September, 2020 archive
The Disinformation Superhighway 0
Nigel Barber looks at how “social” media is being exploited to promote authoritarianism. One his examples is Myanmar’s oppression of the Rohingya; follow the link for more examples:
Not being Internet-savvy, Myanmar residents were inclined to believe whatever they read as though it had been edited like a reputable newspaper.
Their Facebook feeds contained many false and hateful narratives about the Rohingya, their atrocities committed against Buddhists, and their ties to Islamic terrorism. The Facebook algorithm amplified these hate-filled rants, offering a breeding ground for fake news hostile to the Rohinga..
Facebook was aware of the problem but opted not to hire sufficient staff in the country to set about removing some of the inflammatory false narratives.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
At the Tampa Bay Times, Larry Tye makes a case that understanding the history of Senator Joe McCarthy could lead to understanding Donald Trump and his dupes, symps, and fellow-travelers. Here’s a telling bit from the article:
To Senate Democrats, McCarthy’s message was clear-cut and Trump-like: beware the battering ram.
Republicans were even more yellow-bellied. Their leader in the Senate, Robert Taft of Ohio, confided to friends that McCarthy had “made allegations which are impossible to prove.” But there was a reason Taft, like today’s GOP Senate boss Mitch McConnell, was called Mr. Republican. “Whether Senator McCarthy has legal evidence, whether he has overstated or understated his case, is of lesser importance. The question is whether the Communist influence in the State Department still exists,” said Taft, knowing full well it didn’t. A Washington acquaintance explained that “McCarthyism is a kind of liquor for Taft. He knows it’s bad stuff, and he keeps taking the pledge. But every so often he falls off the wagon.”
The Truth, the Troll Truth . . . . 0
Writing at Psychology Today Blogs, Clair Jack considers what motivates internet trolls and how best to deal with them. A snippet:
If you spend any time on the inner webs, and obviously you do or you would not be seeing this, I commend the entire piece to your attention.
Meta: Connectivity 0
We’ve been having intermittent connectivity issues for the past few weeks.
We could restore connectivity by rebooting the modem (that’s a fancy way of saying pulling the power, counting to ten, then plugging the power back in and waiting about five minutes for all the LEDs to come alive). I feared that the modem was going bad, which might necessitate my having do something, like taking it to my local ISP store and exchanging it for a new one. Oh, the horror of it all.
Yesterday, I called my ISP’s tech support; the support rep told me that I was not alone–that a number of customers in my area had reported problems, that the problem was likely on their end, and that their staff was actively troubleshooting it. He went on to say that they expected the issue would be resolved by the early afternoon.
And it was.
I have a number of minor gripes with my ISP, but they are all on the theoretical side of things. Their tech support and their physical support are both excellent.
Turning Blind Eyes 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, H. Colleen Sinclair explores why good people do nothing in the face of bad people doing bad things.
Please just read it, because I fear what I might say were I to write more.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Let politeness accompany you to your place of education.
Afterthought:
One wonders whether this alert teacher thwarted a(nother) school shooting.