5 ms·

This doesn't match reality. I've watched lots of conservative videos and I've never seen anything about flat Earth or "insane conspiracy theories". Honestly th

This doesn't match reality. I've watched lots of conservative videos and I've never seen anything about flat Earth or "insane conspiracy theories". Honestly this comment thread seems like trying to build a narrative bridge between straightforward right-leaning content and bizarre conspiracies. The goal is to use censorship of bizarre conspiracies to justify censoring right-leaning content by conflating the two. I'm very suspicious of YouTube's intent here. Given how vicious Google is towards conservatives inside their organization (see Damore) it's pretty obvious to suspect that they'll use their power to reduce the spread of right-wing ideas of all stripes. Put simply, after that display, nobody can trust them to be even-handed. Most of them are good people but they're totally dominated by the intransigent minority [0] of high-and-righteous recreational witch-hunters in their midst. The first excuse will be they're insane conspiracies. Truly crazy videos will be censored. But that's just the bait, setting the narrative for the switch, where they narrative becomes about "racism" and they start censoring the right-most 10%, 20%, 30%, of the opinion spectrum. Criticism of Islam, support for Western culture, statements against anti-white bigotry, arguments for reduced immigration (even illegal immigration), arguments for equal legal treatment for men, arguments about biological differences between sexes or population groups, arguments about deep differences between religions will all be censored under this ever-expanding umbrella. Even the notion that "conspiracy theories" are a right-wing thing is part of this - there are lots of left-wing "conspiracy theories" and always have been. Some openly racist and sexist ones are quite widespread right now. [0] http://fooledbyrandomness.com/minority.pdf http://fooledbyrandomness.com/minority.pdf

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fzeroracer 8y ago
Conspiracy theories are, for the most part, a right-wing thing. Unless you can give me examples of conspiracy theories and their peddlers on level of Alex Jones for the far left.
- bluGill 8y ago
  Every looked into anti-vax (there is some right, but a lot of it is left)? How about the impeach trump stuff? Organic, anti-GMO, alternative medicine. Plenty of left wing nut jobs there. (some of them have a right wing component as well)
- JaimeThompson 8y ago
  The anti-vaxers are from all over the political spectrum I am sad to say.
  - fzeroracer 8y ago
    From my personal experience they've always tended to be further right, since often the anti-vaccine fear comes as a result of government mistrust as well as not trusting scientists. Very similar to the people against climate change in my opinion. Though it's true that the anti-GMO and even anti-Nuclear sentiments I see accross the spectrum but those differ a bit from conspiracy theories in that it stems from junk science, rather than a belief in a hidden government or group wanting to personally change you.
    - filoleg 8y ago
      My experience couldn’t have been further from yours. Most of the anti-vaxxers I encountered both irl and online were of the kind that is all about natural remedies and distrusting of GMOs and such (as opposed to those distrusting of government and believing in conspiracies; that kind i mostly encountered online only). Just google for outbreaks in the US that are linked to anti-vaxxing and take a note of their locations. Most will start in heavily left-leaning areas. To clarify my point, I personally believe that anti-vaxxing is about evenly distributed between left and right wing, just for different reasons. P.S. As I was trying to find an article about an outbreak in Seattle that I remembered from a few years ago, I realized there is another one happening right this moment https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/an-anti-vaccination-hotspot-near-portland-declares-an-emergency-over-measles-outbreak/?amp=1 https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/an-anti-vaccinatio...
  - 8y ago
mondo9000 8y ago
The strange thing about slippery slope is that it is both a logical fallacy and an effective means to accomplish political objectives (of course one does things incrementally) Left wing conspiracies are usually narrow in scope: the Republican party, the Koch brothers, George Soros, Dick Cheney, the Oil Industry, its not really the same as a intra-national conspiracy that transcends party lines.
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shaki-dora 8y ago
> But that's just the bait, setting the narrative for the switch... Are you sure you’re not watching too many conspiracy theory videos?
throwawaysea 8y ago
This is exactly my experience. I've watched many videos from conservative content creators on YouTube to understand their perspectives, and by and large I found them to be reasonable and not dissimilar in their balance to the content I usually watch. I did not find conspiracy theories, flat out lies, or other extremist content either nestled within those videos or recommended to me in other videos. They may exist out there, but I haven't been exposed to them. The Buzzfeed article (and others like it) is ultimately just a collection of anecdotes. It is not data that reflects my reality and I expect it does not reflect reality for many of YouTube's users. However, it provides a lot of confirmation bias for those who look at the existence of content/perspectives they disagree with and have an urge to want to erase that content wholesale. It feeds into what seems to be a crisis manufactured by some activists on Twitter and some news outlets (like Buzzfeed). And of course, it dehumanizes the right and their experiences/perspectives by associating them with terms like 'radicalization', or 'conspiracy theory', or 'fake news', which are probably not only exceedingly rare but also present on the left.

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fzeroracer 8y ago

Conspiracy theories are, for the most part, a right-wing thing. Unless you can give me examples of conspiracy theories and their peddlers on level of Alex Jones for the far left.

bluGill 8y ago
Every looked into anti-vax (there is some right, but a lot of it is left)? How about the impeach trump stuff? Organic, anti-GMO, alternative medicine. Plenty of left wing nut jobs there. (some of them have a right wing component as well)
JaimeThompson 8y ago
The anti-vaxers are from all over the political spectrum I am sad to say.
- fzeroracer 8y ago
  From my personal experience they've always tended to be further right, since often the anti-vaccine fear comes as a result of government mistrust as well as not trusting scientists. Very similar to the people against climate change in my opinion. Though it's true that the anti-GMO and even anti-Nuclear sentiments I see accross the spectrum but those differ a bit from conspiracy theories in that it stems from junk science, rather than a belief in a hidden government or group wanting to personally change you.
  - filoleg 8y ago
    My experience couldn’t have been further from yours. Most of the anti-vaxxers I encountered both irl and online were of the kind that is all about natural remedies and distrusting of GMOs and such (as opposed to those distrusting of government and believing in conspiracies; that kind i mostly encountered online only). Just google for outbreaks in the US that are linked to anti-vaxxing and take a note of their locations. Most will start in heavily left-leaning areas. To clarify my point, I personally believe that anti-vaxxing is about evenly distributed between left and right wing, just for different reasons. P.S. As I was trying to find an article about an outbreak in Seattle that I remembered from a few years ago, I realized there is another one happening right this moment https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/an-anti-vaccination-hotspot-near-portland-declares-an-emergency-over-measles-outbreak/?amp=1 https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/an-anti-vaccinatio...
- 8y ago

mondo9000 8y ago

The strange thing about slippery slope is that it is both a logical fallacy and an effective means to accomplish political objectives (of course one does things incrementally) Left wing conspiracies are usually narrow in scope: the Republican party, the Koch brothers, George Soros, Dick Cheney, the Oil Industry, its not really the same as a intra-national conspiracy that transcends party lines.

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shaki-dora 8y ago

> But that's just the bait, setting the narrative for the switch... Are you sure you’re not watching too many conspiracy theory videos?

throwawaysea 8y ago

This is exactly my experience. I've watched many videos from conservative content creators on YouTube to understand their perspectives, and by and large I found them to be reasonable and not dissimilar in their balance to the content I usually watch. I did not find conspiracy theories, flat out lies, or other extremist content either nestled within those videos or recommended to me in other videos. They may exist out there, but I haven't been exposed to them. The Buzzfeed article (and others like it) is ultimately just a collection of anecdotes. It is not data that reflects my reality and I expect it does not reflect reality for many of YouTube's users. However, it provides a lot of confirmation bias for those who look at the existence of content/perspectives they disagree with and have an urge to want to erase that content wholesale. It feeds into what seems to be a crisis manufactured by some activists on Twitter and some news outlets (like Buzzfeed). And of course, it dehumanizes the right and their experiences/perspectives by associating them with terms like 'radicalization', or 'conspiracy theory', or 'fake news', which are probably not only exceedingly rare but also present on the left.