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All that happens if you voice your opinion in the opposite direction of an internet mob is you get piled on too. Anyone who has been on the internet must have e

All that happens if you voice your opinion in the opposite direction of an internet mob is you get piled on too. Anyone who has been on the internet must have experienced this more than once. Introducing some facts or measure (which is hard with twitters very tiny character limit that squashes nuance and debate) in a response is just the same thing. The internet mob is a mob and acts like a mob and its best to get out of the way. Alas we don't have any riot police so they get to just rip up peoples lives however they want.

hindsightbias 5y ago
An internet mob is the perfect model for what a Direct Democracy would look like.
- Supermancho 5y ago
  That IS what direct democracy is. Those who are the most motivated are a mix of earnest intellectuals and furious emotional reactionaries. The rest stay uninformed and apathetic, voting with the most outspoken they identify with or not at all.
- username90 5y ago
  Switzerland is the perfect model for what a direct democracy actually looks like and it is nothing like a twitter mob.
  - temp8964 5y ago
    What? This is a totally nonsensical response. Everybody read history knows current Switzerland is a very unique outlier.
    - username90 5y ago
      Why couldn't other countries just implement the same system? Is there something magical about Swiss people that makes them handle direct democracy responsibly that other populations doesn't have? If you talk about their finances, sure that wont replicate, but there is nothing preventing their model of democracy from working.
      - temp8964 5y ago
        > Is there something magical about Swiss people that makes them handle direct democracy responsibly that other populations doesn't have? This doesn't have to be anything magical. Do you believe there is no cultural difference? Or do you believe culture doesn't matter to a democracy system?
    - eitland 5y ago
      > Everybody read history knows current Switzerland is a very unique outlier. Correct. But I cannot see how it supports this part that you started with: > What? This is a totally nonsensical response.
  - 4h53n 5y ago
    Where "voters narrowly rejected a plan to levy taxes on airline tickets and car fuel to tackle climate change". https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/06/19/politics-this-week https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/06/19/pol...
    - thu2111 5y ago
      What's your point? The internet mob views the rightness of such things as being beyond question, an actual direct democracy doesn't. Seems like good support for the original point.
- bosswipe 5y ago
  That makes no sense. A Direct Democracy would take into account the people that are not participating in the mob.
dcow 5y ago
You also have to blame companies/hr for being so reactive and possibly our governments for not taking action to insulate society against the impacts of internet mobs on peoples’ pursuit of happiness. The fact that 100 people on Twitter can get somebody fired just by calling them a rapist with absolutely no proof is a social/societal failure. I highly suspect ending this person’s contracts cost the companies more money than the PR/threat of loss of 100 Twitter users business. Is nobody at these companies that participate in canceling people mature enough to let the storm blow over? Which leads to the social element, good legal systems require the accusers to bear the burden of proof. I think it’s possible that there’s a legal framework by which we could consider it unconstitutional fire somebody for somebody else’s character opinion, essentially firing someone without evidence that they create a hostile work environment or are not performing their duties. Look at CA, you cant use somebody’s criminal record against them when making a hiring decision. That law exists for exactly this reason: incarceration evidently weighs an undue burden on the incarcerated as they try to integrate back into society. And thats for people who’ve been convicted. We’re talking about mob driven allegations.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- underseacables 5y ago
  This is one of those rare instances I would say there should be a law that prevents a company from firing an employee for something they did not attached to their work.
  - rkk3 5y ago
    > something they did not attached to their work. Except it was very much attached to his work since this was happening at industry events...
- thu2111 5y ago
  To do that you'd need to roll back corporate feminism. The reason this guy got cancelled is the feminist culture of "always believe the victim" which is basically the same as "always believe an accusation". Anyone who points out that women can and do lie about being raped i.e. an accusation is not automatically true, is immediately trashed by feminists as a woman hater, and they make it quite clear that it's a "pick us or them" type situation, which in turn makes it difficult to treat the topic rationally. This poor guys situation is the inevitable result. The art world is especially exposed to this because it's full of leftists, so you're really asking for a roll back of identity politics as a whole. Good luck with that. If you figure it out let us know.
prepend 5y ago
That’s what happens now because there are fewer “dissenters” and it’s more work to reply and dissent. I think if Twitter had an easy way to show displeasure, it would be more common, and thus harder for internet mobs to form around them. I used to think that no one had time to internet mob strangers so maybe I’m wrong that there’s not enough attention to mob every “meh” and dislike.
GoodJokes 5y ago
Getting rid of ad based social media would go a long ways to ameliorating this though. Cancelling is ultimately an extremely valuable service for social media. Increases engagement like crazy, and ultimately can serve as leverage politically. "Yo, we could start boosting x cancelling narrative wink wink."

hindsightbias 5y ago

An internet mob is the perfect model for what a Direct Democracy would look like.

Supermancho 5y ago
That IS what direct democracy is. Those who are the most motivated are a mix of earnest intellectuals and furious emotional reactionaries. The rest stay uninformed and apathetic, voting with the most outspoken they identify with or not at all.
username90 5y ago
Switzerland is the perfect model for what a direct democracy actually looks like and it is nothing like a twitter mob.
- temp8964 5y ago
  What? This is a totally nonsensical response. Everybody read history knows current Switzerland is a very unique outlier.
  - username90 5y ago
    Why couldn't other countries just implement the same system? Is there something magical about Swiss people that makes them handle direct democracy responsibly that other populations doesn't have? If you talk about their finances, sure that wont replicate, but there is nothing preventing their model of democracy from working.
    - temp8964 5y ago
      > Is there something magical about Swiss people that makes them handle direct democracy responsibly that other populations doesn't have? This doesn't have to be anything magical. Do you believe there is no cultural difference? Or do you believe culture doesn't matter to a democracy system?
  - eitland 5y ago
    > Everybody read history knows current Switzerland is a very unique outlier. Correct. But I cannot see how it supports this part that you started with: > What? This is a totally nonsensical response.
- 4h53n 5y ago
  Where "voters narrowly rejected a plan to levy taxes on airline tickets and car fuel to tackle climate change". https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/06/19/politics-this-week https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/06/19/pol...
  - thu2111 5y ago
    What's your point? The internet mob views the rightness of such things as being beyond question, an actual direct democracy doesn't. Seems like good support for the original point.
bosswipe 5y ago
That makes no sense. A Direct Democracy would take into account the people that are not participating in the mob.

dcow 5y ago

You also have to blame companies/hr for being so reactive and possibly our governments for not taking action to insulate society against the impacts of internet mobs on peoples’ pursuit of happiness. The fact that 100 people on Twitter can get somebody fired just by calling them a rapist with absolutely no proof is a social/societal failure. I highly suspect ending this person’s contracts cost the companies more money than the PR/threat of loss of 100 Twitter users business. Is nobody at these companies that participate in canceling people mature enough to let the storm blow over? Which leads to the social element, good legal systems require the accusers to bear the burden of proof. I think it’s possible that there’s a legal framework by which we could consider it unconstitutional fire somebody for somebody else’s character opinion, essentially firing someone without evidence that they create a hostile work environment or are not performing their duties. Look at CA, you cant use somebody’s criminal record against them when making a hiring decision. That law exists for exactly this reason: incarceration evidently weighs an undue burden on the incarcerated as they try to integrate back into society. And thats for people who’ve been convicted. We’re talking about mob driven allegations.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
underseacables 5y ago
This is one of those rare instances I would say there should be a law that prevents a company from firing an employee for something they did not attached to their work.
- rkk3 5y ago
  > something they did not attached to their work. Except it was very much attached to his work since this was happening at industry events...
thu2111 5y ago
To do that you'd need to roll back corporate feminism. The reason this guy got cancelled is the feminist culture of "always believe the victim" which is basically the same as "always believe an accusation". Anyone who points out that women can and do lie about being raped i.e. an accusation is not automatically true, is immediately trashed by feminists as a woman hater, and they make it quite clear that it's a "pick us or them" type situation, which in turn makes it difficult to treat the topic rationally. This poor guys situation is the inevitable result. The art world is especially exposed to this because it's full of leftists, so you're really asking for a roll back of identity politics as a whole. Good luck with that. If you figure it out let us know.

prepend 5y ago

That’s what happens now because there are fewer “dissenters” and it’s more work to reply and dissent. I think if Twitter had an easy way to show displeasure, it would be more common, and thus harder for internet mobs to form around them. I used to think that no one had time to internet mob strangers so maybe I’m wrong that there’s not enough attention to mob every “meh” and dislike.

GoodJokes 5y ago

Getting rid of ad based social media would go a long ways to ameliorating this though. Cancelling is ultimately an extremely valuable service for social media. Increases engagement like crazy, and ultimately can serve as leverage politically. "Yo, we could start boosting x cancelling narrative wink wink."