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I think this makes sense. But I also think it's not easy because I posit that the people most susceptible to being swayed by extremism or conspiracy theories o
by PakG1 6y ago
I think this makes sense. But I also think it's not easy because I posit that the people most susceptible to being swayed by extremism or conspiracy theories on Facebook are also the same people who would scoff at the concept of political distancing. In fact, they may decry it as attempts to suppress free speech. In that event, it's like COVID-19 deniers. They are the ones who would most flaunt the guidelines to avoid COVID-19, so they are the ones who would be most susceptible to get infected and spread infection among other COVID-19 deniers. This idea of political distancing may stop the spread of misinformation among the general population if the general population agreed to it, but it's the peopled swayed by extremism and conspiracy theories that would cause the most issues and/or societal damage anyway. How do you slow down the spread of misinformation amongst people who seek it out is the more difficult question.
- claytongulick 6y agoReally? We're calling people Covid-19 deniers now? This doesn't seem to be in keeping with the spirit of discussion or rules on HN.
- PakG1 6y agoIs there a better term I could use? I thought that was a fairly neutral and nonderogatory term.
- mixmastamyk 6y agoThey exist, but a much larger group just want to go to work with a few precautions.
- PakG1 6y agoRight, but I am talking about the people who call it a hoax and not real. Hence the term denier.
- a_imho 6y agoPerhaps skeptics is a less loaded term?
- PureParadigm 6y agoI think this is a good point. I'm not sure how to best encourage political distancing. Perhaps the most realistic way is to pitch it as a way to reduce stress/anger/etc. (which I think will be true), but this relies on a self-disciplined general public which is not exactly something I'd bet money on. So this means we would need a more structural change or tools people could use to help them disengage in a healthy way. If it is really so difficult to sort out the misinformation, then the next best thing would be to make the feed/site as boring as possible. Of course Facebook will never do this and another site would just take its place if it did. But I think it's important to realize that there are other strategies besides sorting out all of the misinformation (which may truly be a difficult/impossible task).
- timonoko 6y agoI think Facebook has banned totally Swedish Government information about COVID. And maybe Finnish Government information too. Because I have only seen American Bulletins on Facebook unlike on Twitter. Swedish did not believe in masks and lockdowns at all. And Finnish government told us masks are only safe with professional training as per doctors and nurses.
- rightbyte 6y agoGiven the maximal confusion from wordwide health authorities aswell as local authorities concerning covid19 I would argue that the split in what people believe is not very suprising.