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> We are experiencing a global assault on truth Are we though? Can you convince me of that, as a non-American?

by squigz 2y ago

energy123 2y ago
The anti-intellectual fascist Georgescu arising from obscurity to a near winning position in Romania due to social media should be evidence enough. Trumpism is a cause in itself, but it's also a symptom of a deeper cause that is afflicting more than only the United States. The unintended consequence of social media, especially profit-driven social media infested with troll farms and bots from various governments (including China, Russia, US, Iran, Israel, to name but a few countries that have been caught), is the destruction of trust and community[0]. [0] https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/this-thing-will-fail https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/this-thing-will-fail
codebje 2y ago
I am convinced of it, as an Australian. Commercial interests have been assaulting truth since before I was born, nearly half a century ago. The methods for doing so have steadily improved. Social media briefly hindered it, before being co-opted thoroughly to advance it. Even where the truth hasn't been completely buried, finding what's true and what's spewed from the firehose of bullshit is a time consuming and difficult task, one that definitely doesn't scale to very many of life's decisions at all. Culminating this trend is the rise of the extreme right across the globe. This is tightly linked to politically motivated disinformation coupled with whatever the techniques are that are forming closed mind cult-like behaviours. Maybe it's not an assault on truth - maybe truth is just collateral damage - but I don't think I could even pose it as a question to ask if you could convince me these things are not happening.
- Xelynega 2y ago
  This is not sounding like something modern then, if anything it's sounding like it's always been bad and we're only now recognizing(or having the channels to openly discuss) how bad it is.

> We are experiencing a global assault on truth Are we though? Can you convince me of that, as a non-American?

by squigz 2y ago

> We are experiencing a global assault on truth Are we though? Can you convince me of that, as a non-American?

The anti-intellectual fascist Georgescu arising from obscurity to a near winning position in Romania due to social media should be evidence enough. Trumpism is a cause in itself, but it's also a symptom of a deeper cause that is afflicting more than only the United States. The unintended consequence of social media, especially profit-driven social media infested with troll farms and bots from various governments (including China, Russia, US, Iran, Israel, to name but a few countries that have been caught), is the destruction of trust and community[0]. [0] https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/this-thing-will-fail https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/this-thing-will-fail

codebje 2y ago

I am convinced of it, as an Australian. Commercial interests have been assaulting truth since before I was born, nearly half a century ago. The methods for doing so have steadily improved. Social media briefly hindered it, before being co-opted thoroughly to advance it. Even where the truth hasn't been completely buried, finding what's true and what's spewed from the firehose of bullshit is a time consuming and difficult task, one that definitely doesn't scale to very many of life's decisions at all. Culminating this trend is the rise of the extreme right across the globe. This is tightly linked to politically motivated disinformation coupled with whatever the techniques are that are forming closed mind cult-like behaviours. Maybe it's not an assault on truth - maybe truth is just collateral damage - but I don't think I could even pose it as a question to ask if you could convince me these things are not happening.

Xelynega 2y ago
This is not sounding like something modern then, if anything it's sounding like it's always been bad and we're only now recognizing(or having the channels to openly discuss) how bad it is.