Taking on the 5G nutjobs

[CJay]

Indeed. All it takes is an authoritative sounding snake to get buy in from morons. Actually has anything really changed?

Yeah, the authoritative sounding snakes now have instantaneous worldwide reach and the ability to look like an awful lot of authoritative snakes by 'buying' shill accounts and bot farms to spread their word.

[magic]

The internet has done as promised and given a voice to marginalized people and groups.

There is more to the Internet than radicalized neoliberals and/or opportunistic entrepreneurs like Jack Donkey, Mark Faceberg and Steve Cancer. I wasn't the only one saying that hooking up every illiterate to the Matrix cannot be a good idea, but there was money to be made and there were political visions to be "proven" (ending up being disproven, huh? - the West essentially became a reductio ad absurdum of egalitarianism this decade). The word "marginalized" didn't even appear on the Internet all that often before 2010. It wasn't a goal before it became a goal to some people. Blame them and the ideology, it's not like they haven't been warned.

Now a few people are finally starting to realize that some of those people are probably better left marginalized. Which ones depends on who you ask though. One groups heroes are another groups war criminals, it's all a matter of perspective.

There are many groups that should be left alone but aren't, because the insane are the most useful of useful idiots.

Indeed. All it takes is an authoritative sounding snake to get buy in from morons. Actually has anything really changed?

Nothing ever changes and the snakiest of snakes got otherwise intelligent people to buy into plebocracy. It goes without saying that the dumb and the uninformed cannot govern, so who actually governs you in absence of a plausible form of government?

[bd139]

so who actually governs you in absence of a plausible form of government?

Application of logic mostly

[SilverSolder]

[...]the insane are the most useful of useful idiots. [...]

 

[BravoV]

Can it really be true - they are starting to get a clue?

James Murdoch has split from the rest of his family, which is how come he is speaking out. They already had a clue and didn't give a toss, so why would they change now?

The only real question is whether they truly didn't care or whether they deliberately manipulated things to get a specific result. Either way, they weren't, and aren't, naive about this.

Naive or not, truth or lies doesn't matter, one thing for sure he is a businessman, makes money in the only thing matter, and we all know far right rhetoric does sell like a dope and it is legal.

[SiliconWizard]

[...]the insane are the most useful of useful idiots. [...]

 

There's nothing funny about what he said actually.
I do agree with magic here - those people are a lot more "useful" both to the economic and political ecosystems than they appear. Economically, they generate a lot of buzz and traffic. Politically, they are very convenient. That some of them start spreading bullshit about some topic, and any further, articulate and relevant debate automatically becomes de facto impossible. A few of them around the world, and everyone's voice gets shut down no matter what they have to say.

[SilverSolder]

[...]the insane are the most useful of useful idiots. [...]

 

There's nothing funny about what he said actually.
I do agree with magic here - those people are a lot more "useful" both to the economic and political ecosystems than they appear. Economically, they generate a lot of buzz and traffic. Politically, they are very convenient. That some of them start spreading bullshit about some topic, and any further, articulate and relevant debate automatically becomes de facto impossible. A few of them around the world, and everyone's voice gets shut down no matter what they have to say.

Yes.   The useful idiots are being used against...  normal people who just want things to work.

[DrG]

The internet has done as promised and given a voice to marginalized people and groups. /--/

It certainly has, but it is acting as an all-band amplifier. We are struggling to bring it under community and legal control (installation of band gap filters). It is a challenge, it will likely need a more applicable model than has been used with "typical" and "conventional" broadcast media, but it is certainly continuing to develop.

When I read this recent article https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/16/misinformation-trump-twitter/ with a sub-headline, Zignal Labs charts 73 percent decline on Twitter and beyond following historic action against the president, my curiosity was piqued (73%? - who has these metrics? Where is the validity for these metrics?). So I looked into https://zignallabs.com/ - Influence metrics appears to be a lucrative service with increasing commercial availabilty (take note kids looking for jobs). This goes well beyond the "reputation reclamation" services. What started as "data mining" is beginning to produce much fruit.

[Specmaster]

These nutters spreading false claims on the web are costing peoples lives as this articles shows. Its high time these nut jobs of all kinds were denied any platforms to spread their nasty theorys on. The authorities need to act now and make examples out of some of them to send a clear message to other peddlers out there of this dangerous crap.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/covid-denier-gary-matthews-dies-b908310.html

[BravoV]

These nutters spreading false claims on the web are costing peoples lives as this articles shows. Its high time these nut jobs of all kinds were denied any platforms to spread their nasty theorys on. The authorities need to act now and make examples out of some of them to send a clear message to other peddlers out there of this dangerous crap.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/covid-denier-gary-matthews-dies-b908310.html

My opinion only, probably all of these so called "nutters" are the crop of the bad seeds planted for decades, from no trust on own government and pissed off seeing lies/propagandas on own medias/news/infos.

The SNR of the truth and trust, are probably much harder than capturing gravity waves signal from early "seconds" of Big Bang.

[bd139]

These nutters spreading false claims on the web are costing peoples lives as this articles shows. Its high time these nut jobs of all kinds were denied any platforms to spread their nasty theorys on. The authorities need to act now and make examples out of some of them to send a clear message to other peddlers out there of this dangerous crap.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/covid-denier-gary-matthews-dies-b908310.html

Also gullibility, faith and lack of critical reasoning skills are not good survival traits.

I’m very disappointed at the grand fuck all the state has been doing. Even some of our politicians have been peddling the aforementioned shite.

[CJay]

These nutters spreading false claims on the web are costing peoples lives as this articles shows. Its high time these nut jobs of all kinds were denied any platforms to spread their nasty theorys on. The authorities need to act now and make examples out of some of them to send a clear message to other peddlers out there of this dangerous crap.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/covid-denier-gary-matthews-dies-b908310.html

Also gullibility, faith and lack of critical reasoning skills are not good survival traits.

I’m very disappointed at the grand fuck all the state has been doing. Even some of our politicians have been peddling the aforementioned shite.

Disappointed is an understatement, I'm not an advocate for capital punishment at all but I'm not far off making an exception for some of those fuckers pushing that bullshit.

Nor am I looking for sympathy, so please don't.

I've lost family, friends and colleagues to this fucking virus, some of the people I know who've had it and recovered now have what look to be life long health problems because of it, when I see the scum  pushing the 'get back to work' narrative, the mask deniers, worse still the COVID deniers my blood boils, I wish they'd go work a shift on an intensive care ward and see what their bullshit could do to people.

[boffin]

Like so many other things, the deniers are inventing a cause/effect to explain something (completely random) that may have happened to them.  (also explains the imaginary sky-fairy stuff)

I know someone who's son has some mental health issues, which she is now blaming on vaccinations when he was a kid 25 yrs ago. People want an excuse to blame things on; whether its true or not.

This 'it must be someone else's fault' syndrome also explains a big chunk of the US electorate, who vote GOP to justify blaming their failures on someone else (blacks/gays/chinese/mexicans/unicorns/etc); if it's acceptable at the highest level, it must be acceptable to them.

 

[SilverSolder]

Apophenia - the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects or ideas)

Pareidolia - the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern

[Bud]

I know someone who's son has some mental health issues, which she is now blaming on vaccinations when he was a kid 25 yrs ago. People want an excuse to blame things on; whether its true or not.

And you know 100% this was not true. You know unconditionally and most certainly that was not true. You can prove that was not true. Because, you know, you know.

[PlainName]

I know someone who's son has some mental health issues, which she is now blaming on vaccinations when he was a kid 25 yrs ago. People want an excuse to blame things on; whether its true or not.

And you know 100% this was not true. You know unconditionally and most certainly that was not true. You can prove that was not true. Because, you know, you know.

What are you trying to get across there, Bud? I can't quite decipher your meaning.

[gnuarm]

Apophenia - the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects or ideas)

Pareidolia - the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern

Is there a word for people who feel compelled to have words for everything?

Relating to pareidolia, I understand the reason why we often see faces in the dark or in random patterns is because we have a special part of our brain which is responsible for recognizing faces.  When we see a face that isn't there it's just because that part of our brain is working hard to do its job and was a bit overachieving. 

What I really hate is knowing faces are there and NOT being able to see them. 

[CJay]

I know someone who's son has some mental health issues, which she is now blaming on vaccinations when he was a kid 25 yrs ago. People want an excuse to blame things on; whether its true or not.

And you know 100% this was not true. You know unconditionally and most certainly that was not true. You can prove that was not true. Because, you know, you know.

What are you trying to get across there, Bud? I can't quite decipher your meaning.

I think what he's trying to do is prove, beyond doubt, on a forum made up of intelligent, scientifically literate people that he's an anti-vaxxer idiot but he's not quite got the courage to say it outright

[bd139]

Think he’s implying he doesn’t know the difference between correlation and causality. Chalk one up for a big problem with human perception that leads to most evil stupidities we encounter. So yep.

[gnuarm]

I thought he was being ironic.  Or sarcastic.  Or maybe just very dry.  But not serious by any means.  I mean,  really?  Do you believe anyone thinks the way he wrote?

[bd139]

Yes. I know people who do and proudly express such things.

[CJay]

I thought he was being ironic.  Or sarcastic.  Or maybe just very dry.  But not serious by any means.  I mean,  really?  Do you believe anyone thinks the way he wrote?

Yes. There are very definitely people who think that way.

[SilverSolder]

Apophenia - the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects or ideas)

Pareidolia - the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern

Is there a word for people who feel compelled to have words for everything?

Human?   

Relating to pareidolia, I understand the reason why we often see faces in the dark or in random patterns is because we have a special part of our brain which is responsible for recognizing faces.  When we see a face that isn't there it's just because that part of our brain is working hard to do its job and was a bit overachieving. 

What I really hate is knowing faces are there and NOT being able to see them. 
(Attachment Link)

It is a survival skill to quickly arrive at a conclusion about the environment.  Sometimes, this skill works against us!  - doesn't mean it isn't a valuable skill, we just have to be aware of it and its shortcomings.

[james_s]

It is a survival skill to quickly arrive at a conclusion about the environment.  Sometimes, this skill works against us!  - doesn't mean it isn't a valuable skill, we just have to be aware of it and its shortcomings.

Yeah if you turn around and see a snake or a tiger or something a short circuit in the thought process that recognizes a possible threat and causes you to take action, either fight or flight is advantageous vs standing there analyzing the situation and trying to decide whether the animal is truly a threat or not. Same with getting an electrical shock or touching something hot, you don't want to take the time to think about whether it's actually causing injury and what to do next, there is a hardwired reaction that causes you to jerk away.

[james_s]

And you know 100% this was not true. You know unconditionally and most certainly that was not true. You can prove that was not true. Because, you know, you know.

Of course not. I can't say with that degree of certainty that the sun will rise tomorrow, or that Paris is a real city in France and not just some work of fiction (never been there, never saw it with my own eyes, I'm just told that it's there), or that my overall luck today was not predetermined by the particular shirt I chose to wear, but I am confident enough in these things to treat them as absolute fact despite not REALLY knowing with 100% unconditional uncertainty. Nothing is ever 100%, everything is theory based on the available information, but there comes a point when that theory has survived enough testing to be called fact.