Katharine Hayhoe: Adding this relevant perspective on public scholarship: bsky.app/profile/brad...

An essential read from the former research manager of Stanford’s Internet Observatory, on how spreaders of misinformation (people who have been deceived) and disinformation (people who know they’re lying) view even *labelling* a post as misinformation as censorship. More … 🧵

I feel seen. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

My Encounter With the Fantasy-Industrial Complexwww.theatlantic.com Online conspiracy theorists turned me into “CIA Renee.”

Trolling + misinformation requires an audience: so when rather than responding, I simply block, they also perceive that as censorship. This latest accusation, for example, claims that, as a university professor, I am a public official and hence shouldn’t be allowed to block anyone on social media.

As @jonathanstea.bsky.social points out here, a strong predictor of trolling is the tendency to derive pleasure or enjoyment from being cruel or demeaning to others. By blocking, it deprives them of that pleasure.

The Psychology of Online Trollingmedium.com If you’ve ever been the recipient of persistent online trolling, then you know exactly how discombobulating it can feel. You might start…

From the comments I receive (see below for just a small sample from last week), you can see how this could plausibly be the case - many of whom are then shocked and indignant to be blocked.

This is not just one person’s or one research center’s problem. The World Economic Forum lists Misinfo as their #1 risk to global stability over the next 2 years … and climate-fueled weather extremes (a common misinfo target) as #2. This puts us ALL at risk. /🧵 www.weforum.org/publications...

Adding this relevant perspective on public scholarship: bsky.app/profile/brad...

This kind of argument about schools is a classic sign of authoritarianism. It’s the opposite of how officials who value individual rights and free society should speak about education.

And adding this recent @natureportfolio.bsky.social comment on the threats it poses to democracy worldwide and, importantly, proven steps that can mitigate it. As with climate change, we know what to do: we just aren’t doing it.

Misinformation poses a bigger threat to democracy than you might thinkwww.nature.com In today’s polarized political climate, researchers who combat mistruths have come under attack and been labelled as unelected arbiters of truth. But the fight against misinformation is valid, warrant...

Wow. Saying it out loud. Not even pretending to not be fascist.

This is how I see the heXhole now. It's just mountains of trash from these people, and I block and block, but their algorithm is a pile of racist garbage.

Yeah, you also cannot block from the timeline anymore, you have to go to the profile. It’s sex bots, crypto bros, animal videos, and right wing/russian propaganda on mine. It was fun tho to see how russians thought a submarine and a tugboat in Cuba super scared 🇺🇸

That last part.

bsky.app/profile/outo...

I note that they're sending an ocean-going tug. That potentially is a dual-purpose: 1. Provide a way for the SSGN to anchor out but still have "shore power" (how we moored in HK twice). 2. Tow whatever crappy ship breaks down back to port.

Why do you continue to go there?

I have a compulsion to put certain data in front of certain people who would otherwise never encounter it. So, like, I'll use this entry from an Ugaritic dictionary and then develop a philological argument that ties in the Sumerian homograph of HURSAG, which is the etymon of Saffron, Azubir.

You just became my inspiration.

Neckbeard Fucknuckle.

It’s the logical outcome of the Garcetti doctrine. Whether academic freedom will best this argument remains to be determined by the courts. All I know is on 1984 Orwell gave the example of the integrator forcing Winston Smith to say 2+2=5 as ultimate authoritarianism. We may get there soon.

Jesus.

Didn’t this guy go to Harvard?

🙄 Well, Ivy. It was Yale, IIRC. Sigh.

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