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General discussion

Getting ready for First Tuesday, 2020.

May 7, 2019 9:54PM PDT
https://www.wired.com/story/existential-crisis-plaguing-online-extremism-researchers/

I notice some scary things inside the piece, on solutions.
"[Doing something] like adding content moderators on platforms like Facebook"
There was a recent article on those very fb moderators- being hired in bunches- that read much like this one. Some don't last past the 'vomit point' of their first training day. Others end up with PTSD symptoms. Still others begin to adopt the worst views, even as they delete those views; especially true of conspiracies.
Of course, that could be taken to mean that the conspiracies are true ...

Time for me to repeat my 'tech will save the world' story. Some of us remember when the pocket radio (AM-only) was going to make life happyhappyhappy. No longer could dictators use peasants' ignorance to stay in power; information would be free for all, even in the bush. In '94 in Rwanda a White reporter, fluent in Kinyarwanda, traveled freely as the slaughter grew. (White privilege, perhaps?) He said the killers got instructions, village by village, to track down pockets of Tutsis. 'Kill those in _____ Village, brothers!' Worked for them.

And, in a hit-dominated universe, accessing or referencing a hate site boosts the reach of the site.

Anyone have a solution?

Discussion is locked

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Sorry. Add:
May 7, 2019 9:57PM PDT

"killers got instructions via State radio..."

BTW, adopted from my Holocaust question to my students, "Where did the government get all those killers? Look in a mirror."

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People
May 8, 2019 7:12AM PDT

Can be trained to do or believe in most anything.

Look at religion.
Look at Goering.
Look at the pols leading the world.

When I was in Nam I would listen to the guys talk and they had a dislike/hatred for the viet people.

I did not understand why since the ones I dealt with were just ordinary people trying to survive.

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Same with the Muslims I've met.
May 8, 2019 8:40AM PDT

And mostly while doing my religion.
Of course we have a calming response: 'I worship the god of Abraham.' (As do they.)

People can be trained.
Can be trained in either direction.
Some refuse training (or re-training).

Now, with all our technology, and more generations of evolution behind us, why do things seem to be going downhill?

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Technology
May 8, 2019 9:17AM PDT

Has allowed anyone or group to grab the pulpit.

Notice how many people today have a little box permanently attached to the end of their arm?

Media/news outlets have turned into opinion givers.

I have a friend who's only source of news is Fox news.
Guess what he thinks of the world.

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Extremism
May 9, 2019 1:27AM PDT

Middle ground no longer exists. Look how the news media writes. A mild rebuke becomes a slam. Disapproval infers hatred. Your favorite reading sources might tell you that hatred is akin to murder while showing disapproval is sometimes necessary. Didn't your parents tell you not to exaggerate? Did those in our news media not have parents?

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My favorite reading source does indeed
May 9, 2019 3:50AM PDT

say that, in that internal hatreds can manifest themselves. IMO most of the recent school shootings fall under this. It doesn't even matter that the bullying or whatever wouldn't have moved us past bemusement. We're not the ones in the gun stores or Daddy's bedroom.

FWIW, look at envy, the Tenth. Notice that it's the only one that Moses and his assisstants could neither detect nor punish. Why then was it included? Waste of time? No, it can lead to external actions including homicide. We know that from the news; Jehovah knew it because he knows us, so he warned us.
The Famous Ten, and the other 600, are in the only code that condemns a state of mind, or tries to.

Back to our story.
The article was not about MSM.

1Cor 6:9,10 has a list of failings that will 'keep one from inheriting God's kingdom'. The blunt version is, 'So, you gonna die!' In the end, there's no other choice. Please read it.
Notice 3 of the first 4 are sexual. But also greedy people (there's our envy) and revilers. That's where the alt-folks come in.
MSM have lawyers to prevent this, which becomes slander in court; the others thrive on it.

So, have you told the branch of the alt-folks who claim a connection to the Bible or Christianity to clean up their act? We do, but not so bluntly. It will come up in the progressive Bible studies we endeavor to conduct as a result of our pestering ... Sorry, door knocking.

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Possibly relevant.
May 9, 2019 4:09AM PDT

We had a Circuit Assembly Saturday, about 1000 people. (Twice a year.)
One talk said 'so, if you have a gun in your house, get rid of it!'
There was of course scriptural reasoning behind this, which I haven't found yet in my notes. Got it if you want it.

Don't tell James. He'll revile us for disarming ourselves just when things are getting dicey. Happy

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And the best reason
May 9, 2019 3:08PM PDT

for getting rid of your firearm, is domestic violence and suicide. Something not often talked about in the "gun debates" - although domestic violence *is* mentioned, it holds second fiddle status to the supposed larger issue of mass shootings. Funny, because firearms at home result in far more deaths. And suicide is hardly ever covered, while statistics show that "success rates" of suicide are greatly increased if one has a handgun in the house. That's the real tragedy no one wants to talk about...

Rick

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Today, 9 year old kills mom.
May 9, 2019 3:30PM PDT
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maybe he discovered...
May 9, 2019 3:42PM PDT

....his mother aborted the sibling he wished he had.

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Hmmm
May 10, 2019 1:19PM PDT

where did that come from? I see no mention in the linked article.

Rick

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Sad.
May 9, 2019 9:08PM PDT

'Rifles kept for hunting'.
Having such a child on hand for a length of time should have caused some major changes in household procrdure. 'Usually locked up' not good enough.

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It's inconvenient.
May 9, 2019 10:21PM PDT

But the ammo has to be in another locker. This area has plenty of discussion by those that own guns.

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Here's something many won't compare
May 9, 2019 3:42PM PDT

Compare suicide to abortion. Both result in death. Only one makes their own choice.

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Certainly true, but ours is for a particular reason.
May 9, 2019 9:03PM PDT

Things are going downhill. (2Tim 3:1-5) Having a weapon around tempts one to use it, which we do not do.

Here in NM, DV is the leading cause of death among women, and I just read that gun use is increasing in suicides.

BTW many of us in rural areas have guns for farm and ranch use, and for hunting (for food). Those folks are facing a tough choice.

The only way I see all this changing is by changes in attitudes. Which cannot be legislated ... IMHO.

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so, there's never been
May 10, 2019 1:32PM PDT

a suicide by firearm by a JW? Hard to believe. Seems with over 8 million _someone_ would have, by now.

Anyway, I'm far from being an "anti-gun" type, just a anti-suicide type. If that makes sense.

Rick

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We have suicides; never claimed otherwise.
May 10, 2019 9:18PM PDT

We should have no need to keep a firearm for self-defense. That's Jehovah's problem. And at the end we're resurrected if required, for good. "No more death ..."

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In fact, we have just about every crime/problem
May 11, 2019 5:08AM PDT

others do. Just for the record.

Usually in less proportionate amounts

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Ok,
May 11, 2019 5:18PM PDT

wasn't clear in your post. My mistake.

Enjoy your weekend, if possible. That's actually the motto of my local AA group : "Insist on enjoying life!" . Works for us, mostly...

Rick

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(NT) Good on you. One day at a time.
May 11, 2019 7:33PM PDT
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The other part of digital is of course
May 11, 2019 10:43AM PDT
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Digital being what it is, still unsafe.
May 11, 2019 10:50AM PDT
https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/07/binance-breach/ is just another recent failure.

If you want to upset a Bitcoin fanatic, bring up the thefts and if they deny it, sic some Sim Swapping hack on them. Google Sim Swapping Thefts to lose a day in research on how that works.
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A recent story says that the Almighty Blockchain
May 11, 2019 11:04AM PDT

is also at more risk than thought.
Bitcoin thefts are almost routine now. So far, caused by carelessness. (123456 is not a good p/w. Happy )

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Love it.
May 11, 2019 11:21AM PDT