March, 2024 archive
Mob Psychology on the Disinformation Superhighway 0
We have all seen the speed with which lies, hatred, and nastiness go “viral” on the disinformation superhighway. Nigel Barber, writing at Psychology Today Blogs, looks at the dynamics of mob psychology in this age of “social” media. He starts by citing Gustave LeBon’s exploration of mob psychology, published in 1895. Here’s a tiny bit of his article.
(snip)
These features are also apparent in social media groups. Yet online mobs have some organizational features that differentiate them from old-fashioned street mobs. To begin with, online mobs can be much larger because they stretch across national boundaries bringing the same themes to geographically dispersed actions. So, the same far-right anti-immigrant memes of territorial invasion and replacement of native-born residents are cropping up in street protests around the world.
I commend the entire article to your attention.
Stray Thought 0
I suspect that, if I looked up “truth” in my trusty Roget’s Thesaurus, which I’ve had for forty years, I would not find “divisive concepts” listed as a synonym thereof.
But, if I had an updated version, I think I just might.
Republican Family Values 0
An Arizona state legislator who is dealing with a non-viable pregnancy and who has suffered multiple miscarriages speaks powerfully of the agony she has endured because of Republican culture warriors and American Talibangelicals.
I knew someone who endured a miscarriage. It is not an experience I would wish on anyone, and it is certainly not an experience that should be mandated by government.
There is a reason the Founders mandated separation of church and state, and this is certainly one of them.
Video via C&L, which has commentary.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another “responsible gun owner” exposes yet another child to yet another gun.
Thus passeth another day in NRA Paradise.
Republican Thought Police 0
At AL.com, Kyle Whitmore reports on the Autauga-Prattville Library Board, which fired the library directory and now can’t get its story straight about why.
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
Every time you think it has reached the absolute depths of dumb stupid, it goes and proves you wrong.
We are a society of stupid.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Also, not your friend despite what they want you to think, as sociologist Joseph E. Davis points out at Psychology Today Blogs, where he points out that
Follow the link for the evidence.
Vaccine Nation 0
Sam talks with Dr. Peter J. Hotez, Dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, about his recent book, The Deadly Rise of Anti-science: A Scientist’s Warning, and about how being against vaccines became part of right-wing
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” discharges his responsibility.
Police said the bullet hit an innocent bystander in the “lower extremities.”
Guns and stupid, guns and stupid.
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you brother,
You can’t have one without the other.
Facebook Frolics 0
Hate-full frolics by the America’s Talibangelicals.
If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better, Disinformation Superhighway Dept. 0
The EFF’s David Greene highlights the hypocrisy, A snippet:
Agencies can’t even pass on information about websites state election officials have identified as disinformation, even if they don’t request that any action be taken, they assert.
Yet just this week the vast majority of those same lawmakers said the government’s interest in removing election interference misinformation from social media justifies banning a site used by 150 million Americans.
Details at the link.
“Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied” 0
That’s not just a legal maxim.
It’s Donald Trump’s go-to legal strategy.
And, in more legal news of the Trump . . . .
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Security maven Bruce Schneier thinks that the devolution of “social” media can help us understand the potentia–and the potential dangers–of artificial “intelligence.” Here’s a bit from the beginning of his article:
The five items he discusses are:
- Advertising.
- Surveillance
- Virality (as in “going viral,” not as in “strong”)
- Lock-in (of
yourdata about you)- Monopolization (or, alternatively, monetization)
Follow the link for his detailed exploration of each.
The Plane Truth 0
Thom discusses how Donald Trump’s actions led directly to Boeing’s broken planes.
