Which probably isn't a good strategy to handle taboo topics long-term.

It's the naive approach. The same approach that gets Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer banned even though they were very egalitarian for the time.

No, I'm sure if we ignore the problem long enough it will go away eventually.

The trick is to not have taboo topics.

I'm substantially more worried about returning to a society with openly enforced taboos.

I thought we had left that in the past century, but I was clearly too optimistic.

When did it stop...

Sure it is, it's been successfully used to oppress people for ages.

I regularly see clips of very popular Twitch streamers being openly sexist, racist, and abusive. I'm curious why a single mention of a taboo topic on an AI-generated channel warranted such a severe response.

It's an open secret that very popular Twitch streamers get at best a slap on the wrist for things that get other people permabanned.

Few platforms have impartial moderation, but Twitch is very blatant about it.

Twitch bans are highly inconsistent.

The probability banning would cause a decrease in revenue (ad-viewing users not on the site if banned creator not on the site) has to be weighed against the probability not-banning would cause a decrease in revenue (advertisers not on the site if banned creator is on the site). It's all very advanced mathematics, far too difficult for the common man to understand.

Oh, uh, I mean.... "ethics". And "morals". And "terms of service". Yeah, thats it.

> Twitch bans are highly inconsistent.

Exactly. Consistency and fairness are expensive, so none of the platforms actually do it.

The topic isn't taboo, but making fun of people is. Be nice to other people and suddenly you don't get canceled or whatever you're afraid will happen.

I think there are lots of people for whom the present cultural climate permits making fun of. I see a lot of standup in New York and there are some very specific, unspoken rules about who's allowed to make fun of who, and for what.

There are entire subreddits dedicated to making fun of certain types of people, and the prevailing opinion on reddit is that they deserve it because they are Bad.

Same as it ever was. What is acceptable to make fun of and what is not is constantly shifting with the times. What seems more constant is people being upset that what was once acceptable is now frowned upon, and the friction that causes them.

There's this thing in comedy called "satire" you may be surprised to learn about.

The entire point is that basic discussions are twisted into being attacks on people because they are too sensitive.

Uh, I'm pretty sure making fun of people isn't taboo.

Go watch the clip.

Yeah that's the so called "chilling effect" of these rules.

With the irony being that this joke predicted its own fate. "No one is laughing and you're all gone" shortly before it's #CANCELLED.

Is it also a "chilling effect" that you shouldn't call a black person the N word? Doesn't seem to have chilled anything in rap

It certainly has downstream chilling effects. The lingo around how to describe minority groups is fraught with landmines that often lead to avoiding discussion in general. Growing up in the 90's I remember trying to learn the correct terms for Native Americans, people of color, etc, and for many years I believed mistakenly that some terms were taboo when they weren't (I thought it was rude to refer to someone as "Mexican", for example) and to this day I am still hesitant on some things; is using "Black" as a caucasian offensive in some contexts, wait what's the correct term for the indigenous peoples of the arctic North America, etc.

So when time comes that we might discuss a subject that touches on these groups, I generally tend to avoid it. I think I know the right term, but on the 5% chance I say something offensive then it's a huge negative outcome for me. No I'm not going to accidentally say the n-word, but sometimes it's easier to avoid conversation on the topic if I'm in a context where I may stick my foot in my mouth.