#like not even getting into the conspiracy stuff. because that feels like a slippery slope and i am not well educated enough on the american

[activemagnesiumcream3000]

tryna figure out what makes us intrinsically human since it isn't love, fear, empathy, intelligence, capacity for learning etc, and have come to the conclusion that actually maybe there is nothing special about us and that is ok. and really it is that or 9/11 jokes so .

[captainjonnitkessler]

I was listening to the "Wellness to QAnon Pipeline" episode of Maintenance Phase, which is as it sounds an episode about how people start off well-meaning and curious and end up drawn into QAnon conspiracy theories, and honestly it mimics a lot of behavior I've seen from the left recently.

Like at its core, QAnon believes that there is an elite class of people who hold all the power and can get away with any number of horrible crimes, because the rest of us are all powerless peasants who are being kept in the dark. The only real difference between them and leftist conspiracy theorists is that QAnon calls the elite class (((globalists))) and leftists call them billionaires, but once you start thinking like that it is SUCH a slippery slope from one to the other. It's incredibly dangerous.

It's stuff like confidently stating that Boeing got away with assassinating whistleblowers even though there's zero evidence and it doesn't even make sense that they would do that. Or insisting that Democrats are intentionally losing elections in order to play up the threat of Republicans in order to get elected, which again makes zero sense. It's insisting that the Democratic party fails on purpose because they are one discrete entity that moves in perfect unison and not, like, thousands and thousands of people with different ideas and goals who sometimes work at cross purposes. It's insisting that the reason American healthcare is bad is because the CEOs are all just evil megalomaniacs hitting the "deny care" button repeatedly, instead of understanding that our healthcare is incredibly complicated with a million interlocked parts that all feed into one another. It's insisting that a real progressive will never be elected because "they" won't let that happen, when there is zero evidence that those progressive candidates ever had any real support within the electorate.

It is - basically - the idea that bad things happen because Bad People are doing Bad Things, and the refusal to admit that sometimes bad things happen because of an incredibly complex web of causes and effects that can't be predicted or controlled.

And it's not like there's not any truth to it. Obviously healthcare and pharmaceutical companies put profits over human lives. Obviously billionaires and corporations interfere in politics. But ultimately most things are just really complicated, and anyone who's trying to sell you a fantasy that it's just the Bad People who are causing problems and all we need to do is get rid of them and let The Will of the People take over is either lying to you or is dangerously misinformed. Use your critical thinking, be a skeptic, and don't be blinded by people promising to sell you simple solutions that feel good.

[bisluthq]

Honestly, I think the ONLY reason hardcore hetlor truthering is because of the hardcore gaylorism that exists. Pretty much the only other sub-fandom group that exists that is THIS invested in proving their fave is secretly gay and hid a gay relationship for years and also THIS well known on different corners of the internet (because hardcore gaylorism and kaylorism has become insanely popular the past years) are Larries and within Harry’s fandom there’s also a group of super loud Antis that constantly fight them and go hardcore against them. With Taylor, gaylorism is often much more than just believing in Kaylor, it also extends to believing in other wlw relationships AND believing many of her straight relationships were fake, including Toe. We also see the same opposite reaction as with Larries and Antis, except in this case people that Anti it go against EVERYTHING Gaylors believe, which is why they seem so against even the smallest mention that Taylor could be fruity- they immediately assume that if you believe that, you also believe Taylor broke up with Karlie in 2019, isn’t really dating Joe, etc. And by extension, that’s why they ride SO hard for Taylor being straight. Of course that doesn’t automatically make it okay, but it is a very “logical” anti-reaction (as in, it makes sense that’s what happened) because of course there’s always two opposite sides with this stuff so of course hardcore hetlor truthers exist ever since hardcore gaylor truthers exist (which really didn’t exist before folklore tbh, before that everyone was just a Kaylor who sometimes believed in Swiftgron and sometimes not). Anyway this is a LOT longer than it could’ve been because I ramble a lot lmao but yeah hardcore hetlorism really only exists since the Vogue interview (because in their minds she then confirmed she was straight and they feel the need to defend that) and since *hardcore* gaylorism became really popular, as a reaction to that movement. So in short, hetlorism is in my experience barely about Taylor herself: it’s much more about going against gaylors because they see that entire group as inherently invasive and offensive because they generalise the most extreme behaviour seen in said group (which is wrong obviously).

Yeah idk it’s still just weird to me because I get being a Kaylor anti but I struggle with the Gaylor anti’ing, even where it’s blatantly not true lol like with the “they broke up in 2019 Karlie’s the Celia to Tay’s Evelyn” you know? Like that’s not really a conspiracy it’s just… untrue. And it seems weird to me to invest your time in anti’ing that because it’s very… difficult to do idk. You can debunk wacky Kaylor shit (or any other wlw ship or tbh late stage Haylor and shit) as much as you want because you feel that it’s fucking stupid and it’s a slippery slope to believing other cracked out shit but if some people like to believe a fanfic like who fucking cares?

I also think you’re wrong about when Hetlor truthers were born, they were around in 2014-2015 too and they weren’t like… Kay konspiracy antis at that point, because Kaylor legit were besties who hung out a bunch and Taylor did like gay shit on Tumblr a lot, like that was happening. They were bothered by and pressed by the speculation around Taylor’s sexuality.

Which again is just so weird to me because Taylor herself has like… continuously encouraged it. I don’t think the likes ~mean anything but it’s not bizarre to me that people saw her liking shit that was like “I can make the straight girls gay for the weekend” and were like 👀 especially since she was publicly single at the time and mostly surrounded by women.

Anti crack ships as much as you want, but if you wind up hetty truthering you’re fucking out of line and… need to calm down.

[nchyinotes]

Alt-Age: Designing Belief

May 19 2018

https://designmuseum.org/whats-on/talks-courses-and-workshops/alt-age-designing-belief

Thoughts: I found the first session on conspiracy theories fascinating (because I knew nothing about it beforehand, and the Trump analysis was very cool too), I liked Daniel Keller’s crypto starter kit profiles (and he was super nice, I had a great conversation with him after his talk!), and I thought Timandra put an interesting perspective to data profiling.

Trumped Up: The President and Conspiracy Theories

DR CLARE BIRCHALL

which conspiratorial theories are successful and which fail at explaining contemporary ?

conspiracy theory: speculative story that fashions historical/contemporary events as outcome of a conspiratorial design. often sits at odds with official story. it asks who benefits, and points the finger.

Richard hofstadter’s paranoid style:

all of history is a conspiracy

perpetuates the idea that conspiracy theories are totally other and unhinged

clinical paranoia vs paranoid style

conspiracy theorists are naive people who can’t really engage in the public sphere because they’re so irrational and ??

fredric jameson: conspiracism is often a symptom of something else

marxist

narrative is a v flawed attempt to map out the ever elusive social totality

system of overwhelmingly subjugating and repressive landscape

conclusion is wrong - it’s the faceless system of capitalism that is to blame

doesn’t take the form the left wants politics to take

lived experience of social injustice gets turned into a conspiratorial narrative

historical precedent informs the turn to conspiracy as explanation

justified fear that black people have about the way black bodies have been used and abused (ie. tuscany syphilis study) - institutional supported

ie. impotence, AIDS

—> tools of resistance used to galvanise a community - this is their social function or cultural work that they do  (tanya??)

example of popular knowledge that puts on display undecidable nature of all knowledge. exaggerated version of modes of knowing. so share a lot with legitimised forms. risks showing us how all knowledge is ever theory, and legitimacy is conferred by mystical constructions. so this binary is drawn to secure our own position.

Trump

what kind of conspiracist is trump? He seeks to target and delegitimize three targets:

particular political opponents

institutions (liberal media, federal reserve)

any knowledge that threatens his interest (climate change)

trump’s style:

not as the sustained narrative that hofstader way, but uses conspiracist fragments to highlights gaps/doubts and dispenses with necessity of evidence.

never quite takes responsibility over theories, just repeats others.

“some people say”, “many people say”

meme friendly format

uses it as one tactic to disorientate and disarm

helpful ideas:

conspiracism can be employed for ideological reasons

conspiracism is often a symptom of something else

proliferation of conspiracy theories is due in part to fact that so many actual conspiracies have been uncovered during the 20th century

problematic ideas in age of trump

conspiracy theory is a pejorative term

identity of president, at white house, legitimises

conspiracy theories are tools of resistance for historically marginalised people

trump isn’t a minority lol

arise because it is not possible to limit interpretation or safeguard knowledge

idkkkk post truth era stuff

concept of fully agential, sovereign, cartesian individual who believes with their whole body and soul

fragments enter upon a thoroughly networked sphere, so they circulate virally

belief becomes distributed and exists within the network through method of circulation

belief without believers?

for many trump supporters, believing the theory may be of little importance. what builds is the impression of a figure that isn’t beholden to elitists, who says the unsayable. mode might be most important.

to understand role of trump here:

this isn’t the first time conspiracy theories have been expressed from positions of power but the info environment is different

languages of disenfranchisement can be mimicked and appropriated

must think about trump’s conspiracy fragments within whole range of post truth tactics

we might need to rethink the nature of belief in a digital, networked era

The Nouveaux Cryptoriche: A Consumer Profile

DANIEL KELLER

GINI coefficient - measurement of de/centralisation, all bitcoin and ethereum stuff is actually very centralised and unequal (wealth disparity of owner of wallets, etc)

within crypto: huge gender divide, white/male/millennials

all fairly libertarian and right wing in orientation - neo liberal logic that behaviour must be incentivised economically for anything altruistic to happen (ethereum, bitcoin, ripple)

motivation through economics = neoliberal + reactionary worldview

who are the cryptorich?

richest: white men, some asian men

starter kits: caleb, priscilla, andsprei, elijah, roger

PANEL DISCUSSION

With Daniel Keller and Michael Dieter. Chaired by Natalie Kane

spiritual/magical terminology in describing technology

manipulation as neglect (malice)?

no, intention in business model to maximise profits and attention, so no not neglect because its intentional

CA = great “accident” of this business model

mindless logic that goes into all the platforms we use today, addictive nature (brains have been completely rewired in the last 15 years)

digital dependency

neglect - politics of care ?

history of the whole science and technology studies being ignored

digital mindfulness - theres a genealogy to it

cyber culture + counterculture new ageisms

subversive tactics ?

florian kramer - subversive media

angela nagel - think of alt right in terms of subcultures and critiques of subculture theory

thinking more about continuities

platform capitalism fosters these communities - reaction of no platforming them? can further radicalise + alienate them

legitimate claim at being the alt bc of the monopoly on liberal terminology  

understanding truth is based on an understanding of what non truth is or are ?

forms of behavioural economics were embedded into platform design - promoting mode of behavioural design. tracking, nudges, in the context of business propositions.

tokenising all possible economic activity, market of IOT

politics of attention - extreme edgelord ism results on 4chan

critique of behavioural dimension on platforms as being very causal

by saying these mechanisms actually work and lead to addiction, there may be a chance to launch stronger critique against platform monopoly and get them to bear more responsibility for certain dynamics we associate with them

is this a mistake, bc do we really know to what extent these mechanisms actually work?

micro targeting

distracts us from thinking through what type of longer term social issues/conflicts/antagonisms are being manifest through these types of dynamics (algorithm is revealing something that’s natural, given too much credit for this stuff)

these things work we need to regulate them vs ^

deemphasising determining role software may have in this (is ignoring the possible slippery slope tho, negligence)

targeting: sub culture of people who feel like you’re be targeted + tracked constantly by government, mental health, communities that reinforce mental illness

philosophical regulation (speculative design theory) being seen as against innovation

level of ignorance they’re trying to preserve

reinvestment of desktop as focused productivity, minimise work dimensions of mobile devices (redesign of mobiles)?

people who aren’t on social media right now aren’t shaping the cultural discourse ? - national and international influence

foam space app - decentralised proof of location, micropayment constantly for that

steem it

conspiracy vs speculative design

hyperstition

epistemology of reductionism

Was It Big Data That Won It?

TIMANDRA HARKNESS

resources diverted by govt in targeting voters - 2 types of people, bc otherwise its a waste of time (ie. already have a strong affiliation + go out to vote)

daniel scarvaloni - obamas campaign

how politics ad targeting works now - tailor messages etc

profiling, data brokers, inferred data

easily misprofiled / inferring is not loads better than chance

we’re calling everyone else the “gullible fools”, we’re not the gullible fools

problem is this model of humanity - people that can be measured, predicted, nudged in ways (more complex lab rats) vs people with whom we have to engage

Beyond Belief: Being Converted in a Post-Truth Era

DR MICHAEL DIETER

digital well being strategies part of new behavioural design paradigm to deal with distraction, scandals

wellbeing.google

managing unconscious user and guiding them into habitual behaviours/habits even when it may actually be contradictory to their intentions

“conversion”: language

obfuscation is part of the business model

sleepwalking into new forms of exploitation

targeted if you share traits with other fragments of users (segregating into segments) - dominant ??? of captivation

james bridle + youtube as the great radicaliser - targeting children on youtube

UX conversion

alt right conversion

like attracts like

center for humane technology (humane tech.com)

new design politics to be articulated? realignment of tech with humanity’s best interests. who decides on what these interests will be? these structures or dependant on this type of behaviouralism.

paternalistic rather than exploitative nudging

Detecting Fake News and Misinformation: Spotting the Common Themes

BARNEY JACKSON (FACTMATA)

fake news spreads faster than true news

creating a quality score for content, to serve to advertising platforms

creating community driven AI, automated algorithms for detecting 5 things

author credibility, publisher credibility, headline analysis, ad/media analysis, content analysis

^ how did you come up with the criteria?

“toxic content”

hyperpartisanship

[odetobeapepper]

Conspiracy unearthed - fruit-flavoured flavourings taste nothing like fruit, and everyone pretends not to notice.

The Sound of Music sucks.  Everyone knows it, but everyone pretends it’s the best thing since sliced bread.  Is sliced bread really that fantastic?  It’s convenient, for sure, but bread has probably found itself on a fairly slippery slope since the advent of pre-packaged slices.  Clearly, the French are the masters of bread - go there and try it if you don’t believe me - but you  never see Jacques or Claudine whipping out a slice of bread and slapping on some ridiculously delicious French butter.  No, they’re just wandering around with an unsliced baguette in the basket of their chic bicycles, while they look bored but stylish in their berets and micro-moustaches.

What does that have to do with flavourings or The Sound of Music, you ask?  Nothing, but it highlights a very important point.  Just because something becomes a commonly used phrase, it doesn’t make it true.  For example, “don’t count your eggs before they’re hatched”.  Dumb.  Just dumb.  Regardless of how many chickens (or other birds, reptiles or monotremes) are hatched, you still had a countable number of eggs.  Even if you had an astounding number of eggs, you could realistically just ask someone to help you count them.  In fact, it’s harder to count them after the creature has hatched, because the shells get smashed.  So never take that piece of advice.  “Count your eggs before they get broken” would be far more useful to anyone who knows it’s not just about the chickens.  You have to enjoy the egg journey.  Solid advice right there, folks.

So back to The Sound of Music.  I should mention that I’ve never actually finished watching the movie.  Once old mate sings “When you’re 16 going on 17″ I am so overcome with rage, I’m not able to continue watching.  

If you can stand to watch the misogynistic piece of crap, you’re a more tolerant - though possibly less discerning - human being than I am.  It blows my mind that such drivel, such claptrap, such freaking twaddle, didn’t end up on the cutting room floor.  Not since Ethan Hawke kissed Winona Ryder have I seen something this  repulsive.  And that’s saying something, because I once saw Shane Warne in leopard skin underpants.

So, why do so many people profess to love The Sound of Music when it’s so bad?  It’s clearly a conspiracy.  I suspect that someone cool but judgemental - maybe Helen Mirren, maybe Michelle Obama, or even LL Cool J - once claimed to like TSOM, and everyone else just followed along.  It probably happens in every generation, and all the non-cool kids just follow suit, hoping to become cool too.  I have a theory that Millie Bobby Brown is probably tweating about how great TSOM is right now, and the myth is thus perpetuated for another generation.

I just googled “The Sound of Music conspiracy theory” and found nothing.  Hmmm.... very suspicious.  Like it’s been redacted.  Possibly when Barack Obama was in power?  Yep.  Think about it.

I did find out that apparently Avril Lavigne died in 2003 and was replaced by someone called Melissa.  It seems her nose and handwriting have changed.  When I compare photos of her from 2002 and now, she most certainly looks older...  

So, I digress.  

“Fruit flavourings” don’t taste anything like fruit.  Fanta tastes nothing like an orange, and no one would eat a grape that tastes like grape Hubba Bubba.  I could go on listing fruit for a while - particularly if I was to go into subcategories such as Granny Smith, Royal Gala, etc. - but I won’t.  Instead I’ll just acknowledge this: I have nothing further to say about artificial fruit flavours.  They’re just not like fruit.  It’s probably not a conspiracy.  I will admit that pear Jelly Belly jellybeans are REMINISCENT of pear.  Let’s leave it at that.  

I thought maybe I could distract you with this picture of a cat running, which the internet claims is the best picture ever.  It’s probably top 10...

I feel a bit bad that I might have started a revolt against the artificial flavouring industry, who, let’s face it, never hurt anyone, but I got some stuff off my chest about The Sound of Music.  And that’s the real lesson today.

Adios.