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I think their methodology of measuring "extremist" content "through a composite measure consisting of the frequency of profane words, racial slurs and negative

by pnako 7y ago

I think their methodology of measuring "extremist" content "through a composite measure consisting of the frequency of profane words, racial slurs and negative overall sentiment of the post" is flawed. It will completely overweight places like 4chan, where potty-mouthed teenagers and young adults like to be edgy, or sites like Facebook where boomers rant about immigration or other social issues, while completely escaping real extremist content like actual terrorist manifestos (e.g. the Unabomber manifesto or Al Qaeda publications, which are not full of profane words and racial slurs).

DanBC 7y ago
Ironic racism is simply racism. Edgy teens on 4chan are racist edgy teens on 4chan, and they promote extremism.
- pnako 7y ago
  The point I was trying to make is that the most extreme content (i.e. literal terrorist manifestos) typically is _not_ full of racial slurs or similar content. Look at the manifesto from the Christchurch shooter, for example. Not a single racial slur. In fact, it's entirely possible that, as a place becomes more serious/more political (and thus perhaps more dangerous and indeed "extremist") you will see the speech use fewer slurs or offensive speech. Thus if you wanted to detect actual extremism you'll have to do much more in-depth analysis to try and infer meaning. Probably with human analysts rather than a script counting the number of n-words in a given week.
  - alphabettsy 7y ago
    This is exactly what politicians do. That’s where the term dog-whistle comes into play because it’s not always clear what they’re talking about. “Jews will not replace us” becomes “we’re concerned about maintaining our cultural heritage”.
alphabettsy 7y ago
Racism is a problem, even in schools, so I don’t think calling it edgy or boomer ranting is help. It minimizes and normalizes it as if it’s somehow acceptable. Neither the Unabomber or Al Qaeda have any impact on the lives on millions of Americans. Racism that refuses to die certainly does as demonstrated by the number of hate crimes we see in this country both major and minor.
- onyva 7y ago
  Well put.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]

by pnako 7y ago

DanBC 7y ago

Ironic racism is simply racism. Edgy teens on 4chan are racist edgy teens on 4chan, and they promote extremism.

pnako 7y ago
The point I was trying to make is that the most extreme content (i.e. literal terrorist manifestos) typically is _not_ full of racial slurs or similar content. Look at the manifesto from the Christchurch shooter, for example. Not a single racial slur. In fact, it's entirely possible that, as a place becomes more serious/more political (and thus perhaps more dangerous and indeed "extremist") you will see the speech use fewer slurs or offensive speech. Thus if you wanted to detect actual extremism you'll have to do much more in-depth analysis to try and infer meaning. Probably with human analysts rather than a script counting the number of n-words in a given week.
- alphabettsy 7y ago
  This is exactly what politicians do. That’s where the term dog-whistle comes into play because it’s not always clear what they’re talking about. “Jews will not replace us” becomes “we’re concerned about maintaining our cultural heritage”.

alphabettsy 7y ago

Racism is a problem, even in schools, so I don’t think calling it edgy or boomer ranting is help. It minimizes and normalizes it as if it’s somehow acceptable. Neither the Unabomber or Al Qaeda have any impact on the lives on millions of Americans. Racism that refuses to die certainly does as demonstrated by the number of hate crimes we see in this country both major and minor.

onyva 7y ago
Well put.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]