What Would We Do If ISIS Came to Steemit?
”It’s time that platforms come together to make it more difficult to manufacture a crowd.”
I love it when my wife sends me articles. She is well read, and tends to look at things from a more down to earth perspective than I do.
Because I often talk about Steemit and how there is no censorship, this mainstream article became a ripe discussion in our home.
The quote above is from a Wired magazine article that discusses the role of social media in culture, and how Russia and ISIS use it to build their following.
What I found most interesting, aside from the quote, is the desire of this writer to see social media regulated.
How Far is Too Far?
Maybe it is my worldview, but I had a distinct feeling reading the piece that because people are not smart enough to think for themselves, we need to censor what they can see on social media.
The journalist traces the story of how ISIS was able to garner a worldwide following by posting their content across the inter webs.
Since ISIS created thousands of dummy accounts and used that influence to steer the conversation on social media, a lot of their content went viral.
Much like Steemit has their voting bots, Facebook and Twitter allow content creators to boost their material to the trending page. ISIS utilized this service to ensure that their message reached as many people as possible.
I do not disagree with this information. Renee did an excellent job researching and communicating how organizations like ISIS are able to share their message. What I do disagree with is Renee’s conclusion. Just because a message is spread far and wide, does not mean it will become influential.
We receive influence in our lives every single day. Whether it is from friends, what we read, listen to, or choose to engage with via some other means.
Some of those influences we choose, and some we don’t - we don’t always have the choice to not walk in on a conversation.
What we do posses is a mind and a will to either allow outside influence to shape us, or to not.
I don’t know about you, but I would rather hear what a person has to say, and choose whether to engage with them, rather than not hearing them at all.
We walk a dangerous road if we begin choosing who has a voice and who doesn’t.
I am curious to hear what your thoughts are after reading Ms Diresta’s piece. Is regulating social media a good thing if we keep radicals like ISIS from growing?
Image Sources: 1
Really good post, lydon. I believe we're under the influence of somebody or something all of the time:
Having been in a position of influence over young minds, I can assure you that the things I taught and the views I held made a difference in many lives. I shudder to think of the impact of terrorist teaching - it's bad enough when older adults - people with life experience and fully developed minds are exposed to radical ideas in mosques.
It all comes down to authority - Who is your authority? That's basically what the Pharisees said to Jesus - on what basis are you holding these views - is it your own ideas, or the ideas of a recognized teacher, or do you have a higher authority? How do you know what is real or fake - just your opinion?
Yes, freedom allows us to choose but we must be careful what we hear and what we allow into our lives.
Masterfully said, John. The analogy of the Pharisees and Jesus is a great example to hearken to in our own day.
Do you still believe Santa is real?
this is really just a fairy tale @oldtimer.
for you @lydon.sipe , And social media is the best you can do, but it depends on who each makes it live in noise or happiness.
Lol, I suppose what you are implying is how could I believe that ISIS is not manufactured by the US and other governments. I do believe the CIA is heavily involved in the creation of ISIS - Santa on the other hand is not a myth I fancy.
Yes. They just made up what they need.
Being the conspiracy nut job that I am, I find plausible reports like this one blaming the powers that be for creating ISIS and using it to manipulate world opinion.
It seems pretty clear to me that the sort of shenanigans described in the Wired article could only be engineered by some pretty clever people.
😄😇😄
And once again, our views of the world align. After reports like the one you shared, I have a hard time seeing how ISIS is not a means to destabilize regions.
that is indeed a very interesting question. i really don't have a direct answer. for me i just wouldn't bother myself to even check them but on the other hand whatever they uploaded it would have been forever in the blockchain and you can imagine of what i am talking about. in other social media like fb they just can delete they accounts but here this isn't the case. they could be flooded with flags and therefore their content not be that visible but still it will be there, forever.
Now if the steemit.inc for example could just delete accounts forever the whole blockchain philosophy would have been erased. very interesting question once again!
I hadn’t thought of that - great point.
Listening, reading and learning are all good. But what we do with the information or knowledge acquired is what matters.
I beleive what a person is , is really in them and not usually because of what they read.
For me regulating the social media is the best, you never can tell what some people can be up to , God forbid they come to steemit
Honestly, the caption of this article is really captivating, immediately i saw it i was drawn to the post.
You got me on this one😁
Nice write up
Well said. There at libraries of information at our fingertips, and the responsible application of that knowledge matters.
Interesting question... If i remember correctly, there was an account on here posting underaged porn. It got flagged to hell and i think they left. This was before bid bots so flagging was an effective measure.
Given ISIS resources, they could easily become a whale and it'll be the whale wars all over again.
Good point. It would be wild to see the comment section on posts like that.
Well said. This world needs an open forum for all sorts of reasons. We have no idea what governments or people with serious influence are trying to cover up.
Indeed, an open forum for discussion is needed.
A long time ago, people only head news by word of mouth or what the king decided to announce. Then came the printing press with those fortunate enough to be able to read or even afford to buy the paper. Knowledge was restricted. Today, that has not changed much with censoring in the press and even the internet. Word of mouth is probably the only thing left that gives someone a voice.
Now... If we pretend forums suddenly becomes everyone's source of information, how do we figure out who to trust? We can have a terrorist group saying X and a well meaning person saying Y. Does number of upvote imply truth? Ideally, yes but logically, not exactly. Sorting out fact from fiction is a life skill that takes practice to acquire. If everyone can learn to master this, then the world will be a better place.
Amen.
When you come down to it , Social Media , Email, etc ruined Letter Bombs forever!
I'm with you! I usually prefer to read all sides of the story and make up my own mind. ISIS is a rather extreme example, and while I trust my own judgement, I can only hope that I can trust the judgement of others.
I really have given much thought to it. I hope that one day they'll just come to their senses and would help the world make a better place rather than ruining it. :(