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What is wrong with "polarization" beyond it being different to the centre? All this talk of it seems nothing more than mere reactionary. Surely, views from the

What is wrong with "polarization" beyond it being different to the centre? All this talk of it seems nothing more than mere reactionary. Surely, views from the extreme shouldn't just be dismissed, and we should understand why people hold those views instead of doubling down and trying to eliminate them.

anigbrowl 7y ago
We already understand that pretty well. Trying to hug it out with people who are already committed to killing you is a fool's errand. There are several groups devoted to deradicalization if you want to research that in greater depth.
- dvtrn 7y ago
  Wow. That’s a huge chasm you’ve shoveled to define polarization, “people committed to killing you”, there are definitely extreme whackos out there but do you really think they’re that representative of the whole or is there maybe a more nuanced way of defining the polarization effects of social media?
  - anigbrowl 7y ago
    The GP was specifically talking about extremists.
  - pjc50 7y ago
    If we step it back a bit to "committed to policies which cause avoidable death", or "protection of those who have caused death by negligence", or "mistreatment of others in a context which is known to trigger suicide", then ... yes, that's all mainstream policy. One example of this was https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/katie-hopkins-when-is-enough-enough-10186490.html https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/katie-hopkins-when-is-e... ; now, is Katie Hopkins "an extreme whacko" for overtly demanding the murder of refugees, or is she "just saying what everyone is thinking" among Sun and LBC audiences?
wvenable 7y ago
But what if people didn't have these views before and platform polarization is in fact creating these extreme views. That could very well be the why.
- anigbrowl 7y ago
  It certainly facilitates transmission but the underlying ideology is usually independent of the technology, imho - although it's arguable that extremist ideologies may be used to navigate the social uncertainty accompanying disruptive change.

anigbrowl 7y ago

We already understand that pretty well. Trying to hug it out with people who are already committed to killing you is a fool's errand. There are several groups devoted to deradicalization if you want to research that in greater depth.

dvtrn 7y ago
Wow. That’s a huge chasm you’ve shoveled to define polarization, “people committed to killing you”, there are definitely extreme whackos out there but do you really think they’re that representative of the whole or is there maybe a more nuanced way of defining the polarization effects of social media?
- anigbrowl 7y ago
  The GP was specifically talking about extremists.
- pjc50 7y ago
  If we step it back a bit to "committed to policies which cause avoidable death", or "protection of those who have caused death by negligence", or "mistreatment of others in a context which is known to trigger suicide", then ... yes, that's all mainstream policy. One example of this was https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/katie-hopkins-when-is-enough-enough-10186490.html https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/katie-hopkins-when-is-e... ; now, is Katie Hopkins "an extreme whacko" for overtly demanding the murder of refugees, or is she "just saying what everyone is thinking" among Sun and LBC audiences?

wvenable 7y ago

But what if people didn't have these views before and platform polarization is in fact creating these extreme views. That could very well be the why.

anigbrowl 7y ago
It certainly facilitates transmission but the underlying ideology is usually independent of the technology, imho - although it's arguable that extremist ideologies may be used to navigate the social uncertainty accompanying disruptive change.