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While the author has come across somewhat passive-aggressive throughout the article, I do agree with the premise. I have many male friends who have quite clearl

While the author has come across somewhat passive-aggressive throughout the article, I do agree with the premise. I have many male friends who have quite clearly been gripped by YouTube's recommendation algorithms, and they have no interest in sensible discourse. I've had to distance myself from them because they have become almost religiously zealous in their praise of various right-learning, far-right, and alt-right political commentators. All of them young males with no real career path, hobbies or purpose, and these videos have done an excellent job of painting targets that they can now blame for all their woes. It's an easy trap to fall into. I remember watching a Joe Rogan podcast with Jordan Peterson, followed it with a few of his lectures, and all of a sudden my feed was brimming with "Ben Shapiro DESTROYS SJW with FACTS and LOGIC" videos, or "Debunking feminism" and various other bile. It's a consequence of YouTube trying to keep people engaged on their platform, and it's only going to get worse if these algorithms keep feeding groups, both left and right, politically divisive content. I'm not sure what can be done about it either, other than heavy-handed government legislation.

Mirioron 8y ago
As a foreigner, when I read reddit I feel exactly the same way about left-wing politics. Reading subreddits such as /r/politics or /r/worldnews feels like people are so caught up in their bubble that they refuse to see anything other than what they have already decided upon. Edit: I'm sure the same applies to right wing subreddits, but I don't run into explicitly right wing ones too often. I think that this is not really an algorithm's or any specific platform's fault. It's a fault of ourselves, because we buy into this stuff so heavily. The only way around it is to teach people to keep an open mind.
- yesenadam 8y ago
  Gee, left-wing politics on reddit! I immediately went to /r/politics to see for myself.. Every story on the landing page is Trump-related.. I looked at one story, the comments are all juvenile, mindless Trump-bashing. Utter waste of time reading it. That is 'left-wing politics'?! I was very disappointed.
  - Aromasin 8y ago
    Going onto /r/politics for left wing political commentary is like going on /r/The_Donald for right wing political commentary. Why dive into one sphere of the internet and use that to sum up a majority ideology? If I were to do that for the right-wing, and apply your formatting; "Every story on the landing page is Trump-related. I looked at one story, the comments are all juvenile, mindless Trump-worshiping. Utter waste of time reading it. That is 'right-wing politics'?! I was very disappointed." - to be so single-minded about the political spectrum is childish. You want to understand left-wing politics? Don't go on Reddit, and pick up a book. "The Limits of Neoliberalism", "The Coming Insurrection", "Debt: the First 5,000 Years", "Politics in a Time of Crisis", or "On Intersectionality: Essential Writings" are great reading, or something by Chomski perhaps. If I was more aligned with the right-wing I'd like people to read "The Free Economy and the Strong State" or "Leviathan", or "The Conservatives Mind". Also all great reading. Not for them to go on Voat or read YouTube comments, and think that the right-wing just wants Trump on a throne because he has some sort of divine right.
    - yesenadam 8y ago
      >to be so single-minded about the political spectrum is childish Uh, what? You've utterly misunderstood; knowing nothing about me hasn't stopped you insulting me.. I consider myself left-wing, I just had never seen anything remotely like that on reddit, still haven't - not that I've seen much of reddit. Sorry I didn't make that clear enough. Not very interested in your recommendations after that, thanks; who would be?
    - belorn 8y ago
      The problem I have with that view is that the information that get reported from current left-wing political parties and politicians do not match books like those. It could be that: 1) The journalist reporting is wrong. 2) the current left-wing political parties are not left-wing. 3) the books are not about current left-wing politics, which has changed compared to when those books were written. For example, Debt: the First 5,000 Years has quite a lot to say about bridge gifts and gender roles which do not blame white men or use some "Patriarchy" theory where women are slaves to men. It does not make women to victim and men to conquers, but rather looking at the issue from a tribal/family resource perspective from an age when those practices were more common. That would be right-wing political view for a lot of people.

Mirioron 8y ago

As a foreigner, when I read reddit I feel exactly the same way about left-wing politics. Reading subreddits such as /r/politics or /r/worldnews feels like people are so caught up in their bubble that they refuse to see anything other than what they have already decided upon. Edit: I'm sure the same applies to right wing subreddits, but I don't run into explicitly right wing ones too often. I think that this is not really an algorithm's or any specific platform's fault. It's a fault of ourselves, because we buy into this stuff so heavily. The only way around it is to teach people to keep an open mind.

yesenadam 8y ago
Gee, left-wing politics on reddit! I immediately went to /r/politics to see for myself.. Every story on the landing page is Trump-related.. I looked at one story, the comments are all juvenile, mindless Trump-bashing. Utter waste of time reading it. That is 'left-wing politics'?! I was very disappointed.
- Aromasin 8y ago
  Going onto /r/politics for left wing political commentary is like going on /r/The_Donald for right wing political commentary. Why dive into one sphere of the internet and use that to sum up a majority ideology? If I were to do that for the right-wing, and apply your formatting; "Every story on the landing page is Trump-related. I looked at one story, the comments are all juvenile, mindless Trump-worshiping. Utter waste of time reading it. That is 'right-wing politics'?! I was very disappointed." - to be so single-minded about the political spectrum is childish. You want to understand left-wing politics? Don't go on Reddit, and pick up a book. "The Limits of Neoliberalism", "The Coming Insurrection", "Debt: the First 5,000 Years", "Politics in a Time of Crisis", or "On Intersectionality: Essential Writings" are great reading, or something by Chomski perhaps. If I was more aligned with the right-wing I'd like people to read "The Free Economy and the Strong State" or "Leviathan", or "The Conservatives Mind". Also all great reading. Not for them to go on Voat or read YouTube comments, and think that the right-wing just wants Trump on a throne because he has some sort of divine right.
  - yesenadam 8y ago
    >to be so single-minded about the political spectrum is childish Uh, what? You've utterly misunderstood; knowing nothing about me hasn't stopped you insulting me.. I consider myself left-wing, I just had never seen anything remotely like that on reddit, still haven't - not that I've seen much of reddit. Sorry I didn't make that clear enough. Not very interested in your recommendations after that, thanks; who would be?
  - belorn 8y ago
    The problem I have with that view is that the information that get reported from current left-wing political parties and politicians do not match books like those. It could be that: 1) The journalist reporting is wrong. 2) the current left-wing political parties are not left-wing. 3) the books are not about current left-wing politics, which has changed compared to when those books were written. For example, Debt: the First 5,000 Years has quite a lot to say about bridge gifts and gender roles which do not blame white men or use some "Patriarchy" theory where women are slaves to men. It does not make women to victim and men to conquers, but rather looking at the issue from a tribal/family resource perspective from an age when those practices were more common. That would be right-wing political view for a lot of people.