Thread: Facebook's politically biased censorship is real and very extreme.

I know you didn't ask me, but:

Originally Posted by MoonageDaydream

Have you ever had a political debate then ended well? And by well, I mean, someone actually changed their opinion to yours, based on your arguement? Honestly, I think best case scenario is that people wind up agreeing to disagree, but so often, it's way, way worse than that. Especially when doing it in a public forum like this.

As a matter of fact, many times. I've even seen a few minds get changed on this very forum (though it was years ago).

Yes, it is definitely a far better idea to show our beliefs rather than try to force them on others
(tough to do online, but a good point regardless), but in my opinion it is a very, very bad thing to not discuss our beliefs with those who don't share them with us, because it is by this kind of sharing that we learn and grow as a people. One of the things that is really trashing U.S. society right now is the fact that so many people either exist in hermetically sealed echo chambers where everyone must agree or they're out (sometimes brutally), or they scream at each other from behind the safety of their distant devices without ever having an intention of arguing a point to convince someone with an opposing opinion... and thank you Big Social Media for perfecting the stage for both options. In both those scenarios there is no chance of a meeting of minds, or even the occasional distant nod.

But, in a forum like this, attached to a site that has nothing to do with politics or society, people tend to be a lot more polite, and willing to listen, simply because they have already had a meeting of minds about another subject, and can be more able to respect their opponents because they know that someone exists behind the words who shares their opinion about something.

And so, in a forum like this, opinions can be flung with great volume and velocity, but they also can be amicably caught, digested, and returned with equal speed by folks on the other side. And sometimes a mind is changed, or at least its armor is dented a bit. Of course, as someone said above, special places like these forums have been decimated by Big Social Media, and arguing now has degraded to a kabuki theater where the actors hurl slogans and epithets past each other, with nobody learning a thing, except how better to hate the people with whom they're sharing this world. Kind of sucks, if you ask me. What sucks even more is that, though Big Social Media has finally removed their blinders to the problem they created, their ham-handed and arguably biased repairs tend to do more harm than good.

Originally Posted by Sageous

I know you didn't ask me, but:



As a matter of fact, many times. I've even seen a few minds get changed on this very forum (though it was years ago).

Yes, it is definitely a far better idea to show our beliefs rather than try to force them on others (tough to do online, but a good point regardless), but in my opinion it is a very, very bad thing to not discuss our beliefs with those who don't share them with us, because it is by this kind of sharing that we learn and grow as a people. One of the things that is really trashing U.S. society right is the fact that so many people either exist in hermetically sealed echo chambers where everyone must agree or they're out (sometimes brutally), or they scream at each other from behind the safety of their distant devices without ever having an intention of arguing a point to convince someone with an opposing opinion... and thank you Big Social Media for perfecting the stage for both options. In both those scenarios there is no chance of a meeting of minds, or even the occasional distant nod.

But, in a forum like this, attached to a site that has nothing to do with politics or society, people tend to be a lot more polite, and willing to listen, simply because they have already had a meeting of minds about another subject, and can be more able to respect their opponents because they know that someone exists behind the words who shares their opinion about something.

And so, in a forum like this, opinions can be flung with great volume and velocity, but they also can be amicably caught, digested, and returned with equal speed by folks on the other side. And sometimes a mind is changed, or at least its armor is dented a bit. Of course, as someone said above, special places like these forums have been decimated by Big Social Media, and arguing now has degraded to a kabuki theater where the actors hurl slogans and epithets past each other, with nobody learning a thing, except how better to hate the people with whom they're sharing this world. Kind of sucks, if you ask me. What sucks even more is that, though Big Social Media has finally removed their blinders to the problem they created, their ham-handed and arguably biased repairs tend to do more harm than good.

You make a good point. I'm just so used to my parents, especially my mom, just yell and yell and yell her political opinions at me. And I'm not even on the other side? I just don't like to buy into either party. I don't like the way they are so aggressive to each other. Much prefer to let my vote get lost in independent land, never to count for anything, but at least I'll feel good about myself.

Is it bad that I promised not to post here again, and I did? Sheesh. I'm awful.