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Since when removing misinformation that can cause harm is censorship? If I had any say I would absolutely remove all your posts that are spreading the same lies

Since when removing misinformation that can cause harm is censorship? If I had any say I would absolutely remove all your posts that are spreading the same lies, you are literally killing people by furthering a specific agenda and trying to convince people that the vaccines are dangerous and ivermectin is the only cure. It’s honestly shameful that hacker news is letting this happen.

jesterson 5y ago
Something that you (or anyone else) insubstantiatedly label as misinformation may just not be so. That's pure censorship - "I think this is wrong, therefore it has to be removed". That's the rigidity and simplemindedness as opposed to intellectual curiosity, doesn't spark intellectual discussion and creates echo chambers of people regurgitating the same narratives over and over. Fortunately people sharing your approach are not having any say here so we keep HackerNews a civilised place where all opinions expressed without arrogance are having light of day.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  The earth may be flat after all. But making that statement absent actual proof is misinformation.
  - jesterson 5y ago
    You may be well right here, but it seems like there is significant difference what everyone is considering as "actual proof", hence definition of what is misinformation and what's not becomes very vague.
    - jacquesm 5y ago
      Ok, I'll take a stab at this then: 'misinformation is the spreading of information that is known to be false'. That doesn't assign any kind of state-of-mind to the person doing it, it could be because they're useful idiots, griefers, state operators and so on. Of course that kicks the can down the road: what exactly is known to be false and what is not? But we have a pretty good idea in the case of the flat earth and I think that other cases will lend themselves to such analysis. Holocaust denial is a nice example, Hillary Clinton running a pedophile network from a pizza joint is another. 5G phone network used for mind control and so on. All of these share the trait that reasonable people would - I assume, true - agree that these things are not true and that those that spread this do not have our best interests at heart, either through stupidity or malice.

jesterson 5y ago

Something that you (or anyone else) insubstantiatedly label as misinformation may just not be so. That's pure censorship - "I think this is wrong, therefore it has to be removed". That's the rigidity and simplemindedness as opposed to intellectual curiosity, doesn't spark intellectual discussion and creates echo chambers of people regurgitating the same narratives over and over. Fortunately people sharing your approach are not having any say here so we keep HackerNews a civilised place where all opinions expressed without arrogance are having light of day.

jacquesm 5y ago
The earth may be flat after all. But making that statement absent actual proof is misinformation.
- jesterson 5y ago
  You may be well right here, but it seems like there is significant difference what everyone is considering as "actual proof", hence definition of what is misinformation and what's not becomes very vague.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Ok, I'll take a stab at this then: 'misinformation is the spreading of information that is known to be false'. That doesn't assign any kind of state-of-mind to the person doing it, it could be because they're useful idiots, griefers, state operators and so on. Of course that kicks the can down the road: what exactly is known to be false and what is not? But we have a pretty good idea in the case of the flat earth and I think that other cases will lend themselves to such analysis. Holocaust denial is a nice example, Hillary Clinton running a pedophile network from a pizza joint is another. 5G phone network used for mind control and so on. All of these share the trait that reasonable people would - I assume, true - agree that these things are not true and that those that spread this do not have our best interests at heart, either through stupidity or malice.