Comment by bamboozled
21 days ago
But what's your solution to extreme amounts of disinformation and propaganda ? This is my issue, everyone is all free speech at all costs, but if you look at the USA, the cost is extreme, potentially even terminal. I don't really see anyway out of it at this stage, I hope I'm wrong and I hope free speech prevails, but right now, I can't see it's looking good.
I'm not saying your wrong, nor am I saying "free speech bad", I'm saying something needs to be done to at lest protect children from ideas like, "Winston Churchill started WW2 and Hitler was just a victim".
Personally, I'd be taking issue, serious issue, if the plan by the Australian government was to block access to libraries and history books, but that's not what I see happening here, they're to do something about foreign propaganda poising kids brains and because the companies would never regulate themselves, they're trying to do something but it seems futile.
> protect children from ideas
That's not the solution. The prevailing theme taught to kids these days is "question everything". Not taking things at face-value, or believing memes and one-line theories, forms part of the young person's toolbox these days. It really does. Their teachers are drilling into them the dangers of online misinformation.
You and I wouldn't have known the difference between misinformation and disinformation in our school days (I'm assuming you're grown up), but kids these days know all about it. That should give you some comfort.
If certain Japanese political parties are making wild claims, let the dust settle and the ridiculous stuff eventually is exposed. Don't ignore subtle variation and nuance when for example we examine the claims made about the covid vaccine and protection from transmission. Or effectiveness of masks, etc. In Australia, police were literally tackling people to the ground outside for not wearing masks. So let's not trust government issued health advice so blindly either. Let's find a middle-ground of analysis & discussion.
Not sure how old you are but a lot of the younger people are the more right wing at the moment, look how popular Joe Rogan is, do you think the kids are "questioning everything" there?