[HN Gopher] Rechanneling Beliefs: How information flows hinder o...
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       Rechanneling Beliefs: How information flows hinder or help
       democracy [pdf]
        
       Author : curmudgeon22
       Score  : 25 points
       Date   : 2021-06-09 19:39 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (snfagora.jhu.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (snfagora.jhu.edu)
        
       | kokanator wrote:
       | This document is about silencing people who don't agree with the
       | 'norm' which should be handled by independent parties (
       | 'gatekeepers' ) with oversight from the government. ( yes I read
       | the entire document ).
       | 
       | This document only and substantially focuses on Republicans,
       | conservatives, Fox News, NewMax, etc as the problem.
       | 
       | """Our prescriptions are not intended to weaken the Republican
       | Party, but instead to redirect its energies so that its
       | extremists don't undermine a basic shared understanding of
       | democracy."""
       | 
       | Spin it how you want, it is censorship.
        
         | epgui wrote:
         | Can you explain to me like I'm 5 how the act of publishing an
         | academic whitepaper is equivalent to censorship?
        
         | wwweston wrote:
         | > his document is about silencing people who don't agree with
         | the 'norm'
         | 
         | Apparently you're implying "The norm" is always nothing more
         | than just another possible range of opinions, or worse, that
         | it's some arbitrary standard that outsiders are forcing upon
         | you.
         | 
         | Since this is an engineering forum, though, the idea that a
         | norm may represent a well-established _consensus_ should be
         | readily apparent. As should the idea that there is such a thing
         | as  "noise" that obscures true signal and it's desirably
         | sometimes to filter noise out of well-functioning systems.
         | 
         | Is that tricky when it comes to the marketplace of ideas? Sure.
         | Does that mean _every_ effort to come to grips with the problem
         | is censorship? Nope.
         | 
         | > This document only and substantially focuses on Republicans,
         | conservatives, Fox News, NewMax, etc as the problem.
         | 
         | Yes, because that's where people are relying not only on noise
         | but on outright disinformation most right now along the
         | political spectrum. It doesn't have to be that way -- there are
         | conservatives who are capable of advocacy on honest merits --
         | but it is that way right now.
        
           | kokanator wrote:
           | > Since this is an engineering forum, though, the idea that a
           | norm may represent a well-established consensus should be
           | readily apparent.
           | 
           | So which view is the 'well-established consensus'? In the
           | last election for instance the population was split nearly
           | down the middle on the 'well-established consensus'.
           | 
           | > Yes, because that's where people are relying not only on
           | noise but on outright disinformation most right now along the
           | political spectrum.
           | 
           | This seems bit naive. The statement at the beginning of the
           | document is simply a vail the author is using in order to
           | proceed with a reprogramming plan for republicans and
           | conservatives.
           | 
           | "How do you know a politician is lying, [their] mouth is
           | moving."
           | 
           | We just had a full year of misinformation from all
           | directions. To single one group out is disingenuous at best.
           | ( Recent news is proving this to be very true ).
           | 
           | The nation is split ideologically. How do you create a way to
           | have conversations which lead to understanding? That is the
           | real question that needs to be asked.
        
       | motohagiography wrote:
       | This horse seems to have left the barn. A significant portion of
       | politically engaged people in the US and other countries will
       | never believe electronic voting is legtimate again. Interesting
       | that Bruce Schneier is a co-author, and the paper seems timed to
       | be positioned for a reckoning about the integrity of those
       | systems, and perhaps a justification of them because an election
       | with physical integrity could have had problematic results.
        
         | WalterGR wrote:
         | How is it both a reckoning and at the same time a justification
         | of conspiracy theories?
        
       | foolinaround wrote:
       | how about the authors of this paper exposing their own political
       | biases, how they voted etc? Similar to how financial analysts who
       | write on a stock have a disclaimer about their relationship with
       | the stock?
        
         | epgui wrote:
         | What impact would that have on the merits of the text?
        
           | kokanator wrote:
           | It would help to inform the "intent" of the text.
        
             | epgui wrote:
             | The intent of the text is pretty clearly laid out in the
             | first page of the text, is it not?
        
       | dredmorbius wrote:
       | In the event your reading is also frustrated by a non-dismissable
       | overlay _and_ non-clickable download links, the webpage is merely
       | a brief introduction to a 12 page PDF article here:
       | 
       | https://snfagora.jhu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Rechanne...
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Ok, I've changed the URL to that from
         | https://snfagora.jhu.edu/publication/rechanneling-beliefs/.
         | Thanks!
        
       | caramelcream wrote:
       | Summary of the article: Republicans bad, Democrats good.
       | 
       | It's a shame that partisanship makes it impossible to notice
       | certain issues. The article completely ignores the erosion of
       | journalistic standards, censorship on social media, "woke"
       | takeover of academia and demonization of white males.
       | 
       | It's not a surprise that the situation keeps getting worse.
        
         | spiritplumber wrote:
         | You are helping how?
        
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       (page generated 2021-06-09 23:01 UTC)