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The flat earth documentary Behind The Curve made it clear that the reason for participation in the flat earth community is more about a sense of belonging for t

by bcrl 2y ago

The flat earth documentary Behind The Curve made it clear that the reason for participation in the flat earth community is more about a sense of belonging for the people involved than anything else. Give people something that is better for society that can meet that emotional need, and maybe things will change.

krapp 2y ago
They say the same thing about QAnon - most people wind up there simply because they want to belong. And the Proud Boys are just a bunch of harmless nerds who like Hawaiian shirts. And the people who busted into the Capitol on Jan. 6th were just confused. And all of the racists on 4chan are just harmless kids being ironic. Everyone always has only the purest of intentions, and it's always society's fault if one of them shoots up a synagogue. If you can only find a "sense of belonging" by opting out of consensus reality to that degree then there's something else going on besides social awkwardness. Also the links between the modern flat earth movement and antisemitic/white supremacist ideology are literally just a Google search away. This isn't even difficult to find.
- netsharc 2y ago
  This anthropologist thinks so, he researched ISIS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlbirlSA-dc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlbirlSA-dc . A lot of people seem to treat their political identity like their favorite football team, it's pure tribalism in the form "My 'team', right or wrong!". Kind of sad that they'd rather have that "in-group" feeling rather than be a defender of what's moral and fair. And/or that they manage to twist their position to be the moral and fair one.
- bcrl 2y ago
  The big difference today is that 40+ years ago, organizing a group based on fringe beliefs had a cost. People had to put real effort into finding and organizing these groups by sending out flyers and spending time in the real world. Today, it costs almost nothing to promote any organization based whatever you want -- hate, conspiracy beliefs, virtually anything that society as a whole agrees is harmful is but a few clicks away with mere pennies being paid for getting views. I strongly believe that hyper-targeting of these kinds of online ads and social media based content promotion is not good for humanity because it removes the social checks and balances that traditional less specific advertising or promotion of content have. Having people outside of the target audience see ads that promote hatred makes it more likely for them to be flagged or even cause a police report to be filed. It's a pity that big tech has completely removed human over-site of these issues in the name of "scale". Maybe "scale" isn't what humanity needs.

by bcrl 2y ago

krapp 2y ago

They say the same thing about QAnon - most people wind up there simply because they want to belong. And the Proud Boys are just a bunch of harmless nerds who like Hawaiian shirts. And the people who busted into the Capitol on Jan. 6th were just confused. And all of the racists on 4chan are just harmless kids being ironic. Everyone always has only the purest of intentions, and it's always society's fault if one of them shoots up a synagogue. If you can only find a "sense of belonging" by opting out of consensus reality to that degree then there's something else going on besides social awkwardness. Also the links between the modern flat earth movement and antisemitic/white supremacist ideology are literally just a Google search away. This isn't even difficult to find.

netsharc 2y ago
This anthropologist thinks so, he researched ISIS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlbirlSA-dc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlbirlSA-dc . A lot of people seem to treat their political identity like their favorite football team, it's pure tribalism in the form "My 'team', right or wrong!". Kind of sad that they'd rather have that "in-group" feeling rather than be a defender of what's moral and fair. And/or that they manage to twist their position to be the moral and fair one.
bcrl 2y ago
The big difference today is that 40+ years ago, organizing a group based on fringe beliefs had a cost. People had to put real effort into finding and organizing these groups by sending out flyers and spending time in the real world. Today, it costs almost nothing to promote any organization based whatever you want -- hate, conspiracy beliefs, virtually anything that society as a whole agrees is harmful is but a few clicks away with mere pennies being paid for getting views. I strongly believe that hyper-targeting of these kinds of online ads and social media based content promotion is not good for humanity because it removes the social checks and balances that traditional less specific advertising or promotion of content have. Having people outside of the target audience see ads that promote hatred makes it more likely for them to be flagged or even cause a police report to be filed. It's a pity that big tech has completely removed human over-site of these issues in the name of "scale". Maybe "scale" isn't what humanity needs.