This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It first appeared at The Conversation.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1397836
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1397836
Social media is (so far) the worst thing the internet has brought us.
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Conspiracy Theories Became More Personal, More Cruel And More Mainstream
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” ~ Hunter S. Thompson
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When the Internet took off, I wondered what its net effects would be. My current conclusions are that regarding work and productivity improvements it has been fantastic, but that regarding social impacts it has been terrible. Access to unlimited, unfiltered information and instant communication capability require critical thinking skills and judgement that are sadly lacking in a huge swath of the population.
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My favorite quote of all time!
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“Jones was recently found liable by default in defamation cases filed by Sandy Hook families.”
The key word is “recently” that is part of the problem, the shooting were in 2012 and it is now 2021, why did it take so long. He was lying and he knew it, he did to be an agent provocator and it should have been nipped in the bud immediately.
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That’s because the business of our amoral, Byzantine, anachronistic legal system is simply business, not justice.
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And all things T***** is the worst thing social media continues to bring us.
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how fringe ideas could quickly become mainstream on social media and win support from various establishment figures
There’s a couple of things going on here.
The core “social media” phenomenon is a form of entertainment. It’s funzies. It’s Limbaughvision – let’s see if we can make people believe something that isn’t true. That’s power.
Alex Jones and other fringe voices amplified these false claims.
Second, this misses a key point. Alex Jones made a lot of money amplifying those false claims. It’s business. So, is the freedom to engage in business more fundamental than the right of parents to grieve for their murdered child?
This is all occurring under the rubric of news and politics. I think we all suspect, by its very nature, it’s neither.
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That should be “are the worst things social media continue to bring us.” Sorry, I get these uncontrollable urges to carp.
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Conspiracy theories keep getting worse because this is working for those instigating them. Why would they stop if this is yielding such fantastic results?
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These are better called “conspiracy fantasies”. Calling them “theories” is to give them an ounce of undue credibility.
Which fits best? (From Merriam-Webster dictionary)
Fantasy: “the power or process of creating especially unrealistic or improbable mental images in response to psychological need”
Theory: “a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena”. Plausible: “possibly true: believable or realistic”
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A work colleague has a coffee mug that reads “I am silently correcting your grammer.”
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Thanks for that.
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Stories like this make me think very violent thoughts. These children dead while Alex Jones walks the Earth is a rebuke to God.
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It wasn’t always that way.
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Hey, you’re not my grammar!
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Unless you treat “all things T*****” as a collective noun.
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you can’t’blame social media…i have never read or seen anyhting on FB that i consider evil… i don’t look for the conspiracy crap…i have never seen it…its there if a person wants to wallow in it… the only MEDIA i’m interrsted in is sites like TPM…and that is largely for the comments on material that is put up there. i use FB to contact family members all at one place…it saves me from having to call many people.i have leatned a few things from the comments on TPM.
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Indeed, Clutch mentioned the key word silently. I take that as a hint.
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