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I pay happily for YouTube, but just so you know... if your politics are considered wrongthink they will happily delete accounts or apply repressive algorithm ch

by tomcam 4y ago

I pay happily for YouTube, but just so you know... if your politics are considered wrongthink they will happily delete accounts or apply repressive algorithm changes to search results. For example, they kicked well-intentioned people off for suggesting that Covid might have been caused by the Wuhan lab until the New York Times finally published an article suggesting exactly that. This comment will be downvoted and flagged, but before you do so imagine how you'd feel if you wanted simply to watch a video but Neil Mohan didn't want you to and gave you a shit Fox News video instead.

tomrod 4y ago
I wonder if your concern that your opinions will be downvoted and flagged are misplaced. The rest of the commentariat may prove me wrong. But Hacker News tends to be more open to real discussion than most pubs on the internet. During the COVID period (which I consider functionally complete Fall 2022 with Omnicron's cycle completed), there was a need for keeping the channel from being flooded. The academic discussion of potential counterfactuals, usually to be found in conferences and certain blog webs, were often misconstrued by content producers, conspiracy mongers, and others driven by less-then-truthful motives to convince the gullible or distracted. As this causes very real harm [0], quelling the contrarian-without-evidence voices was important in the short term. We will see regarding the long term impacts as acts of governance are often seen as tyranny by the same groups that push contrarianism for their personal profit. [0] https://www.gpb.org/news/2021/09/22/kicked-in-the-ribs-harassed-at-vaccine-sites-health-care-workers-are-tired-of-new https://www.gpb.org/news/2021/09/22/kicked-in-the-ribs-haras...
- tomcam 4y ago
  > The academic discussion of potential counterfactuals, usually to be found in conferences and certain blog webs, were often misconstrued by content producers, conspiracy mongers, and others driven by less-then-truthful motives Don’t care. Price of a free press. > As this causes very real harm History shows that the people who suppress free speech are never the good guys, especially when it’s the US government or their complicit media. Also, thanks for engaging in good faith. If I’m wrong, I want to hear it from you, not a censor.
  - tomrod 4y ago
    > Price of a free press I'm not sure FB, YT, HN, Reddit, etc. are press. Can one publish local legal notices through them? > History shows that the people who suppress free speech are never the good guys To be fair, there are no good guys in history. Realpolitick or ideology are the only two options I'm aware of, and not for lack of thought though perhaps due to lack of imagination. We could argue that there is contention for the government to ensure the common welfare and defense in pandemic times, and avoiding censoring (and encouraging private organizations to also avoid censoring).
    - tomcam 4y ago
      > To be fair, there are no good guys in history. Disagree strongly. On balance the American framers (Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Mason, Jefferson, et. al) were amazingly good for the world, far better than Marx, Lenin, Mao, etc.
      - tomrod 4y ago
        I appreciate your opinion even if I do not agree.
        tomcam 4y ago
        Same, brother.

by tomcam 4y ago

tomrod 4y ago

I wonder if your concern that your opinions will be downvoted and flagged are misplaced. The rest of the commentariat may prove me wrong. But Hacker News tends to be more open to real discussion than most pubs on the internet. During the COVID period (which I consider functionally complete Fall 2022 with Omnicron's cycle completed), there was a need for keeping the channel from being flooded. The academic discussion of potential counterfactuals, usually to be found in conferences and certain blog webs, were often misconstrued by content producers, conspiracy mongers, and others driven by less-then-truthful motives to convince the gullible or distracted. As this causes very real harm [0], quelling the contrarian-without-evidence voices was important in the short term. We will see regarding the long term impacts as acts of governance are often seen as tyranny by the same groups that push contrarianism for their personal profit. [0] https://www.gpb.org/news/2021/09/22/kicked-in-the-ribs-harassed-at-vaccine-sites-health-care-workers-are-tired-of-new https://www.gpb.org/news/2021/09/22/kicked-in-the-ribs-haras...

tomcam 4y ago
> The academic discussion of potential counterfactuals, usually to be found in conferences and certain blog webs, were often misconstrued by content producers, conspiracy mongers, and others driven by less-then-truthful motives Don’t care. Price of a free press. > As this causes very real harm History shows that the people who suppress free speech are never the good guys, especially when it’s the US government or their complicit media. Also, thanks for engaging in good faith. If I’m wrong, I want to hear it from you, not a censor.
- tomrod 4y ago
  > Price of a free press I'm not sure FB, YT, HN, Reddit, etc. are press. Can one publish local legal notices through them? > History shows that the people who suppress free speech are never the good guys To be fair, there are no good guys in history. Realpolitick or ideology are the only two options I'm aware of, and not for lack of thought though perhaps due to lack of imagination. We could argue that there is contention for the government to ensure the common welfare and defense in pandemic times, and avoiding censoring (and encouraging private organizations to also avoid censoring).
  - tomcam 4y ago
    > To be fair, there are no good guys in history. Disagree strongly. On balance the American framers (Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Mason, Jefferson, et. al) were amazingly good for the world, far better than Marx, Lenin, Mao, etc.
    - tomrod 4y ago
      I appreciate your opinion even if I do not agree.
      - tomcam 4y ago
        Same, brother.