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I know very little about Canadian politics and culture, but this is hardly a Canadian phenomenon. Rather this is an emergent behavior of internet and social med
by helen___keller 5y ago
I know very little about Canadian politics and culture, but this is hardly a Canadian phenomenon. Rather this is an emergent behavior of internet and social media, that certain types of debate end in partisan convergence much more efficiently than they used to.
The observations about the form of bias in question, as well as the observation about (lack of) dissent within the party, are really just minor details of a wider picture.
The root cause is that hyper connectedness has reduced cultural and intellectual diversity among the vast majority. I don't say that as a positive or negative, just as a fact. By "cultural and intellectual diversity", I mean that the more a particular topic is featured on social media, the narrower of a spread the opinions on that topic become. (Intellectual diversity in the sense of what topics are discussed has exploded, however. I'm part of a massive online group dedicated to discussing changes in zoning and public transit. Imagine that 30 years ago.)
This goes beyond politics too. I could write an essay about how games like MMORPGs are fundamentally different now that there's hyperconnected communities that distribute high quality information on playing optimally, and how game design has in turn responded to this. Effective use of reddit or discord or a wiki has essentially merged as part of the gameplay now for a very large percentage of users. The hyperconnected social internet fundamentally changed how we interact with ideas, from gaming to politics.
- 908B64B197 5y agoKeep in mind Canada has two parallel media spheres. One of them is completely controlled by the state and the other the private sector. Of course the government funded journalists working for the government approved and funded broadcaster are going to side with… the government! That shouldn’t surprise anyone. What I find interesting are all the sighting of these “radical” protesters with Nazi and confederate flags that are fueling the narrative that this demonstration really is led by the alt right. All of them are masked and there has been very little progress in identifying them but they sure were amply photographed and used as evidence by the state media. How weird is it that nobody can ID most of them? In the 1970’s the state media and government similarly tried to pin mailbox bombings to a group called the FLQ… until an RCMP agent was caught literally red-handed (with severe burns and a torn off fingers) planting bombs in a mailbox to pin it on the FLQ! [0] The feds then confessed to more than 400 illegal search and seizures, criminal trespass, breaking and entering and arson incidents and the bomb planter admitted he “had done much worse for the feds”. Who was prime minister during that time? You guessed it, Justin Trudeau’s father. What a coincidence. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversies_involving_the_Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police#Break-ins_and_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversies_involvin...
- moistly 5y ago> One of them is completely controlled by the state A ridiculous lie. Anyone questioning whether OP is a conspiracy-minded loon, or whether I’m correct in calling it a ridiculous lie, please Google “is the CBC controlled by the government “ and take note of the sites claiming that it is.
- 908B64B197 5y ago> A ridiculous lie. Who signs the check?
- anamax 5y agoIt was reasonably common for the US left to show American flags where the stars were replaced by or covered by a swastika. The folks showing such flags were saying that the US and/or the US govt was fascist. I mention that because some/most of the "swastika" flags in this case are a Canadian flag with the maple leaf covered or replaced by a swastika, the message being that Canada/the Canadian govt is fascist.
- moistly 5y ago> One of them is completely controlled by the state Ridiculously untrue. Anyone questioning this, please Google “is the CBC controlled by the government” and take note of the sites making the claim and the complete lack of media analysis studies supporting the claim.
- 908B64B197 5y agoWait, did you just repost the same comment that got flagged the first time? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30183406 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30183406
- moistly 5y agoReposted without the parts that were, I assume, cause for the flagging, because I’m not going to allow a false claim to go unchallenged.