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Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

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Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#91

And the trolls managed to flag the story off the front page as well :(

It's not right, either. The thread had barely started and there seemed to be some interesting, civil comments among the blatant bait. I hope the mods can catch it. You can 'vouch' for flagged comments, but not posts, which usually helps poorly-flagged items.

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#92

>mom of 8-year-old climate activist Havana Chapman-Edwards Is it just me, or is there something disturbing about an 8 year old activist for anything? I cannot see anything good coming from turning young children into activists. Kids that age need love and stability, not the fear that the world is going to end unless they do something.

[deleted]

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#93
post #21

Has anyone tried to do an analysis on these trolls? Who are they and why are they trolling? I'm concerned that these aren't normal people and instead people interested in maintaining the status quo are coordinating these activities.

My default assumption is that trolls attacking any sort of "leftist" activist are either alt-reich channers or corporate astroturfers. I don't assume good faith on the part of trolls, but instead always suspect an ulterior motive.

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#95

And the trolls managed to flag the story off the front page as well :(

It's not right, either. The thread had barely started and there seemed to be some interesting, civil comments among the blatant bait. I hope the mods can catch it. You can 'vouch' for flagged comments, but not posts, which usually helps poorly-flagged items.

Aye, it's becoming habitual on some topics.

Hopefully the mods will second-chance it, as despite the oh-so-predictable trash comments there's an important issue.

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We shouldn't suppress any voices, unless they're outright calling for violence. We also shouldn't elevate our children to become spokespeople for the world. Let kids be kids.

If the kids WANT to participate, why not let them? This girl started protesting by herself.She took initiative, raised her voice and dis something. Should we stop her from doing that?

Because they're kids and they don't have a clue. If I was her parent, I would have stopped her. She should be getting an education, so she doesn't end up as a homeless activist one day.

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#98
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would be protected by meaningful government action on climate change. A comfortable childhood will mean nothing to these kids if their adulthoods are ruined by the consequences of the inaction of older generations, and the kids know it and want to do something about it.

this rhetoric is going a bit too far. The UN children's convention protects children . When (and if) climate change will affect these people they will be adults.

What rhetoric? And of course, by the time they are adults it will be far too late to act.

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#99
post #55

Using children as political tools is disgusting. It's blatantly manipulative. Throwing them into the cess-pool of public politics and then acting as if you're shocked they're in a cess-pool, and using that shock to try to score political points, is one of the more reprehensible tactics in the modern play book.

Maybe perhaps we could try to raise the level of discourse across the board? Why does it have to be a cess pool at all? We really have to do something to reduce the firehose of twitter/FB bots and trolls with no accountability. It's like the old days of email spam, but with targetted abuse and harassment.

The problem is that the only thing you can do is limit free speech, and that has far worse implications than just dealing with the trolls. Silencing people based on their opinions, however much you may disagree with those opinions, will lead always result in dystopia.

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#100
post #66

>mom of 8-year-old climate activist Havana Chapman-Edwards Is it just me, or is there something disturbing about an 8 year old activist for anything? I cannot see anything good coming from turning young children into activists. Kids that age need love and stability, not the fear that the world is going to end unless they do something.

So they should just sit there and wait to die is what you're saying?

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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