How do people still argue that saying the most bigoted shit imaginable (under popular memes or tik toks or whatever) doesn’t have real world consequences?
Ngl, I kinda hate when people say “online is not real life.” I mean, technically that’s correct, but liberals said that to argue against Bernie’s popularity in 2016/2020 while conveniently ignoring that the reasons for his non-election stemmed from an electoral system designed to protect against the will of the people.
But am I incorrect in assuming that since the ubiquitous internet is fairly new, we don’t have enough information to determine whether normalizing bigotry and the most horrific shit imaginable under the guise of free speech, we probably shouldn’t run that risk? Obviously people don’t say this shit irl because they’d get clapped (and they do).
But what do y’all think? Is this like a super niche field of sociology? It’s fascinating to me, I’m curious if the medium changes that in any noticeable way
They argue this when they wanna say bigoted shit, or maybe if the bigoted shit simply doesn't affect them.
Normalising bigoted shit like this online under the guise of absolutely causes harm. There's a pyramid chart somewhere, where the bottom is "joking bigotry", and the top is "active legal persecution", because normalising bigotry is the first step.
online is in fact real life. it always has been, the people on it are real people saying real things. just because they may mean it less than they would irl doesn't make it not real life. if you talk to someone online that is a real person who is actually thinking about the things you say and the things they say in return
Even if you can easily bypass [the Great Firewall (GFW), the internet censorship apparatus of the Chinese mainland]
From personal experience, I would say that this has become a lot more difficult in recent years, because of difficulties in purchasing VPNs from within China, censorship of information on how to bypass the GFW, and the vast majority of VPNs just straight up not working in China anymore.
To bypass the GFW in China and access Western social media, you pretty much have to know someone irl who already knows how to bypass the GFW and have them share their method with you.
I feel like it's largely from luddite socialists who overreact against terminal online syndrome that they advocate for touching grass so much and ignore that the influence internet has on society
Like just look at how many shooters and rapists 4chan has harbored and developed. Shit is crazy
For sure, I feel like people are trying to speak in the context of algorithmic filter bubbles, but even then, you can’t stay in your safe space forever before you’re exposed to unhinged thoughts/ideas
Online isn't real life in the sense that most people are lurkers online and the majority of the posting/commenting (or even voting, e.g. like/dislike/react) comes from a minor percentage of the IRL population
The problem is that the large body of lurkers can still read the extreme deranged shit that is posted by the small body of posters
The online is not real life is dying. For the people that grew up knowing on the Internet it wasn't real life I feel like there's a transition going on where people are realizing the Internet is real life. It wasn't like that before. The internet used to be freedom of expression now it's just as shitty as real life.
Ever since the internet go raped by business, marketing, and politics, it's been real life.
All I said was basically that the Internet was different when It first came out... Really strange confusing to me to see it removed. The post didn't even get down votes... That's sketchy. Does this sub really censor?