The Problem with Social Media

If we could just get rid of idiots like trump

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He is abusing social media just like many, many others. As long as you have unrestricted consolidation of power in free markets, you'll see people like Trump.  Dave P mentioned the bible and shifts in power. Let's not forget commoners were not just unable to read, but that the church kept the language in latin as long as they could as well to maintain the separation of class.  Legal jargon feels a lot like this, as you have to have a really good interpreter to have your voice give sway in the courts.

Being brought up catholic.  I remember the mass not changing to English until the 60s maybe.  I could makeup what I thought they said.  Kind of like social media.

BTW. I never experienced in kind of sexual abuse in my child years in the church.  Father Rasby was the first priest I remember as a child.  He presided over my mother’s funeral in 1990.  I will forever be grateful to knowing him.  He was a great man.  I’m sorry for other people’s bad and horrific experiences.  I don’t practice today but you know what they say, once catholic always a catholic . 

A Jewish friend of mine once said to me, “ I love Christians.  Anybody that worships a Jew is alright with me.

DaveP said:

  We are only now demanding some form of regulation to filter out hate speech and fake news, for the moment it is still the Wild West, but the US cavalry is coming over the horizon

DaveP

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I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the US to rescue the world. We are only now starting to recognize the potential problems from  unfettered social media. The EU has had them in the vise grip for years. While I expect this to turn slowly, social media has until now had free run with their silicon valley mentality (liberal/progressive bias) that is not shared by the silent majority in the fly over states. The head of Google declined an invitation to be questioned in DC, pretty ballsy. He finally demurred and showed up weeks later to meet, probably a smart move.

Likewise i am not smart enough to predict where this will go and how it will end. The sweet profit party seems to be ending and algorithms controlling search/news feeds will have to become more transparent. Expect less profitable business models as they require more human moderation... those human moderators actually get paid (unlike here).  : 

This is yet another cost of technological progress... what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, but we can get a little sick in the meantime.

JR

PS: Another new question to answer is "big" automatically evil... Amazon is getting really big and powerful. For now Amazon supports small businesses operating under their infrastructure umbrella, but get too successful and Amazon eats your lunch. So far consumers seem to benefit but this will be watched and studied. Google is already under the looking glass. Interesting times.

PPS: Speaking of balls Elon Musk is rejecting a relative wrist slap SEC civil settlement for his twitter attempt to squash short sellers. Declaring a $420 price target was an unwise pot joke. The SEC can turn the civil complaint into criminal if he pushes his luck too far. I like the car (that I can't afford) but wouldn't hold the tesla stock with all your money. Elon is guilty of tweeting himself in the foot, like somebody else we know.  8)  [edit-  Apparently Musk took the SEC deal (wisely), so may avoid hard time to tweet another day.  /edit]

DaveP said:

We are only now demanding some form of regulation to filter out hate speech and fake news, for the moment it is still the Wild West, but the US cavalry is coming over the horizon

DaveP

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Dave I would not hold your breath waiting for that particular cavalry.  I have always said that the likes of Google (and Facebook etc.) are the biggest threat to freedom because they analyse you down to the smallest detail, put you in a box with a label and sell you on.  They do this with no policing of their actions, probably with more technical resources than any government body.  The cavalry in this case will have a big 'G' on their flag as they are one of the biggest contributors to US government lobbying and bound to get their way.

As an aside, I think one of the problems facing our society if the 'Looking back and judging' syndrome.  I think it is false to look back hundreds of years and judge the society of that time using a contemporary frame of reference and moral sense.  It is good to understand and accept history, but not to grind it up and use it selectively for your own gain.

Regards

Mike

As an aside, I think one of the problems facing our society if the 'Looking back and judging' syndrome.  I think it is false to look back hundreds of years and judge the society of that time using a contemporary frame of reference and moral sense.  It is good to understand and accept history, but not to grind it up and use it selectively for your own gain.

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+1
DaveP

madswitcher said:

As an aside, I think one of the problems facing our society if the 'Looking back and judging' syndrome.  I think it is false to look back hundreds of years and judge the society of that time using a contemporary frame of reference and moral sense.  It is good to understand and accept history, but not to grind it up and use it selectively for your own gain.

Regards

Mike

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+1  We must study history to avoid repeating stupid mistakes. There has probably always been the temptation to judge our forbears by modern cultural standards. There are already notable differences from generation to generation (kids today.. ), let alone going back centuries.

Our founders who were truly accomplished and wise men, were clearly living by different mores than we practice today. It is unfair (ignorant) to judge them by today's standards. For another modern embarrassment I have lost count of how many historic statues and monuments have been removed as out of step with modern sensibility. A better response would be to add educational plaques explaining why the statue offends some people. 

This reads like good science fiction... The out of control PC is not good, but the science fiction that predicted it was pretty damn good (1984 George Orwell, etc). 

Social media is amplifying this, but there is also an underlying PC/safe space rejection of anything uncomfortable that will not prepare the next generation for a productive future IMO, but what would I know... I'm old?

JR

JohnRoberts said:

but what would I know... I'm old?

JR

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nah, you don't get away with that Mr Roberts: we are 'Older' not 'old' 

Man, I think you shouldn’t take into consideration the bad feedback from social media, people will never finish commenting about others. However, you should use social media to make money, with that said can someone recommend me a safe site to buy followers on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter?

Adam_Taylor said:

Man, I think you shouldn’t take into consideration the bad feedback from social media, people will never finish commenting about others. However, you should use social media to make money, with that said can someone recommend me a safe site to buy followers on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter?

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The irony of this spam post in this thread is hilarious

Got a twofer.... two spammers at the same time... but ii's probably only one guy.

JR