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@danwallach @AlecMuffett The problem is that people communicating is a normal part of living, not a disease. Social media provides supernormal stimuli (google for the term if you don't know it) and that exaggerates normal behavior, but fundamentally the problem is people.
@danwallach @AlecMuffett People have been engaging in things like mob violence and tribalism for as long as there have been records. Read up some time on the Nika Riots in ancient Constantinople if you want to see how little really changes with time.
@danwallach @AlecMuffett And much of what Facebook and the rest are expected to censor are extremely durable human interests like sexuality; as long as we expect that there will miraculously be no nipples visible, someone has to battle all the people who want to see nipples.
@danwallach @AlecMuffett People have opinions, and some of them are meaner about their opinions than others, and people have sex drives, and they are interested in looking at images of other people being hurt for whatever reason, etc. And we expect that social media platforms will battle these.
@danwallach @AlecMuffett And maybe in some instances it's a good thing, and may be in some instances it's misguided, but fundamentally the issue is that people want to see things and say things that other people don't want them to see and don't want them to say.
@danwallach @AlecMuffett Even if the spread of messages was very limited, even if no one's stuff was ever seen by more than a few hundred people, the nipple police would still be demanded, the "images of violence" police would still be demanded.
@danwallach @AlecMuffett And remember, before FB and Twitter, people were just setting up their own web sites, and at that point, limiting other people's ability to go to their web site and see nipples or what have you becomes pretty limited.
@danwallach @AlecMuffett Now, I happen to think (unlike Alec) that Twitter and Facebook have made things considerably worse by the way they manipulate what content gets seen the most, and I think they deserve a share of blame for that, but fundamentally, the issue is human beings.
