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Are you being sarcastic? Sometimes it's hard to tell online.

by cgmg 9y ago

naasking 9y ago
Not really. I think this phenomenon is well documented at this point. How else would fake news spread so easily across social media? Everyone has a couple of crazies in their social circle, and they will broadcast false statements as facts. Due to a human cognitive quirk, we lend more credence to propositions we hear from multiple sources. The "crazies" that already believe in nonsense already do this on reflex. And so the crazy spreads, even to otherwise reasonable people.
- cgmg 9y ago
  That's not what you said. What you said was > The crazies finding each other and organizing is entire FB's fault. If it is entirely Facebook's fault, how come this phenomenon predates Facebook and exists outside of it?
  - naasking 9y ago
    People got sick before the great flu pandemic of 1912, therefore the flu was not responsible for the 1912 flu pandemic. Do you see the problem with this argument? FB was rapidly accelerated the organization of these types of extreme positions. My original comment follows from my last comment. What do you think the crazies do when they've gotten all outraged at some false proposition or other?
    - cgmg 9y ago
      > People got sick before the great flu pandemic of 1912, therefore the flu was not responsible for the 1912 flu pandemic. That's not the right analogy. This is closer to what you said: Human epidemics are entirely the fault of the great flu pandemic of 1912. An even closer analogy to what you said is: Human epidemics are entirely the fault of widespread transportation networks. Ergo we ought to abolish such networks.
      - naasking 9y ago
        Err, no. I never said crazies never found each other before, I said the pandemic of crazies finding each other and organizing now are the fault of FB (and other social media of course).
        cgmg 9y ago
        Then it is not "entirely" Facebook's fault, as you suggested. Such hyperbole obscures rather than illuminates truth. Do you have any empirical evidence to back this "pandemic" claim of yours? Or is that just a feeling you have?

Are you being sarcastic? Sometimes it's hard to tell online.

by cgmg 9y ago

Are you being sarcastic? Sometimes it's hard to tell online.

Not really. I think this phenomenon is well documented at this point. How else would fake news spread so easily across social media? Everyone has a couple of crazies in their social circle, and they will broadcast false statements as facts. Due to a human cognitive quirk, we lend more credence to propositions we hear from multiple sources. The "crazies" that already believe in nonsense already do this on reflex. And so the crazy spreads, even to otherwise reasonable people.

cgmg 9y ago
That's not what you said. What you said was > The crazies finding each other and organizing is entire FB's fault. If it is entirely Facebook's fault, how come this phenomenon predates Facebook and exists outside of it?
- naasking 9y ago
  People got sick before the great flu pandemic of 1912, therefore the flu was not responsible for the 1912 flu pandemic. Do you see the problem with this argument? FB was rapidly accelerated the organization of these types of extreme positions. My original comment follows from my last comment. What do you think the crazies do when they've gotten all outraged at some false proposition or other?
  - cgmg 9y ago
    > People got sick before the great flu pandemic of 1912, therefore the flu was not responsible for the 1912 flu pandemic. That's not the right analogy. This is closer to what you said: Human epidemics are entirely the fault of the great flu pandemic of 1912. An even closer analogy to what you said is: Human epidemics are entirely the fault of widespread transportation networks. Ergo we ought to abolish such networks.
    - naasking 9y ago
      Err, no. I never said crazies never found each other before, I said the pandemic of crazies finding each other and organizing now are the fault of FB (and other social media of course).
      - cgmg 9y ago
        Then it is not "entirely" Facebook's fault, as you suggested. Such hyperbole obscures rather than illuminates truth. Do you have any empirical evidence to back this "pandemic" claim of yours? Or is that just a feeling you have?