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People could always find like minded people and communicate, it might have been less efficient but conspiracy groups have always magazines in news stands, publi
by flukus 6y ago
People could always find like minded people and communicate, it might have been less efficient but conspiracy groups have always magazines in news stands, published books in stores and libraries, international newsletters, less formal letter based communication and conventions. You were probably less likely to come across them because it took a little more effort and you were in a "mainstream bubble" (I don't mean that negatively) but they were always there.
Saying it didn't exists before the internet is like saying dating didn't exists before it was online.
- modriano 6y agoSpeed, scale, accessibility, and the ability to target susceptible people without geographic proximity make it a novel problem. A person handling out pamphlets (asserting something like "Liberal politicians run a pedophilia ring, look for the Pizza code!") can communicate with on the order of 10^1 people per day, and can persuade on the order of 10^1 people per year. The medium is sketchy, the messenger can't be abstracted from the message, one would have to be physically near the messenger, and the messenger would have to be actively trying to communicate with you when you came into proximity. A person posting links to a (fake news) site (asserting something like "Liberal politicians run a pedophilia ring, look for the Pizza code!") via FB can reach on the order of 10^6 people in a day or two. And FB promotes that content to the people who are more susceptible. Ideas couldn't spread like this ever before.