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I’m surrounded by neighbors who still proudly display their Trump flags. They’re incredibly nice people who have never heard of Stripe, AWS or Parler and don’t

by awb 6y ago

I’m surrounded by neighbors who still proudly display their Trump flags. They’re incredibly nice people who have never heard of Stripe, AWS or Parler and don’t own Twitter accounts. When we see video of hundreds of people storming the capital, or dozens of violent online posts, let’s not forget that their are lots of Trump supporters who don’t participate in or like the drama of recent weeks and aren’t as integrated with “Big Tech”. They’re traditional Fox News watching Republicans for whom their content and information has been uninterrupted. These bans are tangential to their everyday experience. For us in tech, it probably feels more direct as we’ve personally interacted with these platforms.

rwcarlsen 6y ago
They're going to hear about how big tech is conspiring to censor and take down their man though. This stampede is going to tick off a lot of moderate, "incredibly nice" people that would have otherwise been fine.
- awb 6y ago
  That might be true, but then what? How do they boycott / protest these companies they’re already not involved with and don’t really understand? Maybe Amazon is the most exposed if the media is able to adequately explain how AWS and Amazon are related.
  - rwcarlsen 6y ago
    They have money. And children. And grandchildren. Those things equal influence. They also have votes.
    - awb 6y ago
      Sure, but you can only vote once and they already vote every election, so they can’t change their behavior there. I suppose they could donate more but my neighbors still flying their Biden flags have money as well. For them, these events and tech bans have only justified their world view of how dangerous Trump is. If the result on both sides is donating and voting and raising children that seems pretty consistent with the past few centuries of American politics. So, not much will change?
      - rwcarlsen 6y ago
        That's a fair point. However, it's a matter of how angry each side gets. There is some critical level of anger that provokes unrest and strong reaction.
        awb 6y ago
        > There is some critical level of anger that provokes unrest and strong reaction. Very true. I guess it's a fine line between being objective and being pragmatic. We don't want other people's anger to put pressure on our moral compass, but we don't want massive unrest either.

by awb 6y ago

rwcarlsen 6y ago

They're going to hear about how big tech is conspiring to censor and take down their man though. This stampede is going to tick off a lot of moderate, "incredibly nice" people that would have otherwise been fine.

awb 6y ago
That might be true, but then what? How do they boycott / protest these companies they’re already not involved with and don’t really understand? Maybe Amazon is the most exposed if the media is able to adequately explain how AWS and Amazon are related.
- rwcarlsen 6y ago
  They have money. And children. And grandchildren. Those things equal influence. They also have votes.
  - awb 6y ago
    Sure, but you can only vote once and they already vote every election, so they can’t change their behavior there. I suppose they could donate more but my neighbors still flying their Biden flags have money as well. For them, these events and tech bans have only justified their world view of how dangerous Trump is. If the result on both sides is donating and voting and raising children that seems pretty consistent with the past few centuries of American politics. So, not much will change?
    - rwcarlsen 6y ago
      That's a fair point. However, it's a matter of how angry each side gets. There is some critical level of anger that provokes unrest and strong reaction.
      - awb 6y ago
        > There is some critical level of anger that provokes unrest and strong reaction. Very true. I guess it's a fine line between being objective and being pragmatic. We don't want other people's anger to put pressure on our moral compass, but we don't want massive unrest either.