on hn the algorithm boosts/hides posts and comments based on the popularity of the user account that upvoted/downvoted? i thought all accounts had the same voting weight.

You even even downvote on HN until you pass some bar

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#88

Post by rayiner »

selectodude wrote: post #21
trollied wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN certainly leans one way. X has gone more central. BUT remember that what you see is driven by the people you follow, mostly. Don’t like what they say or their political persuasion? Unfollow.

If twitter is “central”, what on gods earth do you consider “right of center”?

X users say that the content they see is roughly equally likely to be liberal or conservative: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/06/12/how-x-users-... (look at the chart: Political content users see on X)

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#89

Post by DFHippie »

seadan83 wrote: post #66
ethagknight wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Manufactured consensus is literally the name of the game for the big news networks. News is/was paid vast sums by the government to tell a certain story. That is Manufactured Consensus. Some countries do a better job making the news seem like a separate arm from the government. The entire point is to direct the populace. That is not the core focus of X, even though it is entirely susceptible to it, and will be encoun…

Outside of PBS, do you have evidence for this claim: "News is/was paid vast sums by the government to tell a certain story"? > Alternative views definitely have reach. Yes, but are we in a 1984 situation where that reach is managed behind the scenes. Reach, but perhaps not too much reach. With respect to the chart, how do we know that Twitter users are not largely partitioned? How representative is the fact you saw s…

> Outside of PBS

How much influence do you imagine PBS wields and how much money do you suppose is in these vast sums they are paid?

PBS is mostly known for Sesame Street and nature documentaries. Their government funding has been whittled down to almost nothing over years of relentless attack from the Republicans.

Here's some discussion from PBS itself on the topic:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/a-look-at-the-history-of-p...

A pull quote:

"The U.S. is almost literally off the chart for how little we allocate towards our public media. At the federal level, it comes out to a little over $1.50 per person per year. Compare that to the Brits, who spend roughly $100 per person per year for the BBC. Northern European countries spend well over $100 per person per year."

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