Re:The Now-Defunct Firms Behind 8chan, QAnon
by IngvarLynn on Friday October 23, 2020 @07:37PM
(#24875558)
Could not disagree more.
Pure information is harmless, beliefs are not. Crazy beliefs emerge from the lack of critical thinking, not from the "dangerous information".
Therefore censorship is only good as part of "divide and conquer" strategy.
There is this pervasive idea lately a crazy youtube video or text can't actually be harmful, which just isn't true. Ideas can inspire wars, murder, revolution, they can warp minds. People previously productive can end up obsessed with crazy junk. It is important to protect each other and ourselves from bad ideas. The question is how, of course. Some people violently oppose any form of curation, whether it be censorship by government, or choices made by companies like facebook. Others insist the solution to bad speech is good speech, but I've been seeing that fail on the internet for 30 years. Perhaps higher quality education can help, perhaps improving economic inequity can help. Other ideas are welcome!