My favorite part of this whole game / controversy is how "doing your own research" on an issue leads you to the alt-right. Parody-level blunder from the left on that one.
Any suggestions where the billions for biased economic research, biased LLMs, skewed algorithms, selective ad revenue, massive botnet operations, campaign funding, corrupted influencal networks, media ownership -- and the most important part: a functioning education system to immunize people against propaganda so they can actually do ther own research against all odds -- should come from?
What would you suggest, when it turns out, that even with massive fact checking capabilities, lies just spread faster no mattet your factual accurracy?
Blaming the left for the current upheaval is a right prolaganda message too, so did my broadening reply work on you? No?
They don’t mean actually “do your own research”, they mean “do your own research from these far right biased resources.” All you have to do is plant the seed of a bias and lead them to confirming those biases. Real research would require not having an opinion in the first place and just looking for the cause of a problem from a variety of sources with different biases.
Much easier to flood the zone with bullshit when you have no regard for truth. It's extremely hard to propagate facts, especially since facts on almost any salient issue are complex, vague, apparently contradictory, and otherwise require a lot of attention to wrap one's head around.
Maybe because the lefts big issues are very "all or none". In 2021 if you said "I support trans rights in every area except trans women competing in women's sports" that would make you alt-right. You either completely swallow the narrative or you get thrown out completely, no room for nuance or discussion.
This sort of thing is why I've moved away from left-wing politics as I've got older. I'm now centre-left and not much engaged with politics any more, whereas in my twenties I considered myself far-left and would be leafleting, going to protests, and have social groups full of people who felt the same way.
I came to realise that most leftists are idiots who don't think for themselves and need to be spoonfed the latest acceptable opinions, usually from a social media echo chamber. And these opinions change with the wind.
Like why shouldn't I do my own research and try to discuss it with people who supposedly have similar principles? No apparently that's not allowed and you'll get shouted down for it, maybe even banned for wrongthink.
The fundamental issue is that actual information of what the fck is going on in the world/your country and why is so far buried and removed from the public eye that people either accept the BS narrative, latch onto crazy conspiracy theories, or sink into total apathy.
It would be journalists' job to actually dig into this, but you know.
Working at an organization owned by a media conglomerate whose majority shareholder is a billionaire with very clear state connections usually qualifies as independent journalism among friends and state propaganda among enemies.
> The Home Office said Prevent had diverted nearly 6,000 people away from violent ideologies. It added that projects such as the Pathways game were designed to target local radicalisation risks
Original matter aside, this Ministry of Truth update is as creepy as anything else in the article.
It's probably similar to how the extremely pro-AI people started generating Studio Ghibli-style images in droves. It's sort of a disrespectful co-opting.
Thats because the character was originally created for a UK government-backed game designed to help young people recognise and resist right-wing ideology.
The right then took the character and made it their ironic symbol.
Drawing in folks who want to watch young girls on the internet ... there was a similar story in Russia with AI generated young Russian women, but apparently run by China.
Hang on, this looks like classic Internet trolling:
//
Pathways: Navigating the Internet and Extremism is a simple multiple choice format game with basic animation. Its players are taken on a journey as characters at a college. They are invited to make decisions in scenarios including whether or download potentially extremist content or join an Amelia character on a rally organised by “a small political group” protesting against changes in society and the “erosion in British values”…
However, it is a subversion of the Amelia character that has exploded across social media channels …
Manga-style Amelia, a Wallace and Gromit version and AI-generated “real life” encounters between her and the characters of Father Ted or Harry Potter, accompanied by racist language and far-right messaging.
…We have seen the meme having a remarkable spread and proliferating among the far right and beyond, but what’s also been of note is how it is now international
//
So a bunch of trolls did classic troll things (which is to be expected because you’re on the internet) then the right wingers picked it up and ruined it and then it spread to become a meme coin
The article wants to make this as though there’s a hardcore group of right wing meme-lords in some giant conspiracy
"Classic internet trolling" is exactly what it is. You can find video of the original game on YouTube -- it's got a painful "hello, fellow kids" vibe to it that just invites ridicule.
And someone doing a meme coin isn't a "one of the most surreal twists" - people do that for everything these days as the cost of making one is ~$0 and they may may a few bob off suckers.
Your reaction makes me remember the "Angry Jack" videos about Gamergate, in particular the video discussing the fact that when some people (troll or not) were propagating racist or sexist things, they were reacting by saying "whaaaat, I'm not racist/sexist, how dare you". Who cares about them, and what they "are" really: for the society, if someone is spreading racist information "for the lols" or spreading it because they really believe in the content, the damage is exactly the same.
I, like you, don't believe the phenomenon was the result of an organised action (of course). The phenomenon was started as meme, resonnated with the far-right, and both far-right and people who don't see any problem with far-right ideology just amplified it. After all, the government has made a lot of stupid videos, and yet, the popularity explodes mainly when it's aligned with far-right.
But I don't have a problem with considering that the "bunch of trolls who did classic troll things" are considered as far-right. They indeed totally jumped in the opportunity to make racist things for the lols. How does that not make them racist themselves? If you create stuffs that racists find great and very aligned with their ideology, I'm sorry, even if you think you are not intrinsically racist, just be an adult and accept the consequences of your actions: you are part of the racist community, you are one of their "allies".
So, I'm perfectly fine with trolls being considered as racists. Trolling is a pain on society anyway and each time a kid thinks of themselves as "super smart" because they are trolling, the reality is rather that the world would be a better place if this version of them was not part of it. Why should we care about what trolls are feeling, they choose to put themselves at the top of the list of people who don't deserve any consideration for their feelings.
Yeah, it's a bummer. As someone who doesn't vote for the right I sincerely feel bad for the sane and respectable people among the right who have watched their parties turn into this and have lost their voice and representation in the media.
You know, things are not that black and white in the world. People have different problems, different points of view.
The fact that the system gives them only two opposing, radical polarities, doesn't mean that there isn't nuance.
You and I may agree or not, but there are indeed young woman who, for example, are not pro-choice. They may have varied views on the trans issue, they have different class/economics policy goals.
You don't get to decree what young women interest are, neither me nor anyone else than themselves.
[+] [-] djohnston|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] throwawayqqq11|1 month ago|reply
What would you suggest, when it turns out, that even with massive fact checking capabilities, lies just spread faster no mattet your factual accurracy?
Blaming the left for the current upheaval is a right prolaganda message too, so did my broadening reply work on you? No?
[+] [-] seanmcdirmid|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] estearum|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] ericmcer|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] baggy_three|1 month ago|reply
I came to realise that most leftists are idiots who don't think for themselves and need to be spoonfed the latest acceptable opinions, usually from a social media echo chamber. And these opinions change with the wind.
Like why shouldn't I do my own research and try to discuss it with people who supposedly have similar principles? No apparently that's not allowed and you'll get shouted down for it, maybe even banned for wrongthink.
[+] [-] torginus|1 month ago|reply
It would be journalists' job to actually dig into this, but you know.
Working at an organization owned by a media conglomerate whose majority shareholder is a billionaire with very clear state connections usually qualifies as independent journalism among friends and state propaganda among enemies.
[+] [-] paulddraper|1 month ago|reply
Original matter aside, this Ministry of Truth update is as creepy as anything else in the article.
[+] [-] wolvoleo|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] ksynwa|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] isubkhankulov|1 month ago|reply
The right then took the character and made it their ironic symbol.
[+] [-] duxup|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] inimino|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] estearum|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] jazzyjackson|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] AndrewKemendo|1 month ago|reply
//
Pathways: Navigating the Internet and Extremism is a simple multiple choice format game with basic animation. Its players are taken on a journey as characters at a college. They are invited to make decisions in scenarios including whether or download potentially extremist content or join an Amelia character on a rally organised by “a small political group” protesting against changes in society and the “erosion in British values”…
However, it is a subversion of the Amelia character that has exploded across social media channels …
Manga-style Amelia, a Wallace and Gromit version and AI-generated “real life” encounters between her and the characters of Father Ted or Harry Potter, accompanied by racist language and far-right messaging.
…We have seen the meme having a remarkable spread and proliferating among the far right and beyond, but what’s also been of note is how it is now international
//
So a bunch of trolls did classic troll things (which is to be expected because you’re on the internet) then the right wingers picked it up and ruined it and then it spread to become a meme coin
The article wants to make this as though there’s a hardcore group of right wing meme-lords in some giant conspiracy
This is keeps happening and it’s super wierd.
Remember the 2007 mooninite panic? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42225609
Is trolling considered right wing now?
[+] [-] laughing_man|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] tim333|1 month ago|reply
real one https://youtu.be/2UI1ZqGpqXk
anti islam one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu2K48F71rg
And someone doing a meme coin isn't a "one of the most surreal twists" - people do that for everything these days as the cost of making one is ~$0 and they may may a few bob off suckers.
[+] [-] cauch|1 month ago|reply
I, like you, don't believe the phenomenon was the result of an organised action (of course). The phenomenon was started as meme, resonnated with the far-right, and both far-right and people who don't see any problem with far-right ideology just amplified it. After all, the government has made a lot of stupid videos, and yet, the popularity explodes mainly when it's aligned with far-right.
But I don't have a problem with considering that the "bunch of trolls who did classic troll things" are considered as far-right. They indeed totally jumped in the opportunity to make racist things for the lols. How does that not make them racist themselves? If you create stuffs that racists find great and very aligned with their ideology, I'm sorry, even if you think you are not intrinsically racist, just be an adult and accept the consequences of your actions: you are part of the racist community, you are one of their "allies".
So, I'm perfectly fine with trolls being considered as racists. Trolling is a pain on society anyway and each time a kid thinks of themselves as "super smart" because they are trolling, the reality is rather that the world would be a better place if this version of them was not part of it. Why should we care about what trolls are feeling, they choose to put themselves at the top of the list of people who don't deserve any consideration for their feelings.
[+] [-] delaminator|1 month ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Balinares|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] ben_w|1 month ago|reply
Not "have said things that far/alt right cheer" but that they actually are more than "right wing"?
[+] [-] add-sub-mul-div|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] dyauspitr|1 month ago|reply
[+] [-] elzbardico|1 month ago|reply
The fact that the system gives them only two opposing, radical polarities, doesn't mean that there isn't nuance.
You and I may agree or not, but there are indeed young woman who, for example, are not pro-choice. They may have varied views on the trans issue, they have different class/economics policy goals.
You don't get to decree what young women interest are, neither me nor anyone else than themselves.
[+] [-] paulddraper|1 month ago|reply