27 ms·
There's a large difference between people choosing more or less private clubs and FB tuning their feeds to promote conflict.
by _jal 3y ago
There's a large difference between people choosing more or less private clubs and FB tuning their feeds to promote conflict.
- mcpackieh 3y agoTwo very different kind of systems can produce very similar results. "people choosing more or less private clubs" is an apt description of many fringe religions / cults which eject people who question the narrative and tell their adherents to cut off friends and family who aren't in the group. The Jehovah's Witnesses come to mind in particular, they're very different from Facebook but they nonetheless polarize and radicalize people. Private clubs are not necessarily bad, but ideally they should moderate for basic decorum. If they moderate for ideological alignment, they frequently become radicalization machines; echo chambers where people get their biases reinforced without being challenged.
- BlueTemplar 3y agoWhat happens on Facebook is much less legible compared to the effects of organized religion. But perhaps only because it's so new ? (Parallels with the printing press => Protestantism and other propaganda come to mind again...)