Comment by Uhhrrr

11 hours ago

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> fairly open platform where people can choose what to post and who to follow.

It is well known Musk amplifies his own speech and the words of those he agrees with on the platform, while banning those he doesn’t like.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/15/elon-m...

> could you clarify what the difference is between the near right and the far right?

It’s called far-right because it’s further to the right (starting from the centre) than the right. Wikipedia is your friend, it offers plenty of examples and even helpfully lays out the full spectrum in a way even a five year old with a developmental impairment could understand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics

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    • I was surprised by your claim that Wikipedia would categorize mild restrictions on immigration as an element of far-right politics, so I read that article to see it for myself. I didn't see anything about mild restrictions. Would you care to point out where you saw that?

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This is obviously diversion but anyway: Bunch of "American and European" "patriots" that he retweets 24/7 turned out to be people from Iran, Pakistan, India and Russia. These accounts generate likes by default by accounts with "wife of vet" in bio and generic old_blonde_women.jpeg aka bots.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj38m11218xo

Elon fiddles with the algorithm to boost certain accounts. Some accounts are behind an auth wall and others are not. It’s open but not even.

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    • It's pretty obvious, media is called the 4th power.

      Control the media, you control the information that a significant part of Europeans get. Elections aren't won by 50%, you only need to convince 4 or 5% of the population that the far right is great.

    • Schrödingers social network: It's somehow irrelevant but somehow "destablizies our democracy" ;)

    • It gives people who aren't aware of the bot accounts / thumb on the scale the perception that insane crackpot delusions are more popular than they are.

      There is a reason Musk paid so much for Twitter. If this stuff had no effect he wouldn't have bought it.

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    • The same way that social media has destabilized the USA.

      By exposing people to a flood of misinformation and politically radicalizing content designed to maximize engagement via emotion (usually anger).

      Remember when Elon Musk alleged that he was going to find a trillion dollars (a year) in waste fraud and abuse with DOGE? Did he ever issue a correction on that statement after catastrophically failing to do so? Do you think that kind of messaging might damage the trust in our institutions?

      1 reply →

> where people can choose

How true is this really?

We certainly have data points to show Musk has put his thumb on the scale

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    • While there may be some feeds on Xitter that are basic algorithms, (1) it's not the only one (2) there may still be less mechanical algorithmic choices within following (what order, what mix, how much) (3) evidence to the contrary exists, are you freeing yourself of facts?

      I haven't dug into whatever they open sourced about the algorithm to make definitive statements. Regardless, there are many pieces out there where you can learn about the evidence for direct manipulation.

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Far right to me is advocating for things that discriminate based on protected traits like race, sex, etc. So if you’re advocating for “white culture” above others, that’s far right. If you’re advocating for the 19th amendment (women’s right to vote) to be repealed (as Nick Fuentes and similar influencers do), that’s also far right. Advocating for ICE to terrorize peaceful residents, violate constitutional rights, or outright execute people is also far right.

Near right to me is advocating for things like lower taxes or different regulations or a secure border (but without the deportation of millions who are already in the country and abiding by laws). Operating the government for those things while still respecting the law, upholding the constitution, defending civil rights, and avoiding the deeply unethical grifting and corruption the Trump administration has normalized.

Obviously this is very simplified. What are your definitions out of curiosity?

  • I think your definition is mostly fine, although deporting illegal immigrants is a moderate position, not near right.

    And I would agree with the other reply that Musk is not far right by that definition.

  • By your definition Musk is not far right.

    > Avoiding the deeply unethical grifting and corruption the Trump administration has normalized.

    Care to give examples of these?

    • I hate to wade into this cesspool. How about some of the real obvious ones:

        * Crypto currency rug pulls (World Liberty Financial)
        * Donations linked with pardons (Binance)
        * Pardoning failed rebels of a coup that favored him (Capitol rioters)
        * Bringing baseless charges against political enemies and journalists (Comey, Letitia James, Don Lemon)
        * Musk (DOGE) killing government regulatory agencies that had investigations and cases against his companies
      

      This is with two minutes of thought while waiting for a compile. I'm open to hearing how I am wrong.

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  • de Gaulle would be considered insanely far right today. Many aspects of Bush (assuming GW here) would be considered not in line with America's far-right today.

    Assume good intent. It helps you see the actually interesting point being made.

    • They wrote "Bush was right wing" (unless it was edited), so what's your point in saying "Many aspects of Bush (assuming GW here) would be considered not in line with America's far-right today." ?

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    • > de Gaulle would be considered insanely far right today

      As much as it pains me to say this, because i myself consider de Gaulle to be a fascist in many regards, that's far from a majority opinion (disclaimer: i'm an anarchist).

      I think de Gaulle was a classic right-wing authoritarian ruler. He had to take some social measures (which some may view as left-wing) because the workers at the end of WWII were very organized and had dozens of thousands of rifles, so such was the price of social peace.

      He was right-wing because he was rather conservative, for private property/entrepreneurship and strongly anti-communist. Still, he had strong national planning for the economy, much State support for private industry (Elf, Areva, etc) and strong policing on the streets (see also, Service d'Action Civique for de Gaulle's fascist militias with long ties with historical nazism and secret services).

      That being said, de Gaulle to my knowledge was not really known for racist fear-mongering or hate speech. The genocides he took part in (eg. against Algerian people) were very quiet and the official story line was that there was no story. That's in comparison with far-right people who already at the time, and still today, build an image of the ENEMY towards whom all hate and violence is necessary. See also Umberto Eco's Ur-fascism for characteristics of fascist regimes.

      In that sense, and it really pains me to write this, but de Gaulle was much less far-right than today's Parti Socialiste, pretending to be left wing despite ruling with right-wing anti-social measures and inciting hatred towards french muslims and binationals.

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    • No one can assume good intent with such question, at best it's bait.

      But then again people on this very forum will argue Sanders is a literal communist so we circle back to the sub 70iq problem

  • It used to be a principle of the left to believe in free speech. Now that is called right wing.

    • Believing in free speech is neither left nor right, it's on the freedom/authority axis which is perpendicular. Most people on the left never advocated to legalize libel, defamation, racist campaigns, although the minority that did still do today.

      The "free-speechism" of the past you mention was about speaking truth to power, and this movement still exists on the left today, see for example support for Julian Assange, arrested journalists in France or Turkey, or outright murdered in Palestine.

      When Elon Musk took over Twitter and promised free speech, he very soon actually banned accounts he disagreed with, especially leftists. Why free speech may be more and more perceived as right wing is because despite having outright criminal speech with criminal consequences (such as inciting violence against harmless individuals such as Mark Bray), billionaires have weaponized propaganda on a scale never seen before with their ownership of all the major media outlets and social media platforms, arguing it's a matter of free speech.

    • There’s no such thing as free speech and there never has been. To believe there is, is to fundamentally fail to understand what a society even is.