3 ms·
A better analogy. It's like comparing alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Historically, we socially glorified alcohol and tobacco while heavily criminalizing marij
by anonporridge 4y ago
A better analogy. It's like comparing alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Historically, we socially glorified alcohol and tobacco while heavily criminalizing marijuana in order to be sneakily racist.
The problem is not what TikTok is doing to people. The problem is that we don't control it and China does.
This is a sneaky thing those who manufacture consent do. They are very thorough in calling out the bad of the thing that exists outside their control and profit structure, but then accuse you of whataboutism when you try to compare and contrast with the status quo they are implicitly supporting in their criticism.
- martin_a 4y ago> The problem is that we don't control it and China does. So, if TikTok was a US-based company (like Meta) fucking up peoples' minds (like Meta) it would be fine? Sounds a bit racist, if not everybody is allowed to destroy lives.
- anonporridge 4y agoIt would be less bad, yes, because American elites could more easily co-opt and control it to their support own agendas, like they are doing with Meta and Twitter and have done with all traditional media. I have heard it said that in China, the TikTok algorithm heavily favors content supporting and glorifying science and engineering, in an attempt to encourage their youths to go into those fields, while here, they prioritize vanity like dancing and bodybuilding.
- philliphaydon 4y agoIm in Taiwan, I downloaded tiktok, and basically in between a bunch of Taiwan content, was bombarded with propaganda videos about how covid started in the US and it’s all the US fault, and how amazing China is… So I don’t doubt they push content that keeps us dumb while they try to use their own platform for good inside China.