[johnminter]

One nice feature on many social media platforms is that one can unfollow or block people who seem to generate more heat than light in their posts. I am willing to read and interact with someone with whom I disagree as long as the discussion remains civil and productive.

Trolls have been around from the early days of the internet. I remember one student from Dartmouth that posted on many of the science newsgroups under the name Archimedes Plutonium. He continually posted that the Plutonium atom was God. This started many unproductive discussions and spammed many newsgroups. I'm sure you can imagine the flame wars... I am thankful that current social media lets me block/ignore trolls.

[51Cards]

But you're counting on your intelligence to act as a filter. It has become very clear in the last many years that a non-insignificant percentage of the populace doesn't possess the knowledge or level of rational thought to properly evaluate what they are being fed en-mass. It's increasingly easy to exploit some people's herd mentality and lack of education to rise movements that can have significant impact. I often talk to people who suddenly spout off some random conspiracy theory because they read about it 10 times on Facebook and they lack the ability to evaluate it properly. I wholly agree that I'm not a fan of censorship but likewise I don't think private platforms have a responsibility to equally showcase what is known to be false.

It's all going to be a mess no matter how you handle it... but permitting an endemic lack of education over the last generation has brought the concept of democracy to this point. I wish there was a clearer solution.

[read_if_gay_]

> It's increasingly easy to exploit some people's herd mentality and lack of education to rise movements that can have significant impact.

Everybody always says this about everyone else.