4 ms·

Watch "the social dilemma" Political correctness is killing this country, inside out. The media and big-tech are now the big brothers. The network did not bri

by ausjke 6y ago

Watch "the social dilemma" Political correctness is killing this country, inside out. The media and big-tech are now the big brothers. The network did not bring people together, it drove us apart. Even this post will be downvoted, because it does not sound "kind and nice", because it complained about big-media-tech's censorship, thus it must be censored at HN

jml7c5 6y ago
There is a lot of division over political correctness, but I would not suggest that it is the cause, any more than a cough is the cause of a cold. There is something that is driving us apart on many, many issues, and political correctness just happens to be one of the more prominent ones. And HN is pretty friendly to discussion of big-media-tech censorship in general. It's when a post veers too far into conspiracy or persecution territory that downvotes flow in.
- pgwhalen 6y ago
  > There is something that is driving us apart I must say I am too curious not to ask, this quite cryptic. What would you say is driving us apart?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - jasonv 6y ago
    My observation: dissection conversation. People write paragraphs, someone takes an issue with a word or a sentence, and writes a divergent post on just that word/sentence. Then that post gets the same treatment by another participant.. again and again, in multiplying ways. Take a submission 3 threads removed from the originating post and see what relation exists among the ideas. I lurk and observe this in online discourse with some bemusement. It’s not how to speak at work or with friends. There are convergent and divergent modes of discourse, to be sure, but look here at HN, or Twitter, and see how the dialogue cuts on words and sentences. It’s the divergent discourse without any of the convergent discourse.
  - jml7c5 6y ago
    I was cryptic in part because it is not completely clear. It's difficult even to pin down when we started on this path. That said, one surprisingly important influence seems to be the rise of image posts + eternal scrolling. It's the ideal method for delivering a continuous stream of entertaining "the other side is bad" outrage content.
- cambalache 6y ago
  > And HN is pretty friendly to discussion of big-media-tech censorship in general. As long as you blame the "correct" people. You can blame politicians, rich executives, Russia, China and you will be lauded here. You blame the hypocrisy of certain social movements, FAANG employees, Nordic countries, in general anything that can impact the POV of the average HN user and you will be downvoted swiftly. Most websites, this included, do not work to amplify the spectrum of opinions presented but to concentrate it in a tiny, fiercely regulated window. In that sense, old forums, usenet and even the daily mail comment section were more egalitarian.
  - the_only_law 6y ago
    Genuine question: what the hell do Nordic countries have to do with media censorship in general?
    - cambalache 6y ago
      I was talking in general , not just censorship. Despite of what some Americans may think the Nordic countries are not utopias, there is plenty to criticize about them.

by ausjke 6y ago

jml7c5 6y ago

There is a lot of division over political correctness, but I would not suggest that it is the cause, any more than a cough is the cause of a cold. There is something that is driving us apart on many, many issues, and political correctness just happens to be one of the more prominent ones. And HN is pretty friendly to discussion of big-media-tech censorship in general. It's when a post veers too far into conspiracy or persecution territory that downvotes flow in.

pgwhalen 6y ago
> There is something that is driving us apart I must say I am too curious not to ask, this quite cryptic. What would you say is driving us apart?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- jasonv 6y ago
  My observation: dissection conversation. People write paragraphs, someone takes an issue with a word or a sentence, and writes a divergent post on just that word/sentence. Then that post gets the same treatment by another participant.. again and again, in multiplying ways. Take a submission 3 threads removed from the originating post and see what relation exists among the ideas. I lurk and observe this in online discourse with some bemusement. It’s not how to speak at work or with friends. There are convergent and divergent modes of discourse, to be sure, but look here at HN, or Twitter, and see how the dialogue cuts on words and sentences. It’s the divergent discourse without any of the convergent discourse.
- jml7c5 6y ago
  I was cryptic in part because it is not completely clear. It's difficult even to pin down when we started on this path. That said, one surprisingly important influence seems to be the rise of image posts + eternal scrolling. It's the ideal method for delivering a continuous stream of entertaining "the other side is bad" outrage content.
cambalache 6y ago
> And HN is pretty friendly to discussion of big-media-tech censorship in general. As long as you blame the "correct" people. You can blame politicians, rich executives, Russia, China and you will be lauded here. You blame the hypocrisy of certain social movements, FAANG employees, Nordic countries, in general anything that can impact the POV of the average HN user and you will be downvoted swiftly. Most websites, this included, do not work to amplify the spectrum of opinions presented but to concentrate it in a tiny, fiercely regulated window. In that sense, old forums, usenet and even the daily mail comment section were more egalitarian.
- the_only_law 6y ago
  Genuine question: what the hell do Nordic countries have to do with media censorship in general?
  - cambalache 6y ago
    I was talking in general , not just censorship. Despite of what some Americans may think the Nordic countries are not utopias, there is plenty to criticize about them.