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> If I assert that the earth is flat on Facebook why shouldn't that simply be labelled false Isn't that implying that the reader is too ignorant to know at a g

> If I assert that the earth is flat on Facebook why shouldn't that simply be labelled false Isn't that implying that the reader is too ignorant to know at a glance? In the marketplace of ideas shouldn't that nonsense content just get buried anyway? > There are plenty of people lying and/or grifting on the other side of this power structure as well. Agreed. Lying is how you create something out of nothing after all. I don't like being lied to but some amount of lying does seem to be necessary to maintain any control over a group of people and impose order. > No one felt the need to fact-check discussion forums because those posts were not likely to spread to millions of people. Exactly. The range and impact presents a challenge to their long held ability to unequivocally decide what is 'true' -- which is the authority's most critical power because this effectively creates reality, from which everything else flows. It's not surprising they are defending it so vigorously... they just don't call it that. They use phrases like 'combating misinformation' and 'fact checking'.

joppy 5y ago
This isn’t a free marketplace of ideas though - thanks to dubious algorithms and recommendations, not all ideas even have a chance of being seen, let alone the bad ones buried. The echo-chamber phenomenon is like walking into a shop, looking at an item on a shelf from one manufacturer, and then once you put it back and look around you can only see items from that manufacturer. You get trapped in a bubble where you’re only ever seeing content like the content you just engaged with. I agree that in a free marketplace of ideas bullshit content would get buried, but this isn’t how modern social media platforms work.
CRConrad 5y ago
> Isn't that implying that the reader is too ignorant to know at a glance? Yes. Have you been on Facebook?!? It's pretty much Ignorance City. > In the marketplace of ideas shouldn't that nonsense content just get buried anyway? Maybe it would... If the "marketplace of ideas" weren't a marketplace of sheep.

joppy 5y ago

This isn’t a free marketplace of ideas though - thanks to dubious algorithms and recommendations, not all ideas even have a chance of being seen, let alone the bad ones buried. The echo-chamber phenomenon is like walking into a shop, looking at an item on a shelf from one manufacturer, and then once you put it back and look around you can only see items from that manufacturer. You get trapped in a bubble where you’re only ever seeing content like the content you just engaged with. I agree that in a free marketplace of ideas bullshit content would get buried, but this isn’t how modern social media platforms work.

CRConrad 5y ago

> Isn't that implying that the reader is too ignorant to know at a glance? Yes. Have you been on Facebook?!? It's pretty much Ignorance City. > In the marketplace of ideas shouldn't that nonsense content just get buried anyway? Maybe it would... If the "marketplace of ideas" weren't a marketplace of sheep.