My stepdad believes every one of the conspiracy theories listed in this article, and his primary source is YouTube.
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Just what we need…more laws. In the article it discusses amending the Communications Decency Act. Free speech is free speech. If you’re into conspiracy theories, fine. If not, fine. People choose what to watch. Some things that were once considered “fringe” conspiracies turned out to be true (see the Gulf of Tonkin incident). Now of course, I’m not saying even a sizeable minority of conspiracy theories are true, but some are (again, most aren’t).
Here’s the thing with the internet: let’s say Youtube pulls the plug on all sorts of stuff various folks find unsavory. What’s left? Just cute animal videos? Then Youtube would have no traffic. My point is if you start wiping a site of everything somebody/insert X group finds objectionable, not only would Youtube become a wasteland, but the stuff would just move to another site.
It seems to me there are two types of people in the world: those who want to be left alone, and those who will not leave others alone. Humanity has been violent since its inception. How has diplomacy worked out the past 10,000 years? The fact is people are people, all different, and you cannot police everyone all the time over every thing, everywhere. Just like threads on here: don’t like it/not interested, don’t click. Simple.
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I’m with David Icke on this one. (only joking…!)
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i think youtube has built up enough good content makers that it is now weeding out content that isn’t. so of course when that kind of content is censored on youtube then those content makers will gravitate to a different platform.
One could argue that conspiracy theory videos spew falsified and obscured information, and there could and should be a law against willfully misinforming.
Just don’t watch it? It’s not hard. For some people it is entertaining.
Half the crap out there is bull crap. I don’t watch tv for this reason.
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I don’t watch tv either. There’s enough carp inside my head without adding to it with that tv nonsense.
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Well the problem was that there were actually quite a few popular theories about the CIA and other government activities that were proved. So now people feel like these other theories are legitimized. I don’t really cop to that stuff so its not really something I have a problem with.
Unfortunately some people get harassed because of these theories and I find that troubling. Unfortunately I don’t know that there’s an answer.
There are also things that niche communities know about that then get into the mainstream and the mainstream just tries to discredit them by calling them conspiracy theorists. So its not like there aren’t bad actors doing stuff to mislead people actively even in places where you want to have a level of trust.
So many concerning things staged for the media to lend a bias towards one side or another.
Now the Covington boys are suing the media and winning because they claimed they were harassing that man. Stuff like that adds up to a level of distrust with the media and rightfully so, but it also supports these bad actors trying to profit off of miss information by spewing conspiracies.
Just don’t watch it doesn’t work for people who are easily suggestible.
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It’s called being an adult and having self control. This is why we are becoming a nanny state. People get triggered by everything these days. Everyone thinks they’re a special snowflake.
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You took my statement so out of context and made it about triggers. I liken willful misinformation with marketing addictive substances to children. It’s absolutely terrible to actively spread misinformation.
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Guys the Earth is a triangle it’s not round!!!
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I have nothing against free information either, but my stepdad was so much easier to talk to before he adopted all these conspiracy theories, and the stuff he accuses certain famous people doing are just the worst things you could possibly accuse people of.
We used to get along great, we’d chat about just about anything. My problem is the way misinformation gradually changes a person’s views. We’re all a little worried about him because we can’t talk him out of these beliefs. Years ago he’d agree they are theoretical, but now he insists they are facts.
I feel like we’re losing him to this whole underground conspiracy theory wing of YouTube, and we miss the way he used to be.
Question authority. I like people being open minded and looking into stuff.
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I’m a big believer in freedom of speech and am firmly against controlling the thoughts of others.
The great thing about the internet is that it is (Currently) an unregulated frontier. You can post and say what you want and that’s what makes it great. With the exception of illegal items, no one and no government has any control over what you think. I believe this type of control is inherently wrong.
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The willful spreading of misinformation is dangerous, however. You realize propaganda works that way, no? We should strive to spread truth, not lies.
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I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with conspiracy theories. Just because some people don’t like them doesn’t mean that no one should be able to consume them. The fact of the matter is that most people don’t get sick or delusional because of them. And who’s to say what the truth is, anyway? Should we trust something just because it comes from the government? Who holds the media accountable if not those who question? Should people decide that something is wrong just because YouTube says it is? Who is YouTube to tell me what and what not to believe in?
And how far do we take this? What about religious media? Should we censor that too because no one has proven said religion to be true? Do we prevent them from being able to share content because they don’t believe in evolution, or because they believe in reincarnation? Do we censor comedians who make sarcastic remarks because people such as my autistic brother might not realize they were joking? Where is the line between valid mistrust and misinformation? Should we be unable to share our ideas about historical events because they differ from the generally accepted narrative?
I dunno, maybe I’m biased because I like conspiracy theories, and I liked them before there was even a hint of psychosis in me. If you don’t care for them, that’s fine, but it’s not like conspiracy theory content attempts to hide itself. If you don’t like, or are in some way triggered by, conspiracy theories, then don’t consume them. It really is as simple as that.
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It really isn’t that much of a slippery slope, they censor hate speech, there is a line the question is where that line should be. On my own outside of my situation I really could care less what anybody says anywhere. I guess I just noticed it being more of an issue for people these days and was curious if YouTube was gonna try to police it or just let it run free.
I think it would help if we stopped being polite to stupid people. Whenever they say something stupid, point out that it’s stupid and let them know exactly how stupid they are. This generally worked in my youth as they eventually got the idea and shut the hell up.
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I don’t think they censor it so much because they want to. I think it’s because advertisers don’t want their ads on hateful videos, lest they seem supportive of such ideologies, so YouTube demonetizes it.