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To quote the article Facebook really has "unleashed waves of democratic empowerment" among the youth in certain countries where democracy is not present or is u

To quote the article Facebook really has "unleashed waves of democratic empowerment" among the youth in certain countries where democracy is not present or is under serious assault and the domestic media is censored. If some random dictatorship has strict anti-speech laws Meta is way more lax about following them than the domestic media (who are just going to get arrested if they don't). This really has created a generation of young people in some places who have a less censored view of the world and have a more pro-democratic, pro-egalitarian, anti-dictatorship bent. The only people who miss this are the ones whose reality is generally confined to an e.g. US-only point of view where democracy is secure and stable and the only "threats" to it are basically a joke, like the whole panic over January 6, and you've never seen tanks roll into the capital and depose your elected officials. In countries where real threats to democracy like that exist, Facebook and Twitter have played a huge role in communicating suppressed information, aiding protest organization, etc. and by and large the kids are into it. As for a pivot to a Tiktok-style experience -- that's a hard pass for me, it's like mixing cocaine with television. The kids are into that too and it's pretty scary to watch them switch off their brains, set aside their humanity and obediently wait for the ML algorithm's function calls to twitch_human_thumb() that arise every few seconds. Of course people were saying something similar about MTV, remote controls and the boob tube back in the day and somehow we survived... Ultimately if you're Meta and the government tells you it's OK for you to sell cocaine, after all they're OK with your Chinese competitor importing it -- who are you to say no? Under the current climate my only confusion is why we haven't let Coke reintroduce their namesake ingredient to their formula. Or to use your example yes I could totally see Taco Bell lacing their meat with drugs if it was allowed!

guelo 4y ago
- mulmen 4y ago
  We do know. Joe Biden would still be president. The question is what would have happened if that mob actually got their hands on the representatives. We have a pretty good idea there too, and it isn't pretty.
  - mantas 4y ago
- ekianjo 4y ago
  How do people without guns inside a government building control anything exactly?
  - HeyItsMatt 4y ago
    - rswail 4y ago
      Sorry, it wasn't and isn't a "media narrative" that is relevant here. Neither is there anything related to the trope of the "MSM" or power of the FAANGS. There was obvious collusion and conspiracy to cause the properly cast and certified electoral college votes to be questioned. There was also obvious collusion and conspiracy to a) riot, and b) attempt to occupy the Capitol, and c) stop the actual process of counting the electoral college votes, both real and fake. So there were two different, but intertwined, especially at the top, conspiracies to stop the process of the transfer of power.
      - HeyItsMatt 4y ago
  - mulmen 4y ago
    By force. The same way they broke down the locked doors and windows and overwhelmed the police.
    - ekianjo 4y ago
      You don't control a country by controlling a single building. And worst case, you send the military and the crisis is over in a few hours. If you believe that this was an insurrection, that was the most peaceful insurrection ever in History.
      - mulmen 4y ago
        > You don't control a country by controlling a single building. This isn't some random building, it's literally the Capitol, with Congress in attendance. This was also not an isolated incident. In 2020 Ammon Bundy of Malheur standoff fame led an armed mob which forced its way past the State Patrol into a session of the Idaho State House of Representatives. After occupying the gallery above the House they were "allowed" to stay and observe the session, with their guns. On January 6th itself an armed mob forced its way past the gate at the governors house in Washington state. Also on January 6th attempts were made to enter the capitols in California, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Oregon. Some of these involved armed mobs and gallows. On January 9th an armed mob showed up outside the Kentucky State Capitol. Consider the connection between Waco, Ruby Ridge, and Oklahoma City to see how this escalates. > And worst case, you send the military and the crisis is over in a few hours. That worst case involves the mob actually reaching the representatives, killing them and claiming power. In that case the military can't just magically set everything right. If hostages are involved nothing is getting done "in a few hours". The military isn't going to undo any damage. A successful attack on Congress that incapacitated, killed, or persuaded enough representatives absolutely could lead to control of the country. > If you believe that this was an insurrection, that was the most peaceful insurrection ever in History. A woman was killed by the Secret Service after breaching a barricade in pursuit of the Vice President. Members of the mob used chemical weapons on police. Call it whatever you want but it wasn't peaceful and it wasn't innocent.
- rightbyte 4y ago
  In France, Spain or whatever that would just have been another election riot and considered completely normal. The police would be flamed for shooting protestors though.
alecb 4y ago
I agree with most of your point but why be dismissive of the very evident reality of how corroded democracy has become in the Western world in large part because of how Facebook-poisoned certain demographics and their elected representives have become? https://twitter.com/USA_Polling/status/1552006668514369536 https://twitter.com/USA_Polling/status/1552006668514369536 Two-thirds of respondents (67.2%, 95% CI 66.1%, 68.4%) perceived “a serious threat to our democracy,” but more than 40% agreed that “having a strong leader for America is more important than having a democracy” and that “in America, native-born white people are being replaced by immigrants.” Half (50.1%) agreed that “in the next few years, there will be civil war in the United States.”
- safety1st 4y ago
  Because frankly all of that stuff isn't really a big deal (and I knew I'd get a rise when I brought this up, couldn't help myself). I've seen a coup staged firsthand, directly experienced it happening in a country I lived in, watched the tanks rolling down the road to the government district which they proceeded to occupy, and everything that came before and after. In the US there are a lot of people with loony opinions out there, but fundamentally there's a military which is on the side of the elected government. There's an elections process which is too distributed to suspend or corrupt nationally (sure it can get screwed up locally and does). There's also a free media and Internet. These are the pillars that hold up both the good and bad democracies around the world. People with a lot of anxiety will poke holes in all of those statements, they will list the ways the US is messed up because that's what they know. But it's just not the same as a country where the elected government actually falls. US institutions today are all vastly healthier today than the countries where that happens. I think it's good to have some degree of anxiety because it pushes us to solve problems but the US just isn't having a civil war or having its civilian government replaced any time soon, I'd stake everything I own on it.
  - cptroot 4y ago
    I'd recommend you take a long hard look around if you think fascism isn't possible in the US. The modern GOP is now predicated on a belief that the last election was stolen, and that they need to steal the next one to compensate. Fascism doesn't require a coup, and it's plausible that US fascism won't use one. Here, have a podcast about the subject: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-307...
papito 4y ago

guelo 4y ago

mulmen 4y ago
We do know. Joe Biden would still be president. The question is what would have happened if that mob actually got their hands on the representatives. We have a pretty good idea there too, and it isn't pretty.
- mantas 4y ago
ekianjo 4y ago
How do people without guns inside a government building control anything exactly?
- HeyItsMatt 4y ago
  - rswail 4y ago
    Sorry, it wasn't and isn't a "media narrative" that is relevant here. Neither is there anything related to the trope of the "MSM" or power of the FAANGS. There was obvious collusion and conspiracy to cause the properly cast and certified electoral college votes to be questioned. There was also obvious collusion and conspiracy to a) riot, and b) attempt to occupy the Capitol, and c) stop the actual process of counting the electoral college votes, both real and fake. So there were two different, but intertwined, especially at the top, conspiracies to stop the process of the transfer of power.
    - HeyItsMatt 4y ago
- mulmen 4y ago
  By force. The same way they broke down the locked doors and windows and overwhelmed the police.
  - ekianjo 4y ago
    You don't control a country by controlling a single building. And worst case, you send the military and the crisis is over in a few hours. If you believe that this was an insurrection, that was the most peaceful insurrection ever in History.
    - mulmen 4y ago
      > You don't control a country by controlling a single building. This isn't some random building, it's literally the Capitol, with Congress in attendance. This was also not an isolated incident. In 2020 Ammon Bundy of Malheur standoff fame led an armed mob which forced its way past the State Patrol into a session of the Idaho State House of Representatives. After occupying the gallery above the House they were "allowed" to stay and observe the session, with their guns. On January 6th itself an armed mob forced its way past the gate at the governors house in Washington state. Also on January 6th attempts were made to enter the capitols in California, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Oregon. Some of these involved armed mobs and gallows. On January 9th an armed mob showed up outside the Kentucky State Capitol. Consider the connection between Waco, Ruby Ridge, and Oklahoma City to see how this escalates. > And worst case, you send the military and the crisis is over in a few hours. That worst case involves the mob actually reaching the representatives, killing them and claiming power. In that case the military can't just magically set everything right. If hostages are involved nothing is getting done "in a few hours". The military isn't going to undo any damage. A successful attack on Congress that incapacitated, killed, or persuaded enough representatives absolutely could lead to control of the country. > If you believe that this was an insurrection, that was the most peaceful insurrection ever in History. A woman was killed by the Secret Service after breaching a barricade in pursuit of the Vice President. Members of the mob used chemical weapons on police. Call it whatever you want but it wasn't peaceful and it wasn't innocent.
rightbyte 4y ago
In France, Spain or whatever that would just have been another election riot and considered completely normal. The police would be flamed for shooting protestors though.

alecb 4y ago

I agree with most of your point but why be dismissive of the very evident reality of how corroded democracy has become in the Western world in large part because of how Facebook-poisoned certain demographics and their elected representives have become? https://twitter.com/USA_Polling/status/1552006668514369536 https://twitter.com/USA_Polling/status/1552006668514369536 Two-thirds of respondents (67.2%, 95% CI 66.1%, 68.4%) perceived “a serious threat to our democracy,” but more than 40% agreed that “having a strong leader for America is more important than having a democracy” and that “in America, native-born white people are being replaced by immigrants.” Half (50.1%) agreed that “in the next few years, there will be civil war in the United States.”

safety1st 4y ago
Because frankly all of that stuff isn't really a big deal (and I knew I'd get a rise when I brought this up, couldn't help myself). I've seen a coup staged firsthand, directly experienced it happening in a country I lived in, watched the tanks rolling down the road to the government district which they proceeded to occupy, and everything that came before and after. In the US there are a lot of people with loony opinions out there, but fundamentally there's a military which is on the side of the elected government. There's an elections process which is too distributed to suspend or corrupt nationally (sure it can get screwed up locally and does). There's also a free media and Internet. These are the pillars that hold up both the good and bad democracies around the world. People with a lot of anxiety will poke holes in all of those statements, they will list the ways the US is messed up because that's what they know. But it's just not the same as a country where the elected government actually falls. US institutions today are all vastly healthier today than the countries where that happens. I think it's good to have some degree of anxiety because it pushes us to solve problems but the US just isn't having a civil war or having its civilian government replaced any time soon, I'd stake everything I own on it.
- cptroot 4y ago
  I'd recommend you take a long hard look around if you think fascism isn't possible in the US. The modern GOP is now predicated on a belief that the last election was stolen, and that they need to steal the next one to compensate. Fascism doesn't require a coup, and it's plausible that US fascism won't use one. Here, have a podcast about the subject: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-307...

papito 4y ago