4 ms·

>social media enables the construction and enforcement of intellectual and political orthodoxy. You hit on it, but this is the crux to me - what makes them thi

>social media enables the construction and enforcement of intellectual and political orthodoxy. You hit on it, but this is the crux to me - what makes them think this wasn't possible before? Or, if they did think it possible before, how does voluntary sharing to a community compare with, say, church-driven enforcement of intellectual and political orthodoxy? I agree, there were no good old days on this topic.

mrandish 5y ago
> ...church-driven enforcement of intellectual and political orthodoxy It's interesting you noted that line. When I read it, I was thinking of the legendary Saturday Night Live "Church Lady" skits. The character Dana Carvey created perfectly captured the judgemental, moralizing environment I saw in church communities as a child. The skit was so funny because it reflected a reality barely hidden beneath a thin-veneer of faux-friendliness.
notsureaboutpg 5y ago
I think you are deliberately missing the point. One example: Kevin Hart had to step down from hosting the Oscars because 10-20 years ago he made a joke about how his kid would never be gay and if he were he would hit him with his dollhouse (the joke being that Kevin is oblivious to how gender-bending the kid already is). That's only really possible because of social media. In the good old days if such a comment surfaced, there wouldn't be horses of randos calling for consequences for such a thing from so long ago. The preservation and immediateness of long ago comments enables this. Church driven orthodoxy was about what happened now. You could be forgiven if you took back what you said or you apologized. Churches didn't go back 20 years to your tweet history and inquisition you over it. Social media enables such things literally by keeping a record of all your comments from years ago (which didn't exist back then) and also by allowing people now to interact with such comments from years ago, right now.
warkdarrior 5y ago
This was possible before social media, but social media (like most technology) allows it to happen faster, on a larger, scale, and cheaply. Before you had to rely on neighbors' gossip. Now you have Facebook, where your "neighbors" from two continents over tell you things are wrong in your neighborhood.
soundnote 5y ago
The church mention reminded me of this article on the pre-Soviet Russian intelligentsia: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/10/suicide-of-the-liberals https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/10/suicide-of-the-l... They lived in meat Twitter a hundred years ago.

mrandish 5y ago

> ...church-driven enforcement of intellectual and political orthodoxy It's interesting you noted that line. When I read it, I was thinking of the legendary Saturday Night Live "Church Lady" skits. The character Dana Carvey created perfectly captured the judgemental, moralizing environment I saw in church communities as a child. The skit was so funny because it reflected a reality barely hidden beneath a thin-veneer of faux-friendliness.

notsureaboutpg 5y ago

I think you are deliberately missing the point. One example: Kevin Hart had to step down from hosting the Oscars because 10-20 years ago he made a joke about how his kid would never be gay and if he were he would hit him with his dollhouse (the joke being that Kevin is oblivious to how gender-bending the kid already is). That's only really possible because of social media. In the good old days if such a comment surfaced, there wouldn't be horses of randos calling for consequences for such a thing from so long ago. The preservation and immediateness of long ago comments enables this. Church driven orthodoxy was about what happened now. You could be forgiven if you took back what you said or you apologized. Churches didn't go back 20 years to your tweet history and inquisition you over it. Social media enables such things literally by keeping a record of all your comments from years ago (which didn't exist back then) and also by allowing people now to interact with such comments from years ago, right now.

warkdarrior 5y ago

This was possible before social media, but social media (like most technology) allows it to happen faster, on a larger, scale, and cheaply. Before you had to rely on neighbors' gossip. Now you have Facebook, where your "neighbors" from two continents over tell you things are wrong in your neighborhood.

soundnote 5y ago

The church mention reminded me of this article on the pre-Soviet Russian intelligentsia: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/10/suicide-of-the-liberals https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/10/suicide-of-the-l... They lived in meat Twitter a hundred years ago.