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Ironically, a lot of the organic content posted on Reddit is probably better at generating social unrest, demoralizing citizens, and altering perceptions of the

Ironically, a lot of the organic content posted on Reddit is probably better at generating social unrest, demoralizing citizens, and altering perceptions of the United States than any foreign adversary could manufacture. I think many of these same motivations are at play: > The dopamine chemistry is just too good: you've got an enemy, the feeling of being in a dramatic narrative where nothing's what it seems, the superiority of knowing that you've spotted something everyone missed People on social media sites just love to think that they've got everything figured out in a way that isn't obvious to the people around them in the real world. These sites create a feedback loop wherein people are encouraged to post more content that feeds the hive minds' ideas while downvoting/rejecting anything that doesn't match.

isitmadeofglass 4y ago
> Ironically, a lot of the organic content posted on Reddit is probably better at generating social unrest, demoralizing citizens, and altering perceptions of the United States than any foreign adversary could manufacture. Why would anyone need to manufacture content? There’s plenty to grab from already. But you have to wonder if we’ll learn in the future that the reason my Facebook feed is flooded with outrage about the treatment of Uyghurs, and the reason my Tiktok feed went from being memes and dances to a live stream from Black Lives Matters protests was due to organic growth of content or due to State sponsored manipulations. I don’t think anyone would argue that the content is manufactured, but most the time, most people just don’t care about these things and will stick to their baby-falling over memes on both Facebook and Tiktok, so when the platforms turn into politically oriented outrage machines it’s natural to wonder if it’s due to those who stand to gain from these narrative, of if it’s just because there weren’t that many babies that fell over that particular week.

isitmadeofglass 4y ago

> Ironically, a lot of the organic content posted on Reddit is probably better at generating social unrest, demoralizing citizens, and altering perceptions of the United States than any foreign adversary could manufacture. Why would anyone need to manufacture content? There’s plenty to grab from already. But you have to wonder if we’ll learn in the future that the reason my Facebook feed is flooded with outrage about the treatment of Uyghurs, and the reason my Tiktok feed went from being memes and dances to a live stream from Black Lives Matters protests was due to organic growth of content or due to State sponsored manipulations. I don’t think anyone would argue that the content is manufactured, but most the time, most people just don’t care about these things and will stick to their baby-falling over memes on both Facebook and Tiktok, so when the platforms turn into politically oriented outrage machines it’s natural to wonder if it’s due to those who stand to gain from these narrative, of if it’s just because there weren’t that many babies that fell over that particular week.