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It is not just those people being silenced though. It is people who stayed home, maybe their views are not quite as radical as someone who would protest, or may
by cpitman 9y ago
It is not just those people being silenced though. It is people who stayed home, maybe their views are not quite as radical as someone who would protest, or maybe they tend to be more politically apathetic (ie most people).
When those people watch Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/08/14/twitter-users-identify-white-supremacists-at-charlottesville-protests.html http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/08/14/twitter-users-identif...) and see what is happening to those people for their speech and actions, they are being silenced.
These are also probably the people more amenable to changing their views. It's got be pretty hard to swing someone with a tiki torch marching down the street, but someone who feels sympathetic to their views could maybe be reasoned with if they would talk about it.
- angry_octet 9y agoWhen they are watching Fox they are not being silenced, they are being programmed. They start to believe they are being silenced, but their views are just being opposed and offended and that they are (at long last) being told that other people think their positions are discriminatory. And without the visible and palpable sense that their views are not mainstream any longer, what is their incentive to change?
- angry_octet 9y agoPredictably, I've offended you and you've downvoted. I win.
- cpitman 9y agoNo, that wasn't me. I think you are incorrect, though. Fox was only an example, this story was carried by most national outlets. And I've never met anyone who changes their mind because the majority is against them and is silencing them. It just brews resentments and causes people to dig in. If people changed their minds just because everyone else disagrees with them loudly and violently, how would any previous social change have come about? New thoughts and perspectives always start as minority views. So majority consensus must not be enough to change someone's mind. Also, this really isn't about winning. We're all losing right now.
- angry_octet 9y agoSorry I wasn't talking to, but the people not commenting, I should have made that clear. I don't mean angry disagreement and antifa, I mean social disapproval.
- dang 9y agoWould you please not post unsubstantive or flamebaity comments to HN? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html