4 ms·

>Feel-good rhetoric aside, your impact as an individual is limited and your defenses are fragile. In the age of social media, we have witnessed the power of th

>Feel-good rhetoric aside, your impact as an individual is limited and your defenses are fragile. In the age of social media, we have witnessed the power of the collective when it comes to combating hate speech and hate entities. Sometimes all it takes is one courageous whistleblower to ignite the spark that leads to the dismantling of lies, and the deplatforming of those who spreads them. I didn't meant to come off as being political, but the networking effect of the individual must not be underlooked.

mistermann 5y ago
Ate there any substantial recent examples of this where there were actual, materially significant consequences? Meanwhile, every day the forces of....not good get bigger and stronger, and the public more tribally divided by various forms of media, skilfully herded around like hypnotized sheep.
noduerme 5y ago
I don't see any power of individuals in this networking effect. For every racist act that's dismantled by individuals on social media, there are a hundred new lies and rumors spread by trolls, authoritarian governments and corporations. Even worse, though, is that those fighting for justice don't view the individual as being of primary importance. Their allegiance is to a cause, and individuals are expendable; free speech is dangerous to that cause, and even more dangerous when it comes in the form of minor criticism from someone within the group, which is harder to caricature and dismiss. The net result is that you have ostensible liberals who fight for justice squashing individuality - even going so far as to claim "individualism is a white construct" - while fascists get to masquerade as the upholders of individual rights and liberties. It's a farce because both sides are shamelessly, boot-licking craven lovers of groupthink and authoritarianism, but it's the "network effect" of social media - both the organizing and the deplatforming on both sides - that represses the individual inwardly and outwardly, and leads to them lying in service of populism.
- omgitsabird 5y ago
  What are you quoting? https://www.google.com/search?q=%22individualism+is+a+white+construct%22 https://www.google.com/search?q=%22individualism+is+a+white+...
  - angelzen 5y ago
    Google tip: lose the quotes, use just keywords. https://www.google.com/search?q=individualism+white https://www.google.com/search?q=individualism+white 4th result, the notorious 2011 "White Fragility" by one R. DiAngelo. Let's search for the root, "individual". Something perhaps interesting: "At the same time that whites are taught to see their interests and perspectives as universal, they are also taught to value the individual and to see themselves as individuals rather than as part of a racially socialized group. Individualism erases history and hides the ways in which wealth has been distributed and accumulated over generations to benefit whites today. It allows whites to view themselves as unique and original, outside of socialization and unaffected by the relentless racial messages in the culture. Individualism also allows whites to distance themselves from the actions of their racial group and demand to be granted the benefit of the doubt, as individuals, in all cases. A corollary to this unracialized identity is the ability to recognize Whiteness as something that is significant and that operates in society, but to not see how it relates to one’s own life. In this form, a white person recognizes Whiteness as real, but as the individual problem of other “bad” white people (DiAngelo, 2010a)." https://libjournal.uncg.edu/ijcp/article/viewFile/249/116 https://libjournal.uncg.edu/ijcp/article/viewFile/249/116
    - omgitsabird 5y ago
      I quoted it because it was presented as such, but thank you for sharing this.
      - angelzen 5y ago
        FWIW, I think the OP used quotes to distance himself from the quoted text, not to literally quote a passage.

mistermann 5y ago

Ate there any substantial recent examples of this where there were actual, materially significant consequences? Meanwhile, every day the forces of....not good get bigger and stronger, and the public more tribally divided by various forms of media, skilfully herded around like hypnotized sheep.

noduerme 5y ago

I don't see any power of individuals in this networking effect. For every racist act that's dismantled by individuals on social media, there are a hundred new lies and rumors spread by trolls, authoritarian governments and corporations. Even worse, though, is that those fighting for justice don't view the individual as being of primary importance. Their allegiance is to a cause, and individuals are expendable; free speech is dangerous to that cause, and even more dangerous when it comes in the form of minor criticism from someone within the group, which is harder to caricature and dismiss. The net result is that you have ostensible liberals who fight for justice squashing individuality - even going so far as to claim "individualism is a white construct" - while fascists get to masquerade as the upholders of individual rights and liberties. It's a farce because both sides are shamelessly, boot-licking craven lovers of groupthink and authoritarianism, but it's the "network effect" of social media - both the organizing and the deplatforming on both sides - that represses the individual inwardly and outwardly, and leads to them lying in service of populism.

omgitsabird 5y ago
What are you quoting? https://www.google.com/search?q=%22individualism+is+a+white+construct%22 https://www.google.com/search?q=%22individualism+is+a+white+...
- angelzen 5y ago
  Google tip: lose the quotes, use just keywords. https://www.google.com/search?q=individualism+white https://www.google.com/search?q=individualism+white 4th result, the notorious 2011 "White Fragility" by one R. DiAngelo. Let's search for the root, "individual". Something perhaps interesting: "At the same time that whites are taught to see their interests and perspectives as universal, they are also taught to value the individual and to see themselves as individuals rather than as part of a racially socialized group. Individualism erases history and hides the ways in which wealth has been distributed and accumulated over generations to benefit whites today. It allows whites to view themselves as unique and original, outside of socialization and unaffected by the relentless racial messages in the culture. Individualism also allows whites to distance themselves from the actions of their racial group and demand to be granted the benefit of the doubt, as individuals, in all cases. A corollary to this unracialized identity is the ability to recognize Whiteness as something that is significant and that operates in society, but to not see how it relates to one’s own life. In this form, a white person recognizes Whiteness as real, but as the individual problem of other “bad” white people (DiAngelo, 2010a)." https://libjournal.uncg.edu/ijcp/article/viewFile/249/116 https://libjournal.uncg.edu/ijcp/article/viewFile/249/116
  - omgitsabird 5y ago
    I quoted it because it was presented as such, but thank you for sharing this.
    - angelzen 5y ago
      FWIW, I think the OP used quotes to distance himself from the quoted text, not to literally quote a passage.