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Had this interesting exchange with someone on Reddit. Maybe you guys will find it interesting as well.
SpellingSocialist said:I think that was the old theory, and we are starting to realize that it simply isn't true when the creation of "speech" is virtually cost-less (in terms of effort, money, reputation, time, etc. needed). In the past, to disseminate a message, you needed at least one of those things to disseminate a message. Now, as a nearly-anonymous person I can record myself doing something / saying something completely wrong or nonsensical on my phone, upload the video to Reddit, and as long as it resonates with an audience, my message will be amplified. It costs me virtually nothing, whereas higher quality speech, presumably refuting my misinformation, would take more time, more effort, and an actual reputation (at a minimum).
Arnox said:Remember the urban myth that lemmings were so dumb, they would jump off a cliff? That myth was (basically) started with the Disney film, White Wildernesss in 1958. And look how long that myth held on without the modern internet. Not satisfied? I got more. How about the myth that the tongue has certain areas responsible for certain tastes? Or how about the myth where we only use 20% of our brain? (Or was it 25%? I don't know. Don't care. It's a stupid myth.) Or how about the myth that Columbus' crew, when sailing the Pacific, panicked because they thought the world was flat?
In summary though, it goes both ways. Information disseminated slowly is debunked slowly. Information disseminated fast is debunked fast.
There's other factors here too that you're overlooking as well such as the fact that Twitter has a RAMPANT bot problem, and Twitter apparently doesn't give a crap about it. How much less nonsense would we have to put up with just on that site alone, I wonder, if the site staff were actually acting responsibly? But I guess they don't care because it looks good on a graph for investors. "Wowie! Look at all our site engagement!"
And finally, I'll bring one last example up. Remember how so many people were making and eating Nyquil Chicken after seeing a TikTok video? Oh wait, that didn't actually happen. Some fucko news station had a slow news day and decided to report on some rando humorous TikTok video that was made YEARS ago. Other news stations just decided to run with it because, "Wowie! Look at all that engagement!"
The "ignorant and unwashed masses" are not the issue. Freedom of speech is not the issue. The people at the top pulling the strings though ARE. People who are trying to scare you into giving up your rights, your power, your speech.