5 ms·

The better question is what percentage of Parler users fit the stereotype? Based on what I've seen and people I know who were active on Gab and Parler I would

The better question is what percentage of Parler users fit the stereotype? Based on what I've seen and people I know who were active on Gab and Parler I would venture to say it's not nearly as high as people think. The amount of people with truly fringe beliefs is pretty small, even when concentrated.

dmix 6y ago
> The amount of people with truly fringe beliefs is pretty small, even when concentrated. And I'd personally much rather have this small group of people outletting their anger onto the internet instead of IRL. Pushing them further and further into a corner with ever expanding censorship and expecting them to become good tolerant citizens has always seemed like a fools game to me.
- sofixa 6y ago
  > And I'd personally much rather have this small group of people outletting their anger onto the internet instead of IRL IRL they're limited physically to whoever they can reach; online they can make their hate travel the world ( point in case, there were QAnon related actions in Germany! If the Q people had been purely IRL that would have never happened)
- Jare 6y ago
  That was the right frame of thinking before "onto the internet" came to mean "with the capability to reach, engage and influence millions of normal people". Also, receiving thousands of threats and being doxed "onto the internet" has very serious consequences IRL.
- pjc50 6y ago
  That distinction collapsed a long time ago, before the Internet stormed the Capitol.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > And I’d personally much rather have this small group of people outletting their anger onto the internet instead of IRL. Venting anger on the internet and it producing no real change isn’t an “outlet”, its just a pressure cooker. > Pushing them further and further into a corner with ever expanding censorship and expecting them to become good tolerant citizens has always seemed like a fools game to me. Containing the various white supremacist / conspiracy cults isn’t about reforming them, its about reducing their ability to recruit and radicalize. While reforming those already in the cults would be nice, its mostly a lost cause. They aren’t, for the most part, going to become “good, tolerant citizens”.
arp242 6y ago
I can't speak to Parler as I never checked it (and can't now), but I just checked the Gab homepage and I encountered anti-vaxx, anti-Catholicism, QAnon, and election fraud nonsense. This is just the frontpage: no cherry-picking. There is nothing outright illegal on the homepage, but it's also not a good look to be honest. Aside: Gab is horrible technically speaking; Firefox uses my full CPU :-/

dmix 6y ago

> The amount of people with truly fringe beliefs is pretty small, even when concentrated. And I'd personally much rather have this small group of people outletting their anger onto the internet instead of IRL. Pushing them further and further into a corner with ever expanding censorship and expecting them to become good tolerant citizens has always seemed like a fools game to me.

sofixa 6y ago
> And I'd personally much rather have this small group of people outletting their anger onto the internet instead of IRL IRL they're limited physically to whoever they can reach; online they can make their hate travel the world ( point in case, there were QAnon related actions in Germany! If the Q people had been purely IRL that would have never happened)
Jare 6y ago
That was the right frame of thinking before "onto the internet" came to mean "with the capability to reach, engage and influence millions of normal people". Also, receiving thousands of threats and being doxed "onto the internet" has very serious consequences IRL.
pjc50 6y ago
That distinction collapsed a long time ago, before the Internet stormed the Capitol.
dragonwriter 6y ago
> And I’d personally much rather have this small group of people outletting their anger onto the internet instead of IRL. Venting anger on the internet and it producing no real change isn’t an “outlet”, its just a pressure cooker. > Pushing them further and further into a corner with ever expanding censorship and expecting them to become good tolerant citizens has always seemed like a fools game to me. Containing the various white supremacist / conspiracy cults isn’t about reforming them, its about reducing their ability to recruit and radicalize. While reforming those already in the cults would be nice, its mostly a lost cause. They aren’t, for the most part, going to become “good, tolerant citizens”.

arp242 6y ago

I can't speak to Parler as I never checked it (and can't now), but I just checked the Gab homepage and I encountered anti-vaxx, anti-Catholicism, QAnon, and election fraud nonsense. This is just the frontpage: no cherry-picking. There is nothing outright illegal on the homepage, but it's also not a good look to be honest. Aside: Gab is horrible technically speaking; Firefox uses my full CPU :-/