3 ms·

The scenes from this article exceed any dystopian novel I've ever read. Humans have spent centuries building up social structures to eliminate our worst excesse

The scenes from this article exceed any dystopian novel I've ever read. Humans have spent centuries building up social structures to eliminate our worst excesses. Social media is tearing those structures down again.

hoseja 4y ago
Or maybe the purpose of the social structures is only to perpetuate the social structure and any excesses that don't threaten it are ignored.
luckylion 4y ago
Are you sure they're not just made visible to a wider audience, but would be there just the same if social media didn't exist?
- hodgesrm 4y ago
  Some of what appear would have happened anyway. Social media also normalizes behavior (and weird beliefs) to the extent that they become destructive to the rest of society. QAnon is an example.
  - luckylion 4y ago
    Even QAnon and similar stuff looks like something which you previously just wouldn't have noticed. Lots of people believe in extremely crazy things, sects worked just fine before social media, but unless you had a family member drawn into it, or lived next to members, you probably didn't see much of it unless some journalists decided that it was a topic worthy of an article.
    - Loughla 4y ago
      You didn't actually respond to the point being made: >Social media also normalizes behavior (and weird beliefs) to the extent that they become destructive to the rest of society. Yes, there have always been loonies. Yes. But the issue is that social media has brought them together and given them a voice they have never had before. When in the history of the US has there been a massively mainstream movement predicated on the fact that Democrats are literally agents of the devil, that wealthy elites harvest chemicals from tortured children, and that a shady New York businessman might be God's representative on earth?
      - luckylion 4y ago
        I believe that point isn't accurate, because again, Scientology & friends existed before social media. For all I care, they're loonies, yet the found together and they have a voice. The Catholic Church is a bunch of loonies too, yet they found each other and they had a voice and so much power, there's just nothing like it today in the age of social media. > When in the history of the US has there been a massively mainstream movement predicated on the fact that Democrats are literally agents of the devil, that wealthy elites harvest chemicals from tortured children, and that a shady New York businessman might be God's representative on earth? Never. Mostly because Trump hasn't been around a hundred years prior, and harvesting chemicals from tortured children wasn't a thing anybody cared about. Or did you mean crazy antisemitic stuff and literally burning people because they figured they're witches? I don't know, sounds crazy, I'm sure that never happened.
paulcole 4y ago
> Humans have spent centuries building up social structures to eliminate our worst excesses And they’ve worked flawlessly.
- hodgesrm 4y ago
  Not flawlessly but they have worked. Rule of law has enabled major advances in the economic well-being of millions of people by ensuring protection of property and supporting operation of markets.

hoseja 4y ago

Or maybe the purpose of the social structures is only to perpetuate the social structure and any excesses that don't threaten it are ignored.

luckylion 4y ago

Are you sure they're not just made visible to a wider audience, but would be there just the same if social media didn't exist?

hodgesrm 4y ago
Some of what appear would have happened anyway. Social media also normalizes behavior (and weird beliefs) to the extent that they become destructive to the rest of society. QAnon is an example.
- luckylion 4y ago
  Even QAnon and similar stuff looks like something which you previously just wouldn't have noticed. Lots of people believe in extremely crazy things, sects worked just fine before social media, but unless you had a family member drawn into it, or lived next to members, you probably didn't see much of it unless some journalists decided that it was a topic worthy of an article.
  - Loughla 4y ago
    You didn't actually respond to the point being made: >Social media also normalizes behavior (and weird beliefs) to the extent that they become destructive to the rest of society. Yes, there have always been loonies. Yes. But the issue is that social media has brought them together and given them a voice they have never had before. When in the history of the US has there been a massively mainstream movement predicated on the fact that Democrats are literally agents of the devil, that wealthy elites harvest chemicals from tortured children, and that a shady New York businessman might be God's representative on earth?
    - luckylion 4y ago
      I believe that point isn't accurate, because again, Scientology & friends existed before social media. For all I care, they're loonies, yet the found together and they have a voice. The Catholic Church is a bunch of loonies too, yet they found each other and they had a voice and so much power, there's just nothing like it today in the age of social media. > When in the history of the US has there been a massively mainstream movement predicated on the fact that Democrats are literally agents of the devil, that wealthy elites harvest chemicals from tortured children, and that a shady New York businessman might be God's representative on earth? Never. Mostly because Trump hasn't been around a hundred years prior, and harvesting chemicals from tortured children wasn't a thing anybody cared about. Or did you mean crazy antisemitic stuff and literally burning people because they figured they're witches? I don't know, sounds crazy, I'm sure that never happened.

paulcole 4y ago

> Humans have spent centuries building up social structures to eliminate our worst excesses And they’ve worked flawlessly.

hodgesrm 4y ago
Not flawlessly but they have worked. Rule of law has enabled major advances in the economic well-being of millions of people by ensuring protection of property and supporting operation of markets.