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I won't speak to censorship, but I will speak to the distribution incentives in social media algorithms. If these attacks got less free distribution, they migh

by nemild 8y ago

I won't speak to censorship, but I will speak to the distribution incentives in social media algorithms. If these attacks got less free distribution, they might be less likely to occur. Part of the incentive around horrific attacks like this is to get free marketing (aka, earned media) for a cause (as the killer makes clear in his manifesto). And to add some data, here's my analysis of Islamic terrorism vs. homicide coverage in the NY Times (as you can imagine, the scarier or more horrific the attack, the more distribution it gets in the press): https://www.nemil.com/s/part2-terrorism.html https://www.nemil.com/s/part2-terrorism.html And comparison of every death type by coverage: https://www.nemil.com/s/part3-horror-films.html https://www.nemil.com/s/part3-horror-films.html

mtgx 8y ago
Forget social media for a moment -- doesn't the regular media publicize non-stop terrorist attacks, too?
- forgottenpass 8y ago
  Yes. The advice from psycologists to the media about how to cover mass murder in a way to avoid causing to more is basically to minimize their coverage. They take the psycologist's advice when it comes to covering suicide causing more suicide (see the suicide prevention resources in every suicide article you've ever read), but with mass shootings the media can't help themselves. They (at best) cynically want the exposure and ad revenue, or (at worst) think so highly of their reporting's benefit to society that negative side effects won't happen.
candiodari 8y ago
Exactly there is the huge problem that if you look at how humans learn, you will quickly come to the conclusion that 99.9% of human behavior is copying others' behavior. That means it is very responsible to: 1) partly cloud or obscure methods/reasons for suicice 2) partly cloud or obscure motives for serious crimes This does NOT mean to lie about the events. Or even make that information to truly not be available. Just hide it ... just a bit so it doesn't pass through everyone's mind who just reads some news. There have been incidents in the past where news messages lead to copycats in both cases. The fact of the matter is that crime is not illogical or "evil". Crimes are committed for a specific purpose. Making people realize that "hey you can do this", or making people think about what a crime would accomplish vs what not doing a crime would accomplish will inevitably lead some to conclude the crime is the preferable option, and thus damage others.

by nemild 8y ago

mtgx 8y ago

Forget social media for a moment -- doesn't the regular media publicize non-stop terrorist attacks, too?

forgottenpass 8y ago
Yes. The advice from psycologists to the media about how to cover mass murder in a way to avoid causing to more is basically to minimize their coverage. They take the psycologist's advice when it comes to covering suicide causing more suicide (see the suicide prevention resources in every suicide article you've ever read), but with mass shootings the media can't help themselves. They (at best) cynically want the exposure and ad revenue, or (at worst) think so highly of their reporting's benefit to society that negative side effects won't happen.

candiodari 8y ago

Exactly there is the huge problem that if you look at how humans learn, you will quickly come to the conclusion that 99.9% of human behavior is copying others' behavior. That means it is very responsible to: 1) partly cloud or obscure methods/reasons for suicice 2) partly cloud or obscure motives for serious crimes This does NOT mean to lie about the events. Or even make that information to truly not be available. Just hide it ... just a bit so it doesn't pass through everyone's mind who just reads some news. There have been incidents in the past where news messages lead to copycats in both cases. The fact of the matter is that crime is not illogical or "evil". Crimes are committed for a specific purpose. Making people realize that "hey you can do this", or making people think about what a crime would accomplish vs what not doing a crime would accomplish will inevitably lead some to conclude the crime is the preferable option, and thus damage others.