Re:Blog Anonymously
by coderintherye on Friday July 10, 2020 @12:46PM
(#23793412)
But then again, what if it's Mr. Fred's jaded ex-business partner who posted the blog and the video was faked?
Everything should have some form of skepticism. The more ridiculous thing being presented, the more skepticism you should apply. Skepticism does not mean disbelief, but rather that you shouldn't just take things at face value and put on your critical thinking and analyst hat. Or as someone much wiser than me put it
> extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
We're already in a society where it is easy to control narratives and manipulate viewpoints. You don't need CGI or ML to do that.
Unfortunately it feels like we're in the habit that we apply scrutiny when things are simple and take at face when things are absurd.
Re:Blog Anonymously
by munificent on Friday July 10, 2020 @03:17PM
(#23795204)
That valid concern applies equally to non-anonymous information too.
Certainly, knowing the author is a useful part of evaluating some information. But, of course, authorship can be faked too. There's no escape from the need to apply critical reasoning to the information you encounter.
If, for example, someone posts a video of human body parts being ground up to make sausage at Mr. Fred's Delicious Sausage factory, I would really like to know that before I make my breakfast selection at the grocery store. But Mr. Fred probably does not want me to know that, which is why it's likely to be posted anonymously to pretect the author from retaliation.
In a world where some powerful groups are happy to have harm come to others, anonymity is a critical tool to fight back.